Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be eased with a combination of guided imagery and Healing Touch therapy, according to a recent study by the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.

The study focused on 123 Marines returning from Camp Pendleton overseas between July 2008 and August 2010, who were experiencing nightmares, traumatic flashbacks, emotional numbness, insomnia, and other PTSD symptoms. Those who went through healing touch and guided imagery sessions – six over three weeks – saw much more improvement in symptoms compared to the group who received conventional treatment, Scripps reported in the September 2012 issue of Military Medicine.

“Scores for PTSD symptoms decreased substantially, about 14 points and below the clinical cutoffs for PTSD,” said Dr. Mimi Guarneri, a founder of Center for Integrative Medicine. “This indicates the intervention was not just statistically significant, but actually decreased symptoms below the threshold for PTSD diagnosis. It made a large difference in reducing PTSD symptoms.”

Specifically, those treated with the alternative methods of healing touch and guided imagry dropped more than 13 points on an 85-point scale that measures PTSD, while the control group dropped less than 5 points, nctimes.com reported.