Power of Touch
As I sit next to an aging parent who is emotionally labile, cognitively disabled and physically challenged, one tends to observe more than what I would have done in a hospital clinical situation. In the midst of all the caring provided by many family members, there is one intervention which seems to have a special effect on her. I want to call this “The Power of Touch”. She usually, from where she is sitting will move her hands around looking for another hand to hold. As if to hold and “feel the presence” perhaps? The power of presence which calms the labile emotions? She seems to quieten down if such a hand is nearby. I often wonder, if I had a way to probe into the emotions of a cognitively challenged person….Touch which gives calming presence to a labile emotion… The other time she will look for a hand is when she wants to get up and try moving. Spending the whole day in a wheel chair, would seem purposeless even for a mind which is seemingly at the end of any “reasonable f