Theme | Sub-theme | Code | Examples from patients |
---|---|---|---|
Interaction with the therapist | Connection | Empathy, comfort and trust | “You need to get comfortable with the lady who is doing it” (P7 F IBS) |
“I had to feel comfortable with the person and that can take a couple of sessions” (P14 F UC) | |||
 | Special feeling | “The contact [connection] is a big part of it, a big part of the help and you wouldn’t get that with a psychologist” (P3 F IBS) | |
“Made me realise that I am not alone in what I am feeling” (P3 F IBS) | |||
Communication | Transferring feelings | “The whole wording, what she’s [therapists] talking about” (P1 M IBS) | |
“As [therapist] is talking I am aware that she is holding her hands over me or touching parts of my body, reinforces what she is saying” (P11 F IBS). | |||
 |  | Procedure for undesired symptoms experiences | “I don’t know where it came from [the pain] but, they [therapist] did explain it was like a release” (P9 F UC). |
“She [therapist] did tell me that I should rest that evening. You know, not try to do too much…” (P20 F IBS) | |||
“The next week she [therapist] said ok, we won’t be so intense this time, and she still did some of the Reiki with me, but I sat up” (P20 F IBS) | |||
Experiences during sessions | Vivid experiences | Relaxed | “You feel all relaxed and calm” (P4 M UC) |
“I can feel myself relaxing into it” (P7 F IBS) | |||
“It is its wonderfully relaxing” (P21 F UC) | |||
 | Calmer | “I am really a much calmer person” (P6 F UC) | |
“It makes you really calm” (P8 F IBS) | |||
“I feel really calm” (P14 F UC) | |||
 | Heat/warmth | “Because the heat is strong” (P3 F IBS) | |
“Today I could feel the heat” (P5 F UC) | |||
 | Uplifted | “Had a real spring in my step…uplifted…I feel happier” (P14 F UC) | |
“I am like a spring chicken the next day, I am just running and racing around” (P15 F IBS) | |||
 | Light and energy | “In the day time you have these colours going on” (P1 M IBS) | |
“Brighter, I know my eyes are closed and it would actually feel brighter” (P12 F UC) | |||
 | Visions | “You might have a vision of somebody in the past which I did…I have seen me mum…Odd things might happen like you might see things in your eyes… you will probably see little animals, like this jumping out at you, and around” (P9 F UC) | |
 | Being pulled or sucked | “Strange experience to be held by the feet and have this kind of trip, it feels you are being pulled through a tunnel” (P1 M IBS) | |
“You feel like you’re being hurtled” (P1 M IBS) | |||
 | Nervous sensations/reactions | “Feel a bit tingly in my hands and elbows” (P14 F UC) | |
“When she touches me stomach their I jump…it’s a reflex action…she was worried about it…nowhere else” (P16 M UC) | |||
 | Wind | “You can feel the wind going round in your body…it was like she was chasing wind round my body” (P7 F IBS) | |
Undesired experiences | Increased pain | “After the first one [session], it sort of brought all my wind, just under my back and it was quite painful” (P7 F IBS) | |
“The first session I was out of control, and the pain I felt and it was, I was just crying…” (P 9 F UC) | |||
Heat pain | “I had this burning pain which was saying to [therapist] about which was right in the back of my head, really really hot…I had to change my day at work the next day because I still felt really hot as well” (P20 F IBS) | ||
Crying | “Crying all the time [first session]” (P9 F UC) “when I left the [place of work] the first time [after the first session] I went into the loo and I picked up a, a nice text from my daughter and I just burst into floods of tears” (P20 F IBS) | ||
Engaging with the experience | Difficulty getting into the breathing | “It was quite difficult to get into with my breathing” (P12 F UC) | |
“For the initial session I found if really difficult to focus on me breathing” (P14 F UC) | |||
Experience following session | Increased bowel related symptoms |  | “A good three days after I was continuously windy, I didn’t think anyone could burp or trump that much” (P7 F IBS) |