Non-erotic Touch

Student Name

Course Name

Institute Name

Professor Name

Date

Non-erotic Touch

The determination of whether the non-erotic touch is therapeutic or countertherapeutic depends on the nature of the situation (Chen, 2016). The guidelines that can identify the ethical consideration of therapeutic touch during therapy are

Any kind of touch during the treatment or therapy of a patient is not unethical.
Touch can be used during the treatment when it is confirmed that it can play a positive role in the therapeutic effect.
The avoidance of touching during therapy due to fear of boards comes under unethical behaviour
Sexual, violent, or erotic touch is unethical during any treatment.
Violently or rigidly holding of hands of children that can harm them is unethical.
Ethical touch is defined as the touch whose purpose is to get therapeutic advantages and make a therapeutic relationship with the sensitivity of variables of clients such as age, gender, history, culture, and diagnosis.

All the ethical touches that are discussed above are therapeutic and can help the patients in improving their condition. On the other hand, unethical communication can lead to the worsening of the situation (Zur, 2011).

The population where I live is comfortable with the ethical touch because according to their concept, proper touch can decrease the level of depression. There is no doubt that an honest touch is allowed in my society. Still, the guidelines for ethical and unethical touch are similar in my society as sexual touch, or any sexual touch is considered an unethical touch. Most therapists use this type of touch so that people can feel well, and the situation can become normal. There are many cases where the therapist or general people become involved in unethical touch during the treatment or public situation. This type of situation is very common but leads to problems in the life of people and also increases the level of depression instead of decreasing it. The work setting makes a little difference in ethical and unethical touch as it has been determined that there are some types of touches such as experimental touch, playful touch, and referential touch are used in the workplace. In contrast, these types of touch are considered unethical in the workplace. Some guidelines can be used to determine that either can comes under ethical or unethical.

I am not so much comfortable with the non-erotic touch both as a receiver and recipient. The situation in which people do not like to touch others and to be touched is named haphephobia, and I think I am haphephobic because I do not like that people ever touch me. I have seen a lot of situations in society where people started with non-erotic touch. Still, after some time, they involve in erotic touch that is an unpleasant situation for me. One other reason due to which I wouldn’t say I like non-erotic touch is that there are high chances of the spread of infection due to the touch of people; therefore, I always tried to avoid any touch with my fellows. COVID-19 is a serious situation due to which a lot of deaths have occurred, and it has been determined from the medical research that it spreads by the touch of affected people. This situation has also made me afraid of touching. Physical touch, especially with an unknown person leads to an increased level of depression due to which I always stay away and do not involve in any touch activity both as a receiver or giver. I know people thought that non-erotic touch helps decrease tension and improve the psychological situation of most people. The psychological problem is the most common problem throughout the world, especially in developed countries; therefore, non-erotic touch is normal for them for treatment purposes. Medical research has also proved that there are a lot of benefits of non-erotic touch, but despite all these facts, I am uncomfortable with non-erotic touch.

My ethical concerns about touching are the following.

Touch either non-erotic or erotic with bad attentions is unethical for me.
The touch that can have a different meaning if it will be done in front of many people is unethical.
The touch is ethical if there is no difference in touch in private or in public.
Hug also comes under the ethical touch.
Touch for a positive therapeutic effect is ethical.
Sexual touch is highly unethical for me.
Any kind of touch that can harm any body part is also unethical.

References

Chen, B. W. (2018). Emotional intimacy: Bodywork, affect and the caring ethic in erotic gay massage in Taiwan. Gender, Work & Organization, 25(6), 637-652.

Zur, O., & Nordmarken, N. (2011). To touch or not to touch: Exploring the myth of prohibition on touch in psychotherapy and counselling. Clinical, Ethical and Legal Considerations.