The Use of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment as a Therapy for Mental Health Disorders: A Review

Abstract

There is historical and modern evidence for the use of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) to treat patients with mental health disorders. The first section of this article examines the historical perspective, focusing intently on the Still-Hildreth Sanatorium. This hospital specialized in the osteopathic treatment of mental illnesses. While it was open, it saw patients with diverse mental disorders and reported exceptional recovery rates. However, some data from this institution were destroyed, so this perspective is incomplete. The second part of this article examines modern osteopathic research into this topic. Although there is some literature supporting the use of OMT for mental disorders, overall, it is underwhelming. Few mental illnesses have been researched, and for those that have been, there are too few studies to reliably assess the outcomes. Moreover, these studies have limited sample sizes, further affecting their credibility. To accurately gauge the benefits of OMT, future work should overcome these limitations.