Massage for Anxiety and Depression: What Trials Found and Limits

If You Are in Crisis, Start Here

If you are thinking about harming yourself, or you are in immediate danger, call 911 in the US. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline says: "If you need emotional support, reach out to the national mental health hotline: 988." [1] Massage is not a treatment for a crisis.

If low mood or anxiety is lasting or getting in the way of daily life, speak to a doctor. The NHS says it is important to seek help from a GP if you think you may be depressed, and that treatment can combine lifestyle changes, talking therapies and medicine. [2] For generalized anxiety disorder, the NHS lists talking therapies, usually cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as a main treatment a GP may offer. [3] Do not stop or change a medicine because of massage.

Why People Try Massage for Mood and Worry

Touch and a quiet hour can feel calming, and many people book massage for exactly that. This page asks a narrower question: when researchers measured anxiety or depression scores, what happened compared with something else? We separate everyday worry and low mood from anxiety disorders and depression, which are medical conditions; see stress, anxiety, burnout and depression and anxiety disorders.

What the Research Found

Evidence label: mixed. Short-term calming is plausible; benefit for diagnosed conditions is not shown.

1. Does massage beat other relaxation in diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder?

   One small trial, null result

   In a trial of 68 people with the disorder (massage, thermotherapy or a relaxing room, 10 sessions over 12 weeks), all groups improved and massage was not superior to the comparison treatments. [4]

2. Is massage proven for depression?

   Insufficient (older review, 2008)

   A systematic review of massage for depression found only four randomized trials that met its criteria and concluded there was a lack of evidence from trials that selected people with depression. [5]

3. Does a pooled analysis show effects?

   Older; includes mixed populations

   A 2004 meta-analysis of 37 randomized studies found single sessions reduced state anxiety, and that reductions in trait anxiety and depression were its largest effects. [6]

4. During pregnancy

   Low

   A review of eight studies found lower anxiety and depression scores than usual care, but none of the trials had a low risk of bias. [7]

5. In cancer care

   Very low quality

   NCCIH says the evidence that massage relieves pain and anxiety in cancer patients is not strong. [8]

What the table does not show. The generalized anxiety trial is the closest to a clinical question, and it did not favor massage. [4] Its authors suggested the improvement across all groups was likely a general relaxation response. [4] Most other trials compare massage with usual care or no treatment. Nobody can be blinded to massage, and mood scores are self-reported, so expectation and attention can raise the numbers. Short follow-up is common.

Not the cortisol story. Massage is often said to work by lowering the stress hormone cortisol. A review of cortisol studies found the effect on cortisol generally very small and in most cases not statistically distinguishable from zero. [9] So that explanation is not supported.

Proper evidence not found for massage as a stand-alone treatment of major depression, panic disorder, PTSD or bipolar disorder. We searched PubMed for massage with depression, anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder and meta-analyses and found the items above, which are either small, old or about other populations.

How to Use This Information

If you want massage for relaxation, it is reasonable as a comfort alongside, not instead of, other care. Other approaches with their own evidence pages: therapy for anxiety and stress, acupressure for sleep, anxiety and stress and the wider massage evidence by goal.