Clinical aromatherapy aims to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life through the psychological and pharmacological effects of essential oils and the physiological effects of touch through aromatherapy massage, thereby enhancing the patient’s self-healing ability, restoring health, and maintaining comfort. In Europe and the United States, clinical aromatherapy has already been introduced in nursing care, and is used for psychological support, such as reducing anxiety and fear, and for alleviating physical symptoms such as pain and fatigue. In Japan, however, although recognized as a means of “healing,” it is not officially recognized as nursing care, and is currently practiced at the discretion of individual medical institutions and nurses. With the inevitable increase in the number of chronically ill patients and the elderly, it is expected that care as well as treatment will become increasingly important in the future. Therefore, conventional nursing care alone will be limited, and nurses will be required to learn a wider range of nursing care methods. Clinical aromatherapy will be a useful form of care for nurses as well as patients.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the use of therapeutic touch massage for chronic schizophrenic patients in clinical settings as well as aspects of interactions between patients and nurses through nursing practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the research participants, three nurses of psychiatric wards, and data were examined by qualitative and descriptive analysis. Consequently, 93 codes were categorized into “hesitation due to uncertainty about implementing massage care,” “decrease in sense of uncertainty and increase in sense of security,” “increase of mutual interaction,” “establishment of relationship between patients and nurses based on touch care,” “recovery of patients’independence,” “sense of fulfillment due to massage practice,” and “difficulties in providing care in psychiatric clinical practice.” This study suggested that continuous massage therapy enhanced mutual interactions as a supportive method to establish relationships between patients and nurses. However, it was suggested that the nursing practice of massage was perceived as a difficult care to provide in clinical practice.

Kampo treatments are often used to treat mental symptoms such as neurotic disorders and stress-related disorders, but there are many cases that are difficult to treat in clinical practice. We experienced a case in which the original mental symptoms of anxiety neurosis rapidly worsened after the patient contracted the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Treatment took the form of an integrated medical approach, adding Kampo medicine (Kamishoyosan, Kamikihito, Hangekobokuto, Kososan, Rikkunshito) as appropriate to dietary therapy and supportive mental therapy, and after about six months, the psychosis improved. The authors report this case in which the patient’s symptoms after COVID-19 infection improved to the level before infection.