Several pages were devoted to an overview and case study of reiki in the March/April 2003 issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. Pamela Miles and Gala True, Ph.D., recorded the extensive origins, evolution and research behind this modality, noting that reiki has now been incorporated into more than 20 mainstream hospitals and community-based programs across the country.

The journal closed with a case study of the significant role reiki played in the life of a 62-year-old man with AIDS. The subject entered a multidisciplinary HIV treatment program in January 1998 and was diagnosed with cocaine dependence and depression. After successfully completing a three-month drug treatment program, the subject began seeing a psychotherapist who recommended the hospital-based reiki training. He received reiki level 1 training and began giving himself hour-long treatments daily as well as receiving one-hour treatments weekly from clinic volunteers. In May 1998, his physician initiated highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). The subject has since made a remarkable recovery: He continues reiki self-treatment daily along with the HAART protocol; his most serious physical ailment last reported was a chronic sinus infection; his cocaine abstinence continues; he is working part-time; and he offers reiki treatment at a local community-based organization serving people living with AIDS. While his treatment is multidisciplinary, the subject believes that reiki self-treatment is the single greatest factor in his turn-around.