Energy Psychology
and the Truth about EFT
Albert Einstein told us back in the 1920's that everything (including our bodies) is composed of energy. The Chinese knew it long before Einstein of course with the first record of energy medicine (acupuncture) being found in the 4,700 year old Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine). This is the oldest medical textbook in the world and is said to have been written down from even earlier theories by Shen Nung, the father of Chinese Medicine. Shen Nung theorized that the body had an energy force running throughout it. This circulating energy force is known as Qi (roughly pronounced Chee) and is the vital force, or energy, inherent in all essential life activities including the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical aspects of life.
So, energy medicine has been practiced for thousands of years, but the Western world only acknowledged it in the early 1970s! Will it take as long for “Energy Psychology” to be acknowledged and widely adopted? The term Energy Psychology refers to those therapies that use both psychological interventions and energetic interventions together in a particular treatment format, like Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) does.
In Energy Psychology, the problem is assessed, diagnosed, and treated as an energy-based problem. One of the pioneers in Energy Psychology is David Feinstein, Ph.D. David is a clinical psychologist and the national director of the Energy Medicine Institute in Ashland, Oregon. He is the author of seven books, more than fifty professional papers, and has taught at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Antioch College. Among his major works is “The Promise of Energy Psychology” which he co-authored with the founder of EFT, Gary Craig. David Feinstein describes Energy Psychology this way: "Like the oriental medicine traditions to which it traces, the theoretical core of energy psychology is simply this: Whatever the presenting problem, it has a counterpart in the client's energy system and can be treated at that level." Furthermore he states “When your energy is balanced and runs clear, your emotional distress disappears”.
From the point of view of Energy Psychology, painful physical, emotional and spiritual symptoms are the result of a disruption in the energy system. When the disruption is corrected, symptoms will be replaced by healthy functioning. For instance, a phobic response to spiders would be replaced by a calm response to spiders. All aspects of the phobic response would be normalized. Therefore, physical sensations of distress (such as tense muscles, racing heart, lumps in the throat or sensations in the pit of the stomach) are alleviated. Disturbed thought processes (such as distorted perceptions and catastrophic expectations) are normalized. Negative emotions (fear, panic, anger, helplessness, confusion, etc.) are replaced by inner peace. Unhelpful behavioral tendencies (flight or fight or freeze responses, for example) are corrected. All of this can be achieved with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) which uses the natural resources of the body’s energy system. These changes often happen within only minutes of EFT treatment, and yet the inner transformation is often profound and enduring. There is a large generalization effect of treatment – meaning that the treatment of one issue often causes resolution in many other issues (a real bonus!).
Is there any proof that Energy Psychology, such as EFT, works?
In preliminary clinical trials involving more than 29,000 patients from 11 allied treatment centers in South America during a 14-year period, a variety of randomized, double-blind pilot studies were conducted. In one of these, approximately 5,000 patients diagnosed at intake with an anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to an experimental group using EFT, or a control group using cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and/or medication. Ratings were given by independent clinicians who interviewed each patient at the close of therapy, after 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. The raters did not know if the patient received CBT/medication or EFT. They knew only the initial diagnosis, the symptoms, and the severity, as judged by the intake staff. At the close of therapy 63% of the control (CBT/medication) group were judged as having improved whereas 90% of the EFT group were judged as having improved. 51% of the control (CBT/medication) group were judged as being symptom free whereas 76% of the EFT group were judged as symptom free. (Andrade & Feinstein, 2003)
This tends to prove that EFT is more effective on patients than traditional cognitive behaviour therapy and/or medication!
Another study involved the energy psychology known as Thought Field Therapy (TFT) which is the method EFT grew out of. Treatments by international teams working with post-disaster victims in Kosovo, Rwanda, the Congo, and South Africa tallied the treatment outcomes of 337 individuals (Feinstein, 2008). Treatment focused on reducing severe emotional reactions evoked by specific traumatic memories, which often involved torture, rape, and witnessing loved ones being murdered. Following the energy psychology interventions, 334 of the 337 individuals were able to bring to mind their most traumatic memories from the disaster and report no physiological/affective arousal. Twenty-two traumatized Hurricane Katrina care givers participated in a 30-minute group orientation followed by an individual energy psychology session of approximately 15 minutes. The results were recorded on a "Subjective Units of Distress" (SUDs) self-reporting scale developed by Wolpe in 1958 which asks participants to scale their problems from 0 (no fear/distress) to 10 (intense/unbearable fear/distress). They reported a reduction from a mean of 8.14 to 0.76 on 51 problem areas they had earlier identified, including anger, anxiety, depression, loss of control, panic, resentment, sadness, shame, survivor guilt, and worry.
How does EFT work?
It works by stimulating energy points on the surface of the skin (by tapping on them) which, when paired with specific psychological procedures, can realign the body’s energy system. Unlike other energy healing methods, EFT incorporates an emotional element to the healing process, addressing unresolved emotional issues as a likely cause of physical disease, psychological dysfunction, and personal performance limits. One of EFT’s claims is that it often works where nothing else will. Why is that? Well Einstein and the Chinese before him might have known that our body had an energy force running through it, but as most western doctors are yet to acknowledge this they do not treat for energy imbalances.
