Why Use Energy Psychotherapies?

I have explored many of the energy psychotherapies for some time now, with varying results.  However, I have observed that those clients of mine who are willing to use an energy approach consistently, make faster, longer lasting progress.  That is, those who are willing to use techniques such as EFT or TAT on their own, generally get more out of our work together.

But there are also those who do not think we should avail ourselves of such practices.  Here is a link to an article looking at the reasons one national organization does not approve continuing education credit for energy psychotherapy:

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2011/01/trauma-chronic-pain-energy-psychology/

Fortunately, I am not limited by this board’s opinion.  I am someone who explores to find what actually works – for myself, my family, and for my counseling clients – and then puts it to use to benefit those who seek change, growth and well-being.

www.bettybracht.com

How to get rid of the “Yips”

I came across this story about a professional athlete who was losing his ability to perform adequately in major league baseball. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a pitcher with the Red Sox, who developed the “yips” when he needed to throw the ball. He turned to a therapist specializing in helping athletes with performance issues – a therapist who had added EFT to his tools for helping athletes consistently offer their best.

Have a look at Jarrod’s story: http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/columns/story?columnist=edes_gordon&id=6103972.

So, why do I care about what professional athletes are doing? Well, many of us have similar problems, but it shows up as a fear of public speaking, test anxiety or an inability to drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Tapping works with these problems too!

I have used EFT, and other energy approaches, to help clients get free of their fears. My only real questions are why more therapists are not offering it, why more people are not giving it a try. The evidence of success is there, yet some people still say, “I don’t really believe in things like that.”

Tapping (EFT) is not about belief – it is about using the energy systems within one’s own body. But it is also about doing something different, something outside our frame of reference, and about facing success.

www.bettybracht.com

Is CAM for you?

When working out last week, I overheard a group of women talking about some of the things they love doing for themselves:  a yoga class, a  massage, or an acupuncture treatment.  They seemed to classify such activities as gifts to themselves, and yet, there was recognition that these ‘gifts’ were also preventative health care.

So many recognize the value in what is now grouped as CAM – complementary and alternative medicine – but we have not communicated this value to our health insurance carriers.  Do insurance companies not recognize the benefits that these women have already accepted and claimed for themselves?

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has within it another agency: the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).  NCCAM  is the federal agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.  “According to a nationwide government survey released in December 2008, approximately 38 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 years and over and approximately 12 percent of children use some form of CAM.” (http://nccam.nih.gov/news/camstats/2007/, 2/18/2011)  Their website states that the current NCCAM approach has added emphasis on bringing the methods of effectiveness and outcomes research to the real world where public use is extensive, and facilitates integration of effective CAM and conventional practices into the interdisciplinary health care system at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.

With public use of complementary and alternative approaches already at 38 percent of the adults in this country, I can’t help but think that managed health care has missed an opportunity to reduce health care costs.

Organic Treatment for Depression

I recently read an article discussing the benefits of organic food, things, etc.  That got me thinking:  how about an organic approach to depression?

When we use a medical model for mental health issues, we tend to end up with a pharmaceutical solution.  An “organic” solution, according to Wikipedia, could not include synthetic chemical inputs, genetically modified organisms, irradiation, or the use of sewage sludge.  Okay, that last one is not likely to be a problem.  It is the first one that is rarely given much thought.

Well, is there an organic approach?  Of course:  psychotherapy.  Nothing at all added; just talk.
Last week on the NICABM (www.nicabm.com) series on women’s health, Joan Borysenko referenced the work of Irving Kirsch, Ph.D., who reported in The Emperor’s New Drugs his findings that anti-depressants have no more effect than placebos in treating depression.  In fact, he states, “The belief that antidepressants can cure depression chemically is simply wrong.” (Kirsch, Irving (2010). The emperor’s new drugs. p.5. New York: Basic Books.)

But is talk alone enough?  Sometimes.  However, that’s where energy psychotherapy comes in.  We can use meridian therapies, hypnosis, or EMDR –  tools that do not add chemicals to the body; tools that do help us create change without side effects.

Training and Certification Options

There are so many different certifications that interest me!  Advanced certification in hypnosis, and EMDR.  Certification for any of the meridian therapies.  Mind-body medicine.  Gestalt therapy.  Comprehensive energy psychology.  And each certification program offers specialized  training and expertise to the participant.

But, it requires a lot of time and money to take all of these continuing education programs.  I see real value here, but not necessity.

I have chosen to be trained in a few methods that I am excited about and can use with confidence.  My approach to therapy has evolved with the addition of each technique making up my therapy tool kit.  The more I explore these different skills, the more I see overlaps and complementary aspects – and see how they relate to the work of the theorists I studied in graduate school.

No one will offer therapy quite the same way I do, nor will I do it quite like anyone else.  We therapists match our clients’ needs in the moment by drawing on all of these different, unique approaches, offering a blend that is unique to the clinician providing therapy.

So, how many certifications are necessary?  What do you think?

More Thoughts on Energy Psychotherapy

Recently when talking with friends, I shared some of the theories put forth by people like Gregg Braden and Bruce Lipton.  One said, “do you really believe in all that stuff?”

If I did not hold the awareness that there is much out there we do not yet understand, I would have missed the opportunity to see a client release the posttraumatic stress of a rape in only two sessions.  I would not have been able to facilitate the release of deep-seated depression in another  through tapping and eye movements over just a few weeks.  I guess it is still conventionally accepted that these are not typical, but to those of us who have been open to the training, it is becoming ordinary.  How can anyone reject the potential of tools that help us release old traumas – or depression or anger or fear – quickly and relatively easily?

Not long ago a friend told me that my passion for energy work is exhausting.  It saddens me that my “passion” for finding effective treatment tools such as EMDR and EFT is seen by so many therapists as beyond their reach.  They lack the time, or energy, or money, or sufficient interest to learn how to make this available to their clients.  And I cannot imagine approaching therapy without these tools.

I am always looking for those who share my enthusiasm – or at least my curiosity.

Medication versus Counseling For Depression

I sat next to a lady at a luncheon today whose daughter suffers from depression and anxiety. This educated, professional woman had not been given the information that her daughter could be getting more than just a pill to treat her disorders. I am appalled when I hear stories like this!

One of my favorite success stories is a young woman who started on antidepressants in her teens. Over the years, she would get better temporarily, and then slip back into depression. The doctors would increase her dosage and sympathize with her plight. After a decade of this, she said, enough! – and found me. We spent a year and a half helping her to learn how to feel, manage, and appreciate her emotions. She turned her life around, and is now happy and successful.

So, why do doctors frequently prescribe antidepressants without encouraging counseling? Before I even started graduate school, research showed that the best approach for treating depression is medication plus counseling. How did the doctors lose sight of the knowledge that antidepressants don’t teach a depressed person how to handle the ups and downs of life? Antidepressants don’t teach anyone how to manage the loss of a job, or how to get past a love affair that has gone bad, or how to manage the grief of losing a loved one. They do, however, suppress the symptoms long enough for someone to get temporary relief – and have an opportunity to gain self-awareness and growth through counseling.

The Pursuit of Knowledge: Where will it lead you?

“If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. The free mind is not a barking dog, to be tethered on a ten-foot chain.” – Adlai E. Stevenson Jr., 1900-1965.

I recently found this quote in the Self-Improvement Newsletter, www.selfgrowth.com, 12/6/2010. But it made me wonder, how often do we stop that pursuit because of what someone else thinks? It’s not easy to forge ahead when others think we’re doing something different, odd, or even weird. And that brings me around to energy psychotherapy. I have had colleagues and clients decline to attempt EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique, or Tapping) because they think it looks funny or feels strange. It is often very far outside our comfort zones!

Fortunately, those who began exploring meridian techniques in recent times – beginning, I believe, with Dr. Roger Callahan and Thought Field Therapy – pushed through the strangeness. Dr. Callahan published his book in 1985, and a variety of meridian therapies have developed since then – more than thirty, according to one source. And now it has been reported that a study is underway at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to determine if EFT is a valid approach to relieve PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) for returning veterans.

Those of us who have had the temerity to try EFT without waiting for scientific support have found it sufficiently useful for treating trauma, phobias, and a variety of emotional concerns to continue exploring this technique.

Success that Defeats

I have noted on occasion that sometimes EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) is too successful. A client overcomes a difficult obstacle in his life – a belief, habit, or fear – and then reports it wasn’t really such a big deal after all. He wonders why I thought it was.

Huh?

This known as the “Apex Effect.” It occurs when someone has been so successful with EFT that she is no longer are able to remember how it felt to have that problem. He can no longer remember how difficult it was to drive over bridges; she can no longer remember the depth of her grief; they can no longer remember why it was frightening to stand up before a group of people and talk.

An unusual idea: the success of this technique also creates potential for people to ignore it. Surely if we cannot recognize how we made a change, then we won’t think to use the tool again to change something else.

This Apex Effect has been recognized with EFT almost from the beginning. It is my opinion that this effect is a primary difficulty behind main stream acceptance of this powerful tool. We therapists have been trained to expect our clients to need time to shift from a negative behavior or habit or thought — weeks or months; certainly not a session or two. And we expect our clients to recognize how that shift came about.

This effect is not reserved for EFT alone; we can find it with EMDR or hypnosis, or any tool that makes it easier to overcome our problems. Is this why so many adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward energy psychotherapy?

More thoughts on Energy Psychotherapy: EFT

Last week I listened to a replay of a recent interview of David Feinstein, Ph. D.. It was part of a series presented by Rich Simon, Editor, Psychotherapy Networker, but I had not paid attention to who the next speaker was. I puttered around my office, multi-tasking as I listened. Then they started talking about EFT.

That got my attention. Dr. Feinstein co-authored a book I have owned almost since it was published: The Promise of Energy Psychology. In this interview he explained EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) but also focused on the research that addresses this meridian therapy.  A study conducted by the Institute of Medicine comparing CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and EFT showed astonishing results, but lacked the rigorous design needed to make a clear statement. Currently Walter Reed Army Medical Center is conducting a study comparing the results of EFT, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and CBT. The British National Health Service is conducting a study comparing the results of EFT and CBT. He implied that there are others too.

I am so encouraged. While I have been using EFT since June of 2007, most of my colleagues remain ignorant of this tool. Many may recognize the name, but have no knowledge of the potential of this technique, or the possibilities for their clients. It is gratifying to learn that rigorous research is underway.

I encourage you to check out Dr. Feinstein’s web site: http://www.innersource.net/ep/. And check out EFT for yourself – if you haven’t already.