Physical diseases may be viewed as somatic metaphors of patients’ meanings and subjective stories, often referred to as “symbolic diseases. Assessing the psychosocial and existential aspects of an illness as a routine part of medical diagnostic procedures would be valuable for patients. EFT offers promise as a suitable therapeutic approach to help chronic disease patients make sense of their life stories and lived experiences, and consequently, symbolic meanings of diseases.The exploration of illness symbology and meaning-making may offer therapeutic value to patients, from both an existential and a health behaviors perspective.
Read MoreScience and Research: Science Papers
Guidelines for the Treatment of PTSD Using Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).
This paper recommends guidelines for the use of EFT in treating PTSD derived from the literature and a detailed practitioner survey. It has been reviewed by the major institutions providing training or supporting research in the method. The guidelines recommend a stepped-care model, with five treatment sessions for subclinical PTSD, 10 sessions for PTSD, and escalation to intensive psychotherapy or psychopharmacology or both for nonresponsive patients and those with developmental trauma. Group therapy, social support, apps, and online and telemedicine methods also contribute to a successful treatment plan…
Read MoreTreating Trauma Using Shamanic and Non-Local Methods: Theory, Mechanisms, and Relevance to Current Clinical Practice
Many leading doctors and psychologists now speculate that unresolved trauma is responsible for many of the chronic diseases of Western populations. The body learns and then defaults to a maladaptive reaction to stress and becomes unable to maintain normal homeostasis. Trauma also leads to dissociation as a survival mechanism and a splitting of the psyche…
Read MoreSubjective Dimensions of Meaning in the Clinical Encounter: Unifying Personhood and Disease. Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, and Treatment
The practice of biomedicine operates within a restrictive model and worldview that reduces personal identity to the sum of its mind and body parts. Using the case examples of James, a 38-year old retail manager with testicular cancer, and Bjorn, a 37-year old business owner with gastro-esophageal reflux disease, this article aims to show the limitations of treating a person’s disease when only dualist/physicalist assumptions are available and to establish an alternative, holistic framework to adequately model energy psychology techniques…
Read MoreEmotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Effects on Psychoimmunological Factors of Chemically Pulmonary Injured Veterans
Editor’s Note: The link to this research is not currently functional (23rd, May 2018). Please write research@aamet.org with any updated information.
Read MoreA Survey of Energy Psychology Practitioners: Who They Are, What They Do, Who They Help
An online survey of the members of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) was completed by 294 of the organization’s 1,220 members (24%) in March 2016. The majority of respondents reported using acupoint tapping protocols as a core component in the successful treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and depression.
Read MoreEmotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) as a Practice for Supporting Chronic Disease Healthcare: A Practitioners’ Perspective
The objective of the present study was to explore Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) practitioners’ experiences of using EFT to support chronic disease patients. This was part of a larger study exploring chronic disease patients’ and EFT practitioners’ experiences of using EFT to support chronic disease healthcare.
Read MoreDetermining Highly Desirable Traits of an Effective Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner: A Delphi Study
This method is designed to achieve a consensus amongst skilled panelists when an accepted body of literature is lacking. A three-round modified Delphi approach was used and participants were skilled in delivering EFT as a practitioner
Read MoreEmotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Reduces Anxiety Among Women Undergoing Surgery
Anxiety is common in patients awaiting surgical procedures. It typically begins as soon as the procedure is planned and continues to the day of surgery. This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based method called Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for anxiety among women undergoing obstetric and gynecological (OBG) surgeries.
Read MoreYour DNA is Not Your Destiny: Behavioral Epigenetics and the Role of Emotions in Health
In a series of studies published in 2000 and later, researchers began to demonstrate the importance of epigenetic influences on gene expression. Genes might be silenced through methylation, or their expression facilitated by acetylization. A further step occurred when behaviors and psychological states were noted to regulate the activity of genes. A body of evidence has now been accumulated that assesses the specific genes affected by behavioral influences such as nurturing, by lifestyle interventions such as meditation, by emotions, and by alleviating psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety and PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder).
Read MoreMeasuring Physiological Markers of Emotional Trauma: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mind-Body Therapies
The effect of emotional trauma on physiological functioning has been documented in a number of studies. Unresolved trauma, even 50 years subsequent to traumatization, has been correlated with higher rates of bone fractures, cancer, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other ailments.
Read MoreEmotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Reduces Intense Fears: A Partial Replication and Extension of Wells, Polglase, Andrews, Carrington, & Baker (2003)
Baker and Siegel conducted a follow-up study after a 1.4 years lapse between the time of the original testing and the follow-up. On most measures, the significant effects for the single session of EFT still persisted after this considerable lapse of time and were superior to the results for the two comparison conditions. It is striking that only one session of EFT could still show effects almost one and half years later. This can be said of very few interventions in the field of psychology.
Read MoreChanges on Self-Report Measures of Public Speaking Anxiety Following Treatment with Thought Field Therapy (TFT)
Participants receiving TFT treatment showed decreases in public speaking anxiety and increases in positive measures related to anticipation of future public speaking experiences. Participants in the delayed-treatment condition showed no improvement while on a wait list, but after treatment showed similar effects on all measures.
Read MoreThe Challenges and Opportunities of Introducing Thought Field Therapy (TFT) Following the Haiti Earthquake
The 2010 earthquake in Haiti was followed by international emergency interventions. The scale of the disaster resulted in considerable psychological trauma amongst the population, which was likely to persist after the initial emergency response… The authors have continued to receive positive feedback from participants, for more than 1 year following the training.
Read MoreTreatment of PTSD in Rwandan Child Genocide Survivors Using Thought Field Therapy (TFT)
Thought Field Therapy (TFT), which utilizes the self-tapping of specific acupuncture points while recalling a traumatic event or cue, was applied with 50 orphaned teens who had been suffering with symptoms of PTSD since the Rwandan genocide 12 years earlier…
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