Making Sense of Chronic Disease Using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): An Existential View of Illness

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Highlights

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.