Energipsykologi är enkelt uttryckt en kombination av österländsk medicin och västerländsk psykologi som används vid behandling av alla typer av känslomässigt orsakade problem.

Begreppet energipsykologi inbegriper olika metoder som Tankefältsterapi (TFT), story Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), for sale Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT), EmoTrance, Logosyntes m.fl.

Metoderna har med framgång använts i samband med naturkatastrofer och andra allvarliga kriser i Kongo, Guatemala, Indonesien, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mexiko, Moldavien, Nairobi, Rwanda, Sydafrika, Tanzania, Thailand och USA. Betydande insatser har gjorts för Vietnamveteraner med posttraumatiskt stressyndrom (PTSD).

Länkar

Här presenteras exempel på vetenskaplig forskning inom området.

Peer reviewed and published studies

Treatment of PTSD in Rwandan child genocide survivors using thought field therapy

Sakai CE et al

Int J Emerg Ment Health. 2010 Winter;12(1):41-9

PMID: 20828089

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 adolescents who had been suffering with symptoms of PTSD since the Rwandan genocide 12 years earlier. Following a single TFT session, scores on a PTSD checklist completed by caretakers and on a self-rated PTSD checklist had significantly decreased (p < .0001 on both measures). The number of participants exceeding the PTSD cutoffs decreased from 100% to 6% on the caregiver ratings and from 72% to 18% on the self-ratings.

The findings were corroborated by informal interviews with the adolescents and the caregivers, which indicated dramatic reductions of PTSD symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, bedwetting, depression, isolation, difficulty concentrating, jumpiness, and aggression. Following the study, the use of TFT on a self-applied and peer-utilized basis became part of the culture at the orphanage, and on one-year follow-up the initial improvements had been maintained as shown on both checklists.

Pilot study of emotional freedom techniques [EFT], wholistic hybrid derived from eye movement desensitization and reprocessing [WHEE] and cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT] for treatment of test anxiety in university students.

Benor DJ et al

Explore (NY). 2009 Nov-Dec;5(6):338-40.

PMID: 19913760

Despite small sample size, significant reductions in test anxiety were found for all three treatments. In only two sessions, WHEE and EFT achieved the same benefits as CBT [Cognitive Behavioral Therapy] did in five sessions. Participants reported high satisfaction with all treatments. Emotional freedom techniques and WHEE participants successfully transferred their self-treatment skills to other stressful areas of their lives.

CONCLUSIONS: Both WHEE and EFT show promise as feasible treatments for test anxiety.

Energy Psychology in Disaster Relief

Feinstein D

Traumatology 2008, 14(1), 24-137.

Four tiers of energy psychology interventions include 1) immediate relief/stabilization, 2) extinguishing conditioned responses, 3) overcoming complex psychological problems, and 4) promoting optimal functioning.

This paper reviews the approach, considers its viability, and offers a framework for applying energy psychology in treating disaster survivors.

Energy psychology and thought field therapy in the treatment of tinnitus

Pasahow RJ.

Int Tinnitus J. 2009;15(2):130-3

PMID: 20420336

Procedures of energy psychology and thought field therapy are introduced in two case studies. Data were collected from psychotherapy sessions and psychological tests. Two case studies demonstrated that thought field therapy reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in decompensated tinnitus patients.

Energy Psychology: A Review of the Preliminary Evidence

Feinstein D

Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, (2008), 45(2), 199-213

This paper reviews a hierarchy of evidence regarding the efficacy of energy psychology, from anecdotal reports to randomized clinical trials. Although the evidence is still preliminary, energy psychology has reached the minimum threshold for being designated as an evidence-based treatment, with one form having met the APA Division 12 criteria as a probably efficacious treatment for specific phobias; another for maintaining weight loss. The limited scientific evidence, combined with extensive clinical reports, suggests that energy psychology holds promise as a rapid and potent treatment for a range of psychological conditions.

Energy Psychology in Rehabilitation: Origins, Clinical Applications, and Theory

Fred P. Gallo , PhD

Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, & Treatment, (2009), 1(1), 57-72.

This theoretical and practice approach offers the field some unique findings, as it views psychological problems as body–mind interactions and bioenergy fields, providing treatments that directly and efficiently address these substrates. Some of energy psychology’s techniques include stimulating acupoints and chakras, specific body postures, affirmations, imagery, manual muscle testing, and an emphasis on intention. This review covers energy psychology’s historical development and experimental evidence base. Case illustrations and treatment protocols are discussed for the treatment of psychological trauma and physical pain, two of the most important and ubiquitous aspects common to rehabilitation conditions. Additionally, the research on energy psychology is highlighted, and the distinction between global treatments and causal energy diagnostic-treatment approaches to treatment is addressed.

Thought Field Therapy and its Derivatives: Rapid Relief of Mental Health Problems through Tapping on the Body

Phil Mollon, MD

Primary Care and Community Psychiatry. (2007, December), 12[3-4], 123-127.

A genre of psychotherapeutic enquiry, involving work with the body’s energy system as well as the mind, began in the 1970s, arising from the field of Applied Kinesiology as elaborated by psychiatrist Dr. John Diamond. Clinical psychologist, Roger Callahan, built on this work to develop simple procedures for the rapid relief of anxieties and phobias. This approach, called Thought Field Therapy, was later applied to trauma and other forms of mental distress. In recent years a number of derivative methods have been developed. These can be combined with conventional psychodynamic or CBT approaches. A variety of forms of evidence support the use of these ’energy psychology’ techniques, including a very large South American study.

Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Research on Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and Other Meridian Based Therapies

Baker, A. H., Carrington, P., Putilin, D.

Psychology Journal, (2009) 6(2), 34-46.

Controlled research into Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and other meridian-based therapies is at its beginnings. We examined several issues facing EFT researchers, including: the number and type of dependent measures; expectancy effects; the need for follow-up assessment; a newly proposed procedure for keeping participants blind; the duration of the intervention; the value of treating the hypothesized Energy Meridian System and EFT’s operations as separate constructs; and the possibility that EFT’s efficacy is mediated by processes long known to be associated with psychotherapy. Such issues are considered in the context of three recent EFT studies: Waite and Holder (2003); Wells et al. (2003); and Baker (2010). Some limitations of these studies are delineated and guidelines on EFT research are suggested.

Evaluation of a meridian-based intervention, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), for reducing specific phobias of small animals

Wells S et al

J Clin Psychol. 2003 Sep;59(9):943-66.

PMID: 12945061

This study explored whether a meridian-based procedure, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), can reduce specific phobias of small animals under laboratory-controlled conditions. Randomly assigned participants were treated individually for 30 min with EFT (n = 18) or a comparison condition, diaphragmatic breathing (DB) (n = 17). ANOVAS revealed that EFT produced significantly greater improvement than did DB behaviorally and on three self-report measures, but not on pulse rate. The greater improvement for EFT was maintained, and possibly enhanced, at six- to nine-months follow-up on the behavioral measure. These findings suggest that a single treatment session using EFT to reduce specific phobias can produce valid behavioral and subjective effects. Some limitations of the study also are noted and clarifying research suggested.

Application of Emotional Freedom Techniques

Dawson Church, PhD & Audrey Books, PhD

Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, (2010), Aug/Sep, 46-48.

This paper describes an intervention called Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). EFT is a brief exposure therapy combining cognitive and somatic elements and focuses on resolving emotional trauma that might underlie a presenting condition. Research indicates that EFT is an effective treatment for anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, phobias, and other psychological disorders, as well as certain physical complaints. This article describes the techniques, how EFT is taught in a workshop setting, and provides case examples. The clinical benefits of EFT and future research directions are discussed.

Your DNA is Not Your Destiny: Behavioral Epigenetics and the Role of Emotions in Health

Dawson Church, PhD

Anti Aging Medical Therapeutics, (2010, October), 13.

Comparisons of the relative lengths of telomeres in identical twins, who start life with identical genes, show that emotional stress can result in one twin having a cellular age that is as much as 10 years older by age 40.  New studies in the field of energy psychology also indicate that these psychological and emotional stressors may be remediated much more rapidly than previously believed possible, and that behavioral and psychological influences regulate the genes responsible for inflammation, immune function, and cellular regeneration, among others. These advances provide fruitful new avenues for research into the epigenetic properties of simple behavioral and emotional skills such as meditation, the Relaxation Response, and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), and point to the potential of these methods as potent anti-aging and medical interventions.

Controversies in Energy Psychology

David Feinstein, PhD.

Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, & Treatment, (2009), 1(1), 45-56.

In the nearly three decades since tapping on acupuncture points was introduced as a method psychotherapists could use in the treatment of anxiety disorders and other emotional concerns, more than 30 variations of the approach have emerged. Collectively referred to as energy psychology (EP), reports of unusual speed, range, and durability of clinical outcomes have been provocative. Enthusiasts believe EP to be a major breakthrough while skeptics believe the claims are improbable and certainly have not been substantiated with adequate data or explanatory models. Additional controversies exist among EP practitioners. This paper addresses the field’s credibility problems among mental health professionals as well as controversies within EP regarding (a) its most viable explanatory models, (b) its most effective protocols, (c) how the approach interfaces with other forms of clinical practice, (d) the conditions it can treat effectively, (e) what should be done when the method does not seem to work, and (f) how the professional community should respond to the large number of practitioners who do not have mental health credentials.

Emotional Freedom Techniques: The Practising Midwife

Mitchell, M.

The Practising Midwife, (2009), 12(7), 12-14.

A significant number of the population use complementary therapies to support health and wellbeing, as well as during times of ill health (Ernst and White 2000). Women are by far the greatest consumers of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and there is some suggestion that its use is increased in pregnancy and childbirth (Ranzini et al 2001), although there are no large-scale studies to support this. It is essential, therefore, that midwives should be informed about complementary therapies that women may access, and appreciate women’s desire to choose approaches that are perceived as supportive and beneficial.
One route that pregnant women may choose to investigate is emotional freedom techniques (EFT). Although currently a little known therapy, as someone who has recently undertaken training I believe that it is likely to grow in popularity. Here, I aim to provide an overview of the beliefs and techniques of EFT and discuss its potential use in pregnancy and childbirth.

The heart field effect: Synchronization of healer-subject heart rates in energy therapy.

Bair CC.

Adv Mind Body Med. 2008 Winter;23(4):10-9.

PMID: 20664147

Recent health research has focused on subtle energy and vibrational frequency as key components of health and healing. In particular, intentional direction of bioenergy is receiving increasing scientific attention. This study investigates the effect of the healer’s electromagnetic (EM) heart field upon subjects during energy healing as measured by synchronization of heart rates and scores on a Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale and a Profile of Mood States (POMS) inventory. […]

Study results showed statistically significant heart-rate synchronization with the intervention population. In addition, SUD and POMS scores demonstrated considerably more improvement than in the control population, indicating additional benefit beyond the meridian-based therapies, such as WHEE, alone. Additional findings and future research recommendations are presented in this article.

Emotional acupuncture

Lynch E.

Nurs Stand. 2007 Aug 22-28;21(50):24-5.

PMID: 17896572

Emotional freedom technique is gaining popularity in the UK for the treatment of psychological problems. Its supporters say it is particularly useful for people who have had traumatic experiences.


Studies presented at professional conferences

Preliminary Report of the First Large-Scale Study of Energy Psychology

Joaquin Andrade, MD and David Feinstein, PhD

The research, which was initiated in the late 1980s and included various studies over a 14-year period, was published in 2004 in an appendix to David Feinstein’s Energy Psychology Interactive: Rapid Interventions for Lasting Change (Ashland, OR: Innersource).

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 (tapping) or a control group (Cognitive Behavior Therapy/medication) using standard randomization tables and, later, computerized software. Ratings were given by independent clinicians who interviewed each patient at the close of therapy, at 1 month, at 3 months, at 6 months, and at 12 months. The raters made a determination of complete remission of symptoms, partial remission of symptoms, or no clinical response. The raters did not know if the patient received CBT/medication or tapping. 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 group were judged as having improved.

90% of the experimental group were judged as having improved.

51% of the control group were judged as being symptom free.

76% of the experimental group were judged as symptom free.

At one-year follow-up, the patients receiving tapping treatments were less prone to relapse or partial relapse than those receiving CBT/medication, as indicated by the independent raters assessments and corroborated by brain imaging and neurotransmitter profiles. In a related pilot study by the same team, the length of treatment was substantially shorter with energy therapy and related methods than with CBT/medication (mean = 3 sessions vs. mean = 15 sessions).

The complete report: http://www.eftuniverse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2470&Itemid=2073

Critical Incident Recall and Sport Confidence Changes After a Brief EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Intervention

Dawson Church & Darlene Downs

This data was presented at the twelfth annual energy psychology conference, Toronto, Canada, Nov 4, 2010.

Subjects received a single 20 minute EFT session. Baseline values were obtained, as well as pre, and post, and 60 day follow-ups. All participant gains were maintained on follow-up.

Conclusions: A brief application of EFT may increase sport confidence levels by reducing the emotional and physical distress associated with the recall of critical incidents.

Pain and Mental Health Symptoms after PTSD Remediation in Veterans:  A Randomized Controlled Trial

Dawson Church & Audrey Brooks

This data was presented at the twelfth annual energy psychology conference, Toronto, Canada, Nov 4, 2010.

A randomized controlled trial of veterans with clinical levels of PTSD symptoms found significant improvements after EFT. While pain, and comorbid mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, were not the targets of treatment, significant improvements in these conditions were found. Subjects (N = 59) received six sessions of EFT coaching supplementary to primary care. They were assessed using the SA-45, which measures 9 mental health symptom domains, and also has 2 general scales measuring the breadth and depth of psychological distress. Subjects were followed at 3 and 6 months. Anxiety and depression were significantly correlated with PTSD symptom reductions after 3 and 6 sessions (p < .05), but not at 6-month follow-up. Anxiety and depression were highly correlated with each other at all assessment points. Pain decreased significantly after 6 sessions (-46%, p < .0001), with some gains maintained at 6 months (-21%, p < .0001).  The results of this study are consistent with other reports showing associations between, anxiety, depression, PTSD symptoms, and pain.

The Effect of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on Psychological Symptoms in Addiction Treatment

Dawson Church, PhD, & Audrey Brooks, PhD

This data was presented at Science and Consciousness, the Tenth Annual Energy Psychology conference, Toronto, October 24, 2008

A statistically significant decrease was observed in the two global scales and all but one of the SA-45 subscales after the workshop, indicating a reduction in psychological distress. Improvements on intensity and breadth of psychological symptoms, and anxiety and obsessive-compulsive subscales were maintained at the 90-day follow-up.

Conclusion:These findings suggest EFT may be an effective adjunct to addiction treatment by reducing the severity of general psychological distress. This study is limited by the small sample size, lack of a control group, and exploratory nature.

World Trade Center Tower 2 Survivor: EP Treatment of Long-term PTSD: A Case Study

Gregory J. Nicosia, PhD.

Presented at the ACEP Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology conference, Baltimore, May 2008.

In this case study a survivor of the Twin Towers collapse of 9/11/01 is treated for prolonged complex PTSD after several years of self-imposed seclusion. Effects of a single session of EFT assessed immediately after treatment demonstrated an elimination of clinically significant scores on the Traumatic Symptom Inventory compared to two pre-treatment assessments. Similar reductions in 4 of 7 subscales of the Personality Assessment Inventory were also evidenced. Twelve treatment sessions over 8 weeks concluded treatment with nearly complete symptom remediation and return to work. A 60 day follow-up PAI testing showed only one clinically elevated scale.

The Effect of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on Psychological Symptoms: A Limited Replication

Dawson Church, PhD.

Presented at Science and Consciousness, the Tenth Annual Energy Psychology Conference, Toronto, Oct 24, 2008.

A study by Rowe (2005) found psychological symptoms to improve, and the results to hold over time, after an EFT workshop. The current study used the same assessment tool, the SA-45, a well-validated brief questionnaire that measures breadth and severity of psychological symptoms. It employed a time-series, within-subjects, repeated measures design. 25 subjects completed the questionnaire before and after the workshop, and again 90 days later. These three data points were used, rather than the 5 data points in the Rowe study, in order to determine if a smaller data set produces a similarly robust result. The SA-45 has two general scales measuring the severity and breadth of psychological symptoms, as well as subscales for anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive behavior, phobic anxiety, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoia, psychotism, and somatization. Despite the small sample size and limited data set, statistically significant results were found for both the general scales, and most of the subscales, with gains maintained at followup.

Measuring Physiological Markers of Emotional Trauma: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study of Mind-Body Therapies

Dawson Church, PhD.

Paper presented at tenth annual ACEP (Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology) conference, May 2008.

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. The current study examines the reverse correlation, to determine whether the treatment of emotional trauma has an effect on physiological function. It examined the range of motion (ROM) of the shoulders of subjects with clinically verified joint impairments, which typically take months or years to resolve, in five different planes of arm movement. Psychological conditions such as anxiety and depression were measured using a 45 question self-assessment, the SA-45. Pain was measured on a 10 point Likert-type scale. Subjects received a single 30 minute intervention after being randomized into either an Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) group (16 subjects) or a Diaphragmatic Breathing (DB) group (18 subjects). Thirteen subjects served as a no treatment baseline control group. Subjects demonstrated improvement in psychological symptoms and ROM in both the DB and EFT groups. Results for pain were better in the EFT group, and further improved on 30 day post-test. ROM for both groups continued to improve post-test, but were greater for the EFT group. This exploratory study found that to achieve statistical significance, an N of 40-60 in each group is required.