Conversely EFT actually works best when the patient is stressed (or in the emotion). That’s why the spider man takes his patients to the Snake/spider enclosure for treatment… to induce the fear in order to reduce it.

Establishing the precise* problem and then really getting into the “feeling of it” seems to work best. Easy as falling off a log for we creatives with over active imaginations (grin)… probably not so easy for anyone who has a hard time imagining stuff or putting themselves mentally into the picture. From what I can gather though… people are seeing vast improvements using EFT and astounding stories prevail.

Re the animal kingdom. I believe humans are losing touch with their natural instinct. Whether it is a genetic thing… (adaption – use it or lose it)… or whether it’s conditioning. Humans may be street smart these days… but they’d never cut it in the jungle! LOL

Have been watching a flock of pelicans sail up and down the waterfront where I walk each day. They amaze me how they stay in perfect unison. They even sleep in neat groups with their heads all tilted the same way. It’s fascinating.

Last week one was out on it’s own unable to hold it’s head up out of the water. It was truly a pitiful sight… obviously suffering and probably dying… yet cast out by the others. (In this way humans are probably not much different) Nature can be cruel.

I believe the secret to success with EFT is to isolate the “precise” issue in the set-up statement. Nailing the emotion that goes hand in glove with the issue or problem is probably the trickiest part… that’s why the [spider guy] treats his patients in the Snake and Spider Enclosure at Currumbin Sanctuary. It sounds unorthodox… but clearly it works! By the end of the hour he has his patients patting the taranchulas! (((chuckles)))

I have done an EFT session before and Deb is a big a believer in it. Something certainly happens with the reprogramming of the brain through the process. I think that like most alternative treatments, you need to do a number of sessions and give it time to work. But surely it is better than taking a pill. Good on you for writing about it. As always I truly enjoy your blog and the time for that coffee is upon us. I will email you in the other world to set up a date!!! Keep up the beautiful work.

Kindest regards,
Andrew

Yes it’s interesting that you draw the parallel with hypnosis… as it was hypnosis that I had originally thought would be the best help for the person with the spider phobia. I hadn’t heard of EFT either.

But what the practitioner told me was that EFT was fast becoming the treatment of choice over hypnosis for Practitioners like him (and now Psychologists) for all manner of emotional issues.

The fact that it can be self administered is appealing on all levels… and turns the practice of it into a personal discipline (not unlike meditation) fully controlled by the person… rather than a treatment that a Practitioner delivers.

This following explanation of EFT describes it’s history rather well:

QUOTE
“The forerunner of EFT was a therapy called Thought Field Therapy (or TFT). This was formulated by psychologist Dr Roger Callahan.

Around 1980 Dr Callahan was working with a client who had an intense phobia about water. He had been working with her for about 18 months and she was managing her fear (and could approach water) but the fear was still there. Her improvement was minimal.

One day she came to see him with a stomach ache. He had been learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine (and acupuncture) and wondered what would happen if he tapped on the end point of the Stomach meridian.

(A brief intro to meridians)

Meridians are central to Chinese Medicine. They are pathways in the body, which energy flows along. Meridian are usually associated with an organ, so there are meridians for Stomach, Spleen, Gall Bladder, Liver and others.

Suddenly the woman jumped up and announced “it’s gone!”

Dr Callahan thought she meant the stomach ache… so was surprised and horrified when she ran out of the room and down towards his pool. He ran after her and she called back “Don’t worry, Doctor, I know I can’t swim”. Her fear of water was gone… never to return. But notice that her common sense didn’t disappear with it!

So Dr Callahan started working with the meridians and developed tapping protocols for many emotional conditions. His system required a therapist to diagnose the nature of the emotional problem and apply an exact sequence of tapping points, which was different for each problem.

Then along came Gary Craig… a Stanford trained Engineer and Personal Coach.

He learnt the TFT (thought field therapy) system and was impressed by it’s capabilities. But he felt it should be available to everybody… without having to see a therapist every time. So he surmised that if you repeatedly went through all of the tapping points that were used in TFT… regardless of the problem… it would still work.

He developed the EFT algorithm which uses the same points for everything.

His system became phenomenally successful… and has been in use since the early 1990′s” UNQUOTE

It’s fascinating stuff. But more importantly… it works. There have now been many adaptations of Gary Craig’s original sequence… but all seem to work in their own mysterious way!