Energy Psychology

Energy Psychology

Grounded in ancient healing traditions and contemporary biophysics, the emerging field of Energy Psychology encompasses a variety of mind-body techniques now being used by health care professionals and psychologists worldwide. Safe and simple enough even for children to learn and use, these techniques offer the potential for rapid, dramatic, and lasting change in one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Many practitioners feel Energy Psychology is now at the “cutting edge” in terms of where the field itself is going and where some of the most exciting and original research is being done. That being said, most people, even many psychologists, still know little or nothing about it. However, that has started to change as more and more practitioners are learning about and using these new methods and techniques—and achieving astonishing results.

How Energy Psychology Works

Generally speaking, Energy Psychology combines cognitive interventions (e.g. holding some thought, feeling, or traumatic memory in mind) with specific interventions to rebalance components of the human energy field (e.g., energy meridians) in order to quickly facilitate a positive change. 

The basic principal being that if you hold a disturbing thought or feeling in mind and then balance the energy system associated with that thought or feeling, that particular thought or feeling will no longer be disturbing – no matter how vivid or compelling it was only moments ago.

Forms of Energy Psychology

Several forms of Energy Psychology have been found to be particularly suited for clinical work. One of these forms, developed by Psychologist Roger Callahan 35 years ago, is called Thought Field Therapy or TFT. It involves verbally expressing thoughts or feelings — or just thinking about one’s problems — while tapping with your fingertips on specific meridian points on the body. 

Sometimes called “acupuncture without needles,” Callahan’s method was simplified still further by Gary Craig who renamed it the Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. It's this method — or variations on it — that I use in my practice with clients who are open to it. In my own clinical experience — involving hundreds of clients and thousands of individual treatments over the past 25 years — these techniques have proven to be remarkably helpful with almost every client willing to give them a try.