Energy Psychology  - The Missing Link in Healing 
(this article first appeared in the December, 2000 issue of Carolina Health and Healing)
 

Why Do We Get Sick? And How Can We Heal?

Traditional health practitioners suggest that genetics, germs, or viruses make us sick. Alternative practitioners refer to biological terrain. Both offer treatments based on some form of external medicine: prescriptive drugs, herbs, homeopathy, etc. While such treatment may be helpful, we often find that the problem returns later, or a new one arises. So how can we create lasting healing?

The answers to these questions may lie, not in the field of medicine, but in psychology. And it may be in the new field known as Energy Psychology that we’ll find the missing link to healing: for energy is the bridge between body and mind.

Based on the same principles as acupuncture, Energy Psychology works by tapping (or holding) specific meridian points while focusing on a psychological problem. Therapists who have been trained in these techniques are able to help their clients rapidly release countless issues, including trauma, panic, phobias, addictive urges,, anxiety, and many others. Instead of spending years in traditional therapy talking about problems, many clients are able to quickly and easily release them, sometimes in just a few sessions, using the tapping techniques.

Developed by psychologist Roger Callahan, Thought-Field Therapy™ was the first of many energy-based psychotherapies which are now widely used, including the Emotional Freedom Technique™ and the Tapas Acupressure Technique™. Callahan’s premise is that issues such as trauma, phobias, anxiety, etc., are the result of perturbations, disruptions, in our energy field. As we tap on specific acupuncture points, these blocks are cleared, and the problem literally dissolves away.

In my work as a Spiritual Therapist, I often see clients who are dealing with illness, or some form of physical problem, in addition to their emotional issues. Using the techniques of Energy Psychology, relief from physical symptoms frequently follows the emotional healing, demonstrating the inextricable connection between mind and body.

We have known for some time now that emotions affect the chemistry of the body. We also know that the worries and stresses of the mind affect neurological and brain function, as well as the immune system. In fact, an entirely new field, psycho-neuroimmunology, has arisen to address the intricate complexities of the body/mind system.

The connection between physical symptoms and emotional issues is sometimes fairly obvious, as when a woman who has recurring sore throats also has difficulty expressing her feelings. Or a man who is unable to stand up for himself confesses that he’s always had trouble with his feet. Other times the connection between the state of mind and the body’s condition is more subtle, requiring us to look more deeply.

Whether we focus on a specific physical condition, or on psychological problems such as panic, phobias, trauma, or depression, we generally find the origins of these present-day problems in our early formative years (even in infancy). As we clear the outer layers of the problem, we soon come to the heart of the matter; an experience early in life where we felt unloved, not listened to, rejected, abandoned, or abused in some way. This seems to be the defining moment, when deep core beliefs become established, beliefs such as “I’m not good enough,” or “I can’t get the love I need,” or “The world is an unsafe place.” As clients recall the emotional pain of this experience, they report a feeling of shutting down inside, hold back, or tightening up. Often this is accompanied by a body sensation, such as tightness in the chest, being unable to breathe deeply, a twisting in the stomach or a squeezing in the brain.

This combination of emotional and physical reactions appears to create a traumatic imprint, a disruption in the energy system, which not only affects our sense of self and subsequent personality development, it also affects the very cells of our body, and our future health. For, as our life force is shut down, the body is deprived of the energy it needs to function in a truly healthy and vital way. Chronic muscular tension may affect the young child’s developing bond structure, continual internal “tightening” may cause organic dysfunction, “holding back” may lead to a compromised immune system. Thus, the stage is set for various ailments, or even a life threatening illness.

As we use the tapping techniques of Energy Psychology to release these core beliefs, clients say they can feel a loosening in their body, internal sensations of lightness, openness, increased clarity and awareness.  With this kind of deep inner healing experience, chronic physical problems often spontaneously clear up. Other illnesses may begin to respond to treatment more readily. Almost always, there is an increase in energy and general well-being.