Energy psychology techniques are often associated with clear-cut, symptom-oriented problems, such as fears and phobias. An energy-based treatment approach may, however, also be adapted to facilitating change in the deeper themes that shape a person’s life. The same basic strategies used for treating emotional difficulties and self-defeating behaviors can be applied to working with the core beliefs that sometimes underlie these problems. That is the focus of this module.

A core belief is a fundamental and often unquestioned premise around which a person’s established patterns of thought and behavior become organized.

A research program conducted by psychologist Seymour Epstein at Harvard University distinguished between "low order" and "high order" postulates within a person’s "implicit [held and understood, but not necessarily articulated] theory of reality"

Lower order postulates, such as the belief that advertising will improve professional success, are quite specific and can usually be changed without jeopardizing the personality structure.

Higher order postulates govern a person's fundamental concerns, such as sense of safety in the world, worthiness, relatedness to others, and purpose in life. These are what we are referring to as "core beliefs."

Changes in core beliefs, or higher order postulates, are often destabilizing because they are broad generalizations that are central to the individual's entire scheme of reality. But changes in one’s core beliefs are often necessary for significant personal transformation.

A variety of circumstances may dictate that a core belief needs to be a focus of treatment:

When an emotional or behavioral problem does not respond to the basic protocol you have learned to this point, or does respond but the gains do not hold, an underlying core belief that is maintaining the symptom may require attention.

When a client, through spontaneous insight, introspection, or the therapeutic process, identifies a deep belief that is irrational or maladaptive yet persistent, transforming this belief may become a focus of treatment.

Adhering to an outdated or dysfunctional pattern of thought does not necessarily lead to clear-cut psychological symptoms. At a minimum, however, core beliefs that are not in alignment with a person’s needs, potentials, and circumstances tend to cause errors in judgment, nonadaptive lifestyle decisions, and self-defeating patterns of behavior.

Sometimes the symptoms that bring a person to seek help will not fully respond to treatment until a core belief has shifted. Psychological symptoms frequently trace to beliefs that emerged from early traumatic or other difficult experiences. If someone deeply believes he or she is unlovable, for instance, or that people who love you hurt you, these beliefs will color the person’s relationships until they have been addressed. A facility for working with the energetic structure of a client’s core beliefs can be a tremendously valuable clinical tool.

Aspects and core beliefs are similar because each may be below the surface of the presenting problem yet require attention if the problem is to be fully resolved. They differ in that aspects can be worked with as memories of past experiences while core beliefs are premises around which subsequent experience is organized.

ASPECTS: A psychological problem may have multiple aspects. Aspects include:

Also see the case example illustrating aspects in the Closing Phases module

CORE BELIEFS: Habitual patterns of thought and behavior that persist even though they are obviously dysfunctional often trace to core beliefs, fundamental and often unnamed premises around which the established patterns are organized.

To recognize and examine a dysfunctional core belief is often a first step toward transforming it.

Shifting the energetic structure that supports the core belief, however, is often the difference between living according to a core belief one wishes one could change and actually changing it.

Shifting the energetic structure that supports a dysfunctional core belief is the topic of this module.

CORE BELIEFS that are interfering with treatment progress or keeping a client from attaining other goals will generally be revealed through interviewing methods that lead to a focused discussion of the client’s difficulties in reaching the desired outcomes.

They may also become evident through the client’s dreams, introspection, and spontaneous insights.

Other techniques for uncovering dimensions of the problem that are outside the client’s typical awareness, such as dream work, hypnosis, imagery methods, and "automatic writing" (focus on a topic and begin writing for, say 10 minutes, no pauses), may expose relevant core beliefs as well.

Core beliefs that are interfering with a client’s progress will tend to reveal themselves organically during the course of treatment or in response to the practitioner’s curiosity-driven questions. These can be verified with an energy check.

Sometimes, however, it can be useful in zeroing into the core belief that underlies the presenting problem to show the client the list of core beliefs.

After establishing an energy check, neurological disorganization and global psychological   reversals are identified and corrected as necessary.

After a dysfunctional core belief has been identified in words that describe the way the client holds that belief (negative or self-limiting wording), it is also worded in the positive.

That is, a self-limiting core belief such as "Everything bad that happens around me is my fault" is also framed in a desired, self-affirming wording, such as "I do my best, and that’s plenty good." "I am unlovable," stated in its opposite, might be as simple as "I am lovable and worthy of love."

Both the positive and negative wordings are used in working with core beliefs.

Once the core belief needing attention has been identified, and a positive belief that counters it has been articulated, a rating is taken of the degree to which the client believes the desired statement.

As in the Outcome Projection Procedure, a positive belief scale (PBS) can be established from 0 to 10, on the continuum of how much the client feels the positive belief to be true at that moment. A rating of 0 means it does not feel true at all, 10 means it feels completely true.

An energy check can be used to verify the subjective PBS rating, similar to the way a MUD (muscular units of distress) check can verify a SUD rating.

If the client rates the PBS as a 3, the client might say "It’s a 3" (or "It’s more than a 3" or "It’s less than a 3"), immediately followed by a check of the indicator muscle.

Similar to SUD and MUD ratings, PBS ratings are taken intermittently throughout the treatment to gauge and guide the process.

There is a particular type of psychological reversal (PR) that can block the client’s disengagement from the negative belief. This type of PR is oriented around the client’s relationship to the "belief" itself and may be addressed directly.

If the core belief is that the client is unworthy of love, the wording to check for the PR might be in the form of, "I want to believe I’m worthy of love."

If an indicator muscle stays firm after this statement, the PR is not present; if it loses its firmness, the PR is indicated. It could also be worded the opposite way.

If a statement such as "I want to continue to believe that I am unworthy of love" causes an indicator muscle to stay firm, the PR is also indicated.

A PR around the criterion of "possibility" might be worded, "It’s not possible for me to believe that I’m worthy of love." If the indicator muscle stays strong, the PR is indicated. Variations of this statement can be formulated around the concepts of "safety," "safety for others," "deservedness," "identity," etc.

The same basic strategy you have already learned for working with other kinds of psychological reversals is used with PRs that affect core beliefs.

1. Begins with "Even if" or "Even though"

2. Describes or acknowledge the target problem

3. Ends with words similar to "I deeply love and accept myself," "I fully love and accept myself," etc.

As with other types of PR, the affirmation uses qualifiers and syntax that mirror the format of the same statement used to energy check for the psychological reversal being addressed.

The same basic energy interventions for working with any other kind of PR may be used:

Any of these may be used. Each is likely to work. If a subsequent energy check to determine if the PR has been resolved shows that it has not been, try another energy intervention or explore further to find whether the wording of the affirmation needs to be revised.

The steps for transforming a core belief are identical to working with other problem states. You might begin with a relatively simple protocol, such as the EFT method outlined in the Basic Basics module. As need dictates, you can work up to the procedures described in the Advanced Meridian Treatments module. In briefest summary, with the negative core belief "locked in," the steps in applying the Advanced Meridian Treatment approach with a core belief include:

LEG LOCK: Prior to the leg lock, the client sits or stands comfortably and attunes to the psychological issue. A SUD rating is usually requested and an energy check verifies that the problem state has been attuned.

The thought field will remain active as long as this position is maintained. This can be verified from time to time with an energy check (an indicator muscle will lose its firmness when the negative core belief is locked in).

THIRD EYE UP: Prior to the "third eye up," the client attunes to the psychological issue. A SUD rating is usually requested and an energy check verifies that the problem state has been attuned.

The thought field will remain active for a period that will vary depending upon several factors. Continued resonance with the problem state can be verified from time to time with an energy check (an indicator muscle will lose its firmness when the negative core belief is locked in), and the problem state can be re-accessed and tapped in again.

Because core beliefs are embedded in the person’s life structure and sense of self, they can be quite difficult to change. The procedures presented so far in this module are often effective, but additional methods and understanding may also be required.

By attending closely to the process of working with a core belief, the therapist may be able to innovate a procedure that attunes the treatment so even a highly recalcitrant core belief is transformed. The incident that led to a decision that is at the basis of the core belief can be a productive area to focus upon.

Core beliefs can often be traced back to a moment in time that involved a decision. The person might have decided that it is not safe to be smart after a triumph in the classroom was followed by a sound beating from the class bully and pointed jibes about being a show-off.

An energy technique that could be used in this situation might begin with an alarm point check to identify the meridians that become disturbed when the memory is accessed. These would be treated. The client is then guided in making a new decision in the face of the same circumstances. Another set of alarm point checks indicate which meridians become disturbed while the new decision is brought to mind, and each is treated.

As always, the wording should be attuned to the emotions involved with the disturbed meridians. Psychological reversals might need to be resolved along the way. Anchoring techniques might be used once none of the meridians shows a disturbance when the new decision is accessed.

The possible permutations are endless, but the basic strategy of associating a more wholesome core belief to an undisturbed response in the energy system remains the guiding principle.

Other ways of working with core beliefs might involve a combination of energy methods with more psychodynamically-oriented techniques. The module on Energy Interventions and Other Forms of Psychotherapy explores ways of combining an energy approach with more conventional forms of psychotherapy.