The Future of Energy Psychology

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY PSYCHOLOGY

Based on the closing plenary address of the Fifth Annual Energy Psychology Conference
in Toronto, November 1, 2003, delivered by David Feinstein, Ph.D.

It is never easy to predict just how an adolescent will turn out. But the indications are that this young field will go far and influence many. "How will energy psychology impact the average person's inner life, emotional mastery, and personal development? How will it transform the treatment of minor and major psychiatric conditions? What are its implications for business . . . education . . . government . . . family life? How will it influence our relationship with our spirituality? How can it best be harnessed and distributed? All these questions are challenges for the field in the coming years, and this presentation will begin to explore them." From this description in the Conference Program, the following theses and implications were explored in the talk:

Thesis: Empirical investigation will demonstrate that the methods of energy psychology provide a neurologically potent intervention for strengthening the mental habits and attitudes that promote psychological well being and for weakening the mental habits and attitudes that interfere with it. Specifically:

The mechanical stimulation of selected acupuncture points or other energy centers while mentally activating memories that are at the root of negative patterns reduces the neural connections in the amygdala and other brain centers that trigger problematic emotions.

Stimulating other acupuncture points or energy centers while simultaneously activating positive images or affirmations facilitates the formation of neural connections that strengthen those images and affirmations.

Thesis: This second finding, in particular, will result in laypersons and professionals experimenting with energy interventions in all walks of life. The experience that will be gathered will refine the procedures, demonstrate the necessary and sufficient conditions for effective interventions, and identify the powers and limitations of the approach.

Thesis: Related cutting edge areas in mental health will utilize energy interventions to further their impact. For instance, energy interventions for increasing empathy can be used to enhance emotional intelligence, energy interventions for increasing optimism can be used within positive psychology, and energy interventions for decreasing self-negating thoughts can be used within cognitive psychology.

Implications:

Children will be taught energy interventions as routinely as they are taught the basic principles of first aid.

Individuals will be expected to have a reasonable degree of competence in managing problematic emotions such as irrational anger, anxiety, jealousy, and self-hatred.

Couples will be able to reduce reactiveness toward one another, heal past hurts and resentments, and change family-of-origin patterns that interfere with the current relationship.

Therapists, counselors, life coaches, educators, clergy, and human resources personnel will routinely utilize energy methods to help people overcome dysfunctional emotional and psychological patterns, increase health, and enhance peak performance.

Ethical concerns will emerge both in terms of the practitioner's competence and scope of practice issues as well as blatantly manipulative applications, such as the military using energy interventions to make soldiers more cold-blooded in their ability to hurt others.

Although still outside established Western paradigms, the value of energy interventions will come to be recognized within the broader culture, much like meditation and yoga, but the path to this acceptance will be somewhat jagged. At this time, the close of 2003, the field has been largely ignored by the allied health care professions. As research begins to establish its efficacy, there will be a large backlash, particularly within the psychotherapeutic and pharmaceutical establishments, attempting to discredit the early research findings. Eventually, like the 5,000-year-old practice of its ancestor, acupuncture, the field's methods will prevail.