Consulting with some 30 of the field’s leaders and innovators while developing Energy  Psychology Interactive was, among other things, a study of the areas in which energy psychology practitioners agree and disagree. Major differences exist not only in the clinical procedures that are used but also in the explanations of the phenomena that are observed. The great paradox about energy psychology in its current stage of development, in fact, is that never before has a method emerged from psychology that is so widely practiced and so poorly understood.

The existing clinical evidence justifies making the following statement to clients and colleagues:

"The techniques of energy psychology appear to yield rapid positive results in anxiety-related cases, even those that other treatments have not been able to substantially help, at least 80 percent of the time."

What do you believe? (Select anywhere on the line; it is not either/or.)

Agree_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Disagree

Eighty percent of the energy-oriented psychotherapists agreed that the existing clinical evidence supports the statement that strong efficacy has been demonstrated; fifteen percent disagreed; and 5 percent were closer to the middle or offered no opinion (the " offered no opinion" category includes those who answered that they did not know as well as those who did not indicate an answer for a given question).

When we have figured out exactly what is going on within energy psychology—when we understand how stimulating certain points helps with anxiety as precisely as we understand how insulin shots help with diabetes—what will the essential, underlying, critical mechanism be:

Primarily Mechanical - tapping and other physical interventions initiate biochemical and electromagnetic processes that interrupt and reprogram the biochemical and electromagnetic sequences that trigger disturbed emotional responses.

Primarily beyond the Mechanical - the physical interventions are secondary—a bridge through which there is an interchange of healing energies, an evocation of spiritual forces, or the initiation of other phenomenon that cannot be fully explained in biochemical and electromagnetic terms but which produce the clinical outcomes.

In the survey, only 1 percent of the energy therapists believed the primary therapeutic ingredient can be explained in exclusively biochemical/electrical terms; 70 percent believed the essential ingredient is not mechanical at all; 20 percent thought it is a combination of biochemical and electromagnetic mechanisms with processes that cannot be explained in mechanical terms alone; 9 percent did not offer an opinion.

Specific alpha, beta, and theta wave ratios in given parts of the brain are markers of anxiety. In cases where acupoint tapping is followed by a decrease of anxiety, a corresponding normalization of brain wave ratios is found. In samples from the South American studies, the wave normalization tended to persist at one-year follow-up, although the self-application of tapping methods may have helped maintain the improvements. A small minority of practitioners think that this or another related biochemical/electromagnetic explanation provides an adequate accounting of the observed treatment effects. A striking 90 percent felt, based on their experiences, that other explanations are necessary.

Several clinical phenomena that are frequently observed and are not explained according to the neurological sequence described above include:

1. Within the set of acupoints usually used within the field of energy psychology, assessing and stimulating the points that are specific to the problem is critical at least 10 percent of the time for achieving the desired outcome in energy psychology treatments (i.e., there are "effective points" and "ineffective points").

2. The order in which the points are stimulated is critical at least 10 percent of the time for achieving the desired outcome.

3. The inclusion of "brain balancing procedures," such as the Nine Gamut Procedure, is critical at least 10 percent of the time for achieving the desired outcome.

In the survey, 35 percent agreed that there are "effective" and "ineffective" points, 35 percent felt that virtually any subset of the acupoints typically used within energy psychology could bring about the therapeutic effect, and 30 percent were in the middle or offered no opinion. The identical percentages were found in relationship to the importance of the order in which the points were stimulated, with 35 percent feeling that it mattered and 35 percent feeling it did not matter. Regarding the importance of introducing techniques into the treatment protocol designed to balance the cerebral hemispheres, 45 percent felt such methods were critical in a reasonable proportion of cases, 20 percent felt they were not, and 35 percent were in the middle or offered no opinion.

In the 1980s, procedures for addressing psychological issues drawing upon methods from Applied Kinesiology were independently established by psychologist Roger Callahan and psychiatrist John Diamond. So many variations on their early formulations appear to yield favorable clinical outcomes, however, that it is very difficult to know which of the procedures are the "essential ingredients." Informal clinical trials in the South American studies, varying the order of points, the number of points, which points, the inclusion or exclusion of the Nine Gamut Procedure, et cetera, all produced similar results with most but not all anxiety disorders.

1. Energy checking (also called muscle testing) is a critical tool in energy psychology.

2. Energy checking, if properly applied, yields reliable information about the state of a meridian.

3. Energy checking, if properly applied, yields reliable information (at least 80 percent of the time—other sources of information should also always be used) about questions that go beyond the immediate meridian response, such as "there are no other psychological reversals that need to be dealt with at this time," "Tapping is the treatment of choice for this problem," or "this growth is non-malignant."

4. In a reasonable proportion of cases, say at least 10 percent, the treatment will be more effective and faster if, using techniques such as checking indicator muscles, you diagnose which meridians are disturbed when the problem is activated and focus the treatment on those meridians.

In the survey, 40 percent felt that energy checking is a critical tool in energy psychology, 30 percent felt it is not, and 30 percent were in the middle or offered no opinion. Sixty percent believed that energy checking could accurately assess the state of a meridian, less than 1 percent disagreed, with the remainder saying they were in the middle or did not know. Fifty percent believed that energy checking could also yield reliable answers to questions that go beyond the immediate meridian response, 10 percent disagreed, and 40 percent were in the middle or offered no opinion. Twenty percent felt it was important in a reasonable proportion of cases to assess and treat the specific meridians involved in the problem, 20 percent did not, 40 percent were in the middle, and 20 percent offered no opinion.

Almost all energy-oriented psychotherapists agree that stimulating at least one of several standard sets of pre-selected treatment points while a psychological problem is mentally accessed will resolve the problem in some proportion of the cases. When it does not, there are strong differences in what the next steps should be. Some refocus on the formulation of the problem; some next look to break it down into its aspects; others recheck for psychological reversals, neurological disorganization, or "energetically toxic" substances that might be interfering. Still others energy check to identify which meridians are involved with the problem, determine which of the many points on those meridians are most likely to correct the problem, and use these points in the subsequent treatment.

Those who diagnose and stimulate specific meridians believe that they are able to focus the treatment in a way that substantially improves clinical success, particularly with complex or entrenched problems. Others believe that stimulating the same carefully selected points in all cases is adequate, arguing that since all the meridians are systemically connected, activating key points within the meridian system activates the entire system.

In theory, energy checking allows for a quick and accurate assessment of the energy flow in a particular meridian or energy pathway. Meridian flow can be affected when a psychological problem is accessed. Some practitioners find it is more effective, at least in some cases, to focus treatment on the specific meridians that are affected while the psychological problem is active. Energy checking is a primary means used for identifying such meridian disturbances.

This is where the "art" comes in. Experienced practitioners believe such safeguards and precision are possible and that the procedure can be used quite reliably to determine how the energies are flowing through specific meridians. But caution is also advised, and many practitioners who confidently use the procedure still refrain from making clinical decisions based on checking muscles alone. They emphasize that clinical intuition and other indicators should always be given at least as much credibility as an energy test.

Roger Callahan postulated that mental activity is influenced by "thought fields" which are comprised of energy and which carry information. In this formulation, psychological problems are caused by disturbances or "perturbations" in the thought field which then impact the neurochemical and cognitive processes that lead to a disturbing emotion. Are you more inclined to believe that:

1. A "thought field" is a metaphor which is being used to attempt to explain the essentially neurological, electromagnetic, and cognitive processes involved in emotional problems.
    

2. A "thought field" is not just a metaphor but exists in time and space, much as do magnetic and gravitational fields.

Approximately 90 percent of the group felt that thought fields exist in time and space. Less than 1 percent disagreed, with the remainder not expressing an opinion.

1. One person’s thoughts and intentions can influence other people or the environment from a distance.

2. There are healing forces in the universe that can be channeled into the treatment setting through prayer, ritual, or focused intention.

3. You cannot go too deep into energy work without getting into spiritual questions.

In the survey, 95 percent agreed that thoughts and intention could influence other people or the environment from a distance and 90 percent agreed that healing forces could be channeled into the treatment setting. Less than 1 percent disagreed with either statement. Seventy percent felt you cannot go too deep into energy work without getting into spiritual questions, 5 percent disagreed, and 25 percent were in the middle or offered no opinion.

Well-controlled double-blind studies, published in peer-reviewed medical journals, indicating that cardiac patients who were prayed for had a better prognosis than those who were not, disturb the prevailing paradigm. Other studies show that intention as well as prayer impacts physical events, from electronic instruments to the chemistry of the person’s DNA on a slide 400 miles away. By sending calming or disturbing thoughts to someone in another room, individuals can influence that person’s galvanic skin response as well as other measures of relaxation and agitation. Through mental focus, individuals can impact the growth rate of geraniums as well as enzyme activity in a test tube.

All of these experiments underline the need for a concept that bridges thought and physical events. The energy fields or thought fields postulated within energy psychology provide such a concept and are consistent with formulations from other disciplines. Not only does this suggest that the therapist’s caring and intentions physically influence the clinical atmosphere, procedures designed to directly impact the energy field that is involved with the problem might not be as bizarre as they may seem when viewed through traditional paradigms.

Subtle or unexpected or difficult-to-explain influences of the client and the therapist upon one another have long been recognized and described using terms such as transference, counter-transference, and projective identification. A psychiatrist known for her success in helping children who have been traumatized described how she suspects a child has been abused if she herself begins to have fantasies of abusing the child. Which explanation makes the most sense to you:

Less than one percent felt that subtle cues fully account for the psychiatrist’s ability to identify child abuse based on her own fantasies. Eighty-five percent believed an energetic exchange that provides information is involved.

Role expectations and subtle cues are far more powerful than most people realize. Both clinical observation and well-controlled social psychology experiments demonstrate this impressively and conclusively. However, other dynamics may also be involved. The magnetic field produced by the heart can be detected anywhere on the surface of the body and also extends a number of feet away from the body, going out in all directions. When two people are within conversational distance, fluctuations in the heart signal of one correspond with fluctuations in the brain waves of the other. An even stronger relationship is found in the way the heart signals and brain waves of healers fluctuate with those of their clients. Information is being exchanged at a physical if often subconscious level. This information might serve as one source of "clinical intuition." Many intriguing experiments of this nature have been reported by the Institute of HeartMath in California and the Human Energy Systems Laboratory at the University of Arizona.

Virginia Larson, a psychologist trained by Rollo May, describes such attunement as "psychotherapeutic resonance." She tells the story that alerted her to this dynamic:

Each meridian tends to be associated with a particular emotion or theme, and you can significantly enhance the therapy if you use a verbal affirmation targeted for this emotion or theme at the same time you apply the energy intervention for that meridian.

Eighty percent agreed that specific meridians are associated with particular emotions or themes and that understanding these relationships is clinically relevant. Less than 1 percent disagreed, with 19 percent in the middle or offering no opinion.

Some practitioners are particularly taken by the elegance of energy treatments. Mentally access the problem that causes a disturbed emotional response, stimulate a set of points on the surface of the skin, and the disturbed emotional response is permanently reprogrammed. No insight required. No messy emotions to process. Just tap them away.

Ten percent were inclined to treat the problem without examining its meaning. Fifteen percent would tend to first examine the issue in depth. Sixty-five percent were in the middle and 10 percent did not offer an opinion. Parenthetically, among lay people who self-apply energy interventions, a far larger proportion undoubtedly does so before examining the target problem in depth.

Issues concerning the importance of clinical insight emerge not only with energy interventions but also in other physically based psychological interventions, such as in the decision to prescribe psychiatric medication. It is gratifying to be able to provide a "quick fix." Clients like this. Therapists like it. Clinical outcomes are often satisfactory. A large proportion of therapists, however, believe that many of the emotions people want to overcome, such as grief or anger, play a constructive role in the client’s psychic ecology and need to be fully processed rather than short-circuited by "cutting them off at the energies."

These clinicians routinely devote substantial time and attention to examining the role of the problem in the person’s life prior to any energy interventions. Some, on the other hand, feel there is no concern about robbing a person of needed insight or lessons by "tapping away" unwanted emotional responses. They point out that the requirements for psychological maturation are not so easily cheated: life has a way of enforcing the necessary steps no matter how hard a person may try to circumvent them. Nor is it that easy to tap away emotions that are intricately woven into a larger issue without examining and understanding that larger issue and its various aspects.

1. Neurological Disorganization: Correcting for neurological disorganization is critical in at least 10 percent of cases before other energy interventions will yield the desired results.

2. Psychological Reversals: Correcting for psychological reversals is critical in at least 10 percent of cases before other energy interventions will yield the desired results.

3. Energetically Toxic Substances: Addressing "energy toxins" in the client’s environment is critical in at least 10 percent of cases where other energy interventions are not yielding the desired results.

Forty-five percent felt it is sometimes critical to correct for neurological disorganization, no one disagreed, 35 percent were in the middle, and 20 percent offered no opinion. Eighty-five percent felt that corrections for psychological reversals are sometimes important, 1 percent felt they are not, and 14 percent were in the middle or offered no opinion. Forty percent felt that corrections for energy toxins are sometimes critical, 60 percent were in the middle.

Neurological disorganization, psychological reversals, and energetically toxic substances are terms used primarily within energy psychology. The relative importance placed on each varies considerably from practitioner to practitioner. Other healing modalities often address corresponding dynamics using their own terminology.

Most psychotherapists, for instance, stay attuned for internal conflicts the client might have or develop about the treatment goal (the essential dynamic in a psychological reversal). Such conflict, when it arises, must be addressed in one way or another for treatment to proceed effectively, regardless of the treatment approach. Energy psychology seems to provide a surprisingly simple and straightforward method for resolving the energetic as well as cognitive dimensions of conflict around a treatment goal.

2. In at least the occasional case, the presenting problem will never be fully resolved until a past life issue has been resolved.

Sixty percent in the survey were inclined to begin with the current problem, 10 percent on formative events, and 30 percent reported being in the middle. Thirty percent believed that, for at least some patients, past life issues must be treated before the presenting problem can be resolved; 10 percent disagreed; 45 percent indicated that they were closer to the middle; and 15 percent did not offer an opinion.

Energy psychology, in its most basic format, is psychodynamically atheoretical. It is not rooted in any particular assumptions about the relative roles of childhood experience, genetics, or environment in the origin of psychological problems. Again, as with traditional Chinese medicine, its most venerable ancestor, the theoretical core of energy psychology is:

However, many clinicians and non-clinicians believe that understanding current issues and problems in the context of one’s life story is an essential part of the human journey. Using energy interventions like a drug for suppressing problems that will fester and later emerge, often more urgently and destructively, has been identified as a potential hazard of these potent techniques. With serious psychological disturbances, in particular, great caution must be exercised regarding the role of the past. Focusing on a current life difficulty with someone who has been multiply traumatized, for instance, may unearth emotional damage that an inexperienced practitioner is not prepared to address. For these, as well as numerous other reasons, many of the energy therapists who helped in the development of EPI conduct a thorough clinical interview before commencing with energy treatments, especially when serious disturbances are suspected. Some of these practitioners favor the strategy of energetically resolving emotional problems from the past, one by one, before current problems are directly confronted.

Less than 1 percent of those in the survey limit treatment to anxiety-related disorders only. About 15 percent indicated that they use the methods with a broader range of issues than anxiety-related disorders but not with every presenting problem. Approximately 85 percent reported that they have found ways to apply the methods to virtually any psychological problem or goal.

In the South American study, initial impressions were that energy interventions are more effective than other therapies for treating anxiety-related disorders and for working with specific emotions, such as excessive anger, guilt, jealousy, fear, grief, or shame. Energy interventions were considered to be approximately as effective as other therapies in treating mild to moderate reactive depression, learning skills and motor skills disorders, substance abuse disorders, and eating disorders. For these diagnoses, the South American team attempts to integrate the strengths of energy methods with the strengths of other selected therapies. Energy interventions were considered less effective than other therapies for major depression, bipolar disorders, personality disorders, dissociative identity disorder, and psychotic disorders. The South American group tends to use energy methods only as an adjunctive therapy for these diagnoses. However, the energy therapy community is continually reporting in its literature and professional meetings new strategies for more effectively applying energy interventions for every conceivable diagnostic category. In addition, the impressions from the South American study are based on very early observations, are continually being refined, and also may not generalize to other contexts.

1. The meridians are generally the most important energy system for energy-based interventions.

Agree_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Disagree

2. The chakras are generally the most important energy system for energy-based interventions.

Agree_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Disagree

3. It is sometimes important to assess which energy system—meridian, chakras, aura, radiant circuits, basic grid—is most involved with the problem before formulating an intervention.

Agree_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Disagree

4. If you thoroughly balance one of the systems, say the meridians or the chakras, the other energy systems will generally become balanced in a chain-like reaction.

Agree_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Disagree

Fifty-five percent were in the middle regarding the relative importance of the meridians, with only 1 percent stating they were the most important system, 25 percent stating they were not, and 19 percent not offering an opinion. Sixty-five percent were in the middle regarding the importance of the chakras, with no one saying they were the most important system, about 2 percent stating they were not, and 33 percent not offering an opinion. Fifteen percent felt it is important to assess which system to treat first, 15 percent did not, 60 percent were in the middle, and 10 percent did not offer an opinion. Twenty percent believe that bringing one energy system into balance will balance other systems in a chain-like reaction, 55 percent did not, and 25 percent were in the middle or did not offer an opinion.

Reports from societies throughout history, as well as from people who clairvoyantly see or sense the body’s energies, suggest that many interrelated energy systems affect health, psychological states, and well being. At least eight discrete energies have been identified in one society or healing tradition or another. Most well known within Western culture are the meridians, the chakras, and the aura or biofield. Others include the basic grid, the five elements or five rhythms, the Celtic weave, the triple warmer system, and the strange flows or radiant circuits.

People who provide the public with energy psychology sessions for a fee should be licensed psychotherapists or other health care professionals who have been trained in depth in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems.

Twenty percent of those surveyed felt that practitioners should be licensed, 25 percent did not, and 55 percent were in the middle.

While the methods are rapidly entering the public domain, this does not mean that standards, competence, and responsibility become less important. They, in fact, become more important. If you are offering services to the public, inform yourself, at a minimum, about issues such as scope of practice, informed consent, suicide risk assessment, and appropriate record-keeping within your professional context. Scope of practice, for instance, means that you stay within your area of competence. Just because you helped someone overcome an allergy to strawberries does not make you an allergy doctor. Just because you helped your neighbor shrink a growth on his back does not make you a cancer specialist. Just because you helped your mother-in-law overcome her depression after the canary died does not make you a bereavement counselor or qualify you to treat bipolar disorder. Many key professional issues are thoughtfully addressed in the American Professional Agency’s newsletter on risk management for psychologists, called Insight. You can download current and back issues free, at www.americanprofessional.com/insight.htm.

It seems energy psychology is here to stay and, like it or not, it will not just be in the hands of professionals. So far, this has not thrilled the professions. But the professions are shooting themselves in the credibility foot by being the last to recognize that these methods are both effective and unusually rapid. And even if the lay public is learning the methods on their own, this does not mean that mental health professionals need be bypassed. They can and will play a crucial role as energy methods become more widely distributed. Here are four things you can do as a professional psychotherapist to stay relevant:

In brief, if you can deliver a versatile, competent, and well-informed approach to energy psychology, you can freely encourage the democratic distribution of these methods without ever becoming irrelevant. You may not always get the easiest cases, but the base of people who are looking for expert assistance with the methods emerging from energy psychology will only multiply.