Emotional Freedom
Techniques for Dealing with Physical and Emotional Distress
by Garry A. Flint, Ph.D.
Copyright 2010 Garry A. Flint, Ph.D.,
All rights reserved.
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ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0030-3
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Acknowledgments
This book sums up the observations and work of Gary Craig and Adrienne Fowlie (1995), who developed and successfully taught Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) in peak performance seminars for a number of years. This book presents these Emotional Freedom Techniques.
These methods are largely an extension of the work described by Roger Callahan (1981, 1985, 1991, 2001) and James Durlacher (1995). Callahan developed his techniques from the work of George Goodheart (1964-78). Goodheart's work is summarized by David Walther (1981, 1988). Callahan creatively and brilliantly developed this highly effective treatment that works for most mental issues. He called this therapy Callahan Techniques™, but later, changed the name to Thought Field Therapy™. Thought Field Therapy™ was praised by Charles Figley and Joyce Carbonell in their study of effective treatments of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Figley and Carbonell, 1996). As compared to other treatment techniques, he noted that Thought Field Therapy™ is extraordinarily powerful, can be taught to nearly anyone, appears to do no harm, does not require the clients to talk about their troubles, and is fast and long lasting (Figley, 1995). Emotional Freedom Techniques, in addition to deserving the above praises, is easier to use.
I am indebted to Gary Craig, both for his permission to summarize his work and for his support and comments. I thank my wife, Jane Flint, and my colleagues Charles Figley, Jasenn Zaejian, Marie Green, Thomas Altaffer, and Richard E Smith for their encouragement. For global feedback, I thank Graig Burns, Shirley McGee, Fred Madryga and Lee Pulos. I extend special thanks to Dana L. Flint, Jo Willems, and Sue McCullough for their careful and detailed editing of the manuscript. In particular, I want to thank Brian Armstrong, of Really Small Vernon Press.
I give thanks to the following people for making contributions and suggestions for the second edition: Thorsten Becker, who made suggestions that simplified the method and for suggestions about the forms and format. I am thankful for David Kahn's assistance in changing the organization and editing sections of the book. I thank Robert Juran for copy-editing the final manuscript.
Foreword
I am pleased that Dr. Garry Flint has so carefully put together this useful guide to Emotional Freedom Techniques. It is a much needed resource for this exploding concept in human healing. He not only covers the basics well, but also adds his own professional innovations- something I hope many others will do as we progress upward in this healing high-rise.
Gary Craig
The Sea Ranch,
California
Introduction
This book will show you a simple five-step method that will let you heal most of your emotional issues and eliminate or control your physical pain. Naturally, there are exceptions. For the majority of people, though, the simple healing method described in this book will work.
This book shows how you can eliminate issues that get in the way of your leading a satisfying life. Using these techniques, many people can banish fear, guilt and pain from their existence. So can you.
As you will see, the technique, though detailed, basically lets you heal yourself by tapping on acupressure points. All you have to do is follow instructions. There is only one sequence of tapping points for all mental and physical issues. This eliminates the need for diagnosis and makes learning the method easy.
Hey! It's ok to have a healthy skepticism. This healing method works on skeptics, too. You don't have to understand it or even believe it. You can learn this healing method as an experiment, just to see if it works. If it works, it's a good deal. When experimenting, you should first learn the method and then start by using it with easy issues. With success, you'll become more confident that it works. It's like learning how to ride a bicycle before you ride to school. Each time you use this healing process successfully, it's like another successful experiment. Here's what you do when you do this healing method.
The basic healing method involves five steps. The first step is to identify the issue you want to become less painful. We're talking about anxiety, fear, sadness, and the like. In most cases, you'll just have to think about the issue, then, by repeating the healing method several times, you heal the issue. However, sometimes issues are more complex. When they are, you will have to look for other aspects of the complex issue. (Aspects are other similar beliefs or traumas that help cause the issue.) The chapter on identifying the aspects of complex issues can be really important if your issues are truly complex. By healing all the aspects, you heal the issue.
The second step is a procedure in which you manage memories that get in the way of the healing process. This procedure requires you to rub on a sore spot on your chest while saying an affirmation. It's the rubbing that manages the memories. The affirmation is a self-empowering statement that increases your satisfaction in life. You do this three times.
The third step in the healing process involves tapping 5 or 6 times on each point of a sequence of twelve acupressure meridian points. As you tap on each point, you remind yourself about the issue with a phrase, such as "my anxiety." You do this to keep you thinking about the issue.
When you do the fourth step, you will repeatedly tap on an acupressure point on the back of your hand. While you tap, you'll move your eyes in different ways or you'll hum and count. You do this procedure because sometimes, when it isn't done, the emotions connected to an issue do not heal. This step is called the 9-Gamut, because you run the gamut with nine interventions - eye movements, hum, count- while you are tapping on the acupressure point.
The fifth step is to repeat the third step. That's easy. But what if the technique doesn't work?
Remember that most people, including you, probably won't have to deal with this problem. You'll probably have no difficulty in healing your issues. However, if you do run into problems, you'll
