Energy Psychology Meets Healing Touch in Promising Collaborative Efforts
Originally published in Energy Magazine: The official Publication of the Healing Touch Program April issue. Energy Psychology Meets Healing Touch in Promising Collaborative Efforts by Dorothea Hover-Kramer, Ed.D., RN, D.CEP
For the past twenty years, Healing Touch has been the international leader in energy medicine – reaching hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals. This group includes nurses, physicians, and allied healthcare personnel as well as family members of loved ones in distress. The new field of energy psychology combines the best of Healing Touch’s energetic approaches for relieving emotional pain and anxiety and applies them to the expanding work of mainstream psychotherapists.
By focusing on techniques utilizing the three major components of the human energy system—the biofield, the chakras, and the meridian acupoints—energy psychology gives clinicians a wide variety of therapeutic choices. A number of approaches resolve emotional distress through “emotional acupressure” and have evolved in the past fifteen years to demonstrate exciting results. This approach incorporates work with the meridians through tapping or touching specific acupoints, in addition to focusing on the body’s energy centers and the human biofield which are the primary focus in Healing Touch therapies.
Several concepts form the basis for the approach of energy psychology –the scientific documentation of interactions within the human mind and body, awareness of the meridians with Qi flow pathways, and the recognition from positive psychology that negative thought patterns may recreate disturbing emotions in the form of “looping,” or repetitive thinking. One of the leading symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) for example, is the reliving of traumatic events such as experiencing accidents, physical or sexual abuse, or war.
Stimulating specific acupressure points (no needles!) relieves the emotional distress of past, present, or future emotional pain. By encouraging the client to be aware of the thoughts associated with their anxiety and having the client touch the appropriate treatment points along specific meridians, counselors can facilitate relief of distressing emotions. Through many learning trials, leading edge psychologists have arrived at numerous meridian patterns, called algorithms, that can be used to alleviate harmful, repetitive emotions. Thus, phobic responses, traumatic experiences, love pain, and the stressors that lead to addictions can be relieved easily in therapeutic sessions and then continued through the client’s ability to apply patterns of self-care.
Another significant discovery is observation of the effects of psychoenergetic reversals (or unconscious objections) on human thought, emotions, and behavior. Correction for these disruptions is determined through Clinical Kinesiology also called Muscle or Energy Testing. As clients learn patterns that put the energy system into balance, they are better able to respond to other psychotherapeutic interventions, such as insight therapy, interactive imagery or the self-expressive arts.
As with Healing Touch, an additional valuable application of energy psychology concepts is the relief of long-term, chronic pain. As disruptions in the proper flow of energy are corrected, clients report an increased sense of well-being, better efficacy of their medications, increased endorphin production and significant lessening of anxiety.
The Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP— www.energypsych.org) has been in existence for over a decade now and was co-founded by psychologists, David Gruder and this author. The word “comprehensive” is an intentional choice to assure the place of chakra and biofield work along with numerous acupoint interventions. ACEP has grown into a strong organization with large national and international conferences and a carefully developed research arm. While the research to validate the effects of energy psychology is developing gradually via peer-reviewed journals and published single case studies, reports from clinicians treating a wide variety of emotional issues show consistently positive, robust results.
ACEP now welcomes the interest of Healing Touch practitioners and to strengthen these affiliations, the Healing Touch Program will have a featured booth at the next ACEP conference June 2-5 in San Diego at the Loews Coronado Hotel. In exchange, the Healing Touch Program conference in Denver August 6-9 will include a booth with further details about ACEP. It is hoped that both organizations will benefit from the cross-fertilization of ideas and further collaborative efforts.
You can register for the Energy Psychology Conference by clicking here. You can save $40 on the ACEP conference by using the Promo code HTP. ACEP Members save up to $120 on conference registration. Healing Touch Practitioners can join ACEP at a 20% discount (Net price is $76) through April 30th. Use Promotion code HTPM for membership sign up. You can also join ACEP as part of registering for the conference or you can go to the regular website.
For further information please contact, Sharon Robbins, Executive Director, Healing Touch Professional Associationinfo@HTProfessionalAssociation.com or Bob Schwarz, Executive Director of ACEP.
About the author:
Dorothea Hover-Kramer, Ed.D., RN, D.CEP is both a founding elder of Healing Touch and co-founder of ACEP. She is a practicing psychotherapist and author of seven books about energy therapies including Second Chance at Your Dreamand Healing Touch Guidebook 20th anniversary edition (both published in 2009).