What is Energy Psychology?
Energy Psychology is the name for a group of techniques based on a variety of energy systems used to alleviate emotional and psychological issues. It is a more recent field that combines Eastern and Western approaches to the mind and body and is now becoming more widely used and taught.
What is energy psychology and what does it involve?
The belief is that ongoing stress in life or sudden traumatic events are experienced in electrical impulses in your brain and body that may result in feelings like anxiety or anger. The energy of these emotions can end up blocking the body’s physical and energy systems leading to a variety of ailments. As an alternative treatment therapy, like an emotional version of acupuncture without the needles, there is mounting evidence that it could help alleviate a wide range of health and mind-related problems such as: stress, phobias and various aches and pains.
Energy psychology techniques can also help improve personal development and increase performance in sports or work. The techniques can be applied to build confidence, to ease public speaking or improve concentration. The aim of energy psychology is to intervene in order to correct emotional imbalance that is likely to be at the root of other mental or physical ailments. It could help unlock and release the energy that has been blocked or disrupted to bring the body back to its natural and more balanced state.
There are different energy psychologies, from EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique to lesser-known approaches, often using tapping on meridian points, accompanied by specific verbal affirmations, in order to release the negative emotions from the physical body. In turn, energy psychology can help access buried emotions to release them.
Energy psychology techniques
Energy healing is part of a number of different energy psychology techniques and is focused on restoring a balanced flow of energy within the body which can be affected by everyday life stress and other negative emotions like anger, fear or doubt. It is believed that heir build-up in the body creates an energy imbalance that can lead to symptoms of physical pain. Energy healing can be used to alleviate a wide range of problems including many every day physical ailments by placing hands on a painful area with an intent to help or heal, going beyond a simple touch or massage.
EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique is a relatively new healing process also aiming to restore the balance in your body. Gary Craig was first to develop the simpler technique focused on stimulating the meridian points by tapping on them, making the process easy to memorise. Tapping with your fingertips on a specific energy meridian point on the body is thought to encourage the healing process. Recent case studies tend to show that EFT can help alleviate emotional and physical problems and it can also be used to tackle what is known as psychological reversal, a term referring to negative attitude and self-destructive behaviours. EFT can be used with “muscle testing” in such cases.
Thought Field Therapy or TFT is favoured to treat all kinds of phobias and emotional problems. Dr Roger Callahan, who started to research on such disorders, found that different emotions were linked to different meridians and concluded that TFT could help release specific emotions by stimulating combinations of meridian points. By identifying and addressing energy points in the correct order TFT therapies seek to alleviate people's emotional problems.
Who is it for and what can the side effects be?
Some energy psychology techniques can be used on your own as they are easy to memorise.They cover a wide range of psychological issues and can be used to improve your well-being. The techniques are usually quite gentle and can potentially offer substantial relief with little or no pain. However, depending on the intensity or gravity of individuals’ issues it may not be suitable for everyone. Although energy psychology is still a controversial area within the mental health field there is mounting evidence that these techniques can be significant tools for self-help and clinical treatment.
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