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Applying EFT in Clinical
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EFT with an Adult
Child of an Alcoholic ► Page 2
EFT with an Adult Child of
an Alcoholic Page 2
By
Dr. Patricia Carrington
At
the end of it though she said that her hands felt like
“pins and needles” and that she felt “as though
closed in a coffin box”. She still “couldn’t
breathe.”
Instead of
continuing to treat the issue directly we again backed up
(side-tracked) to treat the interfering panic:
“Even
though I can’t breathe when I think about
it.”
“Even
though I feel I’m trapped in a coffin when I think about
it.”
At
the end of these two rounds she had come down “a little
bit” in her distress level and could breathe normally
now--but she could only understand this on an intellectual
level. Her feelings were still intense.
She then tapped
on:
“Even
though it’s still very scary.”
As
she was doing this tapping, however, she broke off in the middle
of the round and gasped “Oh! You know what? Do you know
why it’s still scary? For the first time I realize that
I’m afraid it’s going to happen to ME!!! I’m
drinking wine sometimes and I’m terrified I’m going
to be like my father!”
This was one of
those “EFT insights” that can occur spontaneously and
unexpectedly in the course of the treatment, and be so extremely
valuable.
At
my request she tapped on: “I’m terrified I’m
going to be like my father.”
After a round of
this she reported that she felt “a little better” for
the first time in the session. “I feel really good that
that’s the truth and I said it out loud.” she
explained.
Then she told me
that she had been drinking some wine every night, something she
didn’t think was wise. “I feel I’ve been
covering up and it’s so good to tell you.” She said.
Then she went on say that actually when she DIDN’T drink it
didn’t bother her at all, but that nevertheless she was
getting into the habit of drinking wine every night. Knowing
Doris’s openness, I was quite certain that she was telling
the truth about both sides of this – her drinking of the
wine, and her feeling ok when she didn’t drink it. It
seemed to me that we could address both sides of the issue using
a Choices Phrase to balance the picture and to bring a positive
perspective into Doris’s bleak picture of
self-condemnation.
I
asked her to start with the negative statement first (in this
case “I’m terrified I’m going to be like my
father”) and use this for the set-up phrase and for the
first reminder phrase (repeated at her inner eyebrow point). She
was then to follow with the positive reminder phrase,
“When I don’t drink I feel ok about it.”
(Used at the outer edge of the eye), then with the negative
phrase, while tapping under the eye, then the positive one for
under the nose, and so forth, for the full round.
As
she did this, color began to come back into Doris’s face
(which had been very pale) and at the end of this round she said
“I feel quite a bit better.” Her SUDS level was now
a 5.
Because the SUDS
level was so much reduced I asked her if it would feel okay to
her to substitute the word “afraid” in the reminder
phrase for the word “terrified”. Would that fit
better? She said it would and used this phrase, as once again she
used both negative (first) and then positive statements for the
tapping.
Halfway through
this round her wording spontaneously changed from “When I
don’t drink I feel ok” to “When I don’t
drink I feel BETTER.” Knowing that clients’ changes
of wording while they are tapping can be very important for
healing, I didn’t interrupt her. I could see that she
looked very different, her body was becoming relaxed, her eyes
much more focused.
“I feel
calm now.” she said at the end of that round. “I
feel like I told you a big secret I’ve been hiding even
from myself.” I asked her to return to the phrase
“My father died of alcoholism” to see where she was
with it. The SUDS level was a “2” now. “I
still have some anxiety about my own drinking” she
added.
At
this point I had to make a decision about which direction to go.
I decided to let her switch to this aspect. The end of the
session was approaching and I felt that this was the most
important issue at stake at this point. I realize that another
therapist might have decided to pursue the theme of her
father’s alcoholism until the SUDS was zero. That might
have worked well too. But I wanted to follow her own lead and
emphasize the importance of dealing with her feelings about
herself and her own drinking.
I
asked her to alternate phrases once more with:
“I’m
afraid of being an alcoholic like my father” (negative
phrase)
“I feel
better when I’m not drinking” (positive
phrase)
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