NOTE FROM PAT CARRINGTONSadly, I report that my good friend and major EFT research colleague, Dr. A. Harvey Baker, died peacefully in his room at the ACEP (Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology) conference in San Diego last weekend. He was attending that conference in his role as Director of Research for ACEP. If you knew Harvey, you will resonate to the description of him by John Freedom, former ACEP Director of Research – if you didn’t, you will quickly sense the stature of this dedicated supporter of EFT and Meridian Tapping.
In his note to ACEP Members, John speaks of
him: That describes Harvey, exactly. I myself first met Harvey more than 15 years ago at an ACEP Energy Psychology conference. I was then serving as Chairperson of the ACEP Research Committee, and Harvey was of immediate help to me. As soon as we met, I knew we would be working together for a long time. Harvey was obviously fascinated by the possibilities in this area and determined to study EFT intensively in his laboratory and prove to the world that this method was a genuine, verifiable and measurable phenomenon that could meet the most stringent tests that academic psychology could throw at it. He was an outstanding experimental psychologist, researcher and honored professor at Queens College in New York, and an inspired mentor to hundreds of students on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. When he brought his talents to energy psychology he insisted on scientific rigor, at the same time that he espoused the new and as yet unproven area of EFT. His vision was to prove to the scientific community that tapping does work by using the same measures that are esteemed by that very community. Having set out on this mission, Harvey joined with psychologist Steve Wells of Australia in the writing phase of Steve’s landmark experiment on reducing specific phobias of small animals through using EFT. I worked with both of them on this same project, and Harvey brought to it his views on how the scientific method should be applied to EFT. He worked closely with Steve who was in Australia, with myself who coincidentally was in New Jersey just 30 minutes from Harvey’s home, and with the remainder of the original Australian team by email. Together we set out to make the “Wells Study” (as it has come to be called) exemplary in the field of energy psychology. We were dedicated to seeing to it that the journal article was meticulous, honest, and groundbreaking. Harvey then launched a series of studies of his own on EFT in his lab at Queens College and I had the privilege of "sitting in on" them as they were conducted. Later, he and I subsequently published several theoretical and experimental papers on EFT which we worked on diligently over a considerable period of time. Harvey lived and breathed the scientific method, while at the same time he had the highest regard for the subject of his investigations which happened to be this seemingly far out renegade method, EFT. An intellectual giant in his own right, after his retirement as a professor at Queens College, ACEP was able to convince him to head up that organization’s research committee. In John Freedom’s words again, “His contributions to our field were enormous. At the time of his passing he was in the process of completing a study measuring changes in EEG before and after EFT treatment. He had been planning to undertake a dismantling study designed to uncover the 'active ingredient(s)' in EFT. “ Harvey, quite simply, was unstoppable. As I remember him throughout the years, I realize in retrospect that the same indomitable spirit he showed in his scientific work enabled him to withstand with amazing good cheer his many years of difficult physical challenges. A long-standing serious heart condition was handled by Harvey without giving in to it at all. I remember how he would happily drive home from a long day's teaching at the college, making that 50 mile drive to his home in Lawrenceville New Jersey in the darkness and cold of a winter’s night without giving a moment’s thought to any difficulty involved. When he had to have major heart surgery he drove himself to the hospital 35 miles distant, by getting up and into his car at 5:00 a.m. on the morning of the surgery and setting out. So much for self coddling! It was, I think, characteristic of Harvey that he insisted on attending the recent ACEP conference in San Diego, overriding the advice of family members who had been worried about his recent state of health. He was fulfilling his obligations and that was what he always did. It seems to me deeply appropriate that he left us while attending a major conference that was supporting the work that he loved, in the atmosphere that he thrived in, and while assisting new researchers to gain skills in their own work and to acquire the determination to follow through with it in the manner he had. Harvey, “died with his boots on”, clearly suitable for a man of his stature. Harvey's work is by no means ended of course. His important replication of the Wells study, coauthored with Linda Siegel, will soon be published in the Energy Psychology Journal, and his dedicated students have all been deeply affected by his presence in their lives. I spoke yesterday with one of his important students, Dimitri Putilin, who recently worked closely with Harvey in his lab for two years and has co-authored an important research paper with Harvey. Dimitri is deeply affected by Harvey’s passing, and describes Harvey’s relationship with him as that of “a mentor, a colleague, and what I value most of all - a close and dear friend.” He emphasizes the fact that Harvey was passionately devoted to his work and driven by the desire to use his scientific training to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Interestingly, while Dimitri was only a recent college graduate when he joined Harvey’s lab, Harvey immediately treated him as a colleague. “We spent countless hours poring over his data, planning studies, discussing possible explanations of results. He was such a gifted teacher and a meticulous researcher and I was so lucky to witness how he thought, how he approached research, how he turned his ideas into rigorous studies from the largest details down to the smallest. In our first year of working together, I learned an astonishing amount about being a scientist.” Dimitri’s collaboration with Harvey did not end after he left his lab to attend graduate school. Even when he had moved out of New York to start further studies, Harvey and he remained in frequent contact. A few times each year, whenever Dimitri came to New York, the two of them would set aside a day and they would work together into the late evening. Thanks to his intensive apprenticeship with Harvey, when Dimitri commenced his present course of studies for a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Duke University, he discovered that he was far ahead of the average graduate student in his knowledge and expertise in research. He was accordingly able to conduct his initial project in graduate school in a considerably more sophisticated manner than is typical of a new doctoral student. Just as he was making his final revisions to his first independent academic paper, Dimitri was notified of Harvey’s passing. In tribute and gratitude, Dimitri has dedicated the paper to his beloved teacher. “Harvey’s wisdom, kindness and dedication will be what we miss so much.” Dimitri reflects. And now –– an announcement to all of you interested in the future of Meridian tapping and energy psychology... You can assist critical research in this area and honor Harvey Baker's work in energy psychology at the same time by making a contribution of any size to the ACEP Research Fund which Harvey so strongly supported. ACEP has set up the A. Harvey Baker Memorial Research Fund in his memory and honor. Contributions to the fund (tax deductible in the United States) will be used to fund new research in Energy Psychology. To support this valuable cause, just mail your check to:
ACEP In closing I want to say to Harvey: I thank you for your untiring contributions to our field and your wonderful support of others who are working to expand it. You will be dearly missed by those of us who were fortunate enough to have known and worked with you. Your good friend, Pat
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