EFT and Hypnosis for Chronic Pain
November 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
In this article I report a case that uses a combination of two novel forms of psychotherapy, Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy (HHC) and the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), to treat chronic pain. Hypnotherapy has a long history in treating chronic pain. The results of this case also suggests considering acupressure meridians as an adjunct treatment with chronic pain conditions.
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Case Study
The patient was a 45 year-old female who was referred for pain management. She had complained of excruciating lower and middle back pain for the past two years. As a result of the pain she was unable to work consistently and reported having trouble in her marital relationship. She had not responded well to medical treatment and the physician felt hypnosis and therapy would be appropriate.
At the initial interview I found that the patient had apparent high level of intellectual and psychological functioning. She stated that she was occasionally mildly depressed and anxious. Depression and anxiety corresponded to the back pain and accompanying stress. She reported no other psychiatric disorder. As a part of her pain management program she agreed to Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy (HCH).
During the induction phase of the hypnotherapy she became visibly upset. She stated that the pain was spreading from her lower back down to her buttocks, upper back, and reported pain sensations in her hands. She reported that it was a 10 (on a scale from 0-10 highest). We went to the working phase of the session where she regressed immediately to a scenario when she was a child (5-6 years of age) being beat with a leather strap by her raging alcoholic father.
The patient quickly gathered herself emotionally and reported in a small yet stern voice that she continued to experience intense back pain. When queried further she reported excruciating pain and injunctions from her father that she “would get it worse the more she cried or complained.” The patient froze and stated that she could not do any release work because of the pain. She immediately went to an anchored safe/relaxing place. During the respite she agreed to a trial of what was characterized as acupressure desensitization to help ally the intense pain and fear she was experiencing and enable her to get some energetic movement.
After finger tapping activations of her acupressure meridians, she reported a shift in her pain that allowed her to return to the scenario and begin the release work. Following brief release work she reported some minor relief in the back pain but complained that she might not be able to move forward in the process. Another series of taps created a shift in her pain and she again continued with the release part of the therapy. Several more rounds of acupressure desensitization helped facilitate more release until she came to resolution and relief from back pain with this particular scenario.
The patient followed up for more sessions of Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy and reported tremendous relief from back pain, lowered anxiety and depression, and has worked consistently at her job.
Overview of pain, hypnosis and EFT
Alternative and complimentary therapies can be an ideal avenue and adjunct to more traditional medical treatments. The medical establishment are increasingly aware of the mind-body relationship, the role of attitudes and emotions in medical disorders, and that many disorders need a multimodal interdisciplinary approach. Cognitive and behavioral interventions such as relaxation training, biofeedback, and hypnosis have been the core of adjunctive treatments for the management of pain.
Pain is multifaceted with both physiological and psychological factors. Goldberg (1994) found rates of prior abuse up to 47% in chronic pain patients, compared to control rates of 15% to 20%. Chronic pain has been thought to represent a somatified form of PTSD (VanderKolk, 1994). In the trauma survivor, physiological responses or somatic flashbacks are exacerbated when environmental cues are triggered. As VanderKolk’s patient remarked, “the body keeps the score.”
The treatment of PTSD has utilized mind-body therapies. Hypnosis has been used consistently with good results by ameliorating physiological, psychological, and dissociative symptoms. Release techniques and cognitive restructuring then allows the client to revisit traumatic memories while simultaneously modulating physiological arousal.
Another alternative therapy used to treat PTSD is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). EFT was developed by Gary Craig after training with Roger Callahan who developed Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Craig transformed and simplified the TFT procedure. EFT is a meridian based technique that works by tapping on a series of points on the body that correspond to acupuncture points in the energy meridian system. The meridian system is the conduit between the energy field and the physical body. When there are blockages in the energy field, there are corresponding disruptions in flow of energy through the meridian system. Mountrose (2000) states that “these blockages are, in turn, reflected in the unconscious patterns (thoughts and emotions) in the mind and in the functioning of the physical body” (p. 26). The emotional shock of PTSD is “stuck” in the subtle energy system of the human body (meridian system). EFT releases blockages in the meridian system, mind, body, and in more subtle levels of the energy field.
The patient’s chronic pain was an experience traversing the physical, mental, and emotional realms (spiritual realm was dealt with in subsequent sessions). The patient did not have the ability to see beyond the pain until the energetic blockages were manipulated allowing clarity of vision of the true origins of the pain. The combination of HCH and EFT helped the patient move from excruciating pain that suppressed her vitality to sense of well-being, from painful unresolved emotions to joy in life, and from limiting beliefs and limited opportunities to feeling a part of a unified whole. Although this case may be anomalous for sufferers of chronic pain the combination of HCH and EFT appears worthy of further investigation.
Using Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy and Emotional Freedom Technique in dealing with chronic pain.
H. Ray Wooten. Journal of Heart Centered Therapies. Spring 2002
H. Ray Wooten is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.
References
Goldberg, R. (1994). Childhood abuse, depression and chronic pain. Clinical Journal of Pain, 10, 277-281.
Mountrose, P., & Mountrose, J. (2000). Getting thru to your emotions with EFT. Sacramento, CA: Holistic Communications.
Vanderkolk, B. (1996). The body keeps the score: Memory and evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1, 253-264.
H. Ray Wooten, Ph.D., St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX