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Brett Seabury
School of Social Work
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
This presentation will review two "power therapies" (Tappas Acupressure Technique - TAT and Emotional Freedom Technique - EFT) and the scientific principles that underlie their active ingredients. Several "power therapies" have emerged over the last decade which have been designed to reduce the debilitating effects of trauma. These new techniques have been generally greeted with disbelief by the professional, therapeutic community. There are two primary reasons for this cool reception. The term "power" has been applied to these different therapies because they work so quickly to reduce the emotional turmoil that accompanies traumatic experiences. Some of the more traditional therapies expect treatment of trauma to take months or years. This length of time was deemed necessary in order to uncover traumatic memories and their abreactions, before improvement could be realized. The second reservation comes from the underlying theories that explain how these treatments work. Chi, meridians, polarity, chakras, though respectable notions with most practitioners in the world (i.e. China, India, Japan, South-east Asia), still remain as "alternative" treatment mechanisms here in the United States. Of the power therapies, only EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) has gained some modicum of respect. In response to tragedies like 9/11, mental health practitioners who are activated by emergency response teams, are not only expected to be trained in Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, but also EMDR. EMDR has probably gained acceptance because it relies on protocols that are clearly related to cognitive behavior interventions and because there have been many clinical trials of EMDR that have produced efficacious results.
This workshop will demonstrate the basic steps of TAT and EFT, and how these protocols can be applied in trauma work. The theories that underlie these two techniques will also be explored. Over the past five years, there has been a quantum leap in the number of studies of alternative therapies. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the National Institute of Health has promoted many of these studies. With the development of more sophisticated measurement technologies of electromagnetic fields, it is now possible to begin to understand more about the subtle energy fields of the human body. The convergence of these studies on alternative treatment techniques and the development of sophisticated measurement technologies, may bring greater legitimacy, integration, and wider acceptance of these alternative techniques in the mental health community of the United States.
The objective of this workshop is to present, apply, and practice these two techniques, so that participants
will be able to take TAT and EFT back into their practices. These are fairly simple techniques that can be
mastered with little practice and used to reduce the emotional distress that accompanies traumatic experiences.
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