Dec 30
What Does Energy Psychology Have To Do With ADD/ADHD?
As I stated in my Welcome post, my personal and professional interest in finding quicker, less invasive methods to help clients be rid of their “daily demons” and get on with their lives led me to the practice of energy psychotherapy. The appeal of such protocols is that they are so “low-tech.” That is, they can be learned in minutes and performed at home without equipment or ongoing professional intervention. Paradoxically, however, ancient “technologies” such as acupressure (upon which energy methods like EFT are based) are often espoused by the same theorists and practitioners as cutting-edge “high-tech” interventions such as brain wave therapies. The reasons, I believe, are two: 1) both the ancient healing arts and the new technologies are “alternative” to the current medical/psychological mainstream, and therefore have an open-mindedness in common; and 2) both are based on the concept of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity means that the electrical wiring of the human nervous system is not fixed, but under certain conditions can be changed. It makes sense: if there are “interventions” in the form of life experiences that can disturb the circuitry and create anxieties, phobias, addictions and so on, then there should be interventions that can “undisturb” this network and get things flowing freely again. The actual techniques by which these disturbances are cleared are deceptively simple and a little silly looking. A comprehensive and fascinating article by David Feinstein entitled Energy Psychology and the Instant Phobia Cure will give you some examples and a sample of the debate about the most common energy techniques, if you want to learn more. Also, a recent book, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley presents the science behind our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves.
Again, what does all this have to do with ADD/ADHD? Neuroplasticity. If you believe the concept of neuroplasticity, it is a short leap to embrace neurofeedback and binaural beat therapies, two categories of interventions to “reset” the brains of individuals with ADD . On the Resources page of this website, there are several interesting articles that explain how just listening to slightly different tones in each ear can organize the ADD brain to promote better focus. One way to find out if these therapies may work for you is to try the Focus CD, which can be purchased from the Resources page. It is much cheaper than the highly-regarded Holosync series, and has the advantage of not being a progressive, multi-tiered program. But there is a link to the Holosync program as well, and I would highly recommend that series for all the support that is built into the program.