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Deepak Chopra, MD
"EFT offers great healing benefits."
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques®) Where emotional relief brings physical health
Self help method often works where nothing else will No Drugs Involved ~ High Success Rate
EFT Resources
A Frequently Asked Question & Answer about EFT
Does it matter whether or not the EFT practitioner is skeptical?
Sometimes. Let me explain.
In the early 1990's, when I was first getting started with these procedures, just about everyone was skeptical. This included both the practitioners AND the clients. People rolled their eyes, made disparaging comments, talked behind your back, etc. Nonetheless, our results were still remarkable. Headaches went away, trauma vanished, phobias faded and so on. It wasn't perfect, of course. We didn't get 100% success (and still don't). But clear progress was made even in the face of open skepticism (some of it hostile).
But that doesn't mean that the practitioner's degree of skepticism isn't a possible deterrent. Indeed, in challenging cases skepticism can be a real burden.
Recently, "Jim" (a therapist) called me and said, "Gary, I don't seem to get the same percentage results that you do. I am a skeptic by nature--always looking for what's wrong--and you are much more optimistic. Is it possible you are just seeing results because you want to see them--even though they aren't really there?"
Of course this is possible!! Someone's enthusiasm can certainly color what they see and it can even persuade clients to "go along" and report results that aren't really there. I suspect some of that happens within all versions of these energy procedures.
In my experience, though, enthusiasm and wide eyed optimism tend to occur during the early stages. After that they tend to mellow into "reality." While I certainly admit to an enthusiastic personality, I believe my initial optimism for EFT has mellowed over time into what I call congruence.
Congruence reflects experience. It's a mature form of optimism. It happens when you have a deep sense of confidence and understanding about how these procedures work--including what they will do and won't do. When congruent EFT'ers are stymied with a client they say, "Hmmm! What seems to be in the way here?" and look for other ways to approach the problem. They become persistent. They investigate aspects. They look for core issues. As a result, they are much more likely to make progress with clients than the skeptics who give up early and say, "See! Another failure."
So, does it matter whether or not the EFT practitioner is skeptical? In the simpler cases, probably not. But in the challenging cases, skepticism (or may I say lack of congruence?) can allow apparent "failure" where progress was otherwise possible.
