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Articles & Ideas

Professional

Surrogate EFT brings calming effect to Schizophrenic client

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Back in the 90's, when I was first introducing EFT to the public, I was told by many professionals that psychotic issues such as Schizophrenia would not respond to EFT. It was just "too difficult" and required the use of drugs. Since then, however, we have had some impressive results with this "impossible" ailment. For more info just enter Schizophrenia into our website search engine.

Dr. Deborah Miller, from Mexico, brings us yet another useful approach to Schizophrenia. In this case the client didn't want to do tapping and had difficulty with adequate concentration to be a one-on-one client. So Deborah chose to do Surrogate EFT and explains her method for our perusal. The result was a noticeable calming effect on the client...a worthwhile improvement. More is possible, I suspect, but sometimes we must take small steps.


By Dr. Deborah Miller

Gary

My experience with surrogate tapping and schizophrenia occurred with a young man I will call "Dan." Dan had his first schizophrenic episode at the age of 17 while he was at a religious retreat. He believed someone put him on a cross and tried to split him in two. (Note: This is not a commentary for or against religion, but is a telling of how this young man perceived his experience.) He has been in and out of treatment with many episodes where he will not take his medications, which leads to times of crisis.

Dan's mother and sister came up to me after a talk I had given at a health fair asking if EFT could help "Dan" with emotional problems. I said that EFT was wonderful for emotional problems but was not told he had schizophrenia. At the first session it was obvious that his problems were more serious than emotional as he could not hold a conversation on any particular topic for more than a minute or two. He was capable of understanding me; in fact he is one of the most brilliant young men I've met in a long time. Yet, he could not follow the tapping procedure nor did he want to.

I ended the session and followed up by asking the family to inform me about his state of health. At that point I said the only way I would continue EFT with him was if in collaboration with his doctor and psychiatrist. We set up another appointment, but again it was difficult because of his lack of concentration. The following two paragraphs explain how we came to the conclusion that the best way to work with Dan was via surrogate EFT with the doctors monitoring his physical health.

Two of Dan's family members, aunt and sister, took an EFT class I was giving because they were looking for support in how to manage their emotions in relation to Dan, his schizophrenia and how it affected the whole family. In Mexico there is a support structure for the person with the illness, but not much support for family members. EFT has been a wonderful tool for these family members. Well, the last night of the class the aunt, sister and another woman attended. I asked if they would like to try something new, surrogate tapping.

They asked me what surrogate tapping was and I explained that we would tap for someone who wasn't present. They asked if we could tap for "Dan." We started to tap on various topics related to Dan's experience as a schizophrenic based on his fears, the retreat, the anxiety, etc. We had been tapping for about 15 min when "Dan" appeared at the door. Everyone's mouth dropped open and we all sat there amazed. One woman said this is very powerful. We invited him in. He sat down and listened while we did some more tapping on an unrelated topic. Then he decided to go home. We noted that it would have taken him about 15 min to walk to my office. We discussed that he must have "felt" that we were doing the surrogate tapping and come over because he knew nothing about his family members taking the EFT class. This experience is what led the family members to ask if I would continue doing surrogate tapping for Dan.

Initially, we set up a schedule where I would do surrogate tapping for Dan 15 min per day for a month. I created a table listing the dates, times and topics and/or themes I tapped on that day. I also utilized another energy technique briefly at the beginning of each session. Whenever the aunt or sister remembered to jot down his attitudes and changes we found strong correlations to the topics on which I had surrogate tapped. Later sessions were for 15 min per day for about a week.

The first time I did surrogate tapping for "Dan" I imagined that I was him. I found I couldn't concentrate or focus my thoughts. It occurred to me that must be how he feels, which was helpful in creating statements to utilize when tapping. Since that first experience I have tapped "for" him but never as if I "were" him.

Every time surrogate EFT was done for "Dan" there was a calming effect. At times he becomes completely lucid and agreeable. Fortunately and unfortunately, the family only calls me when he is going into crisis. I do surrogate EFT and it helps to calm him. It would be highly interesting to have the opportunity to continue doing surrogate EFT with him on a regular basis to see if this debilitating illness could be released as one got to the core issues. At least I know that it helps him become calmer and more stable as well as helps the family avoid a crisis.

Dr. Deborah Miller

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

Explore our newest advancement, Optimal EFT™, by reading my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™. More efficient. More powerful.