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Other Physical Issues

Insomnia & Sleep Issues

Sleepy clients and compulsions

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated.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

by Gary Craig

Hi Everyone,

Here's an interesting discussion with an EFT user.

Cheers, Gary


QUESTION: "I worked with several clients yesterday and all of them became sleepy while working with them. After about an hour I had to stop because they would of fallen asleep on me. Why is this? Is it normal?"

GC COMMENT: This is highly unusual. EFT clients almost universally experience relaxation but only the few that are sleep deprived become sleepy. It is statistically unlikely that all of your clients were sleep deprived so I suggest that there may have been something in your office (something in the air, refreshments you gave them to eat or drink, a carpet that was just cleaned or ???) that was zapping their energy. Tapping may have added to the problem but it is not likely that it caused it. If this persists, you may need to play detective and eliminate whatever may be the offender. Of course, it is entirely possible that the problem may be your intoxicating personality (smile).

QUESTION: "Also, I have a young girl that has some complusions. Mainly hand washing and not having her dad's underwear touch her laundry. Her mother reports other complusions that the client does not remember. I was going to talk to her about her complusions and see if I can pinpoint the feeling when she feels she has to do these things. If I get anxiety, I know what to do, if I get stress is that specific enough to tap on?"

GC COMMENT: I find that being specific is certainly helpful. However, being general will still be helpful even if the specific issue is not found. In this case, addressing "my hand washing compulsion", and "dad's underwear laundry compulsion" would be perfectly acceptable starting places and may do the job in one or two EFT rounds. Just because a specific issue cannot be located should by no means stop you from addressing it in a more general way. Often the specific issues, if necessary to address, will show up in conversation as you address the problem more generally with EFT.


Reply to compulsions discussion

Hi Everyone,

I recently published a discussion regarding compulsions. Here is an interesting reply to it from an EFT user. At the end I take the opportunity to comment on our attempts to label emotions.

Best, Gary


LETTER: "I couldn't pass this one up since Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is my specialty. What I am trying to do with my clients is do a beginning general EFT "even if I never get completely well from OCD the rest of my life..."

GC COMMENT: This can be very useful, especially for those clients who are particularly intense about working on the problem. This generalized approach often "takes the edge off" their anxiety, thereby paving the way for a smoother, more productive, session. Metaphorically, it serves to "top off" some of the taller trees in the emotional forest. Don't be surprised, however, if you sometimes get first class, even complete, results with just this general approach. In a few cases, this may be enough to break the compulsion.

LETTER (CONTINUED): "...then we do one on grief of giving up a familiar but unwanted illness, "even though I have this fear of getting well", because those I have used the general or even specific (hand washing, contamination, checking, perfectionism) become sad over losing an old dysfunctional friend. I am preparing them to be well."

GC COMMENT: Bravo! Many "tapping practitioners" avoid your thorough approach because they have become misled by the rapid relief people often receive from these procedures. In many cases the problem rapidly vanishes and no more needs to be done. That's great. However, the astute (and loving) practitioner is always on the lookout for side issues and aspects. They do show up often enough to merit our attention.

LETTER (CONTINUED): "I think this also helps with the motivation to do behavior therapy since I still do the exposure/response prevention primarily to show them their fear is gone and they can try to feel fear over being contaminated but usually can't after EFT."

GC COMMENT: Thank you for making this point. As you can tell from the EFT videotapes, I'm a great one for testing the results and am always looking for remnants or new aspects. Your comment above reflects another way to test. When the client can withstand some rigorous testing, and the problems still don't show up, you have strong evidence that all aspects are gone. In addition, the client has a hard time denying that real transformation has taken place.

Cheers, Gary

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