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Suzi Tarrant
Ecotherapist
Clinical Psychologist
Nature Connection Leader & Guide
What is Energy Psychotherapy?
Energy Psychotherapy refers to the integration of Energy Psychology methods into the process and practice of psychotherapy.
Energy Psychology is a family of integrative approaches to psychological healing rooted in traditional mind-body systems of medicine dating back over 2500 years. Energy Psychology blends traditional bio-energetic insights with the best of contemporary psychological practice. These methods have been developed and refined over the last 40 years by a range of mental health professionals and with millions of clients all over the world.
The field of Energy Psychology and Energy Psychotherapy continues to evolve and the specific mechanisms which contribute to its effectiveness are still being explored. The current working hypotheses suggest that psychological problems are a reflection of disturbed bio-energetic patterns within the mind-body system — a system that involves complex communication between our neurobiology, our cognitive-behavioural-emotional patterns and the energetic fields which underpin them.
Emotional distress, traumatic experiences and inner conflicts can be understood as patterns of information (images, memories, thoughts, beliefs, feelings and sensory experience) frozen in time within the body-mind-energy system. These frozen patterns can negatively influence how we view the world, experience and regulate emotions and relate to other people. Energy Psychology methods can gently and quickly release these frozen patterns.
In Energy Psychotherapy, we use cognitive interventions (including focused awareness and mindfulness, imaginal exposure to traumatic memories and cognitive reframing) simultaneously with the stimulation of one or more of the human bio-energy systems such as meridians, chakras and bio-fields. It is this powerful combination of attunement and stimulation which can facilitate rapid positive change and optimal psychotherapeutic outcomes.
Energy Psychology methods now benefit from an increasing foundation of scientific investigation with over 50 research studies to date including random controlled trials (RCTs).
Results have been published in more than fifteen different peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology and the American Psychological Association (APA) Journals Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training and Review of General Psychology.
Energy Psychology techniques are not based on any kind of religious belief. You don't need to have “faith” that they will work or any particular belief about "energy systems" or in the current working hypotheses which have been proposed to explain how and why the techniques bring about healing and positive change. If you feel curious about this way of working or feel drawn to it in some way, it is most useful to be open-minded, give it a try and see if and how Energy Psychotherapy could work for you.
Clinical Psychologist, David Feinstein Ph.D. has written a comprehensive review of research in Energy Psychology. First published in 2012 in Review of General Psychology, a peer-reviewed American Psychological Association journal, it was updated in 2018. You can read the article here.