Emotional Freedom Technique.
Dr. G is really getting into this mind-body connection. She knows I'm skeptical, so she's quick to explain the scientifics behind her treatment suggestions. The whole New Age school of healing is lost on me still. I am a woman of science, of clinical trials, experiments, studies, and data.
EFT involves a lot of tapping. There is tapping around the eyes, on the hand, and maybe a shuffle off to Buffalo. Tap tap, tappity tap tap.
Supposedly, the tapping follows a prescribed sequence and it plays on the so-called energy fields of the body. Several research studies (love those) using the scientific method have shown that the tapping is nothing more than a distraction meant to take one's attention away from the pain, thereby lessening it. I believe this is what my mother has always referred to as, "Don't think about it and it won't bother you so much." She never depended on university studies to prescribe this particular course of action, and its effectiveness goes without saying (because there's nothing to say).
Affirmations. Yes, my favorite. For the most part, I believe that affirmations are a sanctioned way to lie to oneself when we feel most unsure of the legitimacy of what we're saying. Stuart Smalley comes to mind with his in-the-mirror stress reliever, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and darn it, people like me." Then again, Al Franken is going to Washington. Eventually.
Ugly Betty chants her mantra just before she bashes her body into a glass conference room wall, "I am a smart, capable business woman."
During the tapping upon my previously-mentioned places, I am to announce the word "pain" with each tap, and then near the end of the sequence say, "Even though I have this neuralgia, I deeply and completely accept myself." Even under the best of circumstances, it's just not true and I am too smart to convince myself otherwise, especially in the absence of proof. This reminds me of the Henny Youngman joke about the guy who goes to the doctor with a broken arm he asks the doctor if he'll ever play the violin and the doctor assures him he will. Upon hearing this, the patient exclaims, "That's great news because I couldn't play before!"
So, is this a two-for-one special treatment wherein I feel less pain and gain self-esteem?
When Dr. G opted to go with this technique instead of nerve blocks last week, I must say, I felt completely ridiculous. Granted, I felt less pain, but I'm pretty sure that was because I didn't have large needles stuck into my pudendal nerve and I skipped physical therapy last week, as well.
I'm sure this skepticism and negativity will all fall away tomorrow night when I attend doctor-prescribed group orientation with a therapist who specializes in chronic pain and "acceptance and commitment therapy."
If this involves even one visualization or affirmation, I'm leaving.
2 comments:
May, I'd certainly encourage you to give ACT a good trial -- there's lots, repeat LOTS of research in support of it, but you'd best be open to what's regarded as indicators of "successful treatment" -- there might well be nothing that can be done to relieve the actual feelings of pain, then again, until you try it out, you won't know. It's just that ACT is based, as the name implies, on "acceptance", a lack of which a now increasingly huge amount of research underlies a lot of "behavioral health" problems, like chronic pain. If you're into searching out research, look for research by Joanne Dahl, and the folk at Bath Institute (bath is a place!), people like Kevin Vowles, and Lance McCracken -- Bath frequently handles some of the most disabled pain patients in England. And don't forget the ACT website! and with values-based dues, it's cheap enough (only a $ if you think that's what it's worth -- mind you, I can't afford to pay how much I think it's worth!).
Best wishes,
Russell
May, also, I wouldn't totally throw out the baby with the bathwater with EFT -- I'd never endorse the various "theories" behind it, but there's a process in ACT called "defusion", getting "unstuck" from self-defeating fixed concepts of self and automatic emotional responses. Whilst I wouldn't endorse the theories behind EFT, like I wouldn't categorically endorse those behind EMDR, there is something in these techniques (?defusion) that seems to help a lot of people.
Russell
New Zealand
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