FIVE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL
CLIENT-CENTERED ENERGY PSYCHOLOGY TREATMENT
David Gruder, Ph.D.
© 2001, 2003, 2004
NOTE: Dr. David Gruder was the Founding
President the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology. In that role, he studied in
depth most of the approaches to energy psychology developed by the leaders and innovators
within that organization. This paper presents principles for maximizing treatment success
based on his extensive clinical experience and comprehensive exposure to most of the
leading energy psychology approaches. Originally written for the Energy Psychology
Interactive CD, and thoroughly updated here, this paper was based on a talk delivered by
Dr. Gruder at the First European Conference on Energy Psychology, July 6, 2001, in
Fürigen, Switzerland.
Many of the issues raised in this paper are
addressed in greater detail in Dr. Gruder’s Energy Psychology Desktop Companion (Del
Mar, CA: Willingness Works Press, 2000, 2003, www.willingness.com), which also provides
multiple, subject-related lists of clinical resources and academic references pertinent to
the Energy Psychology field.
INTRODUCTION
From an energy perspective, we might say
that all good psychotherapy serves to, directly or indirectly, reorganize the
client’s energy field in a manner that helps free the client of psychological
disturbances. Energy psychology is distinguished by directly intervening with the
client’s energy field in a deliberate, focused, and systematic manner.
In my practice as a licensed psychologist
and marriage & family therapist, I have used energy methods as treatment tools,
applying them within a broader therapeutic context, rather than as a complete treatment
approach within itself. Five keys for making treatment more rapid, effective, and lasting,
using the energy-based methods presented in the Energy Psychology Interactive CD, are
addressed in this paper. When treatment isn’t going as well as you believe it can,
troubleshooting in those five areas will likely yield the source(s) of interference, in my
experience. These five areas are: 1) Specify & Attune to the "Top Priority
Issue;" 2) Establish Readiness to Benefit From the Treatment; 3) Select the Priority
Treatment Method; 4) Confirm Full Completion of the Treatment; 5) Upgrade the Undisturbed
State With Peak Functioning.
KEY #1: SPECIFY AND ATTUNE TO THE
"TOP PRIORITY ISSUE"
A. SPECIFYING THE TOP PRIORITY GOAL &
TREATMENT FOCUS: There is an important difference between the goal and the treatment
issue. The goal is whatever the client wants to experience as the result of treatment. The
goal may be the elimination of distressing symptoms or reaching a dream or enhancing peak
performance. On the other hand, the treatment issue is whatever is focused on in the
therapy in order to assist in achieving the client’s goal. The first key to a
successful therapeutic outcome is about being confident that the top priority goal has
been selected and that identifying the underlying blockage that is selected as the focus
for the treatment and then attuning to that blockage. The rule for choosing this "top
priority treatment focus" is based on the principle of highest leverage. What
treatment focus will yield the most effect from the simplest intervention? What treatment
focus is going to help the client move forward most effectively toward his/her top
priority goal?
For some clients the initial "top
priority treatment focus" might be the root cause of the presenting problem. This
could involve identifying a trauma that underlies the presenting problem and clearing it,
or addressing even deeper issues having to do with the client’s basic, inherited
temperament. Other clients don’t become fully ready to benefit from treating on a
root cause level until they first have some relief from some of their distressing
symptoms.
In addition to correctly identifying the
general territory of the "top priority treatment focus," effective treatment
also targets the "right" level or aspect of that issue to treat in the
here-and-now. (For example, in treating a trauma that contains a root cause blockage, is
the next aspect of the trauma for the client to focus upon "the tightness in my
chest" or "the moment of the car crash?")
Operationally, if you don’t get clear
information about the "priority goal," or don’t get the results you
intended, you’re most likely to find that the glitch lies in one or more of the five
areas discussed in this paper. So, one way to use this paper is as a guide to
troubleshooting when the process doesn’t go as you think it should. For instance,
perhaps your client and/or you incorrectly identified the top priority goal or treatment
focus (especially if you didn’t use a method of accessing the client’s
unconscious wisdom about these questions, such as energy checking...or, if you did use a
method of accessing unconscious wisdom such as energy checking, but didn’t recognize
that the client was non-polarized or had objections to knowing).
Finding the "top priority treatment
focus" often naturally emerges from the clinical interview. In the first session, the
interview might go into considerable depth, but even after the basics have been
established, the client might be asked: "Intuitively select the aspect of the issue
that is the most important part of the problem to start with today" (deliberately
phrased in a way likely to call more from the client’s intuition than his/her
conscious or preconceived ideas). As practitioners, we also listen to our own intuition.
If we believe the client is focusing on an issue that will not lead to the best
therapeutic outcome, we may ask if we can share our hunch, leading to further dialogue.
Forms of subtle ideomotor cueing that
access the client’s unconscious, such as "energy checking" can also be used
to verify and further refine the top priority goal and treatment focus (as well as with
each of the other keys to successful treatment). First a few comments about energy
checking. Therapeutic interviewing can and should be geared toward attuning clients to
their intuition. We use energy checking more as a way of getting a "second
opinion." It is also a way of attuning our own therapeutic intuition, and is a
low-tech form of biofeedback that can teach clients how to recognize and trust their
intuition more fully. I view "energy checking as "training wheels" for
developing intuition, much like American children first learn to ride a bike using
training wheels to help them until they can balance themselves on their own.
For instance, once the dialogue has
established the top priority treatment focus, the wording to verify it with an energy
check might be as simple as, "The moment of the accident is the most important issue
to start with treating today." (The contrasting check for this, by the way, would be,
"There is an even more important issue for us to start with today.") If the
energy check verifies the client’s sense conscious guess about the top priority
treatment focus, continue. If not, discuss the client’s understanding of the
discrepancy and keep cross-checking until you’re both satisfied that you’re on
target.
B. THE PRINCIPLE OF ATTUNEMENT: Once the
top priority treatment focus has been selected, the client needs to be attuned to
that issue while subsequent energy checking is done concerning any aspect of the treatment
focus, and during the tapping or other energy treatment. Sometimes this is simply a matter
of asking the client to keep the issue in focus. But often the person has been doing
everything in his or her power not to experience the feelings associated with the issue,
thereby making it rather difficult to maintain an ongoing attunement to the problem during
the treatment. (When this is the case, these objections need to be accurately identified
and treated first. Doing this will ordinarily make the treatment of the issue itself much
easier and enjoyable and rapid than it would have been had you tried to force your way
past the client’s objections to getting over the issue.)
C. METHODS OF ATTUNEMENT: The simplest
method for attunement is to ask the client to tune into the problem and to let you know
when it is sufficiently attuned to proceed. An energy check can verify: "Are you
attuned enough at this time to effectively receive and benefit from the treatment?"
The question, "Are you still sufficiently attuned?" should periodically be asked
and verified, particularly following periods of dialogue or heightened emotional
reactions. Additionally, techniques such as the "leg lock" and the "third
eye up" can energetically lock in the problem state, so that it can be
treated. (These methods are among those described in the Energy Psychology Interactive
book and CD.)
D. METHODS OF EVALUATING PROGRESS: Another
important way to help a client remain attuned to an issue is to get a baseline measure of
the extent of the problem, and then to regularly re-measure in order to help assess how
treatment is progressing. In addition to self report, there are commonly used subjective
scales clients are asked to use, including distress levels (SUD), dysfunctional elation
levels (SUE), validity of cognition (VOC), validity of imagery (VOI), etc. These scales
can also be cross-checked using energy checking methods. Regardless of whether I select
one of these scales to use, I always use an additional scale: "% of blockage
removed" (or in the case of installation in Key #5, "% of upgrading
achieved"). I’m also regularly energy checking for inaccuracies in the energy
checking responses, using what I call The Three "Ds:" Delusion (responses that
reflect wishful thinking rather than true information), Distortion (some part of the
energy system malfunctioning in such a way that the energy checking results become
inaccurate) or Deception (some energy is present whose agenda is to deliberately confound
the treatment by influencing the results of the energy checking to be unreliable and
confusing).
KEY #2: ESTABLISH READINESS TO
BENEFIT FROM THE TREATMENT
A. ELECTROMAGNETIC READINESS (versus
Non-polarization): When we are functioning optimally, the electromagnetic output at the
top of the head, feet, and hands appears to hold a positive charge. The output at the
bottom of the feet and in the palms of the hands seems to have a negative charge. If these
polarizations are reversed, or if there is a non-polarization (i.e., there is no
difference in charge between tops and bottoms), results from energy treatments will likely
be diminished or possibly completely ineffective (the same diminished results tend to
accrue even when using more standard non-energy psychotherapeutic interventions).
Electromagnetic and neurological readiness for treatment is commonly referred to as
"Neurological Disorganization." I find the term "Neurological
Disorganization" to be one of a number of sources/symptoms of non-polarization, which
is why we refer to this broad category of electromagnetic unreadiness to benefit from
treatment as "non-polarization [or NP].") I have catalogued quite a number of
non-polarization treatment interventions covering a wide variety of non-polarization
source, in my book, the Energy Psychology Desktop Companion.
B. 100% PERMISSION TO TREAT (versus
"objections"): The requirement here is the unconscious mind’s permission,
or the body’s permission, or the energy system’s permission, rather than the
conscious mind’s permission. I use Judith Swack’s wording for energy checking
permission: "Do we have 100% permission to treat this issue?," or "Do we
not have 100% permission to treat this issue?" If you don’t have the unconscious
mind’s or the body’s or the energy system’s permission (or some internal
part’s permission, or, for that matter, the Higher Self’s permission) to
successfully treat the issue, treatment will not progress very easily or at all (or
results will not "stick"), whether using an energy approach, talk therapy, or
any other method. If the energy check shows that you don’t have 100% permission to
treat, ask the client what s/he believes is the source of non-permission. (Cross-verify
with his/her answers with energy checking.) The objection then becomes the temporary new
priority treatment focus until the electromagnetic "objections" are cleared. If
the client’s first response is "I don’t know," go deeper with your
questions and/or use energy checking to uncover clues. Permission is a critical issue for
a successful treatment outcome.
When there is something short of 100%
permission to clear the priority treatment focus, this means that the client has conscious
or unconscious objections to getting completely over the issue. "Objections" are
what, in Energy Psychology circles, are commonly called psychoenergetic reversals. These
are also called psychological reversals, but I chose the term "psychoenergetic"
reversals so as not to convey to the client a quality of blame or an assumption of
intentional sabotage. Psychoenergetic reversals are not "just psychological;"
rather this powerful obstacle to desired and desirable change is embedded in the energy
system, and is consequently most easily cleared using energy interventions.
There are many different flavors of inner
objections to attaining the treatment goal. Over two-dozen kinds of psychoenergetic
reversals (objections) have been catalogued, such as those described in my Energy
Psychology Desktop Companion, and they can extend to permutations that involve every
conceivable intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamic. For instance, there are vengeance
psychoenergetic reversals, such as: "I won’t overcome this problem until my
spouse is truly sorry for having hurt me." There are codependence psychological
reversals, such as: "It’s unsafe for my mother for me to get over this
problem." These are examples of issue-specific psychoenergetic reversals
(objections). Some psychoenergetic reversals, though, are so pervasive and fundamental
that they go far beyond any one specific treatment issue. In fact, no other psychological
issue can be meaningfully addressed until these "Global Psychoenergetic
Reversals" are resolved: One example of a global psychoenergetic objection is "I
don’t want to live." Psychoenergetic reversals are generally amenable to the
same basic correction strategy. An acupoint or neurolymphatic reflex point is stimulated
while a verbal correction is introduced. The verbal correction takes the form of an
acknowledgement of the feeling or position involved in the reversal combined with an
affirmation of self-acceptance: "Even if I don’t want to live, I deeply and
completely accept myself."
(My respect for the wisdom of the
psychological understandings that come from the field of linguistics, caused me to switch
the order of the phrasing used as part of most psychoenergetic treatment statements, so
that the client instead states the self-acceptance clause at the end of the sentence. For
instance, whereas it is more common in Energy Psychology circles to phrase an objection
treatment statement the opposite way from how I worded it above, namely, "I deeply
and completely accept myself, even if I don’t want to live." I find that this
wording too easily unintentionally reinforces the idea of not wanting to live rather than
accepting myself.
It is, of course, not feasible (or
necessary) to energy check every conceivable psychoenergetic reversal for treatment to
proceed. Rather than going through the catalog, you can trust your client’s intuition
to know what is getting in the way of treatment progress, using such interview questions
as, "If you had an objection to getting over this problem, what would it be?"
You can also energy check: "There is a psychoenergetic reversal currently affecting
this issue" versus "There are no psychoenergetic reversals currently affecting
this issue." You can also use the following wording for energy checking reversals:
"Some part of me or my energy field has one of more objections to my getting
completely and permanently clearing this issue."
C. INTERPERSONAL READINESS FOR THE THERAPY
TO PROCEED. Unless rapport has been adequately established, therapeutic success will be
compromised. As an aside, in treatment approaches that limit themselves to energy-based
interventions, the client’s transference tends to go more to the technique than to
the therapist. Counter-transference, however, is heavily interpersonal, because
counter-transference can occur as much at the energy level as the more obvious levels
known to conventional psychotherapy. If the therapist is neurologically disorganized (or
non-polarized in some other way), this will affect the treatment. If the therapist has any
"psychoenergetic reversals" (objections) regarding the treatment, this will also
affect the treatment. If the therapist has unfinished business in working through the
issue being addressed, this will affect the treatment as well. The caveat,
"practitioner heal thyself" is therefore arguably even more important with
Energy Psychology treatments than in conventional psychotherapy or medical interventions.
E. METAPHYSICAL SUPERIMPOSITIONS. When a
person consciously or unconsciously believes that a supernatural influence of some kind is
involved in maintaining his/her problem, this belief is coded in their energy system.
Examples: "The only way I can be worthy in the eyes of God is to be a person who is
suffering; if I stop suffering, the devil will have my soul." "The root cause of
this issue traces back to a previous lifetime, and it is my karmic debt to bear its
burden." Often these deep beliefs will co-exist with a desire to be free of the
problem. Regardless of the therapist’s judgment about these kinds of beliefs, if the
body is coding a top priority issue within such metaphysical concepts, the objection
should be treated within those terms, adapting the procedures used for other forms of
psychoenergetic reversal. Believing in such phenomena is not a prerequisite for clearing
these issues. It works just as well to view this as metaphoric or symbolic representation,
so there’s no need to view these energetic codings as any more literally true than,
say, a representation of a past trauma that didn’t literally necessarily occur
exactly as it’s symbolically or metaphorically represented in the client’s
memory. (On the other hand, though, in some people’s cases, it may be unwise to
completely dismiss this possibility of superimpositions as purely metaphorical. But this
discussion goes beyond the parameters of the current article.)
F. THE QUESTION OF INSIGHT. As a
psychologist who loves to understand things and who has an extensive background in
depth-oriented psychotherapy, my tendency is to want to have my clients understand the
dynamics and nuances of their issues. I have colleagues at the other end of this spectrum,
who would rather get on with the treatment either because they believe insight to be
over-rated or because they believe that insight can wait until after the treatment is
complete. One of the many liberating things about doing energy checking is that there is
no longer a need to debate such issues. I now simply energy check my client in the
following way: "Does your system now understand all it needs to know about this issue
in order to fully benefit from treating it?" Until the energy check confirms that the
answer to this question is, "yes," I say to the client, "If your system
needed to understand more, or to have you acknowledge more, in order to become fully ready
to clear this issue, what would that be?"
KEY #3: SELECT THE PRIORITY
TREATMENT METHOD
Once you have identified the top priority
goal and treatment focus, and have established the client’s conscious and unconscious
readiness to benefit from treating the issue, the next question is: "What is the best
treatment: 1) for this person; 2) at this time; 3) for this treatment focus related to
this goal, and 4) for this level/aspect of the treatment focus?" While in most
psychotherapeutic approaches this is the therapist’s call, based on clinical
intuition, energy checking can be used to make these choice points highly explicit and to
involve the client’s intuitive knowledge in the moment-to-moment choice of treatment
method.
If you think of all the possible treatment
methods as tools, these tools will be found in your own toolbox, in your client’s
toolbox, in the toolbox of the various possible referral sources you and/or your client
have at your disposal, and, if you are spiritually oriented, in the toolbox of that which
represents Higher Wisdom to you and/or your client.
Beyond interview questions that evoke the
client’s intuition about what will help, questions that can be energy checked might
include: "Is there a method in your toolbox that would be the priority treatment for
this layer of the issue?" I prefer to begin the process of selecting an intervention
by calling upon the client’s own resources. If the energy check shows that there is
such a method in the client’s "toolbox," this can be discussed and pursued.
If the energy check shows that there is not, the next question to energy check might be
"Is it in my toolbox?" If yes, specific approaches might be checked: "Is it
Focusing?" "Is it a meridian-based treatment?" "Is it a chakra-based
treatment?" "Is it EMDR?" "Is it Voice Dialogue?" "Is it
biofeedback?" If the client is particularly religious or spiritually attuned, I will
also ask, "Is it in ‘Spirit’s’ toolbox?" (where, in place of the
term "Spirit" I use my client’s preferred term, such as, "Is it in
Joe’s Angel’s toolbox?"). This is done not as an artificial or laborious
process that addresses every possibility, but rather as a way of attuning the
client’s and the therapist’s intuition to one another and verifying plans for
taking the next step in the highest leverage way possible.
If the discussion and energy checks show
that the needed treatment is in neither the client’s, the therapist’s nor
"Spirit’s" "toolbox," a question such as, "Is it appropriate
to incorporate some other referral source?" might be explored, along with specific
options such as "naturopathic," "craniosacral," or
"pharmacological" treatments. If a series of options are explored and a
direction established, but the process seems to have been a bit complex, it may also be
useful before coming to a final conclusion to energy check and explore a question such as
"Is there any deception or error in the answers we’ve received?" (Please
keep in mind that this question is useful to periodically energy check at any point during
diagnosis or treatment.)
KEY #4: CONFIRM FULL COMPLETION OF
THE TREATMENT
A. SEARCH FOR HIDDEN ASPECTS. Treatment of
the top priority treatment focus is not complete until every aspect and layer of that
issue confirms has having been resolved. Sometimes we don’t need conscious knowledge
of all these layers in order to clear them – our inner wisdom knows them for us. But,
at other times, there are indeed layers that do need to be brought to conscious awareness
before they can be cleared. Energy psychology provides the tools for doing both, and for
discovering when to do which. Careful interviewing is combined with energy checks on
questions such as, "Is there anything we’ve missed?" If the priority
treatment focus was a trauma, the search for unresolved aspects may be as thoroughgoing as
to ask the client to run through the trauma in slow motion and inquire, "Do you get
any discomfort when you get into the worst part of it?" If not, move on. If so,
introduce another round of treatment. And remember, there’s no pressure to do all
this in one session. As rapid as Energy Psychology treatment can be, a person’s
system can accommodate only so much change at any one point in time. So, if time runs out
– or if your client’s system indicates that it’s done as much as it is
ready for today – feel content to leave the next step until the next session.
B. FUTURE PACING TO IDENTIFY HIDDEN ASPECTS
STILL NEEDING ATTENTION. Having clients mentally project themselves into a future
situation that once would have evoked the problem state is another way to confirm if the
treatment is complete. If anticipatory anxiety arises, or if any additional aspect
surfaces as a result of this, introduce another round of treatment. If not, move on to the
next step.
C. FOUR LEVELS OF COMPLETENESS. Once the
priority treatment focus appears to have been completely resolved, another method for
confirming that this is the case, is to energy check each of the following
"completion checks," one by one:
"This treatment is 100% and
permanently complete. . . (versus "There are limitations to the treatment" or
"The benefits obtained during this treatment will be withdrawn from over time")
In all parts of this person, known
and unknown (speaking here of parts of self, such as one’s inner critic, for
instance)
At all levels of this person’s
being, known and unknown (including the Body Level, Conscious Level, Unconscious Level
and Soul/Spiritual Level, per Judith Swack)
Throughout all dimensions and realms,
known and unknown (waxing metaphysical here, to make sure we cover all bases in terms
of the client’s belief system)
Throughout all time, past present and
future"
If the energy check indicates that the
treatment is not complete on one or more of these levels, further discussion is likely to
identify its unresolved aspects. If the client is primarily interested in achieving their
goal, and not so much in totally resolving this particular priority treatment focus, you
can also muscle check to find out if this treatment is 100% and permanently complete on
all levels, known and unknown, pertaining to the goal itself. If it is not, then another
priority treatment focus needs to be identified and treated until the person has arrived
at 100% blocks removal regarding the priority goal itself.
D. PSYCHOEDUCATION ABOUT RESOURCES AND
STRATEGIES. Just because a blockage or piece of baggage is removed, that doesn’t
necessarily mean that your client will automatically know how to behave differently from
the old pattern. S/he may have some new knowledge or skills to acquire. Therefore, an
important part of treatment checking the limitations of your results is to explore whether
the client has the internal and external resources for optimal functioning in relation to
the issue that has been successfully treated. Again, a simple interview will reveal much
about whether critical resources are missing. You can, as always, also use energy checking
to cross-verify the client’s conscious awareness. This may lead to further therapy
(e.g., for boundary-setting or reparenting), homework (e.g. listening to instructional
audio tapes on basic emotional or practical skills), or referrals to community resources
(e.g., vocational testing or classes on parenting or money management skills).
E. HARVEST LEARNINGS: I believe we develop
blockages partly as adaptations that allow us to cope with unresolved trauma, and partly
because these blockages contain learnings, often on a soul level. Sometimes these are
about us as individuals and other times they are also about how the universe works, how we
can be more loving in our relationships and effective in our careers, and how we can
deepen our capacity to be of service to others. So, again, here is where my background as
an insight-oriented psychologist, as well as a spiritually-oriented psychotherapist,
influences me. I energy check my client to find out which categories the client has
learnings to harvest (the additional category being "other," of course), and I
then have the client’s energy system tell us how many learnings s/he has accumulated
in each of these categories through the treatment we’ve just completed. I ask the
client to write down the learnings and bring them back to be energy checked for accuracy
(that is, is the learning worded 100% accurately, are there any additions, deletions or
modifications, and are there any additional learnings the client missed in that category).
My experience has taught me that if all aspects of treatment are conducted in accordance
with the other guidelines set forth in this article and the client does not resolve the
issue 100%, most of the time this is because there are learnings the client’s inner
wisdom still wants him/her to access that have not yet been harvested. In my experience,
blockages and undigested life experiences don’t entirely disappear until all embedded
gifts have been harvested.
F. IN-VIVO CONFIRMATION. The ultimate test
of the treatment is whether the client responds differently in the situations that once
evoked the problematic response. In my experience, when back home results are
disappointing, it usually means we missed an aspect or layer of the issue. This becomes
evident in the follow-up interview and leads to treatment of the aspect or layer that had
been neglected. (Again, knowing all of the key areas described in this paper make the
troubleshooting process very efficient. Better yet, if you address each of these areas as
you go along, you’ll have to go back and troubleshoot much less often!)
KEY #5: UPGRADE THE UNDISTURBED
STATE (OR THE PRIORITY GOAL) WITH PEAK FUNCTIONING OR EFFICIENCY:
A. PEAK FUNCTIONING. Energy Psychology
methods can be used to help embed (or, to use a computer term, install) high level
wellness, desired beliefs/emotions/goals/actions, peak performance, and the like. But,
wait to begin this kind of embedding until after the blockages have first been removed.
Why? Because if you try to install an upgrade over a pattern of disturbed meridian
responses (or other energy blockages), you might help produce temporary symptom relief,
but you will be pushing some important aspect of the underlying problem deeper rather than
resolving all the blockages fully. A systematic approach to Energy Psychology treatment
first removes the baggage of energy system disturbances so the client experiences an
undisturbed response to the priority treatment focus. But, as valuable as that result is,
we don’t want to leave the client there. As they say, peace is not merely the absence
of war. It is a state wholly unlike war. So, I believe that our job is not done until we
help the client identify and psychoenergetically (or in whatever way is confirmed to be
the priority treatment method) upgrade his/her internal state so that s/he functions
optimally concerning the priority treatment focus. And after all the necessary priority
treatment focuses have been treated and upgraded, then comes the icing on the cake, which
is upgrading what I call "Intentional Effectiveness" regarding the client’s
priority goal. In this final key to successful Energy Psychology treatment, Intentional
Effectiveness Upgrades are the focus.
That said, there is one important caveat
here: not every Priority Treatment Focus requires an upgrade, even though the priority
goal itself virtually always will require one. So, before proceeding with an upgrade on a
Priority Treatment Focus when the blockages have been 100% removed, energy check to find
out if this person would benefit from doing an upgrade on this. If not, go back to the
Priority Goal, and check to see if all blockages on this goal have been 100% removed. If
not, start another round in order to identify the next Priority Treatment Focus. Whenever
the Priority Goal confirms as having 100% of the blockages on it removed, it is time to do
the upgrade round on the Priority Goal itself.
B. ENVISION A WELL FORMED OUTCOME. As
Stephen Covey says, "Begin with the end in mind." Once the blocks are removed it
becomes possible to envision the end in a more meaningful way. So, a first step toward
this end is to help your client create a vivid, multi-sensory image of what in NLP is
called a "Well Formed Outcome." The client envisions how he or she ideally would
like to be when in the kind of situation that once evoked the problem. This vision is
cultivated and described using all 5 senses: "What do you want to see, hear,
feel, smell, taste?" If the client is spiritually oriented, invite him/her to be
shown this vision by his/her spiritual "crew."
C. "INSTALLING" THE WELL FORMED
DESIRED OUTCOME IMAGE. Most Energy Psychology blockage-removal methods can be easily
adapted in service of upgrading or installing positive states. Once you learn some Energy
Psychology treatment protocols it will become obvious to you how to do this. Many of the
leading Energy Psychology approaches also have their own procedure for doing upgrades.
You’ll find one such example in Energy Psychology Interactive: Fred Gallo’s
"Outcome Projection Procedure" (introduced in the Closing Phases module).
Installing the "fully formed outcome" vision using an Energy Psychology
procedure is a powerful method for supporting peak functioning. Simply do a streamlined
version of the relevant guidelines in Keys One through Four. I’ll briefly describe
how below.
D. UPGRADING VERSION OF KEY #1: By the time
you’ve arrived in the upgrading phase, the main focus in the First Key will be to
re-name his/her original goal in light of all the blockage removal that you have helped
him/her do regarding this goal. Energy check to confirm that the wording is 100% accurate
and complete, and that there is 100% permission to succeed with doing an upgrade.
E. UPGRADING VERSION OF KEY #2: During
upgrading the main focus in the Second Key will be the insight piece. In the case of
upgrading, that piece is the Well Formed Outcome…if it’s even necessary. Again,
as always, use energy checking to confirm whether this is necessary. Simply check to see
if the client’s system is already clear enough about the upgrade so that whatever
confirms in the next step as the priority treatment will be successful. (Of course, if the
client’s system doesn’t need to do the Well Formed Outcome step but s/he wants
to do it anyway, that’s perfectly fine!)
F. UPGRADE VERSION OF KEY #3: You’ll
do the Third Key pretty much as it’s outlined, except with the focus on using the
priority treatment for the purpose of upgrading.
E. CHECK YOUR UPGRADING RESULTS:
You’ll use most of the sections covered in the Fourth Key above (Confirm Completion)
to make sure you’ve truly completed the upgrade process. Once done, celebrate!
AFTER COMPLETING TREATMENT OF THE PRIORITY
TREATMENT FOCUS, RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL GOAL. Once you have confirmation that the priority
treatment focus has been 100% treated, you’ll want to return to the original goal to
find out if there are any additional blocks needing to be removed in order for the client
to reach that goal. If so, identify the next priority treatment focus and go through the
above steps. Continue this process until the client tests as having all blocks on the goal
100% cleared. When this is the case, go through all the items in this Fourth Key (Confirm
Completion), checking them in reference to the original goal itself rather than any one
"priority treatment focus." Then go to the Fifth Key section above (Upgrades),
also checking those items in reference to the original goal itself until that goal
confirms via energy checking to be 100% upgraded. When you’re done with this,
you’re done with the treatment!
SUMMARY: Psychological interventions
always occur within the larger container of the client-therapist relationship. Energy
Psychology interventions always occur within the larger container of the universe of
potential psychotherapeutically helpful interventions. The five keys to successful
treatment outlined here are a useful model to follow regardless of which psychotherapeutic
methods you use. This road map attunes the therapist to ways of keeping the process
proceeding in the most efficient way possible, largely through interview, intuition and
energy checks, by focusing on the diagnostic and treatment issues that are most critical
to successful outcome, as defined by the client: 1) Correctly identifying the overall goal
and the treatment focus that will best help remove the client’s blocks regarding that
goal; 2) Establishing a psychological, energetic, and interpersonal readiness to benefit
from the treatment; 3) Selecting the intervention that will be most powerful for
addressing the top priority treatment focus; 4) Confirming that the treatment has been
thorough and is complete; and 5) Replacing the now undisturbed energy system response with
internal states that help the client function in an optimal way in relationship to his/her
goal. |
