EFT on nail biting? And why not.

Posted in: Alternative

There is a bewildering pantheon of therapies around these days, at various points on the continua of alternative/institutional, experimental/established: Brief Strategic, Provocative, NLP, Insight, EMDR, Hypno...

Since doing the Landmark Forum last year I've been studying therapy in various forms very much as a diléttant. One therapy that frequently pops on my radar as well rated but less well known is EFT, Emotional Freedom Therapy.

Created and promoted primarily by one guy, Gary Craig, it's based so far as I understand it as a novice on identifying an unresolved emotional issue, accepting oneself, and tapping points on meridian lines (same as some of those used in acupuncture/acupressure). Administering EFT is remarkably quick: the basic process takes a few minutes for an application.

Initially discouraged by the length of the EFT tutorial I put it aside (being a dilettant you get to pick and choose ;-). Then Dave took me through the whole thing plus some of his refinements, in about ten minutes. (Cheers, mate!)

All that was left was to take this new toy for a spin! Of course, my head's fully straight and there's nothing really left to work on (ha ha). A long standing hassle of mine has been nail biting; 25yrs and counting. I have it mostly cracked so long as the nail is in OK condition (i.e. not bitten), then I leave it alone. If it's been chewed, then it's open season for more. And I have one like that right now.

As I was about to do the EFT procedure on myself my (extremely mild) scalp and elbow eczema went bananas; apprehension. There's a fear in any therapy "heck, I've tried everything else, if this doesn't work, I'm doomed, DOOMED I tell you!". This fear can be so strong people won't enter themselves into a possibly healing opportunity for fear it might not work and that their self-image of being "unfixable" becomes hardened that much more. So they rather continue to suffer than take that chance. Who said the mind operates logically.

Thank goodness I am so logical (ha ha). At the end of the "session" there was almost no discernible desire to bite my nails. Dave suggested testing more so I tried to bite them; nothing. The usual stimulus-response seemed to have been unwired. Bizarre, exciting! I did another round to scoop out the remainder of the itch to nibble: my fingers went faintly numb, and recovered shortly.

A day later, I'm certainly preoccupied by it and I think most of that is fascination. I can put my fingers in my mouth and go through the motions; it's just not hitting the same responses anymore. So, assuming I go to bed shortly, I'll've been 24h without any nailbiting. Not a record by any stretch but a record in terms of not wanting to bite them.

What's particularly impressive about this is that nail-biting is a tricky beast to treat as the triggers to engage in the activity are almost all pre-conscious. I.e. you don't think "ah, gotta bite my nails". It just happens. (That, IMO, is why those nasty-tasting lacquers aren't too effective; they generate a negative-ish stimulus too late in the process.) So the fact that this has had any effect whatsoever I'm stoked about.

Fantastic! A few voluntary $$ will be winging their way to Gary Craig.

Want more? Two options, one that involves quite a lot of time online; the other a much shorter period of time with another person:

1. Check out the EFT newcomers intro. I also enjoyed the non-EFT-specific creative therapeutic advice e.g. on digging through hidden issues (from the EFT FAQ).

2. Better yet, go see someone like Dave who knows what they're doing.

Posted by Paul Makepeace at June 13, 2004 23:16 | TrackBack