Removing Blocks to Treatment with Energy Psychology
(by Lori Hops, PhD, DCEP) Do some of these statements from your clients sound familiar?
“I know this lifestyle isn’t good for me, but I can’t seem to change it”, or
“I get started on a new path with treatment, and then things just fall apart.”
It may be that treatment is working for a while but then stops, motivation for change decreases, or self-sabotage occurs.
What do you do when your clients face blocks to successful treatment, despite their (and your) best efforts?
Energy psychology has a unique way of addressing these problems, without the need to blame the client or the therapist, or using labels like “resistance to change” or “treatment failure”.
Psycho-energetic reversals can get in the way of change
A psycho-energetic reversal (PR) is a subtle energetic condition in the human psyche and body. A car battery offers a good metaphor. PR’s can be thought of as similar to a reversal of the battery’s wiring. If the negative and positive wires are connected to the opposite poles of a battery, the battery won’t work properly. We are made up of electrical energy, and at times, our systems become scrambled, leading to reversals of what we want to create. We shut down instead of opening up; we become upset when we want to be peaceful; we can’t think straight when we need to solve difficult problems. The outcome of PR’s is attracting the opposite of what we want to achieve, often without awareness of how or why it is happening, or what to do to change.
The “Big 5” psychoenergetic reversals
Most impediments to treatment are connected to five common PR’s. They are linked to the survival instinct of perceived SAFETY, personal awareness of self or IDENTITY, accepting the right to receive and to be in existence through DESERVEDNESS, being open to new options of change through POSSIBILITY and WILLILNGNESS. When any one or more of these five principles are reversed, it becomes difficult to institute change.
Identifying the source of the PR is the first step to changing it. Statements or beliefs may include these notions:
- I don’t think it’s possible and/or safe for me to change.
- I don’t deserve to live differently than I am now.
- I may not know who I will be if I change.
- Right now I am unwilling to change.
How to clear PR’s
If you know that your client has been able to change in the past, and does not need to acquire new skills, it may be time to identify likely PR’s that are getting in the way of their goals. Using energy psychology techniques to integrate new patterns of awareness, while bringing to mind the problem, allows new connections to be made. Once reversed polarities are realigned, additional learning and experiences can occur. Energy and consciousness are related to one another. When you change your energy pattern, you change your consciousness.
5 Steps to Clearing a PR (Simple Procedure)
- Use whatever method works for you to identify if a PR is in the way of treatment. This may include ideomotor testing (aka muscle testing) or other approaches, such as exploratory questions or review of past patterns of obstruction to growth.
- Ask your client bring to mind, and feel in their body in the here and now, the relevant feeling or reactionary state identified as the PR. For instance, it could be the idea that it is impossible for them to be happy.
- Ask your client to immediately and gently tap, rub or hold the side of the hand (see figure of side of hand point) with the opposite hand.
- As they’re doing step 3, ask your client to state their current belief or feeling, along with a self-acceptance statement. For instance, if your client feels it is impossible to be happy, they will tap their hand and say three times, “Even though I think I’ll always be unhappy, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
- Have them stop tapping, relax and see what if anything has changed about the belief or feeling state.
Complex PR’s
Not all situations are as straightforward as in the simple procedure just described. For instance, more than one PR may be operating, or it may be difficult to identify which aspect of a problem is causing the most disruption. If you want to know more about how to clear complex PR’s, and for more information about removing PR’s, access this free report.
Author
Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP is a licensed psychologist in Westlake Village, California, USA. Lori is president-elect of ACEP (www.energypsych.org), and Chair of ACEP’s Communications Committee. She is certified in Comprehensive Energy Psychology, Logosynthesis, and is a Reiki master. Learn more about Dr. Hops at www.drlorihops.com. You can visit her Facebook page for A Tip A Day for Wellness Program at Facebook.com/Lori.Hops.
Cover photo by Caleb Angel on Unsplash

