EFT is being used in the NHS by highly respected clinicians such as Dr Phil Mollon, a clinical psychologist at the mental health unit of the Lister Hospital, Stevenage. He is also a psychotherapist, who trained at the Tavistock Clinic, north-west London, and an accredited practitioner of EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, see panel facing page) and an advanced practitioner of meridian energy therapies, of which EFT is one.
In 2006 Therese McGoldrick, a behavioural psychotherapist who works for NHS Forth Valley, in Larbert, Scotland, began using EFT with patients. Her team of seven have all undergone training and are convinced of its benefits. “It’s very effective where there’s been traumatic experience. It also works well for grief, phobias, some pain conditions and morbid jealousy. A colleague has observed that it has been helpful, too, with people who self-harm by cutting themselves.” Because EFT works in a few sessions — sometimes only one — it’s very cost-effective and McGoldrick says that patients can be shown how to practise it at home. McGoldrick, who is hoping to attract research funding for the technique, pioneered EMDR, in Scotland ten years ago. It is now accepted internationally as a mainstream procedure.
Update: The trial will be completed in August 2009. The results of the trial will be posted here.
