Albert Szent-Gyori was a giant in the field of medicine. He was the first scientist to isolate vitamin C, and described biological oxidation (which provided the basis for understanding many biochemical processes in the body). For this work, he was awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. As a biochemist, he had a deep appreciation for the study of matter and physical interactions. Indeed, his field, biochemistry, serves as the foundation of modern medicine, and has been responsible for innumerable medical advances.1

Yet Szent-Gyori understood that biochemistry wasn’t the only way to look at the world. He is often quoted as saying “The cell is a machine driven by energy. It can thus be approached by studying matter, or by studying energy. In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy.”

As Szent-Gyori noted, many medical traditions before ours achieved healing by moving energy. One notable example is traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In TCM, disease is caused by an imbalance of qi (pronounced “chee”), which is a life energy that flows through the body along meridians, or channels. Qi imbalance can be caused by external forces (wind, cold, heat), internal forces (excessive joy, anger, fear), and lifestyle factors (poor sleep, poor diet, etc). TCM helps bring qi back into balance by directly affecting qi channels (through acupuncture, acupressure, or other approaches), by restoring balance through dietary and herbal interventions, or through movement practices, such as qi gong.2 While the approach might seem a bit esoteric, TCM has existed for thousands of years, and the World Health Organization recognizes the use of acupuncture for a variety of conditions—including stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.3

Energy psychology (EP) is a family of integrative approaches to psychology brings together the insights of energy systems (such as the channels in TCM) with contemporary psychology. Examples of EP include Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Thought Field Therapy (TFT), the Neuro Emotional Technique (NET), and the Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT). 4,5 TAT, for example, combines holding acupressure points on one’s head while going through a series of statements, and can be self-administered.6 Similarly, TFT utilizes a sequence of self-tapping to stimulate specific acupuncture points while recalling a traumatic event or a specific cue.7

While the field of EP is relatively new, early evidence regarding its efficacy is intriguing. For example,  in one randomized controlled trial of EP for combat veterans, 49 Veterans with PTSD received six EP treatments, after which 42 had scores that were no longer in the PTSD range (with benefits that were maintained at 6 months).8  Since 1999, the field has had had an international professional society, the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, which promotes research, education, and practice of EP.9

EP is an intriguing example of integrative medicine, bringing together the ancient wisdom of healing systems such as TCM with modern insights of psychology.

1.         Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. Profiles in Science. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/wg

2.         Traditional Chinese Medicine | Michigan Medicine. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/aa140227spec

3.         Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trial. World Health Organization; 2002.

4.         NETmindbody - What is NET? NETmindbody. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.netmindbody.com/more-information/what-is-net/

5.         MD DR. Integrative Medicine. 4th edition. Elsevier; 2017.

6.         What is TAT? | TATlife - Tapas Acupressure Technique. TATlife. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://tatlife.com/what-is-tat/about/

7.         Thought Field Therapy. Thought Field Therapy. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.thoughtfieldtherapy.net/thought-field-therapy-info/

8.         The Case for Energy Psychology. eomega.org. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.eomega.org/article/the-case-for-energy-psychology

9.         ACEP The Home of Energy Psychology. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.energypsych.org/