These case studies are a selection from my client files and are in alphabetical order. Some are ‘one minute wonders’, and some are the result of several sessions. Some deal strictly with physical issues and some are purely emotional. I update them from time to time, removing older ones and adding newer ones, in no particular timeframe, just when I think it’s time for a change.

Aching Bones

L, age 56 had an ongoing ache in her forearm as the result of the metal pins holding the bone together from a shattering fall two years previously. She was conscious of a feeling of heaviness in the arm and subsequent strain on her shoulder from lifting this heavy arm all the time. She also felt a lessened range of motion in the shoulder. EFT reduced the pain to a barely noticeable level, and she was able to move her arm in a full circle from the shoulder. She later reported that she’d had the pins removed a full six months before her surgeon had predicted, because the bone had healed so well.

Unexplained Back Pain

A, age 26, had back pain causing him to not be able to even sit comfortably. Unwilling to explore the emotional roots of the pain, he was convinced he probably had a kidney infection. EFT reduced and moved the pain so that he was able to identify it as a muscle pull higher up in his back, which was diminished to the extent that he was able to continue with his work that day, sleep that night, and the pain had disappeared when he woke the following day.

R, 26, was seeing me for another issue but her lower back was so sore she could not find a comfortable position to set in the very comfortable armchair in my consulting room. She had been seeing a physical therapist for several weeks to relieve the pain. We tapped for the exact feeling and symptoms of the pain and within less than five minutes the pain was gone. At a followup session a few weeks later for the main issue, she reported the back pain had not returned.

T, age 41 was at a seminar with me, and had severe upper back and shoulder pain disrupting her attention.She was going to a chiropractic appointment until the following day so in a break we did an EFT routine which diminished the pain to a ‘manageable’ level within a few minutes, such that she felt she could actually make it through the day and the night. A few days later she reported that the pain was less again by the time she got to her chiropractor’s appointment.

Body Image

T, 19, had recovered from anorexia, but the persistent thoughts about her body were causing her great anxiety. She constantly compared her body negatively to those of girlfriends, was distressed when looking in the mirror, and constantly silently arguing with herself to stop eating and get thinner. As a university student studying an intense and intellectual program, she knew her weight was healthy and that her overall health was good, but the thoughts were now so persistent that she was distracted from the things she preferred to do. We tapped around all the thoughts and behaviours and in just one session she was clear. She returned to see me a few months later for another issue, and reported that the anorexic thinking had not plagued her at all.

Cancer

C, age 54, with his wife’s unwavering and fully committed support, was undergoing treatment for cancer. He was referred by his acupuncturist to bolster his belief that he was able to allow his body to heal. He had huge fear about the cancer and the outcome of treatment, and the next phase of treatment, and that was the first issue the EFT helped to ease for him. Quickly he realised that his grief about the accidental death of his daughter was a significant part of his illness, and after processing that with various EFT and other energy therapy techniques, he was able to be at peace with it and was so calm and sure that his daughter’s spirit was with him. We then worked on boosting his fear and also helped the couple to keep their communication clear during the stressful time. C is now in remission due to his determination and absolute belief that he would heal, and embracing the treatments to keep him healthy.

Distress and Disorientation

A, aged 92, was moving into a nursing home for full time care. She was extremely distressed and disoriented. She was suffering from dementia, which added to her emotional turmoil. EFT produced calmness and reassured her family that she would settle into her new surroundings. EFT needs to be ongoing for dementia.

Driving Test Anxiety

M, age 18, had just finished her formal schooling and had great anxiety about doing her driver’s test and finding a job in her ‘gap year’. We dealt with both issues in one session, as she had previously experienced EFT and other energy therapies in a group workshop series with me and was well in tune with her emotions and body responses.

We “tapped all over” her driving test fears and future-paced the test until she was completely confident. Not surprisingly her fears about finding a job were also diminished but we tapped all over those too, and again future-paced possible job interviews. She called the next day to say she had not only passed her driving test easily but her instructor had said he’d never seen anyone front up to a test with such calm certainty.

She called a few days after that to say she’d easily found a perfect job paying excellent money.

A few months later her mother called to tell me that M had received honourable mention in team meetings for several weeks in a row for her calmness in dealing with difficult customers – and her secret was EFT! She tapped immediately when dealing with such customers on the phone and was able to stay cool calm and collected

Frozen Shoulder

H, age 56, had been driving almost non-stop on a tour for a month and had a frozen shoulder and severe neck pain. She’d had physical treatments which hadn’t really reduced the pain, and was wearing a neck brace. Her range of movement was much diminished. EFT cleared the neck pain and restored the range of movement within a few minutes, so that she was able to remove the neckbrace and continue as though she’d not had the injury.

Health Beliefs

S, age 55, had a thyroid condition. She didn’t want to take medication but was experiencing symptoms she didn’t want to have in her life. She wanted help changing her beliefs that the condition would progress and her quality of life would keep deteriorating. After three sessions she was relaxed, very happy, and confident that her health was robust and would continue to improve.

Netball Knees

L, age 19 has sore knees which periodically ache, the result she feels, of too much netball as a young girl. She is too impatient to explore the roots of the injury and uses an EFT routine to manage the pain. She reports that the ache occurs less frequently and less severely.

Migraine

K, age 43 suffers from debilitating migraine every couple of months. She was not willing to explore the root cause of the migraine tendency, but was willing to develop a management routine to use when she got the early warning signs of migraine (a very clear visual disturbance). This tapping routine on the visual disturbance, the subsequent nausea and the severe pain, lessened the intensity and reduced the length of each stage, to the extent that a migraine episode now lasts only five hours at much lessened intensity, instead of two days, with no migraine hangover the following day. With ongoing exploration, when she is ready, this will improve further.

Personal Success

M, age 34 had significant fear around her business success. She had experience much success in all areas of her life and was aware that others considered her successful. She was also aware that every time she reached a particular level of achievement (in dollar terms) in her business, she was “doing something” to shut down the flow of clients and orders. Using EFT and other energy therapies, we explored her immediate fear and her negative feelings towards business competitors (feelings with which she was so uncomfortable but felt she couldn’t control) and that took us to the roots of her fear, back in childhood with school mates. The tearless trauma technique helped her clear that early conflict and she immediately felt her vibration shift, and she was able to laugh about the antics of her school mates. She left with a clear but powerful sense that she was headed for the top!

Restless Toddler

B, aged 18 months was a very lively child, who had very broken sleep patterns and exhausted parents. We talked through the child’s ‘normal’ routine, and the impacts on the family’s life at each stress point. Daytime naps for baby were something Mum only dreamed about, so we worked on that as the first issue. We applied EFT with mum being the surrogate for baby who was wriggling beside her on the chair. Within two minutes baby had gone to sleep, almost unheard of! Mum thought it might have been because they’d been travelling and baby was worn out. We then identified other aspects of her routine – going to sleep after 11pm at night even though she was obviously exhausted by that stage and should have gone to sleep earlier, waking through the night, and waking at 4am when her dad did. Mum phoned the next morning ecstatic that baby had gone to sleep before 8pm, and had slept through until 7am. This pattern continued for several months and I did not hear from her after that so presumably all was right in her world .

Shingles

V, age 53 had been diagnosed with very painful shingles, one week previously. She was taking medication which was supposed to limit the shingles episode but she was not experiencing any relief. We talked through the onset of the shingles and tapped on the everyday life stresses which affected that. She immediately reported some easing of the pain, and that the pain had moved to a different spot. This also released some deeper issues for her, and she easily explored those. At the end of the session the pain was completely gone, and she reported an easing of her spirit that she’d not experienced before. The bout of shingles was completely gone in just a week or so, as opposed to many months that some people suffer.

Sexuality

M, age 31, was extremely confused about her sexuality in the face of a developing friendship with a work colleague of the same sex, to the extent it was interrupting her sleep, her ability to study, and to function at work especially when the colleague was around her. EFT helped her explore all the facets of the confusion and reach a place of calmness where she was able to develop some strategies to calmly explore the possibilities of the relationship. Within two weeks she reported a resolution of the confusion and very calm, clear direction for the future.

Toothache

W, age 27 phoned with severe toothache several hours after routine dental work. She’d taken analgesics which were having no effect. EFT was applied for the severity of the pain and within a few minutes she reported greatly diminished pain, which was completely gone a few minutes later.

Relationship Issues

Intimacy

M, age 49 had ongoing issues with allowing his partner to get really close to him. His behaviour had disrupted two marriages and a long-term relationship and was in danger of destroying the relationship with the woman he described as “the love of my life”. EFT helped him deal with his initial but quite shallow fear of intimacy, and quickly he became aware that the roots were in in death of his “hero” eldest brother, when M was a young teenager. The release of this old emotion was tremendously powerful for him and he was able to move on to a new intimacy with his dream love. So significant was the change in his being that even his siblings commented, and he was delighted to report this.

P, age 35, had life-long issues with allowing people to get emotionally close to him, including his children. He felt that this blocking was also blocking his success in business. EFT successfully helped him open his heart to his family, and his intuition that business success would follow, was correct! He now presents internationally at internet seminars and his business success is soaring.

Grief

L, age 58 was in great grief about the remarriage of her ex husband. Despite working in mental health for many years, she found herself unable to let go of the ties she felt bound them together through many years of what she’d experienced as happy marriage. Her grief was affecting her work, her leisure, and her sleep. She was clear that she not only had no choice but to let go, but that she also wanted to let go and move on with her life. There were many layers of grief and betrayal for her which required a few sessions of clearing, but she was astonished at the power of EFT and other energy therapies to help her move through the layers and experience peace and joy, which had seemed so foreign to her for so long.

Partner’s Habits

M and W, a couple, were experiencing a difficult time in their relationship because he found her smoking to be completely repulsive, and for her part, every time he complained she felt rebellious and would smoke more to spite him! They both felt the other was behaving in a “silly” way, and that their relationship was in real jeopardy. EFT helped them both explore their feelings about the other’s actions. When they left the session he was laughing about the strange need he HAD felt to control her occasional smoking, she at her need to defy him. She still smokes occasionally when out with friends, and if he notices he’s not at all bothered by it.

Post-Breakup

M, age 36, had a very stressful marriage breakup. EFT helped her talk through the upheavals in her and her children’s lives and develop effective coping strategies for her husband’s increasingly erratic behaviours.

Sand Phobia

F, age 36, was shocked at the onset of a ‘sand phobia’ and panic at the thought of driving her 4×4 on the sand during an upcoming holiday. She was having nightmares, sweating and shortness of breath whenever she thought about herself or her husband driving on the sand. She was considering doing a sand driving course to diminish her anxiety but even that idea caused the panic symptoms. EFT explored all the aspects of this new phobia and collapsed all the issues within a session, such that she was looking forward to the challenge of driving the dunes, and was confident she didn’t even need the sand driving course.

Trichotillomania

I, aged 7, had a severe condition related to obsessive compulsive disorder, which involved her pulling out her hair. When she came to see me she had just a few patches of hair left. Mum felt very responsible for her daughter’s behaviour because no matter what she did, the behaviour continued. We had one session together with a bit of tapping and a bit of talking and a bit of laughing. A few months later I and her mum dropped around to show me her gorgeous full shiny head of thick hair – she was so proud of it!

Workplace Stress

W, age 48, was uncharacteristically overwhelmed by a very stressful work situation with two colleagues who, she felt, were giving her a hard time over her recent promotion. They took every opportunity to undermine her behind her back, and she found herself frozen into inactivity when confronted with their behaviour. EFT helped her deal with the immediate feelings of betrayal and overwhelm, and come to a place of calmness where she was able to recognise her own strengths and develop strategies to cope with the inappropriate behaviours.

T, age 27, mentioned during a session that a colleague on her team had the most annoying voice T had ever heard. she was so distracted by the colleague’s voice that she avoided being near her but of course that was difficult as they worked on the same team. She felt very stressed by not being able to get away from the voice, and was sure she was judging her colleague’s work performance based on her very strong feelings about the voice! We tapped all around aspects of that until she couldn’t imagine the voice bothering her at all. At the following session she reported that she couldn’t remember noticing anything particular about her colleague’s voice at all, and that their working relationship was smooth and easy.