I love the way that Emotional Freedom Techniques handle phobias so quickly and effectively. Traditional methods of treatments are often long arduous procedures that require strength and courage whereas the EFT model merely involves the willingness to try and the practitioner’s ability to perceive the different aspects to the fear.

In my practice there have merely been two categories of phobias – those whose origins are known and those we don’t. Here is the case of a client who came to see me with a clear understanding of where their phobia originated.

Louise May came to see me after her condition became too debilitating to manage on her own. She had been unable to cook anything for herself in the last few years. This had led her to eating out exclusively but recently she had begun to fear take out food as well.

The fear was that something would poison herself. Many aspects appeared as I worked with her including fear of poisoning someone else with her cooking, fear that she would use an ingredient that was too old and spoiled, and the fear of bacterial contamination from her countertop or kitchen utensils.

All of those very specific fears were worked on individually and after 20 minutes or so they appeared to be gone. At that point I asked her if she knew where these fears had started and she said that indeed she did and the story she told me was an incredible example of how a parent’s words can haunt a child for their entire lives. 

Louise May was named after a marginally famous movie actress near the time of WWII. She died of food poisoning! My client’s parents were always asked about their daughter’s unusual name and she doesn’t ever remember a time when they didn’t tell folks the cause of the untimely death of their favorite screen idol.

We worked on a few rounds of the statement ,”Even though my mother told my teacher on the first day of school that I was named after an actress who died after eating some bad vegetables, I don’t have to follow in her footsteps” and similar set-ups. We also spent a few minutes clearing other significant emotional experiences that were closely related.

Of course the proof is always in the testing pudding. I am happy to report that Louise May is now happily cooking in her kitchen and chuckles when explaining her namesake’s fatal last meal.

Alina Frank, CERT-I

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