With posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) reaching epidemic proportions in the military and among veterans,
developing more effective treatments has become a high priority within the mental health
profession. The American Psychological Association,, however, has reaffirmed an
11-year-old policy that actively bans what some professionals believe to be one the most
significant breakthroughs in the treatment of the disorder.
According to Dr. John Diepold, a New
Jersey psychologist and an APA member since 1981, "The APA's recent ruling to again
deny psychologists continuing education credit for learning one of the most important
recent innovations in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder is highly
questionable at this time when tens of thousands of our returning soldiers, as well as
victims of domestic traumas, are suffering from PTSD and more effective treatments are
desperately needed." Dr. Diepold is one of a growing number of APA members who share
this concern. Some 75 of the organization’s members have started a petition to form a
new APA division that is dedicated to the study, practice, and dissemination of the new
approach.
The treatment in question, known as
"Energy Psychology," involves techniques such as tapping on acupuncture points
at the same time that a traumatic memory or stressful trigger is brought to mind. The
approach is believed to influence signals in the brain that counteract the stress
response. One of the first published studies on using the treatment with PTSD found that
symptoms were rapidly alleviated. Another study, using a "randomized controlled
design" (the gold standard in health care research) and presented at the prestigious
Society of Behavioral Medicine Conference in Seattle last April, showed that PTSD symptoms
were dramatically reduced in 49 military veterans. Forty-two of them, an almost unheard of
86 percent, no longer scored within the PTSD range after six sessions. These treatment
results are stronger than outcomes reported for conventional treatments such as Cognitive
Behavior Therapy, where a 50 percent success rate with PTSD after twelve sessions is
considered a highly favorable response.
Despite the Seattle report and promising
outcomes in several other studies, the APA recently affirmed a position dating back to a
1999 ruling that psychologists cannot earn continuing education (CE) credit by studying
Energy Psychology. This action was taken by denying an appeal by the Association for
Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) to become an APA CE sponsor. ACEP is a non-profit
association of some 850 Energy Psychology practitioners and researchers. This is the
APA’s fourth ruling in the past two years denying ACEP’s attempts to be able to
provide psychologists CEs for studying the approach, including rejecting two applications,
a request for reconsideration, and now a formal appeal. The APA’s reasoning is
difficult to discern from the documents announcing the denials in that it fails to address
the fact that the preponderance of emerging research evidence shows the approach to be
effective. It instead emphasizes that the approach is "controversial" and takes
issue with a few fine points on research design.
According to ACEP President Dr. Gregory
J. Nicosia, a psychologist and an APA member since 1977, "The APA’s criteria for
appropriate CE content are clear and straightforward. By any reasonable reading of our
applications or of our 80-page appeal brief, we have met these criteria many times over.
In blocking the dissemination of this approach, the APA is following a different agenda
than its own rules. I have no idea what that agenda might be, but the bottom line is that
it is hampering one of the most important clinical interventions for treating trauma that
has appeared in recent years from reaching those who are in desperate need and could
benefit from it most."
Some individuals who utilize Energy
Psychology and have been following the controversy are incensed. Kate Borman explains,
"As a consumer who has been hurt by traditional psychologists, I have found energy
therapy to be a tool that works for me in a self-practice mode. At the same time I know
that I need a professional trained in the techniques I'm trying to self-teach. I can't
find one locally and am left feeling helpless. The APA’s rejection of Energy
Psychology is very discouraging. Shame on them! Just another case of leadership and
management being out of touch with reality."
Continuing education is one of the
primary ways the mental health profession introduces new clinical developments to its
practitioners. A course meets the APA’s published criteria for CE credit (the
guidelines accepted by every state for renewing the licensure of its psychologists) if it
meets any one of four standards. The first is that the psychological community has been
studying or applying the approach. In relationship to this criterion, more than two dozen
papers on Energy Psychology have appeared in peer-reviewed mental health journals, most of
them showing favorable outcomes in systematic studies of the method. Meanwhile, at least
three international disaster relief organizations have adopted Energy Psychology as a core
modality in working with the mental health needs of disaster survivors. Either development
would seem to qualify Energy Psychology based on this "studying or applying"
criterion alone.
Another APA standard that would define a
course as appropriate for CE credit is if its "program content has peer-reviewed,
published support beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted
primarily to the promotion of the approach." In addition to the research just
mentioned, highly favorable assessments of Energy Psychology have been published in the
APA’s own journals, such as the prestigious Psychotherapy: Theory, Research,
Practice, Training. A review of Energy Psychology Interactive, one of the main
Energy Psychology texts, appeared in the APA’s online book review journal PsychCRITIQUES.
It concludes that because Energy Psychology successfully "integrates ancient Eastern
practices with Western psychology [it constitutes] a valuable expansion of the traditional
biopsychosocial model of psychology to include the dimension of energy." The review,
by Dr. Ilene Serlin, a former APA division president, describes Energy Psychology as
"a new discipline that has been receiving attention due to its speed and
effectiveness with difficult cases."
The APA’s recent ruling against
allowing CE credit for studying Energy Psychology, and the enormous consequences it holds
seems puzzling, but perhaps it is not so surprising. A recent paper on the controversies
within the field, published in Energy Psychology’s own peer-reviewed journal,
discusses the "paradigm clash" between conventional psychological explanations
for therapeutic change and Energy Psychology, which draws from ancient healing systems
such as acupuncture. But it concludes that the largest roadblock to acceptance by the
professional community is that clinicians who have used conventional methods to treat PTSD
find the claims by Energy Psychology practitioners to be implausible. The paper explains,
"There is nothing in the training or background of most clinicians or researchers
that prepares them to understand how tapping on the skin can help overcome severe
psychological disorders, no less to account for the speed and power with which positive
clinical results are being reported."
Many psychologists, however, are
disregarding the APA’s position, assessing the evidence themselves, and successfully
applying Energy Psychology techniques with a range of challenging emotional disorders.
According to Dr. Sheila Bender, an APA member for more than 35 years and co-author of a
major Energy Psychology textbook: "Despite the APA’s unprecedented ban on
continuing education credits for energy psychology study, a growing body of
psychologists continues to learn, investigate, and use these noninvasive, easily applied
and effective psychotherapeutic tools. Thousands of clinicians are, in fact,
integrating energy psychology into treatment protocols for a wide range of psychological
problems, and reports of their successes are appearing not only from private practices,
but also from institutions such as HMOs, hospitals, and V.A. Centers."
Whatever the APA’s reasoning in its
recent decision to continue to use its CE-granting authority to deter psychologists from
learning about energy psychology, it has stirred a controversy that touches a social nerve
by bringing attention to the need for more effective treatments for PTSD. With
incalculable numbers of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in dire
need of effective help for the harsh psychological traumas inflicted by modern warfare,
and ever-present incidents of domestic trauma, the time is past due for the APA to approve
Energy Psychology for continuing education credit rather than to continue to block its
dissemination! |
