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Articles & Ideas

General

Suzanne Lerner gives her thoughts on diagnosis

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Note: This article assumes you have a working knowledge of EFT. Newcomers can still learn from it but are advised to peruse our Free Gold Standard (Official) EFT Tutorial™ for a more complete understanding.

Hi Everyone,

Diagnosis is a controversial topic in healing circles and Suzanne Lerner, PhD adds her perspective. She says, "Unfortunately, diagnoses can also become like prisons, filling us with irrational limiting beliefs about our options. They can become an added burden, making us feel even more ill. Thus .... we have to make some really astute choices when we're given a specific diagnosis." Please consult physicians on all medical issues.

Hugs, Gary


By Suzanne ib Lerner, PhD

Hi Gary,

I recently read about a woman who had just received a diagnosis of ADHD. She said she felt as if G*D was saying: "Hey there, if you think you know everything about ADHD then let me tell you a thing or two! You have it and always had it and will always carry it with you but now you'll know and understand." While I think that this individual understood that this wasn't the whole story, she was really feeling depressed from her diagnosis. I think EFT is teaching us very different ways of looking at diagnosis, illness and health.

A diagnosis is such a tricky thing. On the one hand, it can bring much relief, as you finally make sense of all these weird things that seem to be happening to you. In fact, in earlier times, patients were grateful just to receive a diagnosis from a doctor, even if there was no cure. The doctor would use statistics to predict the person's "probable life expectancy" so that if they had a life threatening disease, they could put their affairs in order, and say their goodbyes, rather than just drop dead unexpectedly!

Unfortunately, diagnoses can also become like prisons, filling us with irrational limiting beliefs about our options. They can become an added burden, making us feel even more ill. Thus, especially in these times of the overmedication of the entire population, we have to make some really astute choices when we're given a specific diagnosis.

Remember that in getting a diagnosis, you are being clumped with a large number of people who have some of the things you have in common, but also not in common. For example, if a therapist wants to give a person a diagnosis of "Major Depressive Disorder" they must meet at least 5 of the symptoms within a list of 9 symptom categories. These include such variables as change in sleep, appetite, specific kinds of thoughts and feelings, as well as changes in concentration, memory, and sex drive. While we have the option of addressing our specific "symptom cluster" as Depression, we also have the choice to address each of the particular variables that pertain to us, whichever serves us best.

Perhaps it would be more helpful sometimes, instead of so quickly labeling people with diagnoses, to instead focus on where they have areas that need strengthening, added support, processing, skill building, or development of compensatory strategies. So instead of a diagnosis of ADHD for my child, I might prefer a diagnosis that stated:

"Has difficulties concentrating in late morning, influenced by blood sugar, number of kids in class, whether kinesthetic ways of learning are included (the child's preferred mode of taking in info) and whether the teacher is pleasant or punitive. Note: Additional stressors of parents divorce need to be addressed as well."

Gary Craig, together with other energy practitioners, are radically changing our ideas of illness, diagnosis and intervention. With EFT we can begin to examine what core events were happening at the time of the diagnosis, process these events, and often get significant physical relief! I highly recommend everyone viewing Gary's DVDs: "Using EFT for Serious Diseases 1 & 2." These DVDs are part of his Honors Library and will absolutely change your way of thinking about the mind-body connection.

Here's a wonderful quote from the cover of these DVDs:

"EFT points clearly to the link between our physical health and our emotions; I have frequently used it to bring physical relief without medications. With quality uses of EFT, we can largely avoid the practice of burying disease and pain with drugs." -Tania de Winne, MD

EFT can also help support healthy lifestyle changes, which then positively affect any given illness. How much you have of any symptoms varies each and every day, depending on a host of other factors-diet, exercise, stress, mood, energy levels, social support, engaging activities, what stressors are going on in the lives of people around you, etc, etc. Not to mention one of the strongest variables, which is your attitude. Using EFT to address these specific variables, and support healthy modifications, can immensely affect the individual symptoms, quality of life and potential recovery.

So here are some Tapping Phrases, for anyone who is dealing with the challenges of receiving a diagnosis. Please feel free to adapt them in any way for your specific situation:

GC COMMENT: Please note that these suggested phrases are necessarily global in nature and that addressing the specific events behind the disease will likely add depth to the process.

Even though I just received this diagnosis, I choose to use this information in ways that empower me, rather than limit me.

Even though I feel so scared about receiving this diagnosis, I deeply and completely love and accept all of me, including the parts of me that are feeling ill and scared.

Even though this diagnosis feels in some ways like a "death sentence", I choose to explore my options. I choose to live the best life that I can.

Even though a part of me wishes I could be noble and strong, another part of me just feels scared and overwhelmed. I choose to deeply and completely accept ALL my feelings.

Even though I hate being treated as a "statistic" rather than a human being, I choose to remember that I am as unique as my fingerprint, and that I can find many ways to cope and improve my situation.

Even though I "know" I have this illness, I am willing to be open to the possibility that I can be healed, at whatever level that manifests.

There is of course, an important place for Western Medicine and medication, when used judiciously. It is important not to be in unhealthy denial and avoid getting appropriate medical intervention, where necessary. However, EFT is quick and freely available, and thus may make sense as the initial intervention for a variety of diagnoses.

GC COMMENT: Please consult physicians on all medical issues.

May we all find the support for the best health possible, at every level of our being!

Warmly,
Suzanne i.b. Lerner, PhD

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