In the introduction to his article, Halliwell notes that a team of therapists went to Yugoslavia in 2001 to help treat war trauma victims. The chief medical officer of Kosovo (Dr Shkelzen Syla), amongst other local doctors, was impressed by the team's results: he wrote subsequently that "the success was 100 per cent for very patient—and they are still smiling."¹

The article goes on to point out that "the group who achieved such startling results were not psychoanalysts, cognitive behavioural therapists or conventional therapists of any kind. They were practitioners of energy psychology, a branch of emotional healing that has been gaining ground in the US since the early 1980s." (The energy psychology treatment used in Kosovo was TFT, from which EFT derives. For more info on TFT, see my Glossary.)

As a journalist for a highly respected paper, Halliwell was presumably keen to find documented evidence to substantiate or disprove the claims made for TFT/EFT. He notes, however, that "perhaps because of the threat that (TFT's) simplicity posed to the psychological establishment, research on TFT and EFT was slow to emerge," adding that in the past years several studies have been undertaken which "appear largely to back the astounding anecdotal claims."

Halliwell concludes: "For those suspicious of quick fixes, EFT will seem too good to be true—and indeed its detractors have attributed its successes to anything from a placebo response, to the induction of an hypnotic trance. But, whatever their causes, the effects appear to be long-lasting, and client testimonies are impressive."

¹from Dr Syla's letter of appreciation:
"Many well funded relief organisations have treated the post-traumatic stress here in Kosova. Some of our people had limited improvement but Kosova had no major change or real hope until...we referred our most difficult patients to (the international treatment team). The success from TFT was 100% for every patient, and they are still smiling until this day (and, indeed, in formal follow-ups at an average of five months after the treatment, each was free of relapse)."

this extract is quoted in The Healing Power of EFT & Energy Psychology by David Feinstein, Donna Eden & Gary Craig. For a review of this book, see Resources.

NB: I wanted to be able to offer you a link to the complete article; I've spoken with staff at The Independent, but they have not so far been able to provide me with the appropriate url.

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