Psychotherapy and Qigong

Psychologist Michael Mayer discusses the effectiveness of Medical Qigong for a range of conditions, especially some chronic illnesses that are not being treated effectively by western medicine. Watch a preview of his talk or read Body Mind Healing Psychotherapy: Ancient Pathways to Modern Health.

Listen to podcasts on Psychotherapy with Qigong. Also see the Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care which discusses CAM in mental health care.

Transforming Energy Psychology into a Comprehensive, Transpersonal Psychotherapy.

For more in-depth information on the incorporation of Qigong and related Energy Medicine therapies in clinical psychology see Energy Psychology: Self-Healing Practices for Bodymind Health by Dr. Mayer.

Integrative Mental Health Care

The Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care is a new book on integrative approaches including Qigong in mental health care that provides a comprehensive resource on the theory and clinical practice of integrative mental health care. The book presents a framework for psychiatrists, other mental health professionals, and CAM practitioners who wish to learn about the conceptual foundations of integrative medicine and examine the evidence for non-conventional and integrative approaches used to assess and treat common mental health problems.

Teaching all the evidence bases: reintegrating psychodynamic aspects of prescribing into psychopharmacology training. The authors argue that Psychiatry is poised for a paradigm shift which incorporates the evidence base that pharmacologic treatment outcomes are as dependent on psychological and interpersonal factors as on medical ones. Modern psychiatric education and training programs need to recognize the importance of the psychology of psychopharmacology.

Non-pharmacological mental healthcare treatments have been proven effective, but they still aren't being prescribed. Over the last 30 years, treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy have been shown to be effective for ailments ranging from anxiety and depression to PTSD and eating disorder, but surprisingly few patients actually get these evidence-based treatments from their psychiatrists.

Psychotherapy using Energy Psychology

As Dr. David Feinstein summarizes his highly effective approach to energy psychology in Rapid Treatment of PTSD: Why Psychological Exposure with Acupoint Tapping May Be Effective, "Combining brief psychological exposure with the manual stimulation of acupuncture points (acupoints) in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other emotional conditions is an intervention strategy that integrates established clinical principles with methods derived from healing traditions of Eastern cultures." Dr. Feinstein has written a number of introductory articles on energy psychology which include an overview of the field, case studies, brief history, how it changes gene expression, concepts and procedures, an explanation of the scientific basis of Energy Psychology and how it has been found effective for PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, and other Psychological Symptoms, and more. 

"Energy psychology is a clinical and self-help modality that combines verbal and physical procedures for effecting therapeutic change. While utilizing established clinical methods such as exposure and cognitive restructuring, the approach also incorporates concepts and techniques from non-Western healing systems. Its most frequently utilized protocols combine the stimulation of acupuncture points (by tapping on, holding, or massaging them) with the mental activation of a targeted psychological issue." David Feinstein Ph.D.

Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

Formed in 1999, the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) is a US Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and Publicly Supported Foundation of approximately 1,300 licensed mental health professionals and allied health practitioners around the world. ACEP members are dedicated to exploring, developing, researching and applying energy psychology methods to alleviate human suffering, enhance human performance and access human potential.

The New Science of Energy Psychology

Mindfulness in psychiatry - where are we now? Mindfulness operates by changing the person's relationship with unhelpful thoughts and emotions. The need for home practice is both a strength and a weakness. Some find home practice too demanding and a barrier to effective utilisation of mindfulness. Others discover a set of practical tools that, once learnt, can be applied to ongoing life difficulties; in this way mindfulness may have a place in promoting recovery beyond the acute treatment of a disorder.

Neuropsychoanalysis and Ecopsychoanalysis. The author argues that psychoanalysis still largely remains not only a "psychology without biology," which neuropsychoanalysis seeks to remedy, but also a "psychology without ecology."

Escaping the behavioural 'spin' of evidence-based psychiatry: a new ontology of truth. Merleau-Ponty's ontology rejects causality and mind/body duality, and views 'truth' as the expression of our deepest embodied feeling and perception of the world, which establishes all our thinking, and on which all our thinking relies, including 'scientific' thinking.

Decentering" helps people deal with chronic pain. Acceptance and mindfulness-based treatments for chronic pain attempt to alter the impact of pain-related thoughts and feelings on behavior without necessarily changing the thoughts and feelings themselves. A process called "decentering" appears relevant to these treatments because it includes the capacity to observe thoughts and feelings from a detached perspective, as transient events in the mind, that do not necessarily reflect reality or the self. People with chronic pain may benefit from the capacity to contact their thoughts and feelings from a perspective as a "separate observer," to see them as transient, and to experience them as cognitively "defused."

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized and Nonrandomized Trials of Clinical Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for the Treatment of Depression. The results show that Clinical EFT were highly effective in reducing depressive symptoms in a variety of populations and settings. EFT were equal or superior to TAU and other active treatment controls. The posttest effect size for EFT (d = 1.31) was larger than that measured in meta-analyses of antidepressant drug trials and psychotherapy studies. EFT produced large treatment effects whether delivered in group or individual format, and participants maintained their gains over time. This meta-analysis extends the existing literature through facilitation of a better understanding of the variability and clinical significance of depression improvement subsequent to EFT treatment.

Psychologist Spotlight: Clinical Qi Gong Enhances Psychotherapy- Considering the Benefits of Energetic Mind/Body Therapy By Dr. Harlene Goldschmidt. 

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