Research Study #1
Overview of an e.c.c Pilot Study
The graphs below show the results of an e.c.c. pilot study with fourteen volunteers in a recovery home in San Diego, California. After emotional complex clearing, as indicated on the first graph, subjects experienced dramatic reductions in depression, according to the Beck Depression Inventory. The second graph shows similar results, measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, with corresponding decreases in anxiety and hostility as well. According to the Positive Affect scale, good feelings also increased.
This was a three week study with subjects receiving e.c.c. every day, excluding weekends. What is particularly notable is that most of the beneficial results were obtained at the mid-test. In other words, the study could likely have been stopped after only seven or eight sessions instead of the full fifteen, and the results would have been pretty much the same. This illustrates the value of dealing with Top Priority Items as indicated by muscle testing.
Subjects were enthused, optimistic, and even excited about their recovery as a result. But these findings and e.c.c. in particular should not be considered as a substitute for a more complete recovery program. What e.c.c. did in these cases, by healing the emotional traumas in the past, was to “pull the plug” on the source of the problem so that the addicts and alcoholics who took part had more of a choice about staying in recovery.
Results of the above e.c.c. Pilot Study
Research Study #2
The Project
In September, 2003, eighteen males in Minneapolis, all of whom were victims of sexual abuse, took part in a study to assess the effectiveness of e.c.c. This was a placebo-controlled, partial-crossover design. In other words, half the subjects (randomly selected) received a placebo (or fake) treatment, designed to mimic the real clearing procedure, and then all the subjects received legitimate emotional complex clearing.
Subjects
The men ranged in ages from thirty-two to sixty-seven. The average age was forty. They reported being abused sexually between the ages of two and sixteen, with the average age of abuse occurring at eight and one-half years. Three of them reported multiple perpetrators, while the rest had only a single perpetrator. Sixteen of them were (or had been) in therapy. Duration of therapy ranged from one year to thirty-one years (on and off). On average, they spent six and two-thirds years in therapy.
Of the eighteen subjects, seven were on medication for their resulting symptoms. These included depression (16 subjects), anxiety (16), intimacy problems (16), sleep disturbance (10), flashbacks (9.), nightmares (7), and panic (6).
Measurement
The major measure of effectiveness was a S.U.D.S. (Subjective Units of Disturbance) scale. Subjects were asked to rate on this scale from zero (no disturbance) to ten (maximum disturbance) how distressed they were by the sexual abuse. Before any treatment, their ratings ranged from three to ten.
Results
The placebo (or fake) treatment produced no decrease in any individual’s SUDS score. In other words, it was entirely ineffective. But the experimental treatment (e.c.c.) decreased scores to between one and six. Seventeen out of the eighteen subjects lowered their scores, and five individuals quite dramatically reported a SUDS level of one after the e.c.c. procedure, indicating the trauma was almost completely gone! All of this took place in only a four-hour workshop! In phone interviews, subjects reported that these gains were maintained at both one-month and three-month follow-ups.
Comments
During the follow-up interviews subjects 1 through 13 offered the following observations about their experiences. The decreases in their SUDS (Subjective Units of Disturbance) scales are in parentheses. Subjects were asked to rate on this scale from zero (no disturbance) to ten (maximum disturbance).
- “Your workshop has been a giant step forward. I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off me and I am walking taller. It has given me the ability to look back at the years of sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators. I can truly accept that what happened to me was not my fault. I am not the guilty one. This is not something that I believed prior to that. Thank you.” (from 8 to 1)
- “The muscle testing was really great. Now I know more. I know my progress will be accelerated now.” (from 7 to 5)
- “I’m doing very well now. I don’t feel the heaviness anymore, no sense of impending doom. I feel like myself for the first time. I have not gone back to see a therapist. My I.B.S. (irritable bowel syndrome) is gone. I can eat whatever I want now. My nightmares are gone now, and I’ve slept through every night since the workshop. I’m not attracted to women other than my wife anymore. I can look at my wife now and be infatuated with her.” (from 9 to 1) His wife confirmed these changes.
- “It was spectacular. I’ve used what you did with my clients.” (from 4 to 2)
- “There was some relief.” (from 7 to 4)
- “I have less anxiety. I’m near the end of therapy now.” (from 4 to 2)
- “I saw my brother (the perpetrator) at a family reunion and it didn’t bother me. I felt I was living two lives before. That has changed. I have renewed energy.” This subject rated his decrease in weekly frequency of symptoms as follows:
- depression – from 7 to 1
- anxiety – from 7 to 2
- panic – from 4 to 0
- flashbacks – from 2 to 0
- nightmares – from 5 to 0
- sleep disturbance – from 7 to 0
- intimacy problems – from 7 to 0
- “I feel like I had been living two lives. That has changed now. I am feeling the emotional cleansing. Thanks for the empowering.” These changes were confirmed in an email from his close friend. (from 10 to 2)
- “Now I don’t have the anxiety and depression. Sex and intimacy are better and more fun. I have a lot more energy. It’s not worth going to therapy now.” (from 8 to 2)
- “I just don’t feel bad anymore. My therapist and I can’t figure out what else to do.” (from 9 to 2)
- “It seemed to work for me. I feel like a burden has been lifted-something I’ve been carrying around for years. It changed my life. It was pretty amazing. I can do more now. I have a lot more energy, and I’m much more positive. Life is much more positive.” (from 7 to 1)
- “I cried during your procedure, which was really quite surprising. For the longest time I have been bothered by a choking in my throat. What you did helped quite a bit, so that my throat is much better. I’m better and clearer.” (from 3 to 1)
- “I found what you did very helpful. My daily migraines are gone. It was very apparent immediately afterward. I just felt good. Something had been lifted. There was room for positive change and better energy. My panic attacks-I used to get one or two per day– have diminished in frequency and intensity. Now I can deep breathe and they go away. (from 6 to 2)
- “I was very skeptical. Then I was surprised. Now I’m impressed. The day after the workshop, I noticed a big difference. I seemed to be more at ease-not full of tension. Now I’m doing great.” (from 8 to 3)