Amy Scher calls herself an “energy therapist”, although as far as I can tell this doesn’t come with any particular credentials. This book is a variation on Emotional Freedom Technique, or “tapping”, as it is sometimes called. Scher explains EFT and also adds several energy techniques that she has created specifically for working with depression.
First a couple of general observations. If you’ve read my reviews before, you know that I am not a super big fan of this new trend to drop f-bombs and other swear words in what should be a therapeutic book. Not that I am any kind of prude when it comes to language, but 1) it seems inappropriate for this genre of book and 2) it feels affected, like the author is trying too hard to be super cool. In my view, it may make the book inaccessible to certain audiences, and why would you want to do that? However, I get that this may be my own personal pet peeve. Also, I had to laugh at a certain point in this book when she said something was too “woo-woo” for her, because I’m thinking “I don’t know, lady, energy healing is about as “woo-woo” as it gets!” That said, she quotes some people I really admire like Candace Pert (author of “Molecules of Emotion”) and some of the available research on epi-genetics and so forth. And let’s face it, depression is such a pervasive problem that if you haven’t been able to find relief in traditional methods, why would you not try anything that might work?
The book is broken into parts, with Scher first explaining the different techniques, and then going on to apply them to all kinds of different situations. Besides the traditional EFT techniques, she gives us a daily practice, temple and thymus gland tapping, chakra tapping, and a script she calls “The Sweep”, intended to “sweep away” old beliefs and challenges. All of these techniques are explicitly explained in the book, and several can be found in videos on her website, www.amybscher.com.
She goes into detail on our beliefs and how we acquire and retain them; our emotions and how they drive our unhelpful thoughts; trauma, both in our lives and “generationally”. For each of these she explains how to use the techniques and which should be used for what. Then in the “keeping the changes” part of the book, she talks about how to interpret your body’s signals, how to set good boundaries and say no, and some commitments you can make to yourself to keep yourself healthy going forward. So there is a lot of information in this book that is fairly “mainstream” as well as the instructions on energy healing.
Lastly, she talks about “muscle testing” – which is a technique you can use to determine what to work on if you don’t remember the trauma for example; or if you can’t determine which emotion you need to clear. It can also be used to decide which technique to use and how long to use it for. While this seems a little “out there”, I will self-disclose that a local acupuncturist used “muscle testing” to determine what my son was allergic to, and he was spot on. I tried her technique because it seemed a little more vague; and was shocked to find that it totally worked!!
So while this book will not be for everyone, it might be worth checking out; especially if you or your clients have had no luck with traditional depression treatment – what’s the harm? While I would never offer this as a replacement for the more traditional treatments, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest someone try it if they are at their wit’s end. Hey, it might even really work for them, and even if it doesn’t, I bet they will still glean some useful information. This book will be out in February and can be pre-ordered now. I received my copy from Net Galley for my review.
Disclaimer: The link above is an Amazon affiliate link and I receive a small compensation from orders placed through this link. Summaries are NOT intended to replace the purchase of the book, but merely to save you time reading!