Comparing AIT and EFT in Reduction of Negative Emotions Associated with a Past Memory: A Randomized Control Study

Authors

Gregory Brown, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Kavita Batra, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Emily Dorin, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Raveena Bakhru, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Andrew Han, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Arianna Palermini, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Robert Sottile, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Sherine Khanbijian, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Michael Hower, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-29-2023

Publication Title

Psychology

Volume

14

First page number:

1868

Last page number:

1887

Abstract

Advanced Integrative Therapy [AIT] is an Energy Psychology-based system of intervention utilized by psychotherapists since the late 1990s. Recently, a study investigated the perceptions of therapists regarding the effectiveness of AIT in reducing negative emotions related to past traumatic events. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are a set of well-researched Energy Psychology based interventions which have been established as an effective intervention for post-traumatic stress disorder. This study is the first to compare the effectiveness of AIT to EFT in reducing negative emotions associated with a particular memory in a sample of college and professional students, who were randomly assigned to the intervention. A total of 72 students (intervention AIT: n = 38, 52.8%) or EFT (intervention EFT: n = 34, 47.2%), completed a pre/post survey consisting of Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale, presence of the initial negative emotion, and presence of the original physical sensation. Both interventions led to a significant drop in SUD scores from over 4 (pre-intervention) to about 1 (post-intervention). There were no statistically significant differences observed in the post-intervention mean scores of SUD (1.03 ± 1.10 vs. 1.29 ± 0.71, p = 0.2) and HRV (52.02 ± 20.68 vs. 47.23 ± 21.55, p = 0.4) among both intervention arms. Interestingly, a significantly higher proportion of participants who underwent AIT required only one round of intervention to report their SUD dropped to 0 or 1 (elimination of negative emotion) as opposed to those with intervention EFT (47.4% vs. 14.7%, p = 0.012). The results of this trial suggest the equivalence of AIT and EFT, that AIT provides the same degree of robust response already documented with EFT in reducing the negative emotions associated with traumatic past experiences. This first randomized control trial (RCT) of AIT compared with a known effective treatment, EFT, provides an initial set of data to suggest that AIT demonstrates similar efficacy in the reduction of negative emotions associated with past traumatic experiences.

Keywords

Advanced Integrative Therapy; Emotional Freedom Techniques; Subjective Units of Distress; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Disciplines

Psychiatric and Mental Health

File Format

PDF

File Size

2400 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Repository Citation

Brown, G., Batra, K., Dorin, E., Bakhru, R., Han, A., Palermini, A., Sottile, R., Khanbijian, S., Hower, M. (2023). Comparing AIT and EFT in Reduction of Negative Emotions Associated with a Past Memory: A Randomized Control Study. Psychology, 14 1868-1887.
Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/psych.2023.1412111