Recently I had a client who completely resisted using numbers to grade her SUDs and would then refused to use colours either when I suggested it as an alternative, in case it spoiled how she felt about them (she enjoys art).

As a relative new practitioner, I found it very difficult thereafter and was a bit all over the place after that initial hurdle.  I panicked a bit about how to show her the SUDs coming down, in fact there seemed to be very little progress made, with the client obviously hating EFT. (however a couple of weeks later when I saw her she did say she felt a lot better emotionally so I feel the EFT did have a beneficial effect in spite of my fears that it had not worked at all)

Any advice about how to deal with this refusal to grade would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Cosmicgirl,

Some people dislike the SUDs level.  First thing is to be respectful of client's needs.  Next, look for a way to get a sense of intensity levels while respecting client's wishes.  Here's a couple of things you might try:

1) if your intuition is strong, you can use your intuition to rate the intensity.  Gary does this in the DVD's.

2) You can ask the client about how much intensity is left w/out asking them to assign a number of color.

3) You can ask the client "If the remaining emotion could talk, what would it say?"  Listening to her/his voice and choice of words is often good indicator of intensity.

Blessings,

Paul

It is interesting that you noted she hated EFT.  I would have been drawn to ask her how she was feeling about the whole experience.  What about it did she hate.  Was she there under her own volition or had someone brought her along (that happens, with arms firmly up backs it seems - so I no longer accept appointments for peoples children or husbands without speaking to them personally!!)

I rarely use SUDS, they are intrusive at times and I find it personally difficult to give number ratings, and everyone has different dominant senses, so some people cannot be visual, but are more kinesthetic so asking them to be aware of where in their body they feel it and what is that like, is very helpful.  After all we do tend to experience our feelings in our body.

Another way to do it is with hands, wide apart being the most intense, palms together no intensity.

Some people get really distressed by having to give numbers and also there may be internal conflicts going on, a part wants to be there and a part doesn't want to be there!

This is all part of what makes you a good therapist, clients who challenge and stretch you and get you to think out of the box and research new techniques.

A favourite of mine is metaphors and creative imagery which bypasses need for SUDS altogether.

I suspect that she might need some small wins with EFT to be able to trust the process and her fear of not liking colours because of this might indicate she has some fairly intense feelings which would alter how she felt about attaching a colour to the feeling.

Hope this helps a bit

Gill 

cosmicgirl:

 Recently I had a client who completely resisted using numbers to grade her SUDs and would then refused to use colours either when I suggested it as an alternative, in case it spoiled how she felt about them (she enjoys art).

As a relative new practitioner, I found it very difficult thereafter and was a bit all over the place after that initial hurdle.  I panicked a bit about how to show her the SUDs coming down, in fact there seemed to be very little progress made, with the client obviously hating EFT. (however a couple of weeks later when I saw her she did say she felt a lot better emotionally so I feel the EFT did have a beneficial effect in spite of my fears that it had not worked at all)

Any advice about how to deal with this refusal to grade would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Hi 

Congratulations for getting as far as you did regardless of the barriers you had and at the end you still got confirmation that EFT worked.  As time goes on you will intuitively pick up on whether your client is making progress through a session.

Clues to look for are relaxed body posture, change in facial expressions, yawning, "the story" changing, or parts of the story missing when they start to repeat it back.  All these things should be brought to their attention as they are happening.  Not everyone gets the "on a scale from 0 - 10" SUDs so they feel a bit intimitated by it but they can make a connection with feeling calmer, not feeling bad about recalling events etc.

Well that's my thoughts, hope it helps

Hi,

I  believe that EFT does not only release blocks, but also create shifts. These are not neccessarily measurable with the SUDS, as they are a lot more complex.

The SUDS is ONE way to measure results, but if  your client notices a shift inside, that is another. Just ask how he/she feels now, if any thoughts come to mind, if any memories came uo, where he/she is now with the initial problem.

People who don't like the SUDS are sometimes afraid of judgment or failure. They want to keep a wall up and not be at the mercy of some numbers. That's OK. Just work with that. Our job, I believe, is not to make them work with EFT, but to make EFT work for them.

If SUDS doesn't work, then we find something that does.

The mere reality that a client shows up and has a topic or issue to talk about shows that there is some "block/disruption/..." going on. When that block is released, your client will  let you know.

Love

Ingrid