By Carol Look, EFT Master
"Joseph" contacted me because of a recent series of
disturbing panic attacks with specific claustrophobic
features. The series of attacks--one in the movie theater,
one on the subway, and one on an international
flight--left Joseph feeling spooked and full of dread. His
fear of having another attack led him into an elaborate
plan of approach to his daily commute to work. In one EFT
session, his claustrophobia, with a variety of aspects,
was relieved.
We began tapping for the trauma of his first identified
attack which occurred in a movie theater. The triggering
scene in the movie involved the villain locking up people
in a small glassed-in enclosure. Joseph experienced the
walls and ceiling of the theater closing in on him. He
couldn’t catch his breath and had to run out of the
theater. Since the primary sensory image was that of his
not getting enough air, we began there.
“Even though I couldn’t breathe at the movies…"
“Even though the walls were closing in on me…"
We also tapped for his feeling of “family pressure.” He
had been engaged to a woman from a culture very different
from his own. His parents highly disapproved of his
“interracial relationship” and had threatened to disown
him if he continued the relationship. He had been at the
movies with his girlfriend when the feelings of
claustrophobia occurred.
I asked Joseph to visualize the exact movie scene when
the claustrophobia began. We tapped until he felt calm
when picturing himself sitting in the movie theater. He
burst out laughing because of how relaxed his body felt
after the first two rounds of tapping.
We then tapped for the 2nd attack which occurred on the
subway on his way from his home in Brooklyn to his job in
Manhattan. As a result of this attack, he had devised a
plan for getting to work “safely,” which involved getting
off every few stops to breathe, calm down, and drink some
water. He usually panicked when the subway went
underground (the beginning of his route was above ground)
and when the crowds threatened his sense of getting enough
air. We tapped as follows:
“Even though I’m afraid of the train getting stuck
between stops…"
“Even though I can’t breathe on the subway…"
“Even though I hate going down into the tunnel"…
“Even though I can’t breathe when there are too many
people…"
While I forgot to ask for a SUDs rating on a scale from
0-10, Joseph was easily able to picture himself on the
subway going to work in the morning after a few rounds of
tapping. As he was writing the check for the session, he
said, “Those feelings of not being able to breathe
reminded me of how my father used to put a pillow on our
faces to wake us up in the morning…” He said he was
surprised by this memory but felt no need to tap for it. I
suspected it had been folded into the other panic feelings
about not being able to breathe and was taken care of with
the first few rounds of tapping.
Joseph called me when he had arrived at work after our
session to say that the tapping was successful for his
trip on a new subway line (always cause for anxiety) that
he rode to get from my office to his job.
Our next session was the following week. Joseph was
elated and reported astounding progress. His subway rides
had been enormously relieving, even comfortable. He didn’t
panic once, and found himself breathing with ease. During
one commute, he said the after-work crowd was particularly
daunting. However, he was able to convince himself that as
long as he had a small space around him, that was enough
for him to breathe. (This logic is unheard of for someone
suffering from claustrophobia.) He had never been able to
soothe himself before his experience with the tapping. He
admitted that he had even “tried” to get himself upset
during one ride to test both himself and the treatment,
yet was unable to produce discomfort or fear.
Joseph also reported that elevator rides were no longer
threatening or frightening, something he had mentioned
(though we hadn’t had time to tap for it) during the first
session. He was tested at work because of an off-site day
with a client which involved riding new elevators, and
negative associations connected to feelings of panic in
small spaces. This didn’t bother him at all, even though
one elevator was broken and caused him to worry about how
he would react. He was also tested at work when he and 8
others were put in a small, windowless room, each with a
computer, and asked to work there all day. Other than
being hot from lack of air conditioning, Joseph said he
felt totally calm. Normally, a room without windows would
have sent him into fits of panic.
Joseph described feeling a little anxious Sunday night
about his Monday a.m. commute, and tapped for 2 rounds.
Monday morning was a breeze for him, despite the rush-hour
crowds. He was able to ride all the way to work without
switching in the middle to get a breath of air, walk
around and re-board the next train. He said he used to
ride at least 3 trains to give himself breathing time in
between stops. He also took an express train for the first
time in weeks. Normally, he would have felt trapped by
fewer opportunities for “rest stops.”
Another example of Joseph’s progress was that on Friday
night, he had made a mistake by taking the wrong train
home. Not only did he go very out of his way, he had to
ride another unfamiliar train to get back to his
apartment. This mishap did not cause him any feelings of
panic or the fear of being trapped and unable to breathe.
The final indication that Joseph’s breathing fears were
over involved his decision to wear a turtleneck sweater to
our first session. He was well aware that turtlenecks
always exacerbated his panic about not getting enough
breath. He said he was able to wear the turtleneck
comfortably several times between our 2 sessions as a
result of the tapping, a sure sign to him that he was over
this problem.
A future event that scared Joseph was a planned flight
to his home country, a 20- hour ordeal. We tapped for the
panic attack he had had on the last international flight
he took which ended up in his deplaning and backing out of
his scheduled trip. He described it as very traumatic. He
said the main reason he “flipped out” was because he
hadn’t told anyone in his family that he was going away.
He said that this had caused immeasurable pressure and had
caused the claustrophobia and panic attack on the plane. I
had him narrate the story from the drive to the airport
through to the attack that led him to get off the flight
after boarding. We tapped throughout the “story” on
different aspects.
“Even though I felt anxious driving….and couldn’t get
enough air in the taxi…"
“Even though I couldn’t breathe because of the
pressure…"
“Even though I panicked when I looked down the aisle…"
“Even though I couldn’t breathe and had to run off the
plane…"
We tapped until he could feel comfortable visualizing
himself on the last flight, and on the future flight.
Joseph plans to contact me during the holidays before
he embarks on his scheduled international flight.
Nevertheless, he felt confident that he could take care of
any other aspects of his panic condition that arose in the
coming months.
