Using EFT for ADD

By Don A. Blackerby, Ph.D.

A mother and her 11 year old son came to Colorado from St. Louis in order for me to do some Academic Consulting with him. His grades were low in all the primary academic subjects and he had many of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Since his mother did not want to medicate him for the ADD symptoms she brought him to me for alternative treatments.

After my assessment, it became very obvious that his learning strategies were very inefficient and ineffective. He was basically an auditory learner and would simply repeat things over and over as a way to learn them. This is not a good way to learn academic subjectsit is very boring and time consuming and just does not work very well. I taught him how to become a visual learner, which is a more interesting and faster way to learn.

After learning the new learning strategies, most students interest and motivation will start to increase. This student vehemently declared that he just didn't like school and did not want to go back (he was on spring break). I decided to use EFT on this emotional block.

He declared that his dislike for school on an intensity scale of 0-10 was a 10. The set-up was Even though I dislike school and don't want to go back on Monday I totally and completely accept myself. After the tapping his intensity only dropped to a 9. Even though I still have some remaining dislike for school and do not want to go back on Monday, I.. His SUDS dropped to a 5, but then he changed his mind to a 7. I sensed that he did not want the tapping to work, so I gave him a break.

After he came back, I decided to get much more specific by asking him the question, What specifically do you not like about going to school? His reply was swift and firm My PE teacher yells at us all the time and my math teacher gets mad at me and John (not real name) who sits next to me is always talking and moving around and he gets me in trouble. Taking them one at a time the set-ups were:

Even though my PE teacher yells at us, I totally and completely accept myself and forgive him.

Even though my math teacher gets mad at me, I know it has more to do with him than me, and I totally and deeply accept myself and forgive him for losing control.

Even though John gets me into trouble, I forgive him and totally and completely accept myself.

Being more specific helped bring his intensity down and then I decided to use EFT to install a more empowering belief. After talking to him about how much he had learned in his visit with me, I asked him what he thought would be a better belief to have about school which would help make school more successful and fun. He decided on With the new learning strategies I have learned, I can make school as easy and fun as I want it to be. He tapped each of the points as he repeated the new belief over and over. The relief in his voice and face was very evident.

After another break, his mother wanted me to help him with some of his ADD symptoms. She reported that he got frustrated easily and would then get angry at her when she wanted to check his homework. Set-up-- Even though I get frustrated and mad at my mother when she checks my homework, I totally and completely accept myself and forgive my mother.

She also reported that he sometimes had a lack of focus, was very hyperactive much of the time, would get bored doing his homework, and was very obsessivewhich would drive everybody around him crazy because he would talk incessantly about it. Most of these are symptoms of ADD.

By this time, he was really getting into it and his energy level was coming up and his attitude was taking a definite swing toward the positive and upbeat. I had him tap on each of the issues separately until they all dropped to a 1-2. After each one, I asked him how he would like to act and believe and when we would come up with a new belief, we would tap all the points while repeating the new belief.

I did some further integration work with him and then future paced the new beliefs into the upcoming school days. I have not received a long term report, since I just saw him last week, but all of my tests I ran in the office indicated a successful visit.

Don A. Blackerby, Ph.D.