A Really Annoying Condition

This is about something which pops up from time to time and can really catch you unawares.  it's called Secondary Gain.  I give a talk about this in my Level 1 workshop uner the heading of "When EFT Doesn't Work", which is probably the only time that it is out of the therapists hands.  One of the graduates from my last practitioner course wrote to me about a client they were working with.  This client is fairly elderly and incapacitated by pain and general disability.

Following one session they had little pain and could stand and walk around.  By the second visit everything had returned to square one?  After the second visit the client was pain-free and fully ambulant, so-much-so that a shopping trip of some three hours was undertaken with no ill effects and no sign of any problems returning.  A couple of days later the therapist heard that all was as if nothing had ever been helped.

On looking from my vantage point of distance - both geographically and metaphorically (see previous blog-post) -  I could see that the support and caring network that friends and family had installed around the client had made them the recipient of a geat deal of attention.  Fully fit, this network was unnecessary so the client felt removed from everyone that had been in their life for the past number of years.  Therefore the subconscious had reinstalled the health issues so the focus of attention would return to the client.

My poor, newly qualified therapist, was asking what they were doing wrong and I was able to put their mind at ease and congratulate them for the fantastic work they had done over two visits.  I reacquainted them with the horrible reason; Secondary Gain! Now they have this realisation it doesn't hurt any more.  What I said might possibly save the situation, not to mention the client's health, was to ask them a simple question: Is getting attention more beneficial to her than getting better?  I

Until next time; love and energy,

John.