Amid a National Addiction Crisis Psychologist Offers a New Path Forward
The Californer/10357830

SAN FRANCISCO - Californer -- More than 60,000 Americans die from drug overdoses every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Millions more are trapped in cycles of relapse, shame, and failed treatment attempts. Against this backdrop, clinical psychologist Dr. Adriana Popescu has written EFT for Addiction, a groundbreaking book that proposes a fundamental rethinking of how we understand and treat one of the country's most devastating public health crises.

"We are not losing this battle because people lack willpower or motivation," says Dr. Popescu, Chief Clinical Officer of Avery Lane, a women's addiction treatment program in Novato, California. "We are losing it because conventional treatment has not adequately addressed the trauma and emotional dysregulation that lie at the root of addiction. EFT changes that equation."

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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a gentle tapping practice in which individuals stimulate specific acupressure points while focusing on a troubling emotion, craving, or memory.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences studies have conclusively established the link between early trauma and adult addiction. Yet most treatment programs, Dr. Popescu notes, continue to rely heavily on approaches that ask people to think their way out of a problem that lives in the body. "The ACE research tells us that for many people, the road to addiction began with what happened to them as children. EFT gives them a tool to process that trauma, gently, without requiring them to relive it so they can finally break free."

Among the book's most striking sections are detailed accounts of clients whose lives were transformed when EFT was added to their treatment. One client, a healthcare professional with severe PTSD, opioid and alcohol addiction, and a history of childhood abuse achieved seven months of sobriety, a remission of depressive symptoms, and a cessation of tobacco use following treatment that incorporated EFT tapping alongside traditional modalities. "For the first time in her life," Dr. Popescu writes, "she reported being able to see herself in old age."

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The book also speaks directly to the family members of people struggling with addiction, offering both psychoeducation about the neuroscience of addiction and practical guidance for maintaining their own wellbeing through what is often an exhausting and painful experience.

EFT for Addiction arrives as calls for innovation in addiction treatment have never been louder. With contributions from EFT masters across three continents and a foreword by researcher Peta Stapleton, PhD, it represents a synthesis of clinical wisdom and scientific rigor that the field has been waiting for.

Find the book at: https://www.amazon.com/EFT-Addiction-Adriana-Popescu-PhD/dp/1604153164/