NY is Open for Funny Business (a decidedly humorless JJOKE)

"EFT is a simple acupressure technique that is showing promise for its ability to calm the part of the brain that becomes over-aroused or frozen during a traumatic event. It involves tapping on the Chinese meridian system of the body and a series of eye movements. Once the individual learns the technique, he or she is then able to regulate his or her own mind/body system to eliminate the flashbacks, nightmares and terror that can plague them after a traumatic event [...] This study is being funded in part by the Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology [ http://www.energypsych.org ] and the Global Gateway Foundation [ http://www.globalgatewayfoundation.org ]."

"UAlbany's School of Social Welfare seeks participants for pilot study" http://troyrecord.com/articles/2012/08/25/news/doc5038773a824fd264199412.txt

"Showing promise" is presumably what the school's press release claimed. Possibly the article also ought to have read, "he or she is then *allegedly* able," or why do the study at all if they're claiming they already know it works?

I didn't see a person's name anywhere on the Global Gateway Foundation (GGF) website, which is unusual. On YouTube, a Dr. Donny Epstein http://www.donaldepstein.com is promoting the GGF. He evidently believes in "checking in with your body's vibrations and allowing your internal rhythms to instruct, enliven and heal you" and that you can create a "magical spine" through "healing waves."

"Emotional Freedom Technique" (EFT) http://www.skepdic.com/eft.html is a lot like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) AKA Reprocessing Therapy http://www.skepdic.com/emdr.html

R. T. Carroll (Skepdic.com) wrote of EFT creator Gary Craig, in part, "He'll sell you his own course on DVD for a mere $150. One of the bonuses you'll get from Craig is nearly two hours of Stanford scientist, Dr. William A. Tiller, describing numerous experiments regarding intention, including 'actual photographs taken with the lens cap still on the camera.' (This is an old trick, made popular by Chicago bellhop Ted Serios in the 1960s, though he didn't use a camera with the lens cap on as Uri Geller did.) Says Craig of Tiller's cap-on photos: 'No fooling. This can only be done, of course, if something is at work besides normal physics. Our intention is far more pervasive and powerful than we think. It just needs to be cultivated.'"

Dr. Gaudino and Dr. Herbert have written, in part:

"Craig extends his tapping therapy far beyond the realm of mental health, reporting testimonials from individuals who claim to have successfully used EFT to treat everything from autism to warts and various other medical problems with positive results. In the latest developments, Craig has reported on the positive effects of 'surrogate tapping,' in which therapists tap on themselves to treat the problems of others."

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/can_we_really_tap_our_problems_away_a_critical_analysis_of_thought_field_th/

*tap* *tap* "Anybody home?"

I'm afraid to ask: how/why did UAlbany decide to do the study, and how much money is involved in the study? Has any tuition money or taxpayer money been used in any way, or will any be used? To what extent is the study being paid for by ACEP and GGF? Did UAlbany staff have to pay to get certified in EFT by ACEP?

UAlbany Foundation Board of Directors President George Randolph Hearst III creates "William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund for Master's Degree Social Workers in Aging" and presents it University at Albany's School of Social Welfare Dean Katharine Briar-Lawson.

UAlbany Foundation gives University at Albany's School of Social Welfare Dean Katharine Briar-Lawson an award: "Philanthropists I. Norman and Micki Massry, and UAlbany Dean Katharine Briar-Lawson Named University Citizen Laureates" http://www.albany.edu/news/30742.php?WT.source=home&WT.svl=headline

The Times Union then covers SSW Dean receiving the award without mentioning the President of the UAlbany Foundation Board of Directors is Times Union's publisher Hearst http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Philanthropists-UAlbany-dean-honored-by-3207259.php http://blog.timesunion.com/business/ualbany-foundation-names-laureate-award-recipients-for-2012/52931/

Hearst's Albany Times Union does fluff piece on SSW's Emotional Freedom Technique "study" of heart attack survivors 55 and over: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/New-therapy-taps-into-emotions-3948351.php

SSW in turn brags about the fluff piece in the Albany Times Union: https://www.facebook.com/UAlbanySchoolOfSocialWelfareEftStudy

As the carny saying goes,

"Where it stops, nobody knows..."