The Benefits of Emotional Brain Training on Addictions

Are you having a difficult time overcoming an addiction? If you answered, "yes" then Emotional Brain Training could help you. To help understand what Emotional Brain Training is and how it can help addictions, I have interviewed psychotherapist Melissa Swartz, MA, LGPC.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you discovered Emotional Brain Training.

"I struggled with emotional eating since childhood and had been on every diet and exercise plan out there without success. I learned about Emotional Brain Training after seeing Laurel Mellin, the founder, on an Oprah Winfrey show in 2002. I knew my painful feelings were connected to my eating. I read Mellin's book, The Pathway, and began working through the kits/journals and over time noticed a change in my ability to regulate my feelings as well as a change in my relationship with food. I decided to return to school to obtain a Masters degree in Counseling, became licensed as a Graduate Professional Counselor and completed certification in Emotional Brain Training. I have seen the biggest changes yet in my level of joy and ability to self-regulate over the past 2 years as Emotional Brain Training has become even more effective as it has come in line with the latest in brain science. I am so grateful for the joy these skills have brought into my life and happy to be sharing them with others. Presently I have had the joy of offering Emotional Brain Training groups to adults in the Washington county/Hagerstown, Maryland area for the past year and a half. This past spring Emotional Brain Training groups were offered at South Hagerstown High School to teens with a positive response."

What is Emotional Brain Training?

"Emotional Brain Training teaches individuals to become aware of their emotional state/stress level and how to use the appropriate tools to restore balance, the emotional state of joy, based on their particular emotional state. Emotional Brain Training teaches us how to retrain our unconscious brain through using our conscious brain. Most other treatments focus on the symptom and stopping the behavior, but Emotional Brain Training focuses on the root of the problem which is one's ability to effectively process stress and return to balance. The result does more than change the behavior; it restores joy and optimal functioning in the individual and turns off the drive to excessive behaviors. More specific information can be found at www.ebt.org."

What are the benefits of Emotional Brain Training on addictions and can it help any type of addiction?

Since Emotional Brain Training teaches individuals how to retrain their brains to favor joy over stressed emotional states, Emotional Brain Training is especially effective in treating addictions of any type. The roots of addiction are hurts, stresses, etc, which are so painful a behavior, substance or way of relating has become necessary to cope. Becoming aware of the feelings around these stressors and using tools to rewire the circuit to respond differently when triggered changes the behavior and turns down the drive to engage in the addictive behavior. Research on individuals with eating addictions receiving 18 weeks of Emotional Brain Training treatment resulted in less depression, higher levels of exercise, and maintained weight loss or individuals continuing to lose weight at the 2 and 6 year follow up. More research is needed, but Emotional Brain Training has shown promising results."

What would a typical Emotional Brain Training session be like for someone that is trying to overcome an addiction?

"Emotional Brain Training sessions are typically facilitated in groups, although individual sessions are helpful if dealing with issues too sensitive for an individual to feel secure bringing up in a group setting. Group sessions begin with individuals sharing how they used their Emotional Brain Training tools during the week. Then the provider teaches one of the tools for the 5 emotional states and offers to coach someone through a cycle. A cycle is the tool responsive to the emotional state of definitely being stressed out. A cycle begins with the individual focusing on what they are most stressed about, then feeling and expressing what they feel angry, sad, afraid, and guilty about using short choppy sentences (using as primitive language as possible). Once feelings are expressed, the thinking is addressed by the individual considering whether their expectations are reasonable. Once expectations are defined, more reasonable expectations can be identified and repeated to strengthen the new circuit being built. Emotional Brain Training groups have times where individuals will share work from their journals with one another or have soft levels of accountability when members will share their number of minutes of exercises for the week, number of times they checked in to identify their emotional state, percent of joy foods they consumed, and number of moments they spent in the emotional state of joy. Members are partnered up for the week and are asked to contact each other daily for 3 minute buddy checks to share with another member how they are using their Emotional Brain Training tools and creating joy in their lives. Hearing others doing a cycle or hearing how they are experiencing joy is beneficial to all and provides a sense of connection and cohesion in the group. In Emotional Brain Training groups, advice in not exchanged; members are encouraged to share how listening to the work of others brought up or impacted their own work."

Thank you Melissa for doing the interview on the benefits of Emotional Brian Training. For more information on Melissa Swartz or her work you can check out her website at www.melissaswartz.com.

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