Original Article - Impact of Regression Therapy on ... · Citation: Trivedi, Riri G; Trivedi;...

Citation: Trivedi, Riri G; Trivedi; Gunjan Y; Impact of Regression Therapy on Generalized Anxiety Disorder,

SPARK (published by JJTU), Vol 9, Issue 1, Jan 2020, ISSN 2277-4866

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Original Article - Impact of Regression Therapy on Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Authors: Riri G Trivedi*, Gunjan Y Trivedi* *Research Scholars, JJTU & Co-founders, Society for Energy & Emotions, Wellness

Space, Ahmedabad, India. Correspondence: [email protected], +91.846.946.1144

Abstract:

Anxiety is a common mental ailment impacting >250 million people worldwide. It adds high

comorbidity (specifically for Generalized Anxiety Disorders-GAD and panic disorders) to any

treatment. The primary objective of this study was to explore the impact of Regression Therapy

on GAD. The secondary objective was to measure changes overall wellbeing and depressive

symptoms.

27 individuals participated in the study. GAD, WHO-5 wellbeing index score and MDI (Major

Depression Inventory) scores were measured before and after a minimum of 4 sessions spaced

across at least 2 weeks. The intervention identified the trauma or negative emotion related to

various current life events and addressed the issue by reframing the issue in the mind and

releasing the emotions from the body. This was done using specific Regression Therapy

techniques (a) Inner Child therapy and integration with the use of body therapy and (b) Gestalt

practice of Empty chairs.

21 individuals completed the minimum criteria of 4 sessions over 2 weeks. After the

intervention, there was statistically significant reduction in GAD and MDI scores and a

significant improvement in WHO-5 wellbeing index score p<.05). This confirms the objectives

that Regression Therapy intervention has a statistically significant impact on GAD and it

enhances wellbeing while reducing depressive symptoms.

To conclude, Regression Therapy could be helpful for GAD. Future work in this area should

increase the sample size, compare this data with a control group and scale-up the work across

multiple therapists to understand the effectiveness of the methods.

Keywords: Generalized Anxiety Disorder ; Regression Therapy; Inner Child Therapy; Gestalt

Empty Chair, Age Regression

Introduction:

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent form of mental disorders. The evidence also indicates

high comorbidity between anxiety (specifically GAD or panic disorders) and depressive



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disorders which adds complexity to the treatment process and the outcome1. Generally

speaking, women are more prone to develop emotional disorders with an onset at adolescence;

they are 1.5 to 2 times more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder2.

Studies have concluded that anxiety disorders are the ailments of the emotion. This is

correlated with the failure to elect an adaptive response or address the maladaptive response to

a situation impacts the quality of life of the subjects. While anxiety is often an arousal in

response to a perception or a real threat, it is anticipatory in nature and could consume lot of

resources for the subject leading to helplessness, withdrawal and attentional challenges.

Anxiety is often associated with challenges related to emotional regulation3. Recent findings

have indicated the mind-body impact of anxiety by showing evidence that anxiety often

impacts the heart and the lungs of the individual4. In short, the review indicates a strong

emotional regulation challenge (often related to suppressed emotions often related to past

incidents). Given the role of past experiences and role of emotional suppression, this study

explored if releasing the emotional energy related to past incidents or existing or previous

relationships could facilitate improvement in anxiety disorder.

Objective of the study: The primary objective of this study was to explore the impact of

Regression Therapy on GAD. The secondary objective was to measure changes overall

wellbeing and depressive symptoms.

Materials and Methods:

Subjects and measurements: 27 individuals, who contacted the Wellness Center with a

problem of anxiety signed the consent form for non-disclosure. GAD, WHO-5 wellbeing index

and MDI Depression Index were measured before the first and after the last session. The

individuals were explained the method in the initial consulting session (excluded from the 4

intervention sessions). Each individual was requested to plan average of 2 sessions in a week.

The GAD, WHO-5 and MDI scores were repeated after 4 sessions. 6 individuals who did not

complete the 4 sessions were excluded from the study.

Measurement area

Type of measure

Examples (ease of use) Outcome, benefits

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

GAD-7 scale

Very useful and can differentiate versus depression score. Provides

The GAD-7 is a valid and efficient tool for screening for GAD and assessing its severity in clinical practice and research5.



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good agreement between self-administration and interview scores

Overall Wellbeing

WHO-5 Wellbeing Index

Consistent use across many health and emotional wellbeing areas67. Evidence confirms it can be used to screen for depression.

Applicable to each individual, easy to compare before/after and also across subjects and groups (demographics), takes only few minutes to administer, demonstrated use across medical problems, emotional problems, psychiatric issues, pain etc.

MDI Depression Index

MDI Survey

The MDI is a conservative instrument for diagnosing ICD-10 depression in a clinical setting8 9.

More conservative versus Beck Depression Inventory

Table 1: Summary of measurement tools for the study

Regression Therapy Intervention: Regression therapy involves working with the challenges

faced in the mind and the body which have some emotional and energetic linkage to the current

life experiences. The methodology varies however, the common theme involves identifying

the root cause of the present unwanted experience to a conscious or unconscious memory

related the past. Common problems by subjects who seek help from regression therapist

include relationship issues, anxiety/phobia, social challenges such as lack of confidence,

unexplained body symptoms (e.g. migraine), addictions, sexual problems, eating disorders and

so on10. In general, these presenting problems either have a link with painful or traumatic events

in the current life. Based on the brief description above, it is clear that regression therapy

focuses on the emotions and energy associated with the specific incident(s)occurred in the past

that are of traumatic nature and how they impact the physical body in the present – either

manifesting as a physical or an emotional challenge. For the study, following two methods

were integrated (henceforth referred to as Regression Therapy intervention) and the focus was

to reframe the issue in the mind and release the emotional charge from the body.

1. Inner Child healing and integration with the use of body charge:

Inner Child work was done specifically in cases where there were incidences of Childhood

abuse and trauma. About 2 to 6 inner child parts (related to different traumatic childhood

incidences) of different ages were addressed using Regression methods and the transformation

was done with the help of Voice Dialogue, Body Work, Reframing, Breathwork, and other

healing and integration techniques.



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2. Empty chair with Energy Awareness:

Empty Chair technique was modified by adding the use of multiple chairs as well as energetic

body charge experienced on different chairs11. The process was done using more energy

awareness work vs just using dialogue on the chairs. Positions outside the chair were also used

and when there was a need to get an objective unbiased perspective to the blockage or problem

(reframing in the mind). Empty chair was used for working with the subjects’ key relationships

i.e. spouse, children, cousin, parent as well as inner sub personalities e.g. Anxious part, Angry

part, Neglected part, Unloved part.

3. Body charge (Somatic Release)

For every client with Anxiety, the common thread was Body work /Somatic Release. We know

that anxiety is the outcome of many peripheral dysfunctions in the subjects’ history and these

emotional disturbances need to be addressed in order to reduce the anxiety. The impact of these

emotional disturbances is stored in the subjects’ body (from the time of the trauma or abuse

having taken place) and hence it was necessary to include the body in the healing process. In

order to do this the clients were encouraged to scream, shout, push, punch, kick, verbally abuse,

slap and do all the things to the abusers/perpetrators, that the body needed to do, but could not

do at the time of trauma or abuse. Having released the charge from the body every client

reported feeling light, empty, energized or healed. They reported a sense of completion and

free energy flowing from those body parts where these blocked energies were stuck (throat,

hands, knees, feet, palms, etc.) For all clients the sessions ended giving positive suggestions

and doing future pacing with guided imagery and suggestions of staying calm and peaceful.

Data collection and Analysis:

Out of 27 individuals who signed-up, 21 continued for >=4 4 sessions (excl. initial

consultation). Average age of the participants was 36.1 (SD=12.1) & 43% of them were male.

This data was collected and average values of each survey was calculated before and after the

intervention for each subject (Table 2, Figure 1). Paired T-Test for GAD score before and after

indicated a p-value of <0.000 indicating a statistically significant reduction in GAD scores.

This confirms the primary objective that Regression Therapy Intervention has statistically

significant impact on GAD scores of the individual indicating a reduction of generalized



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anxiety disorder. Average GAD score of the subjects before intervention was 13.9 indicating

severe anxiety and it changed to 4.7 showing minimal to mild anxiety.

Figure 2 shows changes in overall wellbeing and depressive symptoms as measured by WHO-

5 and MDI scores. This data also is consistent with changes in GAD scores indicating enhanced

wellbeing and normal mood (i.e. no depression). This also confirms the secondary objective

of the study based on positive trend in wellbeing and reduction in depressive symptoms (since

Paired T-Test p-value is <0.000 confirming the statistical significance of the changes).

To summarize, the findings from the Regression Therapy interventions confirm the

effectiveness of Regression Therapy in reducing the Generalized Anxiety, improving

wellbeing and reducing depressive symptoms.

Sr No GAD-Before GAD-After WHO-5 Before WHO-5

After MDI - Before MDI-After # of sessions

1 7 3 68 88 25 8 5

2 17 7 52 42 26 12 7

3 11 2 20 84 37 4 4

4 21 3 36 80 23 5 4

5 18 3 20 48 26 20 4

6 16 3 8 64 39 7 6

7 9 4 40 88 39 7 7

8 21 7 32 25 38 10 5

9 11 3 20 72 23 5 4

10 11 2 24 56 22 18 4

11 14 4 16 64 40 11 6

12 16 10 36 80 27 12 4

13 2 3 20 60 46 18 4

14 11 9 40 72 20 9 4

15 17 5 40 52 11 4 5

16 20 7 32 72 32 6 4

17 12 3 28 60 27 5 4

18 12 4 48 72 27 12 4

19 12 3 60 64 25 9 5

20 18 11 40 68 34 14 6

21 16 3 32 72 19 8 5

Average 13.9 4.7 32.2 65.5 29.1 9.6 4.8

Std Dev 4.8 2.7 14.9 15.5 8.6 4.7 1.0



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Table 2: Results for each subject (GAD, WHO-5 Wellbeing Index and MDI Depression Index)

Figure 1: Change in GAD score after minimum 4 sessions

Figure 2: Changes in Wellbeing and Depression Symptoms (WHO-5 and MDI index scores)

Discussions:

This study, based on the potential root causes of anxiety disorders, identified the opportunity

to work on the past events and related emotional imbalance (or the body charge). To address

these factors, Regression Therapy techniques focused on reframing the issue in the mind and

releasing the emotions from the body. The key was to identify potentially volatile events which

may have caused major emotional impact on the subject. Once the events were identified, the

inner child therapy worked on specific events and related issues such as relationship or the

impact on the individual which led to the emotional suppression or imbalance. This was

addressed by applying techniques with modifications related to the energetic imbalance with

either the event (if it is emotional pain or trauma to the subject) or the person (if relationship

issue was involved), with specific focus on the reframing. After that, the Gestalt work focused

on releasing the emotional charge from the body. This is likely to have caused increased

effectiveness in the results.

Conclusions:

The findings confirm the primary objective that Regression Therapy techniques (a) Inner Child

therapy and integration with the use of body therapy and (b) Gestalt practice of Empty chairs



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with the use of reframing in the mind and emotional release from the body are very effective

in reducing the generalized anxiety disorder symptoms for individuals. The intervention also

reduced depressive symptoms and increased overall wellbeing in the subjects confirming the

secondary objective. The future interventions should explore adding more subjects and also

adding more categories of anxiety disorder and the use of control group to achieve a meaningful

comparison.

Limitations of the study:

This study involved subjects who actively sought help for their anxiety and depressive

symptoms. Their willingness to seek specific help could act as placebo and therefore influence

the outcome. Having a control group and randomly assigning the subject to either therapeutic

interventions would be the ideal process to eliminate this potential limitation. Moreover, having

more subjects go through this process would also provide more insights about the intervention

and the demographics involved. Finally, this work measured on GAD scale, however, the

anxiety disorder involves many varieties from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),

Specific Phobia etc. These variations in anxiety disorders must also be incorporated in the

future.

Citations:

1 Thibaut F. (2017). Anxiety disorders: a review of current literature. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 87–88. 2 Thibaut F. The role of sex and gender in neuropsychiatric disorders. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2016;18(4):351–352. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] 3 Amstadter A. (2008). Emotion regulation and anxiety disorders. Journal of anxiety disorders, 22(2), 211–221. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.02.004 4 Lee, Y. S., Ryu, Y., Jung, W. M., Kim, J., Lee, T., & Chae, Y. (2017). Understanding Mind-Body Interaction from the Perspective of East Asian Medicine. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2017, 7618419. doi:10.1155/2017/7618419 5 Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Löwe B. A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166(10):1092–1097. doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092 6 Topp CW, Østergaard SD, Søndergaard S, Bech P (2015) The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Psychother Psychosom 84(3): 167-176. 7 Gunjan Y Trivedi. Importance of Screening for Wellbeing in Diabetes Management. Curr Res Diabetes Obes J. 2019; 11(3): 555820. DOI: 10.19080/CRDOJ.2019.11.555820



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8 Nielsen MG, Ørnbøl E, Bech P, Vestergaard M, Christensen KS, The criterion validity of the web-based Major Depression Inventory when used on clinical suspicion of depression in primary care.Clin Epidemiol. 2017 Jul 6;9:355-365. doi: 10.2147/CLEP.S132913. eCollection 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28740432 9 Konstantinidis A1, Martiny K, Bech P, Kasper S. A comparison of the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in severely depressed patients. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2011 Mar;15(1):56-61. doi: 10.3109/13651501.2010.507870. Epub 2010 Sep 22. 10 Tasso International Website: https://tassointernational.com/regression-therapy-problems/ (Last accessed May 12, 2019) 11 Elliott, Robert & Watson, Jeanne & Goldman, Rhonda & Greenberg, Leslie. (2004). Empty chair work for unfinished interpersonal issues.. 10.1037/10725-012.

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