Havening Techniques® are a psychosensory treatment that uses touch to help with a variety of emotional and mental health issues. The techniques are rooted in neuroscience and are designed to be a gentle and effective self-help tool.
How Havening Works:
- Havening uses a soothing touch, typically on the upper arms, palms, and around the eyes, to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This helps to reduce heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate, promoting relaxation and a sense of calm.
- The touch also releases oxytocin, a hormone associated with social bonding and relaxation, further reducing anxiety and promoting a sense of well-being.
- Havening techniques combine touch with focused attention and positive visualization or affirmations, to interrupt negative brain pathways and create new, positive associations.
Mental Health Issues Havening Can Help With:
Havening Techniques can address a wide range of issues:
- Trauma and PTSD: Havening can help to depotentiate traumatic memories and the emotional distress associated with them. It can also be used to address symptoms such as flashbacks and nightmares. It has been shown to be effective in cases of childhood trauma, physical and sexual abuse.
- Anxiety Disorders: Havening has been shown to be helpful with various anxiety disorders, including panic attacks and phobias. It can help to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
- Emotional Regulation: Havening can assist with emotional management, making you more aware of your reactions to stress and helping you respond to others more intentionally. It can help you to learn to manage emotions in both personal and professional interactions.
- Other Issues: Havening has also been used to address addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and some physical conditions with a stress or trauma origin, including pain. Havening can also be used to improve self-esteem and confidence.
Types of Havening Techniques:
There are several types of Havening, which can be done by oneself (Self-Havening) or with a practitioner (Facilitated Havening):
- Event Havening: Used for specific traumatic events and all their components, including somatic, autonomic, cognitive, and emotional elements.
- Transpirational Havening: Used for chronic emotional states, and can be used to remove multiple unrelated episodes associated with the same emotion. This can also be combined with talk therapy, known as Talk Transpirational Havening.
- Affirmational Havening: Uses positive affirmations to move individuals toward acceptance of change.
- Outcome Havening: Used to alter the outcome of a recalled event.
- Hopeful Havening: Is used to increase psychological well being and resilience.
- Role Havening: Where a practitioner takes on the role of an individual involved in the trauma.
- Iffirmational Havening: Used to move individuals along a path to acceptance that change is possible.
Key Benefits of Havening:
- Gentle and non-re-traumatising: Havening can be performed without the need to re-experience trauma.
- Rapid and effective: It can be a quick way to address emotional distress.
- Content-free: Havening can be effective even if the individual does not disclose details about the traumatic event. This can be beneficial for those who find it difficult to talk about their experiences.
- Self-help tool: Havening can be self-applied, making it a valuable tool for self-soothing and emotional regulation. It allows you to manage stress in your daily life.
- Integrative: Havening can be used alongside other modalities and is not meant to replace other forms of therapy.
Important Considerations:
- While Havening is generally considered safe, it may not be suitable for everyone, especially those with dissociative disorders.
- For complex trauma, a skilled practitioner is recommended.
Havening Techniques offer a powerful way to address various mental health challenges by directly targeting the brain’s emotional responses through touch, attention and intention. It is a flexible tool that can be used for both self-care and in conjunction with other therapeutic approaches.