EFT double dissociation protocol for extremely severe traumas or highly reactive patients: the patient imagines a box containing the memory without opening it, evaluates an estimated SUD on the idea of looking at the box, and taps progressively until able to glimpse the contents without emotional flooding.
EFT technique for severe traumas, very sensitive subjects or therapy beginners: starting with extremely vague formulations ('something difficult happened') and progressively introducing increasingly specific details, never advancing if intensity exceeds 4-5, thus building safety and trust before approaching the core of the problem.
Gary Craig's advanced EFT protocol for moderate to severe traumas, where the patient assigns a movie title to their traumatic memory and processes it progressively as a film watched from the outside, stopping to tap whenever intensity rises.
EFT protocol where the patient narrates their story aloud while the therapist watches for activation signs — voice changes, hesitations, gestures — and immediately stops the narration to tap on the last spoken phrase, until the entire story can be told without distress.