Havening, is an alternative therapy developed by Ronald Ruden and popularized in part by hypnotist Paul McKenna; it relies on "amygdala depotentiation" that purportedly can help people with psychological problems, particularly those related to phobias, post-traumatic stress and anxiety. Havening involves instructing the patient to recall emotionally disturbing events while the practitioner gently touches the patient's palms, arms and face. Havening shares features in common with another alternative therapy method, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
Methodology
Havening works through a change agent, a braindelta wave, generated by a simple soothing touch on the palms, upper arms and forehead. This wave interacts with the voltage dependent calcium channel on a glutamate activated neuron in the lateral amygdala. This interaction produces an intracellularcalcium oscillation activating a phosphatase which acts to remove a traumatically placed AMPA receptor. The selective activation of the amygdala neuron associated with the emotional component of the recalled memory from the traumatized event is critical to making that neuron susceptible to the change agent. It is this selectivity that allows us to target specific memories. In addition, as the client begins treatment immediately after recall, the distress of the client is minimized.
Assessments of claims
The official "Havening" website includes a listing of testimonials about Havening's effectiveness, however, the "Havening Research" page does not link to any research studies assessing the claim that Havening is an effective therapy for any of the disorders listed on the site. One study has been published designed to assess that claim. In that study, 27 participants completed self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and social adjustment before, and one week and two months after, a Havening intervention. Scores on the different measures were better after the intervention than before. The authors note that the study is limited by "its small sample size" and "lack of control group". Because of the lack of a control group, there is no way to know if the change in scores on the self-report measures is a result of the Havening intervention, a placebo effect, or some other factor related to the passage of time. Proponents claim that Havening "increases the levels of serotonin which can disrupt reconsolidation of the link between the traumatic memory of the event and the distress it causes." Although Ruden and McKenna each make this claim, neither provides any direct evidence for the validity of the claim. However new evidence has been provided recently on two publications regarding Havening. Those are the direct evidence for the validity of the claim.
