NET is used by Mind-oriented practitioners to help their clients process and release stress-related issues — both in mind and body.
While the NET protocol itself is not considered to be psychology, the following principles apply within the steps of NET:
- cognitive (identifying thoughts and internal dialog associated with recollections),
- emotional (identifying the emotions the recollection elicits), and
- behavioral (how the recollections affect actions, relationships, etc.).
Within the steps of NET, the practitioner uses the following 8 dynamics to help address unresolved mind/body stress:
Emotions are Physiologically Based
Pavlovian Responses
Emotions/Meridian System Correlations
Repetition Compulsion
The Role of Memory and Physiology
Manual Muscle Testing
Semantic Responses
‘Like cures Like’
When working with NET, practitioners use a manual muscle test as a tool to help identify involuntary physiological responses. In this way, the muscle test is used as a gauge of autonomic reactivity to given physical and/or verbal stimuli.
Mind-oriented practitioners often start the NET portion of a session with an “I’m OK” Personal Declarative (PD). If a PD tests weak, the practitioner can then find an associated pulse point, identify a related emotion and further develop the core issue.
During the NET correction phase, clients are asked to hold a specific pulse point and the Emotional Points (located on the forehead, halfway between the pupils and the natural hairline), and engage in a simple breathing process while they focus on the identified distressing event.
When finished, the practitioner will retest the original “I’m OK” PD, and it should now test strong — indicating the client is congruent with the PD and more balanced in regard to this issue.
A ‘Home Run Formula’ Model of Care
Although stress and stress-related sypmptoms can be a huge component of health, we know other factors can also cause and/or contribute to unwanted mind and body conditions.
Generally whatever we do as practitioners fits on one or more of the bases of the Home Run Formula. Practitioners often have a primary focus on one of the bases and will later address the other bases in the order they feel is best or refer as necessary.
More on ‘What is NET’ & How it Evolved
In the mid 1980s, Dr. Scott Walker started developing a procedure (which he eventually named NET) that would help his chiropractic patients who had chronically recurring vertebral subluxations — those cases where a traditional adjustment didn’t always hold and the patient’s symptoms failed to fully resolve. What Dr. Walker came to discover was that there was often an associated emotional/stress overlay that was retriggering the physical problem, and once this was addressed, patients got better — both in body and mind.
Treating Mind & Body — Scientific Evidence
Results from a 2017 study of patients with traumatic stress symptoms demonstrated significant changes in the NET group (as compared to the control group) in the functional connectivity between the cerebellum, the amygdala, and parahippocampus, as well as reductions in autonomic reactivity based on heart rate response to the traumatic stimulus.
In another 2021 published study, NET or control treatments were given twice weekly for 4 weeks to patients with chronic low back pain. Compared to the placebo group, patients receiving the NET treatment showed clinical and statistical significance with declines of virtually all pain markers, as well as showed positive gains in quality-of-life indicators.