Knowing that a behavior is harmful does not necessarily make it easy to stop. Addiction and other compulsive patterns are not simply failures of motivation or willpower. They are often maintained by stress and nervous-system dysregulation, conditioned triggers, emotional pain, trauma, shame, limiting beliefs, and the immediate relief the behavior provides.
In this two-night, six-module live workshop based on Dr. Adriana Popescu’s new book, EFT for Addiction, participants will learn how Emotional Freedom Techniques can be used to address the emotional and physiological forces beneath cravings, urges, and recurring patterns. Dr. Adriana will explain how the cycle moves from trigger to activation to urge to temporary relief, and why people may return to a behavior even when they genuinely want to change.
Participants will explore the ambivalence that often accompanies change: one part may want recovery while another still associates the behavior with relief, safety, belonging, escape, or survival. Through teaching, guided EFT experiences, demonstrations, and practical exercises, Dr. Adriana will show how to work with this conflict compassionately rather than treating it as resistance or failure.
The workshop is designed for:
- People experiencing addiction, cravings, emotional eating, rumination, stress-driven habits, or other persistent compulsive patterns
- People in recovery who want additional tools for managing triggers, emotional activation, and relapse vulnerability
- Family members and loved ones seeking a clearer, less reactive understanding of these patterns
- Helping professionals who want a trauma-informed EFT framework they can apply within their training and scope of practice
Across the two nights, participants will learn how to:
- Understand addiction through a biopsychosocial and nervous-system-informed lens
- Identify the emotional need or short-term relief a behavior may be providing
- Recognize triggers, conditioned responses, reinforcement cycles, and high-risk situations
- Understand why insight, motivation, and willpower may not be enough to create lasting change
- Use EFT with cravings, urges, repetitive thoughts, emotional activation, and relapse triggers
- Work compassionately with ambivalence, shame, resistance, and limiting beliefs
- Recognize how trauma and co-occurring emotional difficulties can intensify addictive patterns
- Use EFT to support relapse prevention, emotional regulation, and recovery planning
- Respond more constructively when addiction affects a loved one or relationship
- Recognize when medical, mental health, or specialized addiction treatment is needed
By the end of the workshop, participants will have a clearer map of why addictive and compulsive patterns persist, practical EFT strategies for working with the forces driving them, and a more compassionate and informed way to move from automatic reaction toward meaningful choice.
* Note: EFT is presented as a complementary resource and not as a substitute for appropriate medical care, psychotherapy, detoxification, or specialized addiction/mental health treatment.
