The Emotion Code: a complete, honest guide

What is the Emotion Code, in brief?

The Emotion Code is an energy-healing technique developed by Dr. Bradley Nelson, a retired chiropractor, and set out in his book The Emotion Code (updated and expanded edition, St. Martin's, 2019). His company, Discover Healing, trains and certifies practitioners.

In Dr. Nelson's model, strong emotions that are not fully processed can leave behind a residue of energy, which he calls a trapped emotion. Practitioners use muscle testing to ask yes-or-no questions of what the method calls the subconscious, identify a trapped emotion, and then pass a magnet along the back or head to release it. Discover Healing also describes a Heart-Wall, a layer of trapped emotions said to form around the heart.

Those are the method's own descriptions, and this guide attributes them that way. The underlying mechanism, trapped emotional energy that can be located by muscle testing and cleared with a magnet, is not established by scientific evidence. For a fuller introduction, start with what the Emotion Code is.

Why write a guide like this?

Most of what is written about the Emotion Code online comes from people who sell sessions or training, and much of it states the method's claims as settled fact. Most of what is written by its critics dismisses it in a sentence. Neither helps someone who is simply trying to understand it.

Laura Bass is a psychotherapist in Charlotte, North Carolina, and also a certified Emotion Code practitioner. That combination is the reason for the tone here. A therapist has professional obligations about honesty, evidence and not overstating what any approach can do, and those obligations do not switch off when the subject is a complementary practice. So this guide describes the method carefully, cites Discover Healing for what the method claims, cites independent research for what is known, and says plainly when the two do not match.

How is this guide organized?

The articles are grouped so you can read in order or jump to a question.

• Understanding the method: trapped emotions, the Heart-Wall, muscle testing, why magnets are used, the Emotion Code, Body Code and Belief Code, and how it compares with EFT, Reiki and EMDR.
• Weighing it up: does the Emotion Code work, is it safe, how it relates to psychotherapy, and questions from skeptics.
• Sessions: what a first session involves, how many sessions people have, remote and proxy sessions, choosing a practitioner, and cost.
• Topics: animals, relationships, grief, and books and resources.

What does the evidence say?

We could not find any published controlled trial of the Emotion Code itself. What has been studied is its main tool, muscle testing, which comes from a practice called applied kinesiology. When muscle testing has been asked to detect things the tester could not otherwise know, such as nutrient levels, allergies or which vial held a toxin, blinded studies have mostly found results no better than guessing. One research group found above-chance accuracy for detecting spoken lies in a laboratory setup, and its authors cautioned that the result does not carry over to other uses. The details are in muscle testing explained.

Static magnets have also been studied, mainly for pain. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) says research does not conclusively support them. No study we found has tested whether a magnet can release an emotion.

That does not mean nobody feels anything in a session. People who choose it sometimes describe feeling calmer or lighter afterward. That is a description of an experience, and a quiet, attentive hour with a caring person can produce it by itself. It is not a clinical outcome, and no one can promise it in advance. Discover Healing's own legal page says its methods are not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any medical condition or psychological disorder, or to replace professional care.

How does it relate to Laura's psychotherapy?

Laura keeps psychotherapy and complementary work as separate pathways, and clients choose what, if anything, to include. Psychotherapy is her clinical work with adults and older teens, in individual, couples and infidelity counseling. The Emotion Code sits on the complementary side, alongside her other trainings, such as Reiki and spiritual direction studies.

Keeping them separate protects both. Nobody who comes for therapy is steered toward the Emotion Code, and nobody who comes for the Emotion Code is receiving therapy by another name. If you are curious about how the two might sit together in your own life, the Emotion Code and psychotherapy covers it, and the Emotion Code page explains how to ask Laura about a session.

Who is the Emotion Code not for?

It is not a treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, pain, illness or any diagnosed condition, and it should never delay or replace care from a doctor or a therapist. If you are dealing with any of those, the psychotherapy side of the practice, or your doctor, is the right starting point.

It is not crisis care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, call 911, or call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

It is also a poor fit for anyone who would feel pressured to believe in it. You do not have to accept the method's explanation to ask questions about it, and a good practitioner will welcome doubt rather than argue with it.

Common questions