What is a trapped emotion?
In Dr. Bradley Nelson's model, a trapped emotion is a piece of emotional energy that did not move through a person when they felt it. According to Discover Healing, the company that teaches the Emotion Code, everything is energy, including emotions; ideally a person processes an emotion and moves through it, but sometimes that energy becomes trapped in the body.
Emotion Code practitioners describe trapped emotions as able to contribute to physical discomfort, emotional distress and repeating patterns, such as overreacting in certain situations or struggling to feel close to people. These are the method's claims. The mechanism behind them, emotional energy lodged in tissue, is not established by scientific evidence.
How does the method say emotions become trapped?
Discover Healing describes trapped emotions as forming during intense or overwhelming moments, when a person does not have the chance or capacity to process what they feel. The emotion is described as settling in a particular part of the body, and the Emotion Code Chart links groups of emotions with areas of the body where the method says they are often found.
The method also describes two other routes. Inherited trapped emotions are said to be passed from parent to child at conception, sometimes across several generations. Absorbed emotions are described as feelings children pick up from the people around them when they are young and especially receptive. Both are concepts within the method rather than findings from research.
What about research on inherited trauma?
You may see claims that science has shown emotions can be inherited. There is genuine research on whether the effects of trauma can pass between generations, including possible epigenetic changes. A 2018 review by Rachel Yehuda and Amy Lehrner found the most compelling evidence so far comes from animal studies, and concluded that intergenerational effects in humans cannot yet be pinned to specific biological causes. That research concerns biology and stress responses. It does not show that particular emotions travel between generations as energy that a magnet can release.
How do practitioners find and release trapped emotions?
A practitioner uses muscle testing to ask yes-or-no questions, first whether there is a trapped emotion that can be released, then which column and row of the chart it belongs to, and finally which specific emotion it is. This process of elimination is described in Discover Healing's chart guide. We do not reproduce the chart, which belongs to Discover Healing.
Once an emotion is identified, the practitioner may ask a few questions about it, such as roughly when it became trapped or whether it was inherited, and whether the person wants to talk about it. Then the practitioner passes a magnet along what the method calls the Governing Meridian, which runs up the spine and over the head, to release it. Each emotion is released one at a time.
Muscle testing explained looks at the testing step, and why the Emotion Code uses magnets looks at the release step.
What do people say it feels like when an emotion releases?
Discover Healing describes a wide range: warmth, tingling, yawning, a brief wave of sadness or an urge to laugh, a sense of relief, or nothing noticeable at all. It also describes a processing period in the days after a session, when emotions may feel closer to the surface.
It is worth being careful here. Yawning, warmth and a wave of feeling are ordinary responses to sitting quietly, relaxing, and thinking about something meaningful with an attentive person. They happen in many settings, including therapy and prayer. They are real experiences, and they are not evidence that energy has left the body.
Is there evidence that trapped emotions exist?
No. No published study has shown that emotions are stored in the body as energy, that such energy can be located by muscle testing, or that passing a magnet over the spine removes it. We found no controlled trial of the Emotion Code in PubMed, the main index of biomedical research.
There is also a practical problem in testing the idea. To check whether muscle testing correctly identifies a trapped emotion, researchers would need an independent way of knowing which emotion was really trapped, and there is none. Studies that have tested muscle testing against things that can be checked independently, such as nutrient levels or allergies, have mostly found results no better than chance.
None of this means the feelings people bring to a session are not real. It means the explanation the method offers for them has not been shown to be true. Does the Emotion Code work? looks at the wider question.
How does psychology think about held-in feelings?
Psychology has well-studied ideas about feelings that are pushed down or avoided. For example, research by James Gross and Oliver John found that people who habitually suppress their emotions tend to report more negative emotion, less positive emotion and poorer relationships than people who reappraise a situation. Trauma research describes how painful memories can stay vivid and easily triggered when they are avoided rather than processed.
These ideas overlap with the Emotion Code's language about unprocessed emotion, which may be part of why the method resonates with people. The difference is in the explanation. Psychology describes patterns in memory, attention, thought and behavior, and tests treatments for them in controlled trials. The Emotion Code describes energy in tissue and has not been tested that way.
If held-in feelings are affecting your daily life, relationships or health, that is exactly what psychotherapy is for. At Laura Bass Counseling, psychotherapy and the Emotion Code are separate pathways, and clients choose what to include. The Emotion Code and psychotherapy explains how they differ.
What should you keep in mind before trying it?
- It is not a treatment for anxiety, depression, trauma, pain or illness, and it should never delay care from a doctor or therapist.
- Discover Healing's own legal page says its methods are not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any medical condition or psychological disorder.
- Be wary of any practitioner who tells you a symptom is caused by a trapped emotion. That is a claim about your health that the method cannot support.
- You can ask any question before a session, including skeptical ones. The Emotion Code page explains how to ask Laura.
Common questions
Can a trapped emotion cause physical illness?
Discover Healing's materials suggest trapped emotions can contribute to physical discomfort and illness. There is no scientific evidence for that, and no one should rely on the Emotion Code for a physical symptom. Stress and emotion can affect health in well-documented ways, which is a good reason to take both seriously, but if you have a physical symptom, see a doctor. An Emotion Code session is not a substitute for a diagnosis.
How many trapped emotions does a person have?
The method does not give a fixed number, and practitioners describe releasing a handful in a typical session. Because there is no independent way to detect a trapped emotion, any count comes from muscle testing within the method rather than from measurement. It is best understood as part of how the practice is described, not as a fact about your body.
Do I have to talk about what happened?
Not usually. In the Emotion Code, a practitioner may ask whether an emotion connects with a particular time in your life, and you can choose how much to say. Some people find that a relief compared with talking in depth. If you do want to talk through painful experiences at length, that is closer to what psychotherapy offers, and Laura keeps the two pathways separate.