The AAT Method

Understanding The AAT Expert Method

Since 1995, AAT has specialized in the treatment of the many symptoms associated with allergies and sensitivities. It has been discovered over the past 28 years that the mechanism responsible for allergies and sensitivities is also involved in numerous other symptoms and conditions. When the causative factor is accurately identified and addressed, the body rapidly responds, resulting in the resolution of associated symptoms.

The mechanism involved in these conditions is a pattern of defensive physiological behavior. However, this pattern of behavior is an error and offers no benefit to the body. The error is established through a relationship between the brain and the Sympathetic Nervous System and may involve the immune system. In these cases, the condition is called a ‘true allergy’. In the majority of other cases the immune system is not involved but these errors are still the underlying causative factor. Many illnesses fall under this category, some of which are referred to or labeled as “sensitivities”, representing a vast domain of illness that is entirely understudied.

The Importance of the Sympathetic Nervous System

The AAT method recognizes the crucial role of the Sympathetic Nervous system as an integrative interface and link between the brain and the immune system, as well as its role in affecting the visceral organs. When there is excessive sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), which can be caused by multiple forms of stress, errors in biological learning patterns can result.

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is the main communication line of the organ systems that deals with the ‘fight or flight’ response, managing real or perceived threats. When SNS activity is heightened from any number of possible stressors, this internal stimulus can become associated with a secondary stimulus present in the environment. In fact, studies have shown that altered immune function can be induced through classical behavioral conditioning by stressful stimuli.¹ In other words, an active state of defense caused by some form of stress can become associated with an element in the environment that is present at the time of the stress.² The result is errant defensive physiology in response to a harmless substance. This negative association is learned and stored, causing a chronic pattern of reactivity.

It has also been established that excessive sympathetic activity (fight or flight) can lead to an over-activation of the inflammatory response, even with no immune involvement. These processes can also become associated with a secondary stimulus in the environment. What AAT has discovered is that these phenomena are far more prevalent than what is currently understood and at the core of so many symptoms and conditions seen by health care professionals. What’s more is that this phenomenon may occur in relation to naturally occurring agents within the body which AAT has found to play a central role in conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Acid Reflux and Chronic Sinusitis– some of the most common conditions seen by doctors today.

The AAT method goes far beyond treating what is traditionally understood to be allergies and sensitivities, since physiological errors are present in many conditions. With the ability to work with the body’s intelligence, AAT has made numerous breakthroughs in the treatment of some of the most common conditions afflicting the population today.

¹The Sympathetic Nerve—An Integrative Interface between Two Supersystems: The Brain and the Immune System; Pharmacol Rev. 2000 Dec;52(4):595-638.
²Metal’nikov S, Chorine V (1926) Rôle des réflexes conditionnels dans l’immunité. Ann Inst Pasteur Paris 40:893–900.