AAT Assessment Method

AAT Uses Specialized Assessment to Identify Organ System Defenses

AAT must assess what substances in the environment are putting a stress on the body in order to determine what is contributing to a patient’s symptoms. This is accomplished by integrating a biofeedback technique to measures a stress reaction from the body. The AAT treatment uses a dedicated and specialized stress assessment method that allows AAT practitioners to determine whether any organ system in the body is responding defensively to a specific substance.

The assessment is carried out in person, where the practitioner applies exposure of a digital signal of a substance to the client’s skin surface via an arm cuff and assesses the presence or absence of defensive responses in targeted muscle groups. Skin and muscles are subject to this assessment because they are innervated by the sympathetic nervous system, which is the body’s primary defense system.

When a stimulus is perceived as a threat, the muscle momentarily freezes, followed by an immediate fight-or-flight response. During this window of time, an AAT practitioner can assess the change in muscle reaction and evaluate whether the stimulus is perceived as a threat or not, based on the results of the test. If harmless substances like chocolate, pollen, or soy trigger a defensive response in the muscles, the body is misinterpreting these harmless stimuli as threats and the muscle becomes weakened. Directly following the completion of an AAT treatment, the practitioner can immediately reassess the muscle’s response and determine whether the body has returned to an appropriate response to the harmless stimulus it had previously perceived as a threat. The change in perception to the stimulus is immediate.

After an AAT treatment session, the practitioner can immediately reassess the muscle response to determine whether the body has reverted to its normal response to the formerly perceived harmless stimulus.

AAT teaches this enhanced biofeedback technique to practitioners learning the AAT therapy; however practitioners may also use their own biofeedback techniques.