AAT Expert System

How Does It Work?

The key to the success of the AAT system is the ability to create a positive stimulus with each of the major organ systems and to combine this stimulus with the offending substance that is causing symptoms.

Treating points along the Sympathetic chain provides the positive stimulus needed to alter a negative association.

Coupling these two stimuli together conditions the body to perceive the substance as beneficial, rather than a threat. To understand how this phenomenon is possible, it’s important to take a closer look at the two stimuli used in the AAT method:

1. the stimulation of the Hua Tuo Jia Ji points and
2. the offending substance.

ALTERING REACTIONS THROUGH THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

The sympathetic nervous system is the main communication line of the organ systems that deals with the ‘fight or flight’ response, managing real or perceived threats. In stimulating acupuncture points that correspond with the Sympathetic chain, overactive defensive behavior can be altered. In fact, the state of the organ systems may be the critical factor in reactivity. This would explain why some people, who show immune involvement (with elevated IgE levels in the blood), do not have any allergic symptoms. In these cases, the mast cells are not responding to the circulating immunoglobulins, which typically initiate an allergic reaction. Conversely, mast cells, which are found in tissues throughout the body, can become reactive when there is no immune involvement.

Increasingly, evidence is showing that mast cells, which play a central role in the allergic response, can actually be activated directly, by non-allergic triggers. Such triggers may include environmental chemicals, foods, drugs, odors, temperature changes, hormones, physical or emotional stimuli and stress. In other words, mast cells become sensitive to these stimuli without immunoglobulins triggering the reaction. This means that the body can exhibit very similar symptoms as those caused by a true allergy, but with no immune involvement at all. While treating the health of the organ systems is beneficial to their overall state, it is the specific relationship an organ system has to something in the environment that is at the core of the problem in the cases of sensitivities and allergies. The AAT method works directly with the relationship between the major organ systems and overreactions to harmless substances. It is the health and state of the organ systems which determines the type of symptoms that may arise. For example, one patient may have a reaction to soybean by getting rashes while another patient may react with sinus congestion or IBS. The symptoms in each of these cases represent a different organ system involved.

There are multiple factors which can cause stress to an organ system, eliciting various levels of a “fight or flight” reaction or what is known as “defense physiology”. Defense physiology includes the many different changes in the body which occur in response to a threat. While a threat may be caused by a chemical or biological agent, the body may also respond to perceived threats, which can come from physical, mental or emotional stress. These factors can put the body’s organ systems into defensive states where they may become over-sensitive. When in a state of stress, elements in the environment can become associated with the stressed state, causing a negative relationship to those substances. This may occur with any number of systems in the body. By stimulating specific points during treatment that directly correspond with defensive behavior, the treatment is able to diminish over-reactive states. The AAT therapy associates this stimulation with the harmless substance that is causing the defensive behavior, thereby creating a new relationship with the offending substance.

Offending substances: The Importance of Specificity

The AAT method is based on a process of conditioning where the stimulus of reducing Sympathetic Nerve Activity is coupled with a substance that the body is responding to inappropriately. Originally, the therapy required the use of the actual substance to be applied to the surface of the skin while stimulating the points along the spine. However, the types and number of substances in the environment that could cause reactions were found to be much greater than what has been commonly identified. Furthermore, AAT found that a system in the body could also react inappropriately to biological substances within the body itself. This discovery has led to a number of breakthroughs in treatment success.

Additionally, it has been found that the body can target both a substance and, in many cases, it can also target specific components within the substance. For example, a person who gets headaches from eating chocolate may be actually reacting to the caffeine, the cocoa butter, theophylline, theobromine or a phenolic. In order for the treatment to be successful, each offending substance must be isolated and treated. Therefore, a high degree of specificity became critical to the success of the treatment, requiring years of in-depth research into the many different substances responsible for a wide range of reactions. These discoveries led to the development of a more advanced system that could manage the scope and complexity involved in these conditions.

Due to all of these factors, the AAT software was developed with a proprietary signal system that utilizes digital signals that represent over 65,000 items. The digital representations are used in place of the actual substance so that the treatment can be highly specific and customized for each case. The digital representations have no therapeutic value or effect on the body, but allow for a vastly greater treatment capability. This includes a broad range of items, including stimuli such as sunlight, barometric pressure, heat, fluorescent light or various forms of electromagnetism, all of which can contribute to various reactions.

Instant expertise

The AAT system has been designed to allow for instant expertise for the practitioner. The massive data base of substances is organized by families of substances, individual substances, and then further broken down into each substance’s components. Additionally, the AAT software provides step-by-step protocols so that a practitioner can begin using the system the next day after the training. Practitioners discover early on in using the AAT system that some of the most difficult conditions to treat are actually quite simple when the causative factor is identified. The AAT trainings provide decades of research and clinical discoveries giving a new practitioner powerful tools to bring to their practice.

Testing for Sensitivities

The AAT method does not use any form of allergy testing. Results from medical allergy tests may be utilized to help the practitioner in assessing what may be causing a reaction. However, the AAT method does not treat the immune system and immune involvement does not influence the outcome of the treatment. AAT must assess what substances in the environment are putting a stress on the body. This is accomplished by integrating a biofeedback technique that measures a stress reaction from the body. AAT teaches an enhanced biofeedback technique that may be used; however practitioners may also use their own biofeedback techniques.

Advanced Protocols

The AAT Expert software includes a variety of protocols. The Unknown Contributor protocol can help to assist in identifying what substances may be causing a reaction when the cause is unknown. This protocol has been invaluable in uncovering the causes to countless symptoms and conditions. The software also includes multiple protocols that deal with the challenges of the changing environment, food modification, combination reactions and other idiosyncrasies that come with different cases, ensuring that a customized treatment is available for every person. The AAT system has been designed to take into account all of the complexities involved in physiological errors and streamline the system to simplify treatments and achieve the best results. The AAT system is constantly evolving with the addition of new substances to the database library as well as new protocols to continually expand therapeutic applications.