The Emotions Research Consortium

Dr Francis Teeney is a Research Fellow and Psychologist at Queen's University Belfast where he is a member of the Social Issues and Health Cluster. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen.

In 2004, Francis became Project Manager for HUMAINE – an EU funded 34 partner/ university worldwide network analyzing emotions. Indeed his work in this emotional based research is reflected in is current investigations into the role of emotions in energy disorders such as anxiety, ME/CFS.

Francis' recent activities involve identity and victimhood involving collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and Queen's University Belfast.

Francis was involved in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, held numerous workshops and seminars for victims emotionally affected by the conflict, is an NLP practitioner and is at the forefront of forming an academic research consortium into the causes and treatment of anxiety and ME/CFS with Dr David Mickel, Psychologist Kyle Davies and Charles Linden.

With the assistance and guidance of his close friend and colleague his objective is to develop a greater understanding of the role of emotions in human health and well-being.

Dr David Mickel qualified as a Medical Doctor in 1992 before going on to specialize in General Practice in 1996. He spent 6 years working full-time in practice in Elgin, Scotland.

He developed an interest in CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia during this time and became frustrated by the lack of success of conventional and alternative treatments for the conditions. He spent a number of years researching and experimenting with a variety of approaches and methods until he finally developed the process of treatment now known as Mickel Therapy^®.

In 2002, following the success of this treatment, he resigned from his position as General Practitioner in order to commit fully to treating sufferers.

He founded the organization Mickel Health Initiatives Ltd with the aim of offering high quality treatment and education in the theories and processes that he and the team have developed and evolved over recent years. He currently provides a private therapy service in Elgin treating CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia, IBS and other 'Energy Disorders' such as IBS, Anxiety and Depression as physical conditions.

He travels internationally to provide training, seminars and workshops with fellow MHI Director, Kyle Davies.

Romulo Valdez, Jr., Ph.D. is one of America's leading Psychologists who is very highly qualified and has extensive experience working with children, adolescents and adults suffering from anxiety and depression particularly Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

Dr. Valdez obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Vermont earning a B.A. in Religion with minor in Psychology. His M.A. degree in Clinical Psychology is from Central Michigan University. His Ph.D. was from Michigan State University where his major emphasis was on Counseling Psychology. He minored in Developmental Psychology and Statistics and Research Design.

Dr. Valdez did his clinical training under the very best professors in the field at the Department of Psychiatry at both Dartmouth Medical School and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Valdez has worked in a variety of settings including inpatient hospital units, outpatient clinics and he was also the Psychologist at the Phillips Exeter Academy.

Dr. Valdez has held a past academic post at Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Psychiatry. He was an integral member of an NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) research project at the University of Pennsylvania, Psychotherapy Research Center, studying the treatment of crack cocaine addicts. More recently, he has worked with the Center for Psychological Trauma at Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Psychiatry.

Currently, Dr. Valdez consults for various agencies and hospitals that do work with children and adolescents and war veterans suffering from a variety of psychiatric disorders, particularly Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

Dr. Valdez is a longtime member in good standing with the American Psychological Association and the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. He is also a Fellow with the New Hampshire Psychological Association.

I am 41 years old and have spent a large proportion of my adult life fighting acute anxiety, panic attacks, OCD and agoraphobia but not any more.

Apart from providing support and counselling to anxiety sufferers through 'The Linden Method', I also work in private practice counselling people with anxiety disorders through The Linden Center.

My 'Method' took seven years to develop and is now, not only, becoming recognized as 'the' drug free solution to anxiety disorders by world health care practitioners and organizations, but is also receiving referrals from psychologists, doctors, psychiatrists, health authorities, insurance companies and other organizations from around the world.

I am also a regular contributor to printed publications such as Natural Health, Women, Women's Own, Pick Me Up, About.com, Top Santé, OK magazine and anxiety disorder websites. I contribute to BBC radio and I am also chairman of the International Association of Anxiety Management. I have also recently shot my own TV series which is currently airing on international TV channels.

I was diagnosed, about 18 years ago, as having severe anxiety, panic attacks and associated phobias. The doctor made this diagnosis on the strength of the symptoms I experienced at that time. I had experienced anxiety with OCD between the ages of 12 and 14 and was generally an anxious child but learned to live with the anxious feelings and thoughts, many of which I had experienced from a very young age.

After an anxiety 'breakdown' at the age of 23, my doctor prescribed antidepressants and sedatives and then kept re-prescribing them without question, however, they just made me feel progressively more ill and produced dramatic side effects a then, when I tried to stop them, horrific withdrawal.

My life was in ruins, at 24 years of age I thought my life was about to end, fear consumed me and worse of all, no one understood how I was feeling, sympathized or helped me in any way.

Over the course of my condition, I visited doctors, psychologists, immunologists, hypnotherapists and hoards of alternative therapists, to name but a few; I am sure you have been down similar paths, searching for solutions, desperate for answers. Some therapies proved useful, if only because they were pleasant or relaxing, but nothing offered the hope of a cure. My doctors were at a loss, they prescribed drugs, but were they helping? No, they just masked the symptoms and produced others. It all became so confusing, I didn't know what to do next, I was desperate, but this continued for five years!

I suffered from anxiety for many uncomfortable, scary and lonely years before I found the answers I needed and became well again.

I wanted to be well, but no one offered any hope of a recovery. I decided that there had to be a cure and I had also met many recovered sufferers, although none of them were certain what they had done to recover. I decided to set about finding out what all those recovered anxiety sufferers had done to return to normal.

Over time and questioning hundreds of people, I discovered exactly what they had all been doing when they experienced a recovery and although they didn't know what they had done, I was able to gather data which showed me clearly what it was!

From this data, I compiled a set of principals which I applied to my life with immediate and dramatic results; I then condensed these principals and handed it to hundreds of fellow sufferers who immediately started to experience the same level of relief. These principals are the core of The Linden Method and now they have been used by tens of thousands of sufferers around the world.

After my recovery, I bumped into my psychologist in town and he told me that he was shocked to see me out of my house and that he had honestly believed that I would never be well again. He also said that he had hardly recognized me as I looked so healthy and happy. I told him what I had done to achieve the dramatic change and he raised his eyebrows in amazement. My psychologist's reaction shocked me at the time, but after thinking over what he said, I don't think I ever expected to be well again either. I was also shocked at his lack of faith in, not only, his own abilities but at his complete amazement that recovery was possible at all. I then remembered that during my sessions, he used to refer to his treatment as anxiety management and it became clear that his sessions had been about making me comfortable rather than curing me.

Don't ever think you are alone with this condition, you are not, there are millions of anxiety sufferers in the UK alone. I have the greatest of sympathy with your situation and assure you that I know how you feel and desperately want to help you. We have the solution you seek, which I sometimes refer to as the 'Holy Grail'. Life isn't life when you suffer with anxiety, existence is not living… it is compromising on what you could and will have; a full, happy and healthy lifestyle.

When I talk about how I used to be, it is almost as if I am talking about a different person, as if it was all just a horrific blurred dream, but my god was it real; when I see photographs of myself back then, it brings it all into focus.

It took my wife and family a long time to convince me that what I did to get better was worth sharing with others and I guess I didn't believe it at first, but I now feel that the final step in my recovery came with the good feelings I got when the people I helped to recover thanked me.

During the years that I suffered with anxiety, I discovered a lot about myself and about other people with anxiety disorders. The one striking similarity between sufferers, contrary to what they might believe, is that they have strength that non-sufferers just don't have. Recovered sufferers also discover a heightened level of awareness which makes them feel like a veil has been lifted and their lives are suddenly clearer than ever before.

Kyle Davies is a Director and Clinical Supervisor with Mickel Health Initiatives Ltd. He has worked closely with Dr David Mickel over the last 7 years in the development and evolution of Mickel Therapy^®. Kyle travels internationally with Dr Mickel providing training and workshops.

Kyle originally qualified as a Chartered Psychologist following completion of a BSc in Psychology from the University of Swansea, and an MPhil in Applied Psychology from the University of Leicester. He spent 10 years as a Psychologist in Management Consulting where he worked with broad range of clients from government to blue chip organizations and SMEs.

Kyle also owned a private practice in the late nineties offering Brief Therapy, which incorporated an eclectic mix of Ericksonian Psychotherapy, NLP, TFT, CBT and counselling.

Kyle is currently investigating and redefining the role of emotions in health and disease as part of an ongoing personal project and is also working with a number of national and international academics investigating the efficacy of Mickel Therapy^® in treating ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia.