Are you tapping yet? Maybe you should!

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Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is another tool that can potentially help reduce stress and anxiety, as well as benefit other mental health conditions by calming and regulating the nervous system, therefore decreasing cortisol. It’s an alternative or adjunct therapy combining aspects of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT, with the tapping of specific Acupressure Points on the body. Acupressure Points are specific areas on the body that have a direct effect on the flow of Qi, or the vital energy force in the body. Tapping, as it’s commonly called, is based on the same meridian system used in Acupuncture for thousands of years. By tapping into the meridian system or acupressure points, energy can flow allowing the body’s ability to begin to heal itself. The CBT aspect comes in by speaking out loud, a fear or trauma etc… The Acupressure Points become stimulated and the tapping helps take the body from a fight or flight state to one of more rest by moving that energy through the meridians while releasing negative thoughts and emotions. You do not need to be experiencing a moment of anxiety, stress etc… to do EFT. It can be a common practice to help center and balance, such as meditating, or to help work through a habit you may wish to break such as smoking.

The history of Emotional Freedom Technique begins with Dr. Callahan in the 1970’s. Dr. Callahan along with Dr. George Goodheart and Dr. John Diamond, each discovered that focusing on a problem or issue, emotionally or physically, verbally while stimulating Acupuncture Points could bring relief. Dr. Callahan went on to patent the term “Tapping”, creating the the program, TFT or Thought Field Therapy. A student of Dr. Callahan’s, Gary Craig, would come along, fine tune it and add some Neurolinguistic Programming Concepts, naming it EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique.

Studies have been done to see the efficacy of EFT. A randomized controlled trial in 2016 compared the effectiveness of EFT and CBT. The results showed that a pilot study done of 10 people who took part in an 8 week program of either CBT or EFT, that both treatments reduced depression and anxiety. Also in 2016, a meta-analysis in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease study shows EFT can reduce anxiety and be beneficial for people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. In a 2013 study, 30 veterans receiving EFT along with standard care had less PTSD symptoms. In 2019, 203 individuals tested EFT, a majority being women over age 50, and participants experienced reductions in anxiety, depression, PTSD symptoms, pain levels and cravings with improvements in happiness.

*While tapping may help some people, please seek professional help as well if you are struggling; especially with PTSD, depression, thoughts of suicide or any other problem where you feel intervention is needed and cannot do alone. And know, you are never alone.

So, how do you do Tapping? You can find an EFT Practitioner of course to work with you, which is best if you are new and have some deep rooted trauma or habits you are really trying to work through. But, if you can not, there are websites, videos, books etc… that can also guide you. Here is a very simplistic breakdown of a do it yourself or an idea of how a professional session would go. First, you focus on a specific issue or problem. You will continue to focus on this while tapping on end points of the body’s energy meridians. In the beginning you will rate your level of emotional intensity for your focused issue from 0-10 and then again in the end of your tapping session. While tapping, you will recite specific phrases that target the emotional or physical issue. Ex: “Even though (issue/problem), I deeply love and accept myself.” The specific phrases can be of mind or body focus. Following, I will do a How to order then the Tapping order:

How to:

Site issue/problem
Measure emotional intensity 0-10
Create statement acknowledging issue/problem while conveying self acceptance (Ex. “Even though (issue/problem), I deeply love and accept myself.”)
Tap repeatedly on the edge of your palm, below little finger while saying statement approximately 3-5x
Tap rest of points on body in order one at a time, stating statement over and over, tapping approximately 3-5x
Measure how you feel
Repeat if needed

*as you move along, you can adjust your self acceptance statement. (Ex. “I deeply love and accept myself.”)

Order of Tapping:

Top – direct center of head
Inside edge of one eyebrow
Next to the outside edge of one eye
On the bone underneath one eye (inch below pupil)
Between your nose and upper lip
Between your lower lip and your chin
Beneath one collarbone (notch beneath the inside edge of the collarbone, where breastbone, collarbone and 1st rib intersect)
Under one armpit approximately 4 inches