What is the Emotional Freedom Technique?
Emotional Freedom Technique therapy is an alternative treatment for emotional distress and physical pain. EFT uses tapping techniques on pressure points on the body, referred to as psychological acupressure. As a result, EFT is believed to create a balance in your energy system and relieve pain. Many western scientific studies have shown it is truly effective for relieving physical, mental, and emotional illnesses.
How Does EFT Work?
There are some key points where the flow of the body’s energy is more “accessible.” Such points were discovered and documented a long time ago. In fact, the Chinese have stimulated these points through touch (acupressure) and needles (acupuncture) for over 5000 years! In addition, traditional Chinese medicine taught us about the flow of vital energy (chi or qi) along meridian pathways. Since the tapping points are found on these meridians, EFT Tapping is known as Meridian Tapping and Energy Tapping.
Tapping Points
- Top of the Head
- Eyebrow
- Side of Eye
- Under the Eye
- Under the Nose
- Just under the Collarbone
- Under the Arm
The Emotional Freedom Technique uses our fingers to tap and stimulate pressure points on the body. As a result, tapping produces a calming effect in the amygdala (the brain’s stress center) and the hippocampus (the brain’s memory center). These two areas of the brain play a role in our decision-making process and the areas of the brain that are stimulated to determine if something is or is not a threat (the flight or flight response).
Harvard Medical School also determined that EFT significantly reduces activity in the amygdala (the brain’s stress center). When the amygdala is triggered, our bloodstream is flooded with the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline when we experience trauma or fear. Prolonged stress response of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline in the body causes physical, mental, and emotional illness in the body. Illness and disease manifest in the body when we cannot get a handle on our long-term stressors.
EFT Validated by the APA
The American Psychology Association validates the treatment of EFT as an evidence-based practice for depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and phobias. As a result, more psychologists are providing patients with EFT treatment services.
Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a self-heal therapeutic method, with over 100 studies demonstrating its positive effects on individuals using it. Scientific studies show that the electrical resistance in the skin at the meridian acupoints is much lower than in the rest of the body. In addition, brain wave studies show energy tapping affects the deep subconscious.
EFT Research Studies Report Positive Results For Anxiety, Pain, Depression, and Cravings
Furthermore, a research article by Dawson Church, Ph.D., expresses the positive results of EFT in a study of 5000 patients. Patients were seeking treatment for anxiety in 11 clinics. The study lasted 5.5 years. Patients received either traditional anxiety treatment in the form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), along with medication if needed, or acupoint tapping with no medication. The study found an improvement in 90% of patients who received the acupoint tapping therapy, compared to the 63% of (CBT).
Research shows only three acupoint tapping sessions were needed when individuals reported an anxiety reduction. An average of 15 was necessary for CBT patients to deliver improved results. Furthermore, one year after the study ended, improvements were maintained by 78% of the acupoint group compared to 69% of the CBT patient group. Other research studies reported EFT equivalence, even superior to the CBT groups.
Another study of EFT for healthcare workers’ anxiety, pain, depression, and cravings showed improvements in all distress categories. Two hundred and sixteen healthcare workers reported improvements in their pain, cravings, and emotional distress after 2 hours of intervention. Moreover, these positive gains maintained improvements at follow-up evaluation.
EFT Has Positive Effect at the Gene Expression Level
In 2016 a study stated that EFT produces positive change in our gene expression associated with stress. As a result, the body can handle future stress by addressing current stress-related issues. In other words, our DNA does not have to be our destiny. Individuals who suffer from trauma, as well as behavioral changes as the result of experienced trauma, can be positively altered at the gene expression level. EFT shifts the energy and changes the way the brain processes information. EFT rewires the brain’s negative conditioned response. Once the brain is rewired, and the stress response is lessened, individuals are equipped to handle future life crises with a healthier stress response.
Positive Benefits of Emotional Freedom Technique on Illnesses and Disease
EFT has been the subject of several studies on medical diagnoses. Chronic disease patients may receive the benefits of holistic health care, and research considers the physiological changes that occur in patients after EFT. Studies of physical conditions which responded to EFT include psoriasis, tension headaches, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, chemotherapy side effects, insomnia, seizure disorders, frozen shoulder, and pulmonary injuries.
Many more research studies show the positive effects EFT has on reliving patients suffering. Therefore, the positive outcomes for patients with medical and psychological matters are undeniable. It would be worth looking into EFT for any of these issues one may suffer. What would you have to lose? Your anxiety, depression, pain, or more? Therefore, it never hurts to look into alternative methods to co-inside with our traditional healthcare medical & psychological treatments.
Source
: Church D. Yount G. Rachlin K. Fox L. Nelms J. Epigenetic effects of PTSD remediation in veterans using clinical, emotional freedom techniques: a randomized controlled pilot study. Am J Health Promot. 2018;32:112-112 doi:101177/089011716661154 PubMed Google Scholar
Harvard Medical https://hms.harvard.edu/news/trauma-update-tipping-point-tapping-therapy
Ortner N, Palmer-Hoffman J. Clond M. Effects of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on the reduction of chronic pain in adults: a pilot study. Energy Psychol Theory Res Treat.
Tai Chi in Motion https://1111newme.com/2021/02/15/tai-chi-meditation-in-motion/
Qigong for Beginners: MS https://1111newme.com/2020/09/11/qigong-practice-for-ms/