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How many times have you tapped your fingers against a table without even realizing you are doing it? Are you nervous at that time? Preoccupied?
How about drumming your fingers on the steering wheel or dashboard while driving? Are you stressed or anxious at that time?
What if someone told you that you could actually change your health—both physical and emotional—with that same tapping motion? Would you believe them?
You should. Recent studies have shown that simply tapping your fingers on specific points on your body can help ease anxiety and depression, alleviate pain, and even aid in weight loss.
Skeptical about this tapping therapy? We were too. Until we uncovered the stunning research.
What is EFT and How Can it Unlock Your Health?
Emotional freedom technique (also referred to as EFT or a form of tapping) is a kind of psychological acupressure. It uses acupuncture/acupressure points to release emotional issues and even physical pain.
We know, sounds kooky, but stay with us, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the data that backs this up.
In acupuncture, there are 12 major pathways called meridians. The meridians move energy through the body like invisible rivers, flowing deep into the interior of the body through organ systems and skin surfaces.
When the energy flow stops or is blocked, the corresponding internal organ system manifests symptoms of disease.
Along all the meridians, there are places where the energy surfaces on the skin. These are called acupuncture points.
In acupuncture, these points are stimulated with a fine needle. In acupressure, they are stimulated by hand pressure; and, in EFT, meridian tapping with your finger stimulates these points.
But EFT takes things one step further by employing affirmations simultaneously with the tapping solution.
The theory is that addressing your physical or emotional concerns then stating an affirmation that addresses the concern, all while tapping the acupuncture points, helps you to clear the energy block and allow you to restore both your emotional and physical balance.
Sound, well, new agey and that the emotional freedom technique is a scam? We thought so too…until we looked at the science behind it.
EFT Works at the Energetic Level…
Here’s where most people (including us) need convincing. Tell someone, especially someone in the scientific community, that something works at the “energetic” level, and their eyes glaze over.
In fact, that’s precisely what happened to Dr. David Feinstein from the department of psychology at Johns Hopkins.
Tasked with learning more about this “energy work” being done in California, Dr. Feinstein read books, talked to therapists, and even attended workshops on a wide range of energy healing therapies.
Ever the skeptic, even he was impressed by the work done by UCLA’s Human Energy Fields Laboratory, which found that the areas of the skin commonly associated with acupuncture points actually emit electrical vibrations of a significantly higher frequency than other points on the body.1
Then you have Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto, in his fascinating book Hidden Messages in Water, explaining how every cell in your body vibrates at a specific and unique frequency2. And every human being has the ability to detect the individual vibrations of the people around them.
This is their energy field.
To give you an example, picture yourself sitting in a chair with your back to the door. If someone enters the room, you often know they are there, even if you don’t hear or see them. You just know they are there. This is the energy field, their vibrations that you pick up on.
It is this same energy field that is at work with EFT.
Surprisingly Widespread Acceptance of EFT…
While additional EFT research is likely right around the corner, the studies that do exist lay quite an impressive foundation.
As these six studies show, the groundwork for giving EFT the credibility it deserves is already being developed in the scientific community.
More than 50 researchers in over seven countries have studied EFT. Their findings have been published in more than 15 different peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology, as well as the American Psychological Association’s journals Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training and Review of General Psychology.
In fact, many EFT researchers are affiliated with prestigious universities and institutions, such as Harvard Medical School, the University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, Texas A&M University, and even Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
It has been used by the British and French militaries and approved by the British equivalent of Medicare — the British Health Service.
Sounds Great, Now Prove It…
EFT has a long, storied history of use, but researchers only began testing the therapy in the past decade, and the results are nothing short of extraordinary.
In fact, we were shocked to find as many well-structured studies as we found.
One study set out to see how well EFT worked at easing anxiety3. Researchers randomly divided 70 high school students who showed high levels of test anxiety into two groups.
The first group was taught how to do EFT, while the second group was given instruction on another well-known stress reducing technique called progressive muscular relaxation (PMR). Each group was given one session and then provided with self-treatment they could do at home.
After two months, the groups were retested for test anxiety, worry and emotionality.
The EFT group demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in text anxiety, worry, and emotionality as compared to the PMR group. And they exhibited better performance on their test exam than in the past.
EFT also appears to work well with depression4.
Thirty college students clinically diagnosed as severely depressed were divided into two groups. The first group received four 90-minute group sessions of EFT. The second group had no treatment.
After three weeks, those students in the EFT groups had a statistically significant decrease in depression as compared to the control group.
This study is promising in that it shows a safe, non-chemical approach to depression, but one would expect some treatment to be better than no treatment at all, even if you just factor in the placebo effect. It would be great to see EFT compared to another well-accepted treatment.
This is just what researchers did with 15 college students having test anxiety5. In a double-blind, controlled study, researchers divided the students into three groups.
The first group received five sessions of EFT, the second group had five sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy, and the third group received five sessions of WHEE, a holistic hybrid that uses eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, as well as EFT.
At the end of the sessions, all three groups exhibited significant reductions in test anxiety. However, those in the EFT and WHEE groups enjoyed the benefits after just two sessions versus the five sessions it took for those students in the cognitive behavioral group.
Plus, the students in the EFT and WHEE groups were able to transfer the benefits to other stressful areas of their lives as well.
These findings are quite exciting. It shows that EFT alone or as part of the WHEE protocol works as well (and faster) than another commonly accepted treatment for depression and anxiety.
Building on these results, another study examined the effect of EFT on post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.6
Researchers randomly divided 59 military veterans into two groups. The first group received six one-hour EFT coaching sessions, while the second group was put on a waiting list for treatment.
After one month (and the six sessions for the EFT group), researchers found that those in the EFT group had a statistically significant decrease in psychological stress as compared to those that had been wait listed.
Now, at first glance, this isn’t all that impressive. Again, any treatment should outperform no treatment. But that’s not the impressive part.
Researchers found that, after three sessions, 60 percent of the veterans no longer met the criteria for even having PTSD. And after all six sessions, 86 percent failed to meet the criteria. Better yet, three months later, they still failed to meet the criteria.
In other words, EFT seems to have helped them overcome their post-traumatic stress. And without drugs, talk therapy, or even supplements.
EFT Overcomes Physical Ailments Too…
Clearly, EFT appears to ease a variety of emotional conditions, but how well does it work on physical problems? Funny you should ask…
Researchers randomly divided 86 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and on sick leave for at least three months into two groups.7 The first group received an eight-week EFT treatment program, which was given over the Internet. The second group was placed on a wait list.
At the end of the eight weeks, those in the EFT group showed statistically significant improvements in pain, anxiety, depression, vitality, social function, mental health, and physically related performance problems as compared to the control group.
Once again, the treatment group outperformed the notreatment group.
And while researchers were optimistic about the results and the promise of EFT, they did note that the sample size was small and the dropout rate was high.
They concluded, “The surprisingly good results have to be interpreted with caution. However, it would be of interest to further study this simple and easily accessible self-administered treatment method, which can even be taught over the Internet.”
Ditto for us.
And further study there is, this time with weight loss.
In a randomized, single blind trial, researchers hypothesized that EFT could help people reduce their food cravings8. They divided 96 overweight or obese adults into two groups. The first group performed EFT for four weeks, while the control group was once again put on a “wait list.”
At the end of the study period, those people doing EFT enjoyed a statistically significant decrease in food cravings. Better still, this same ability to fend off food cravings lasted for six and even 12 months after treatment.
And the EFT also showed a significant reduction in body mass index (BMI) over the 12 months. In fact, researchers were so pleased with the results that they gave the EFT treatments to the control group once the test period had concluded.
How Exactly Does EFT Work?
It appears that EFT works by moving trapped, painful memories (be it emotional or physical) from one part of your brain to another.
There’s a part of your brain called the amygdala that is responsible for processing and remembering emotional reactions to events, people, etc. So long as a feeling, memory, or thought is housed in your amygdala, you will continue to react to it.
EFT seems to help move the negative emotional responses that are trapped in the amygdala and move them to your hippocampus, the area of your brain that stores short- and long-term memories.
So, while the memory is still there in your brain, you no longer react to it. That’s why just a few treatments appear to have a lasting effect.
It’s like having a photo that was taken on a particularly bad day on display in your bedroom. If you have to see it every day when you wake and again when you go to sleep, it’s pretty hard to ignore it.
But if you move the photo to a box in the basement, the photo is still in your house, and you still remember it was taken, but it isn’t front and center every day stirring negative thoughts.
Get the Benefits of EFT…
If you are anything like us, the concept of EFT can be, well, eyebrow-raising. We encourage you to go ahead and be skeptical, but stay open to the possibility of a new healing modality.
Remember, everyone laughed at Columbus when he said the world was round, not flat. And Galileo was placed under house arrest for asserting that the sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe.
So, while you cannot go to a health food store and purchase EFT or, God forbid, have your doctor write you a prescription for it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t viable.
The research and credentialed support of EFT alone tells us that there is something undeniable about the benefits of the emotional freedom technique.
And, best of all, EFT is virtually free. While you can use EFT practitioners, you can also do EFT on yourself, so why not try it? The only thing at risk is your time.
There are many books, online tutorials, and even workshops that offer EFT trainin. They will help you find the correct acupuncture points and help you craft useful affirmations that you can use when utilizing the technique.
No matter which form of EFT you use, you’ll be sure to tap your way to better emotional, physical and psychological health.
References:
1Feinstein, D. Energy Psychology: Snake Oil or Designer Tool for Neural Change? www.eftfree.net.
2Emoto, M. Hidden Messages in Water. 2004. Beyond Words Publishing.
3Sezgin, N and Ozcan, B. The effect of progressive muscular relaxation and emotional freedom techniques on test anxiety in high school students: a randomized controlled trial. Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, & Treatment. 2009;1(1);23-30.
4Church, D, et al. Brief Group Intervention Using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Depression in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Presented at the 12th International Energy Psychology Conference. 2010. [submitted for publication and in peer review].
5Benor, DJ, et al. Pilot study of emotional freedom techniques, holistic hybrid derived from eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and emotional freedom technique, and cognitive behavioral therapy for treatment of test anxiety in university students. Explore (NY). 2009 Nov-Dec;5(6):338-40.
6Church, D et al. Psychological Trauma in Veterans using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques): A Randomized Controlled Trial. Presented at the 12th International Energy Psychology Conference. 2010. [in peer review].
7Brattberg, G. Self-administered EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) in Individuals with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Trial. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal. 2008 Aug/Sep; 30-35.
8Stapleton, P and Sheldon, T. A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Meridian-Based Intervention for Food Cravings with Twelve Month Follow-up. Behavior Change [in press].
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