What is EFT?
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a simple and powerful self-help method that can be learned in minutes and can be used to treat myriad emotional and physical issues. It uses elements of Cognitive Therapy and Exposure Therapy, and combines them with Acupressure, in the form of fingertip tapping on 12 acupuncture points. Over 20 clinical trials published in peer-reviewed medical and psychology journals have demonstrated that EFT is effective for stress, anxiety, phobias, PTSD, depression, pain and many other issues.
What issues can I use EFT for?
EFT can be used to clear negative emotions, address physical issues and shift limiting beliefs. EFT has been used successfully with many problems including the following:
- ADD
- Addiction
- Agoraphobia
- Allergies
- Anger
- Anorexia
- Backpain
- Blood pressure
- Carpal tunnel
- Children
- Claustrophobia
- Diabetes
- Depression
- Dyslexia
- Eating disorders
- Emotional issues
- Fear of flying
- Fears
- Fertility
- Headaches
- Neuropathy
- Pain
- Panic
- Relationships
- Spirituality
- Sports performance
- Trauma
- Vision
- Weight loss
What does the research say about EFT?
According to Dawson Church, Health researcher and CEO of EFT Universe, Clinical EFT has met APA standards as an “efficacious” or “probably efficacious” treatment for anxiety, depression, phobias, and PTSD (Feinstein, 2012). I have summarized some of the study results from Church’s introduction to the Clinical EFT Handbook: A Definitive Resource for Practitioners, Scholars, Clinicians and Researchers (edited by Church, Marohn, 2013).
Download the summary of EFT Research
Do I need an EFT Practitioner to get started?
No, you can learn EFT today! Follow the EFT Basic Recipe below and use the tapping diagram to learn the points.
- Select an issue to tap on (physical, emotional, or limiting belief). Make it as specific as possible by identifying specific parts of an event or specific emotions. You can tap on global issues (“I’m incompetent”) but specific issue tapping (“Friday during happy hour, the boss said, you’re the worst employee I’ve ever had.”) is more likely to result in lasting and permanent results.
- Establish a SUDS level (subjective units of distress). Assess your current level of distress or guess what it would be if you tuned in. 10 is extremely distressed, 0 is not distress.
- Setup. Repeat 3 times while continuously rubbing the sore spot or tapping the karate chop point. “Even though I have this _________ (name the issue being as specific as possible), I deeply and completely accept myself.” You can use a different acceptance statement such as “I’m ok.”
- Tapping Sequence. Tap about 7 times on each point while repeating the reminder phrase “this ______ (name the issue)” at each point.
- 9 Gamut Procedure (Optional). Continuously tap on the gamut point and keep your head still, while looking forward, and while performing these 9 actions:
- Close your eyes.
- Open your eyes.
- Look hard down to the right.
- Look hard down to the left.
- Roll your eyes in a circle,
- Roll your eyes in the other direction,
- Hum two seconds of a song.
- Count to five.
- Hum a few seconds of a song.
- Repeat the tapping sequence going through all 7 points.
- (OPTIONAL) Additional Rounds. Continue with more rounds, repeating steps 1 through 4 above, until the SUDS is zero. Remember to change the set up affirmation for each round (Even though I still have this ___) and the reminder phrase (this “remaining _______”) each time you do another round to reflect the fact that you are addressing what is left of the problem. This is different than what you started with and the setup needs to address the issue/problem as it is at the start of each new round.
For more information about Emotional Freedom Technique and the certification process, visit the EFT Universe website.
“Try it on Everything!”
EFT founder, Gary Craig
