Eft what is it

In the following sections, we look at the current scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of EFT for anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

A review of 14 studies on EFT reports that people who used tapping experienced a significant decrease in anxiety. However, the author recommends further studies to compare EFT with standard treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy CBT. A randomized, controlled trial from the same year did compare the effectiveness of EFT and CBT in the treatment of people with both anxiety and depression. According to the results, both treatments significantly reduced symptoms of depression and led to improvements in anxiety.

More recently, a study involving individuals tested the physical reactions and psychological symptoms of people attending EFT workshops. The majority of people that took part were women over the age of 50 years. The researchers reported that participants experienced significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms, as well as in pain levels and cravings. They also reported improvements in happiness. Physical measures in a subset of participants showed improvements in heart rate, blood pressure , and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

In other research , students with anxiety reported that EFT helped them feel calmer and more relaxed. In addition to the studies that evaluate EFT on people with both anxiety and depression, other research focuses on EFT for those with depression alone.

A study involving 30 students with moderate-to-severe depression reported that those who received four group sessions of EFT treatment had significantly less depression than those in the control group, who received no treatment.

According to the researchers, these findings indicated that EFT might be useful as a brief, cost effective, and successful treatment. A review of 20 studies reported that EFT was highly effective in reducing the symptoms of depression. The findings suggested that EFT was equal to or better than other standard treatments for depression.

In a study , 30 veterans who received EFT treatment along with standard care had significantly less psychological distress and PTSD symptoms than those who were on a waiting list for treatment. In addition, after three and six sessions, At 6 months after the treatment, However, it is important to note that these findings are self-reported by people who practice EFT.

EFT tapping is an alternative treatment for certain emotional and physical conditions. Emotional Freedom Technique EFT is an evidence-based self-help therapeutic method and over studies demonstrate its efficacy. However, information about the physiological effects of EFT is limited. The current study sought to elucidate EFTs mechanisms of action across the central nervous system CNS by measuring heart rate variability HRV and heart coherence HC ; the circulatory system using resting heart rate RHR and blood pressure BP ; the endocrine system using cortisol, and the immune system using salivary immunoglobulin A SigA.

The second aim was to measure psychological symptoms. Positive trends were observed for HRV and HC and gains were maintained on follow-up, indicating EFT results in positive health effects as well as increased mental well-being. A large body of research identifies associations between physiological and psychological symptoms. A systematic review of 31 studies, including 16 patients, found that objective physiological measures of health as well as medical diagnoses were strongly correlated with anxiety and depression.

Emotional Freedom Technique EFT is a novel therapy that combines both cognitive and somatic elements described below. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have demonstrated its efficacy for both physiological and psychological symptoms.

Its efficacy extends across a wide sample of populations, including college students, 6 veterans, 7 , 8 pain patients, 9 , 10 overweight individuals, 11 — 13 hospital patients, 14 , 15 athletes, 16 , 17 health care workers, 18 gifted students, 19 chemotherapy patients, 20 and phobia sufferers. Since its inception in , EFT has been a manualized method, 7 , 24 leading to uniform application research, training, and clinical practice.

EFT is a brief intervention combining elements of exposure, cognitive therapy, and somatic stimulation of acupressure points on the face and body. Participants typically identify a concern or issue they wish to address with the technique and rate their level of distress on a Likert-type scale out of 10 10 is the maximum amount of distress and 0 represents the minimum or a neutral state.

The participant then engages in the somatic tapping process on acupoints on the body while they repeat a shortened phrase to stay engaged eg, feel angry. EFT has been extensively investigated for anxiety and depression. In the first large-scale study of patients seeking treatment for anxiety across 11 clinics over a 5. Other studies also indicate equivalence or superiority to CBT.

Similarly, a study of self-applied EFT for anxiety, depression, pain, and cravings in health care workers resulted in significant improvements on all distress subscales and ratings of pain, emotional distress, and cravings following 2 hours of intervention, with gains maintained at follow-up.

The severity and range of psychological symptoms was reduced, and greater subsequent use of EFT was associated with a steeper decrease in symptoms, although not in symptom range or breadth.

EFT treatment was associated with a significant decrease in anxiety scores, even when accounting for the effect size of control treatment. A meta-analysis of EFT for depression examined 20 studies. EFT demonstrated a very large effect size in the treatment of depression. Effect sizes at posttest, less than 90 days, and greater than 90 days were 1.

EFT was more efficacious than physical interventions such as diaphragmatic breathing and as well as psychological interventions such as supportive interviews. The health care workers study also found a significant reduction in depression after EFT. More recent research comparing EFT to CBT for 10 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder, found after 8 weeks of group treatment 16 hours , both interventions produced significant reductions in depressive symptoms.

The CBT group indicated a significant reduction postintervention, but this was not maintained over time. The EFT group however, showed a delayed effect of significant reductions in symptoms at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. The effect of EFT on medical diagnoses has been the subject of several studies. Chronic disease patients may benefit from a holistic health care and research has begun to consider the physiological changes that occur after EFT.

Other studies of physical conditions responding to EFT have included fibromyalgia, 34 psoriasis, 35 tension headaches, 9 frozen shoulder, 10 pulmonary injuries, 36 chronic pain, 37 chemotherapy side effects, 20 traumatic brain injury, 38 insomnia, 39 and seizure disorders. Church and Downs 41 examined psychological trauma in athletes and also measured heart rate. Wells et al 21 included pulse rate as a measure for phobia sufferers.

Church et al 42 performed a triple-blind randomized controlled trial comparing EFT to talk therapy and rest in a non-clinical sample of 83 participants. They found significant declines in the stress hormone cortisol. However, a trial with a smaller N did not have sufficient power to identify significant cortisol reductions.

The most revealing studies of the physiological aspects of EFT have examined its epigenetic effects. A pilot study comparing an hour-long EFT session with placebo in 4 nonclinical participants found differential expression in 72 genes. The broad function of this suite of genes is similar to that found in Church et al, 10 confirming the association of EFT with the downregulation of inflammation and stress markers and the upregulation of immune markers.

The question of whether EFTs psychological effects are generalizable has been addressed in a number of studies. Wells et al 21 original study of EFT for small animal phobias found that EFT produced greater decrease in intense fear of small animals than did a comparison breathing condition.

For most dependent variables, the EFT condition showed a significant decrease in fear of small animals immediately after, and again 1. The health care workers study 18 found no significant difference between five 1-day workshops delivered by 2 different trainers. A replication of that study with EFT delivered by 5 different trainers in heterogenous settings noted the same effect.

EFT has been found efficacious in widely disparate groups, including hospital patients, war veterans, victims of sexual violence, school children, college students, teachers, health care workers, cancer patients, athletes, presurgery patients, mothers, dental patients, psychotherapists, diabetics, and survivors of natural disasters. Treatment time frames ranging from 15 minutes to ten 1-hour sessions have been successful.

Studies have delivered EFT in a variety of formats, including online courses for weight loss and cravings eg, Stapleton et al 49 and self-administered EFT for fibromyalgia Brattberg et al , 34 via telephone sessions, in groups, and in individual counseling sessions. The breadth of populations, settings and delivery methods encompassed in these studies provides indication that EFTs effects can be considered generalizable. Because of the interest in the mechanism of change and active ingredient of EFT, several dismantling studies have been conducted.

The first dismantling study included university students and compared EFT points, sham points, and tapping on a doll, and also included a control group who did nothing.

The EFT group also included acupoints not in the typical process and omitted others, and the study did not use valid assessments nor full randomization to the groups. A study of university students EFT or a control group who received mindful breathing instead of tapping found the EFT group reported more significant increases in enjoyment, hope, and pride and more significant decreases in anger, anxiety, and shame than did the breathing control group.

The next study involved 56 university students who were assessed for stress symptoms and randomly allocated to an EFT group or a control group who tapped on sham points. This study was, however, limited in that the stress questionnaire they used had not been validated and one of the investigators led both the experimental and control groups, possibly contaminating the results. A study involved school teachers assessed for burnout risk and is possibly the best dismantling study to date.

This was important because no finger points were used or unintentionally activated as in the first study discussed. Everything else was identical. Results indicated the EFT group was superior to the sham points group on the 3 indicators of burnout being tracked Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment.

Finally, a recent meta-analysis of 6 dismantling or partial dismantling studies indicates that the acupuncture component is an essential ingredient, and not due to placebo, nonspecific effects of any therapeutic method, or non-acupressure components, in the rapid outcomes shown in EFT clinical trials. While the foregoing studies of physiological markers typically examine a cluster of diagnostic systems with EFT treatment, the current study sought to elucidate EFTs common underlying physiological mechanisms of action.

The systems studied included the autonomic nervous system ANS by measuring heart rate variability HRV and heart coherence HC ; the circulatory system by assessing resting heart rate RHR and blood pressure BP ; the endocrine system by evaluating cortisol, and the immune system by examining levels of salivary immunoglobulin A SigA. After successful training in emotional regulation, HC increases and a reduction improvement in HRV is found.

It was further hypothesized that an increase in happiness, immune response SigA , HC, and would be identified. The second hypothesis of the study was that psychological change would be robust and durable across a range of settings and instructors. If EFT effects were due to the intervention of a particularly gifted therapist, they should not be as robust in groups trained by other therapists. If, on the other hand, psychological improvement is found regardless of the individual delivering the training, or the setting in which it is delivered, it can be reasonably concluded that the effects measured are due to the clinical EFT method itself and not to some unique characteristic of a single individual or the stress-reducing effects of a unique setting.

The study included participants at 6 Clinical EFT workshops. The workshops were taught by a variety of instructors trained and certified in Clinical EFT, the evidence-based form of the technique.

Psychological testing was similar at all 6 workshops, with pre- and postmeasures, and a follow-up during the subsequent year. Physiological measures were not assessed at follow-up since data collection was performed via email. Table 1 represents the baseline characteristics of study participants at recruitment.

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The response seemed miraculous, to both Mary and Dr. Her stomach pains disappeared. But even more amazingly, her phobia of water disappeared, too! She ran down to the pool and began splashing herself with water, rejoicing in her newfound freedom from fear.

Based on this discovery, Dr. Callahan began a series of investigations to develop and refine this technique, which he termed Thought Field Therapy. Gary Craig trained under Dr. As time passed, Craig began to observe some problems with TFT, aspects that he saw were unnecessary complications.

TFT required practitioners to tap on a specific sequence of meridians called an algorithm for each different problem. Diagnosing the problem required a technique called muscle testing, wherein the practitioner would measure the relative strength of a muscle, while the patient explored various thoughts or statements.

Craig observed repeated scenarios in which the problem was incorrectly diagnosed or the practitioner tapped out the meridian points in the wrong order, yet the patient was still helped.. Based on these observations, he concluded that it did not matter in which order the meridian points were tapped. EFT has one basic, simple sequence of points to tap, no matter what the situation.

Because of this, thousands of people have used Tapping for illnesses and to resolve emotional problems.

Tapping practitioners have studied the techniques and trained to take on more complicated and difficult cases, and these dedicated practitioners report more successful applications daily. More and more people are discovering and exploring Tapping. Many are discovering how Tapping can change their lives. As discussed, Tapping can be used for everything — try it on everything! With four fingers on one hand, tap the Karate Chop point on your other hand. The Karate Chop point is on the outer edge of the hand, on the opposite side from the thumb.

Repeat the set up statement three times aloud, while simultaneously tapping the Karate Chop point. Now take a deep breath! Head TH.