What Is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)?

Medically reviewed by Melissa Bronstein, LICSW

Emotional freedom technique (EFT)—also known as tapping—is a type of mental health therapy that you can use to control your thoughts, manage stress, and regulate emotions. When using EFT, you tap certain pressure points on your hand, wrists, head, and body. These points are similar to the points therapists use during acupressure.

The research on EFT is currently limited, but early studies show that this approach can be beneficial for your well-being whether you do it alone or with the support of a licensed mental health professional. That said, if you have a clinical diagnosis for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or another mental health condition, it may be best to utilize this therapy technique alongside other mental health therapies.

How Does EFT Work?

EFT helps you zero in on the negative thoughts, uncomfortable feelings, or disturbing memories. By tapping on the correct pressure points while recalling those feelings or emotions, you can relax. This approach also can make intrusive thoughts and feelings more manageable.

As a body-centric therapy (meaning, you use your physical body when trying to work through emotions), tapping combines elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exposure therapy, and acupressure. The theory behind EFT is that if you stimulate your body in the appropriate areas, you can benefit psychologically.

When you are stressed, anxious, or recalling a trauma, you experience an array of thoughts and emotions. But you also experience physiological symptoms, too—like headaches, sweating, or body pain. These symptoms can occur because your nervous system is not properly regulated. But tapping allows you to rebalance your nervous system by stimulating pressure points.

How to Start EFT Tapping

Therapists will often use EFT alongside other therapeutic interventions. But it also can be used as a self-help strategy for stress reduction. If you are interested in trying EFT for everyday issues or stressors, here is a guide on how to practice EFT:

1. Think of something that is bothering you. It could be anything that is causing you trouble such as stress at work, a loved one's illness, or a past experience that you are having difficulty letting go of.

2. Rate how this issue makes you feel on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst. Then, write down how this troubling situation or thought makes you feel.

3. Develop a statement (also called a setup statement) that describes how you currently feel. Then describe how you want to feel instead. For instance, your statement might be: "Even though I am stressed about the upcoming presentation at work, I know that I am an intelligent and competent employee."

4. As you say your statement out loud, tap repeatedly on a certain pressure point. This can include the side of your hands, the edge of your eyebrow, the outside of your eye, under the eye, under the nose, the crease between your chin and lip, where your collarbones meet, under the arm, on top of the head, and the outer edge of your hand (on the opposite side of your thumb).

5. Reassess how you feel after tapping each point on your body by using the O to 10 rating scale.

You can practice this technique as many times as you need. Over time, your brain will learn to respond to stressful thoughts or memories in a neutral way. Ideally, after using EFT, you will no longer have an emotional response. This approach to therapy may be useful for people with PTSD.

Potential Benefits of EFT

If you are interested in using EFT, you will be glad to hear that you may experience a number of benefits in the process. Here are some of the potential advantages of tapping.

Reduces Stress and Anxiety

In a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, researchers found that after one hour of tapping, participants showed significant reductions in the stress hormone cortisol when compared to those who used psychoeducation or therapy and those who received no treatment at all. Researchers found that EFT is not only efficient but also an effective treatment for reducing biological markers of stress.

EFT may also be as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In a study comparing EFT and CBT, researchers found that participants who used EFT experienced less anxiety and depression at six-month and 12-month follow-ups. Those who were undergoing CBT also reported the same results.

Calms the Mind

There is some evidence that EFT can help calm the mind by regulating the nervous system. For instance, after tapping you may begin to see less of a response to things that bother you. Researchers theorize that tapping reconstructs your brain's neural circuits responsible for maintaining phobias, fears, and other negative thoughts and emotions.

What's more, the researchers found through neural imaging that the results are almost instantaneous. They speculate that the signals sent to your brain by tapping outweigh the signals of your stress response.

Decreases Physiological Symptoms

Using EFT also can reduce physical symptoms that often co-occur with stress, fear, or uncomfortable thoughts. For instance, you may notice improvements in your resting heart rate and blood pressure after tapping.

EFT also can be helpful for those with PTSD, especially when used by a trained therapist. In a small study of military veterans, researchers found that those who tried both tapping and conventional mental health treatments saw significant improvements in their PTSD scores. In fact, their scores went from 65 to 34 on average. For reference, the PTSD score scale is between 0 and 80.

Supports Weight Management Efforts

Several early studies have found that using EFT can help people who want to lose weight or reduce food cravings. One study found that after four weeks of tapping, brain scans showed changes in the part of the brain associated with cravings. Additionally, the participants of the study reported less interest in food. Meanwhile, another study found that people who participated in a six-week online EFT course lost about one pound per week.

Boosts Focus and Performance

Early research also shows that tapping can reduce performance anxiety and improve concentration and focus. For instance, an older study found that high school basketball players who used tapping for 15 minutes were able to improve their free throws by more than 20%. Those in the control group who did not participate in tapping saw a 17% decrease.

Researchers conclude that tapping may be a useful tool in important situations like games, competitions, or work challenges. EFT can help people improve concentration and focus, thereby also bettering their performance.

When to Use EFT

EFT can be particularly useful for experiences like test anxiety, burnout, fatigue, chronic stress, phobias, and grief. You can also use tapping to improve performance and even reduce food cravings. While this technique is easy to use, it does require the ability to focus, so you may need to be in a quiet space for it to be effective.

There are times, though, when you may benefit from using this tapping technique with a mental health professional—especially if you have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, complicated grief, PTSD, or another mental health condition. While there's no problem with trying EFT on your own, if you have a mental health condition, you may benefit more from a well-rounded treatment plan with a therapist that incorporates EFT into your treatment.

Variations of EFT

There also are several variations of EFT including picture tapping technique (PTT) and matrix reimprinting. PTT, which was developed by Christine Sutton and Philip Davis, combines EFT tapping with drawing to help you visualize and reframe your troubling thoughts and feelings.

Keep in mind: PTT is not about creating art but instead a method for accessing the part of your brain where your thoughts and feelings originate. One benefit of this approach is that it does not require any verbalization so it can feel safer for some people, particularly those who are dealing with trauma.

Matrix reimprinting is a way of using EFT to address traumatic experiences. Developed by Karl Dawson, this approach can offer significant results in some cases. Matrix reimprinting is an energy psychology technique (or the belief that the energy in the body can be changed to promote healing) that combines science and EFT to reduce stress from negative thoughts and traumatic events. According to the creators, it's best to use this technique with a trained therapist.

Precautions and Considerations

When considering EFT, remember that it cannot treat all issues nor will everyone find the technique useful. If you try EFT and you feel like you are not getting anything out of it, or you cannot focus, do not beat yourself up. There are a multitude of other therapy approaches you can try. If this one doesn't work, you can always try something else.

Also, if you have tried EFT on your own and you are not noticing any improvements, consider contacting a mental health provider—especially if your thoughts and feelings are interfering with your everyday life. It is possible that you need a more concentrated approach to coping with the stress and anxiety in your life. Additionally, if you have PTSD or another mental health condition, a therapist or counselor may be able to give you additional coping strategies to try.

A Quick Review

EFT, or tapping, is a therapy technique that involves tapping on your body's pressure points to manage and control emotions, thoughts, and feelings. It is based on the idea that negative, traumatic, or intrusive thoughts and feelings disrupt the balance of your nervous system and that tapping on key areas of the body while reframing the messages will reestablish equilibrium in your body.

Research shows that this type of therapy is not only effective at calming the mind, but it also can help reduce stress, boost focus, help with weight management, and improve physiological symptoms. EFT is a relatively new therapy, so more research is ongoing. However, early studies show promising results.

For more Health.com news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Health.com.