Commonly known as ‘Tapping’, EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques. EFT’s developers see it as being similar to acupuncture but without the needles, and it has been referred to as ‘psychological acupuncture’. As with acupuncture, EFT stimulates various pressure points on the face and body to relieve stress, which then alleviates many psychological-based concerns.

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EFT is a powerful self-applied, stress reduction method based on extensive research that demonstrates that emotional distress can contribute to illness. EFT can help a range of symptoms or conditions by simply focusing on the issue you would like to address and linking it to an acceptance statement using a simple two finger tapping technique.

 

EFT is a surprisingly easy technique to use and works by stimulating pressure points on the body with this two finger tapping technique which result in a calming effect on the amygdala (the stress center of the brain), and the hippocampus (the brains memory center), both of which play a role in the decision making process to determine if something is, or isn’t, a threat, and in the fight or flight response.

 

EFT also seems to have the same calming effect on cortisol – the stress hormone. High cortisol levels can be caused by a variety of things, including biological stressors, and mood disorders such as depression and anxiety and psychological stress.

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Clinical trials have shown that EFT is able to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. EFT has an immediate calming effect and can be used by children as young as 3-4 years old (Ultimate Tapping Guide, n.d.).