Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

The Basic Recipe

1. Where in your body do you feel the emotional issue most strongly? 2. Determine the distress level in that place in your body on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is maximum intensity and 0 is no intensity: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 3. The Setup: Repeat this statement three times, while continuously tapping the Karate Chop point on the side of the hand (large dot on hand diagram below) "Even though I have _______(name the problem), I deeply and completely accept myself." 4. The Tapping Sequence: Tap about 7 times on each of the energy points in these 2 diagrams, while repeating a brief phrase that reminds you of the problem. 5. Determine your distress level again on a scale of 0 to 10 again. If its still high, say: "Even though I have some remaining _____ (problem), I deeply and completely accept myself." 6. Repeat from Step 1 till your distress level is as close to 0 as possible. About EFT Video (7 minutes): http://youtube.com/watch?v=9nRY3UtTHvo EFT 5 minute tap along video: http://www.youtube.com/user/kinesiologyinstitute
http://www.freedomhealingandwellness.com/whatiseft.html Used with permission from http://www.eftuniverse.com

What is EFT?
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a simple yet remarkable healing system that reduces the stress that underlies much disease. It has proven itself successful in many scientific studies. It works on a variety of health issues, psychological problems, and performance issues, even those that have been resistant to other methods. It can be learned and applied rapidly, which has contributed to its popularity among millions of people. EFT is a powerful self-help method based on research showing that emotional trauma contributes greatly to disease. Clinical trials have shown that EFT is able to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. Once the distress is reduced or removed, the body can often rebalance itself, and accelerate healing. Here's how you can experience this for yourself:

Try EFT yourself. Caveat: For people who are emotionally or physically frail, qualified health professionals should be consulted before using any health procedure, including EFT. Peruse the many studies and papers on EFT that have been published in peerreviewed psychology and medical journals. They demonstrate the wide variety of conditions which EFT has been shown to improve, and ranks EFT studies using the "evidence-based" standards of the American Psychological Association's Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) Task Force.

More benefits... You can make enormous strides by introducing EFT into your coaching or therapy process (whether you are a professional or a client). Instead of taking months or years using conventional "talk therapy," EFT often clears old traumas cleanly and thoroughly in one or two sessions ... and sometimes less. We label these nearinstant results "one minute wonders." Once you have seen how well EFT clears out emotional debris, you might notice that physical ailments start to fade. Headaches, back pains and other discomforts may reduce or vanish as emotional issues improve. Everyday stress may take less toll on your system once you have EFTs potent stress-reduction tools at your disposal. You can apply EFT to just about everything. You use the same basic procedure for your fear of public speaking as you do for improving your golf score. The reason it works for so many different issues is that there is often an element of emotional stress in all of them, and that's what EFT works best on.

EFT limitations Like any other stress-reduction method, EFT is not perfect. It is not a panacea, and it does not have a 100% success rate. But it usually works reliably, as you'll see if you read the research. Case histories show that the results are sometimes spectacular. EFT can often achieve substantial relief with little or no pain. This is not true for everyone, however. Some people's issues are so intense that the mere mention of them causes emotional or physical pain. If you have emotional or physical problems it is essential that you consult your physician or licensed mental health practitioner, since EFT is not a substitute for medical or mental health treatment. Please share your experiences with EFT with your healthcare providers.
Used with permission from http://www.eftuniverse.com

EFT in the news

There have been many stories about EFT in magazines, newspapers, TV shows, and web portals. Below are some of those stories. You can download print stories as a PDF image file by clicking the link. Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN): Our America With Lisa Ling The Telegraph: Tapping Therapy: Curing Physical and Mental Problems The Herald: Hands-On Treatment Offers Hope for Victims of Trauma Larry King Live: Energy Psychology: Profound Breakthroughs in Healing Press Democrat: New Help for Troubled Vets The Times: Move Over Freud Energy Therapies May Be Just As Effective Washington Post: Years Later, Healing the Wounds of a Stepfather's Abuse Men's Style: The Energy Psychology Craze O: The Oprah Magazine: Psychological Acupuncture First for Women: The Tapping Technique: Research at Harvard Medical School Reveals a Revolutionary Approach to Conquering Stress, Depression, and More Channel 10 TV News Australia: EFT Food Cravings Study Successful Well Being Journal: Emotional Freedom from Stress Caduceus: Tapping Into Healing Salem News: Researching the Effectivity of EFT for Those Suffering from PTSD & Trauma Channel 5 Live UK: EFT for a Spider Phobia Golfweek: Golfers Tap Into Psychology ESPN: Saltalamacchia Says Yips Are Gone New York Times: Oregon State One Win from a Second Title CommonHealth: Therapy Used for Trauma, Chronic Pain Snubbed by Establishment Noetic Post: The Avatar Gene Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Healthcare Inequalities Assailed Field Methods: Research Shows Veterans Overcoming PTSD The Edinburgh Evening News: Tapping Into the Latest Method of Healing The View: Whoopi Goldberg gets Tapped for her Fear of Flying Common Ground: Targeted Touch Taps Out Traumas KWTX Channel 10: Tapping Method Eases Stress in Many Life-Style Nigeria: Unveiling Great Minds Behind Energy Medicine / Psychology http://www.eftuniverse.com/
Used with permission from http://www.eftuniverse.com

EFT Research
While anecdotal evidence is valuable in pointing to what EFT can do, rigorous scientific research has been required in order to establish EFT as an "evidence-based" method that can be used with confidence by medical and psychological professionals in primary care. The EFT research pages describe the many studies of EFT published in peer-reviewed professional journals. They begin with an overview of the APA (American Psychological Association) standards for "empirically validated treatments," continue with an explanation of the concept of statistical significance, then describe the current status of EFT research, and finally, organize abstracts of the large body of EFT research into Outcome Studies, Clinical Reports, Mechanisms Papers, and Review Articles. Empirically Validated Treatments EFT supports the evidence-based standards defined by the American Psychological Association (APA). APAs Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) task force defines an "empirically validated treatment" as one for which there are two different controlled trials conducted by independent research teams. For a treatment to be designated as "efficacious," the studies must demonstrate that the treatment is better than a wait list, placebo, or established efficacious treatment. To be designated as "probably efficacious," a treatment must have been shown to be better than a wait list in two studies that meet these criteria, or are conducted by the same research team rather than two independent teams. The State of EFT Research While many important EFT research questions remain to be answered, a great deal of groundwork is already in place: EFT has been researched in more than 7 countries, by more than 50 investigators, whose results have been published in more than 15 different peer-reviewed journals. These including distinguished top-tier journals such as Journal of Clinical Psychology, the APA journals Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training and Review of General Psychology, and the oldest psychiatric journal in the US, the International Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. EFT research includes investigators affiliated with many different institutions. In the US, these range from Harvard Medical School, to the University of California at Berkeley, to City University of New York, to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (USUHS), to Texas A&M University. Institutions in other countries whose faculty have contributed to EFT research include Lund University (Sweden), Ankara University (Turkey), Santo Tomas University (Philippines), Lister Hospital (England), Cesar Vallejo University (Peru), and Griffith University (Australia). The wide variety of institutions, peer-

reviewed journals, investigators, and settings that have, in independent research, found EFT to be efficacious, are one indication of the breadth of existing research results. The next frontier of EFT research is replication of the studies that have not yet been replicated, and investigations into the physiological changes that occur during EFT, using such tools as DNA microarrays (gene chips), MEGs (magnetoencephalograms), fMRIs, and neurotransmitter and hormone assays. EFT Universe programs and practitioners use "Clinical EFT" which is supported by an extensive base of evidence and clinical practice. Types of Reports: Outcome Studies, Clinical Reports, Mechanisms Research, and Review Articles There are several kinds of research papers listed on these pages. The first is "outcome" research. These studies compare the medical or psychological outcomes of two groups of people with similar symptoms, or the same people before and after EFT. Outcome studies measure changes in, for instance, pain, depression, or PTSD symptoms. An outcome study measures the successful outcome of treatment. While an outcome study is designed to answer the research question, "Does this work?" the second kind of paper asks the question, "How does it work?" With EFT having been shown in many outcome studies to work very quickly and reliably for a variety of ailments, researchers have become increasingly interested in the physiological mechanisms of action by which such rapid healing is possible. So the second kind of paper you will find here are mechanisms papers. The third category of paper is the "clinical report." Rather than using validated numerical instruments to assess outcomes, clinical reports describe the use of EFT with special groups, such as people with epilepsy, veterans, children, or prisoners. They may present a single case. Finally, there are "review papers." These gather together all the published evidence about a topic, present it in a structured manner, and evaluate that body of knowledge.

Outcome Studies Outcome studies compare outcomes, e.g. levels of pain, degree of depressive symptoms, either between two groups, or between the same people before and after EFT. The headings below tell you, in alphabetical order, the conditions for which data was gathered in the trials below them. Anxiety Efficacy of EFT in Reducing Public Speaking Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial Psychological Trauma in Veterans using EFT: A Randomized Controlled Trial The Effect of a Brief EFT Self-Intervention on Anxiety, Depression, Pain and Cravings in Healthcare Workers Psychological Symptom Change in Veterans After Six Sessions of EFT: An Observational Study The Treatment of Combat Trauma in Veterans Using EFT The Effects of EFT on Long-term Psychological Symptoms Psychological Symptom Change After Group Application of EFT Self-administered EFT in Individuals with Fibromyalgia: a Randomized Trial Pilot Study of EFT, WHEE and CBT for Treatment of Test Anxiety in University Students Assessment of EFT: An Alternative Treatment for Fear Methodological Problems in Waite & Holder (2003) Preclude Meaningful Interpretations About EFT The Effect of Progressive Muscular Relaxation and EFT on Test Anxiety in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial Athletic Performance The Effect of EFT on Athletic Performance: A Randomized Controlled Blind Trial A Re-Examination of Churchs (2009) Study into the Effects of EFT on Basketball Free-Throw Performance Depression Brief Group Intervention Using EFT for Depression in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial Psychological Trauma in Veterans using EFT: A Randomized Controlled Trial The Effect of a Brief EFT Self-Intervention on Anxiety, Depression, Pain and Cravings in Healthcare Workers Psychological Symptom Change in Veterans After Six Sessions of EFT: An Observational Study The Treatment of Combat Trauma in Veterans Using EFT The Effects of EFT on Long-term Psychological Symptoms Psychological Symptom Change After Group Application of EFT Self-administered EFT in Individuals with Fibromyalgia: a Randomized Trial

Pain & Physical Symptoms The Effect of a Brief EFT Self-Intervention on Anxiety, Depression, Pain and Cravings in Healthcare Workers Psychological Trauma in Veterans using EFT: A Randomized Controlled Trial EFT as an Effective Adjunctive Treatment in the Neurotherapeutic Treatment of Seizure Disorders Self-administered EFT in Individuals with Fibromyalgia: a Randomized Trial Neurophysiological Indicators of EFT Treatment Of Post-Traumatic Stress Phobias Evaluation of a Meridian-Based Intervention, EFT, for Reducing Specific Phobias of Small Animals The Immediate Effect of a Brief Energy Psychology Intervention (EFT) on Specific Phobias: A Pilot Study EFT Reduces Intense Fears: A Partial Replication and Extension of Wells et al. (2003) PTSD A Controlled Comparison of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Two Psychological Therapies for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: EMDR vs. EFT Efficacy of EFT Provided by Coaches vs. Licensed Therapists in Veterans with PTSD: A Randomized Controlled Trial Single session reduction of the intensity of traumatic memories in abused adolescents: A randomized controlled trial Psychological Symptom Change in Veterans After Six Sessions of EFT: An Observational Study The Treatment of Combat Trauma in Veterans Using EFT Neurophysiological Indicators of EFT Treatment Of Post-Traumatic Stress Six Trauma Imprints Treated with Combination Intervention: Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and Thought Field Therapy (TFT) or EFT Weight Loss & Cravings A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Meridian-Based Intervention for Food Cravings with Six Month Follow-up The Effect of a Brief EFT Self-Intervention on Anxiety, Depression, Pain and Cravings in Healthcare Workers
Used with permission from http://www.eftuniverse.com