Tapping for Emotional Well-being

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping, is an evidence-based practice effective for treating chronic pain, phobias, anxiety, depression and more. Although referred to as “alternative,” EFT is often used in therapy settings and taught to clients by therapists to be used easily on their own as it brings voice to their emotions. Tapping has been used very effectively by veterans to treat the symptoms of PTSD https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27543343/ .

As trauma most often surfaces outside of our therapist’s office, having a tool we can use to calm our nervous system in these situations can be empowering and a safer alternative than increasing medications and over time, possibly eliminating their use altogether. 

The Emotional Freedom Technique, developed by Gary Craig in the 1990’s, uses a five-step process which includes:

1. Identifying the issue

2. Testing the intensity (on a 1-10 scale)

3. The set up phrase

4. The sequence

5. Retesting the final intensity which is anticipated to have lowered as a result of tapping

The ‘issue’ can be complex like PTSD or a long-term phobia such as a fear of public spaces to physical pain. With tapping, you identify the issue by repeating a phrase, such as “Even though I have this irrational fear of public spaces, I deeply and completely accept myself,” while tapping on the karate chop point on the side of your hand - the setup phrase. 

The sequence takes you through tapping on the body’s acupuncture points located along the meridian lines of Chinese medicine. These points are related to emotions connected to each organ in your body. Although there are twelve meridian points, EFT focuses only on nine to relieve the symptoms of negative experiences or emotions. Each point corresponds to an internal organ which in Chinese medicine is linked to the emotions we experience, which can then create a physical limitation. The points are the karate chop point on the hand (CH - small intestine meridian), inside of the eyebrows above the bridge of the nose (EB - bladder), side of the eyes (SE - gallbladder), under the eye (UE - stomach), under the nose (UN - governing meridian), the chin (Ch - central vessel), beginning of the collar bones (CB - kidney), under the arm (UA - spleen), and on the top of the head (TH - governing vessel). 

This is a great demonstration video from The Tapping Solution on the sequence. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pAclBdj20ZU There are many other resources online including www.tappingsolution.com 

Take your healing into your own hands, literally, and give tapping a try. 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27843054/