Reduce stress with tapping

You may have heard of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), a method that combines stimulation of specific points and positive sentences to release emotional tensions. But did you know that EFT is just one branch of a larger group of tapping-based therapies? Among them is also Mental Field Therapy (Thought Field Therapy or TFT), developed by psychologist Roger Callahan.

EFT, a form of tapping

EFT is a psycho-energetic therapy that uses acupressure points that must be stimulated in order to free oneself from emotional blockages. It’s a sort of needle-free acupuncture, where finger tapping aims to rebalance the body’s energies. Sentences, intentions, are associated with these tapping, for example: “Even though I have (this problem), I totally and completely accept myself as I am. »

To learn more about EFT, read: The Benefits of EFT: A Simple Method to Calm Your Emotions

Numerous scientific studies have explored the benefits of tapping and EFT, particularly for reducing stress and anxiety. Deciphering this practice which is attracting more and more people in search of well-being.

The benefits of tapping against post-traumatic stress

In The great book of TappingDavid Feinstein and Donna Eden, who are pioneers of these techniques, cite the moving example of three of their colleagues who went to Rwanda a dozen years after the genocide. There, mental field therapy (MFT) was deployed with 50 orphans from an orphanage in Kigali. “These children were selected after assessments showed they still suffered from severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including anxiety, depression, flashbacks, nightmares and insomniathey say. Many of these children, now teenagers, had witnessed the massacre of their parents. » Treatment outcomes were measured by the caregivers who usually looked after the children, before and after the sessions.

“Improvements far exceeded those of any peer-reviewed study of PTSD treatment in speed, degree of effectiveness and percentage of subjects who received treatment, explain the authors. After a single tapping session, 47 of the 50 orphans were no longer in the PTSD zone, according to the standardized assessment. Remarkably, the benefits were maintained at follow-up one year later without additional treatments. »

Similarly, in 2013, a study of US veterans returning from combat showed the effectiveness of EFT for treating post-traumatic stress: six sessions of EFT significantly reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress, compared to a control group who received standard care. The soldiers were followed up 3 and 6 months later, and the practice of EFT continued to demonstrate its benefits (1).

Tapping, stress and anxiety

Other work shows the benefits of EFT against stress and anxiety. Let us cite for example:

• a 2016 review that looked at the effects of EFT on anxiety, compared to other methods, where the author selected 14 studies including 658 participants (2). Analysis of the results through a meta-analysis indicates that EFT allows a significant decrease in anxiety scores ;
• a randomized controlled trial conducted in a hospital department in Türkiye during the pandemic. The researchers recruited nurses who cared for patients infected with COVID-19 and randomly assigned them to two groups: 35 of them received a guided online group EFT session (intervention group), unlike the other 37 who formed the control group. Results: in the intervention group, stress, anxiety and burnout were significantly reduced (3).
• a small study showed theeffectiveness of EFT in reducing anxiety in adolescents (4).

Read: Jean-Michel Gurret: “brief psychotherapies surprise with their efficiency”

A smartphone application

An application dedicated to EFT has been developed to promote therapy and patient autonomy, The Tapping Solution. Downloaded by more than a million people, this application was the subject of a large-scale study including 270,461 users (5). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the application in reducing stress and anxiety, users had to rate their level of psychological distress on a scale of 0 to 10, before and after their sessions. For the 12 meditations aimed at ease anxietythe difference in emotional intensity between presession (mean 6.66) and postsession (mean 3.75) was statistically significant. A statistically significant difference was also observed between the presession (mean 6.91) and the postsession (mean 3.83) for the 11 meditations aimed at relieve stress.

For Nick Ortner, the founder of The Tapping Solution, “Not only does tapping stop the stress response, it reprograms the limbic system. »

To find out more: The great book of Tapping