A Teaching Tale from the Ancients

A comprehensive scientific review of a therapy called Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) has been published in a top peer-reviewed journal, Frontiers in Psychology.

It compared the evidence for EFT against criteria published by the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 12 Task Force on Empirically Validated Therapies. Summarizing the results of 56 randomized controlled trials, it found that EFT is highly effective for anxiety, depression, phobias, PTSD, and stress symptoms.

EFT, also known as acupoint tapping or simply “tapping,” is a practice that combines acupressure (tapping on acupuncture points) with elements of conventional psychological methods like cognitive processing and exposure therapy (focusing on distressing memories). Studies show that the addition of acupressure rapidly reduces the emotional triggering that results from disturbing events.

In the past decade, research in EFT has increasingly focused on objective biological markers such as cortisol levels, immune function, brain activity, and gene expression. It has also been used to successfully treat physical conditions including pain, insomnia, and autoimmune diseases.

The results of randomized controlled trials, the gold standard of research, showed EFTs effects to extend beyond the subjective perceptions of stress measured in psychology. The paper’s coauthor and EFT pioneer Dr. Dawson Church observed that, “Self-reporting and subjective change is one thing, but objective change means that independent of what you think or report, there are external positive changes that are measurable.”

The review concludes that Clinical EFT is “efficacious for a range of psychological and physiological conditions. Treatment is associated with measurable biological effects in the dimensions of gene expression, brain synchrony, hormonal synthesis, and a wide range of biomarkers.”

The paper noted several other characteristics of the treatment method. Comparatively few treatment sessions are required, treatment is effective whether delivered in person or virtually, and symptom improvements persist over time. Also, EFT works well as group therapy, which makes it cost effective to administer.

EFT is also unusually safe, with no reports of adverse events in the more than 2,000 study participants. This has led to it being characterized by the US Veterans Administration as a “generally safe therapy.” The paper notes the prevalence of “simultaneous symptom reduction,” where multiple psychological conditions (such as depression and anxiety) and physiological diagnoses (such as pain and insomnia) decline at the same time.

With over 125 studies now published in peer-reviewed journals, Clinical EFT is one of the most-researched treatment methods in the field of psychology. The review paper found it to be a stable and mature method with an extensive evidence base, capable of being used in primary care settings as a safe, rapid, reliable, and effective treatment for both psychological and medical diagnoses.