I have been using EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) in conjunction with my psychotherapy training with clients over the past few years & wanted to explain some of the benefits of this lesser known therapy. EFT uses tapping on acupressure points to improve energy flow in our bodies and increase positive energy. Many studies now show its effectiveness in treating anxiety and reducing stress. EFT uses a scale to give practitioners and clients an ability to measure both positive and negative emotional states within clients. Modern EFT aims to bring clients' energy and emotional state up to positive levels rather than just removing a problem or negative feeling. This is the major difference between attending regular counselling/psychotherapy and learning EFT techniques for yourself with an EFT & psychotherapy practitioner. After destressing your emotional state with tapping, EFT brings you right up the scale into positive emotions and energy states.
When we imagine feeling anxious or fearful, we can all experience a physical feeling in our energy bodies. Using tapping to destress and relax our bodies, we move up the scale into positive states and the problem looks very different. Every event, positive or negative, imprints on our energy or emotional state throughout our lives. The good news is that using EFT, we can remove negative imprints. We have all heard friends and family say phrases like 'I'm shy' or 'I'm a worrier' or 'I have an awful temper'. These are simply beliefs we reinforce on a daily basis about ourselves and can be changed using EFT.
Anxiety is an issue presented by clients in counselling every day in my practice. A study from The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine compared the efficacy of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) with that of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in reducing adolescent anxiety. The results for the EFT participants showed a significant reduction in anxiety levels with the study concluding that EFT is an effective intervention to effectively reduce anxiety for high-ability adolescents. In my experience using EFT personally & professionally for a number of years now, it is an easy & effective tool for adolescents & adults to learn at an initial counselling session & can be used daily as a tool for managing stress & anxiety.