A holistic approach to healing includes exploring how physical sensations relate to mental wellbeing and vice versa. This is often referred to as the mind-body connection, and it’s at the core of emotional freedom techniques.

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These techniques use acupressure points, and modern psychology, to calm the amygdala, reframe thoughts, soothe stress, and regulate hard emotions.

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What Are Emotional Freedom Techniques?

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Emotional freedom techniques (EFT) is a mind-body connection therapy tool that soothes the amygdala by tapping certain acupressure points. It’s often referred to simply as "tapping."

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EFT combines the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) principle of acupressure with modern psychology. 

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Acupressure Points

Acupressure points are thought to be areas of the body that relate to various internal functions of the body. These are considered passageways, or meridians, that connect body functions. For example, the flesh between the thumb and pointer finger is related to headaches and pain.

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There are 361 acupoints that are the guidelines for acupuncture and other TCM. If you’re embarking on your EFT journey, don’t worry, you only need to remember 9.

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• Side of hand: The fleshy part of your hand in between your pinky finger and wrist
• Eyebrow: The space between your eyebrows
• Side of eye: The bone on the outside of where your eyelids meet
• Under the eye: On the bone directly below the iris of your eye
• Under the nose: In between your nose and your upper lip where your gums are
• Chin: In the middle of your chin
• Collarbone: Where your collar bones meet, or the suprasternal notch
• Under the arm: The tender spot in your armpit
• Top of the head: This is the spot where all meridian lines meet

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Each of these pressure points calm the amygdala in the same way.

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The Modern Psychology of it All

EFT uses acupressure points alongside modern psychology. While practicing tapping, clients are asked to think about their distress. This can be anything from the stressful situation to a craving.

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The idea is that experiencing the issue while in a calm headspace will help you view it from a neutral place. It’s hard to think about and process hard emotions due to the reactions they cause. 

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EFT calms you so you can properly process and move forward.

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What Does Emotional Freedom Techniques Look Like

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EFT has a structured approach that guides you toward a feeling of calm. 

Recall the Problem

Think about what’s happening. Why are you seeking help? What are the uncomfortable emotions you’re feeling?

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Define the issue that you’re having. This could be anger, anxiety, depression, stress, worry, obsessive thoughts, etc. 

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Measure the Intensity

Benchmarking your progress will help you get a better understanding of how you’re doing and the progress you’ll be making. 

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You’ll use a scale of 1-10 to measure your level of distress. Pick the number that you feel most corresponds with your emotions while thinking about the problem. You’ll do this again after tapping to see how the technique has improved your symptoms.

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Setup

Before tapping, you’ll need to come up with a setup phrase that explains your intended goal. It should state the issue and then end with affirmation and acceptance, and it should focus on how you’re feeling, not the circumstances around the problem.

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Here’s an example setup phrase you could use “Even though I’m feeling [problem], I accept myself and my feelings.”

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It may seem strange to some to accept your difficult emotions. This acceptance doesn’t mean you want them to stick around, rather, it’s an acceptance that it’s ok for these emotions to be present. That you don’t have to fight against them.

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Once you’ve created the setup phrase you’ll repeat it three times out loud while tapping the side of your hand. This sets up your intentions and goals.

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Tapping

After you’ve mindfully completed the setup, it’s time to tap.

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You’ll start with the side of your hand and move between the different acupressure points in a specific order while repeating a truncated version of the setup phrase. If you’re feeling stress you’ll simply repeat “this stress”. Repeating this phrase will keep you focused on the problem while you tap.

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Using your index and middle finger, you’ll lightly tap on each point about seven times. Don’t tap so hard it hurts, but use whatever velocity feels most comfortable. 

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Follow this order of acupressure points while repeating the issue:

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• Eyebrow
• Side of eye
• Beneath your eye
• Under your nose
• On your chin
• Base of collarbone
• Below armpit
• Top of your head

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When starting, you should go through the sequence once before moving on to the next step. However, once you become more comfortable with tapping you can go through the sequence three times before moving on.

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Retest Intensity

Once you’ve completed the tapping sequence it’s time to retest the intensity of your feelings.

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Close your eyes and consider your feelings both physically and emotionally. Use the same scale of 1-10 and see how the results compare to your original test. It’s recommended to repeat the tapping sequence until the results reach one or zero.

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Do Emotional Freedom Techniques Work?

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Over 100 studies show that EFT is a beneficial form of treatment across a wide range of individuals and situations. One of these studies has shown EFT tapping to be especially beneficial for those working in the medical field.

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EFT has a wide range of applications and has been proven to decrease cortisol, relieving stress.

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Emotional training techniques are often used in weight loss efforts. Low cortisol levels have been connected to weight loss, and tapping decreases cortisol. Whether or not EFT is a good way for you to lose weight is dependent on your stress levels and who you are. More research is still needed to fully understand how EFT helps lose weight.

How Does Emotional Freedom Techniques Work?

The amygdala is responsible for sending fight-or-flight signals throughout the body when we’re in danger. This is a helpful mechanism that keeps us out or gets us through dangerous situations. However, the amygdala can become overactive. 

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If the amygdala becomes overactive it can hijack the logic centers of our brain and be the source of much emotional discomfort such as anxiety.

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Calming the Amygdala

It’s still unclear how the mechanisms of EFT are beneficial. However, tapping is known to send calming signals to the amygdala that help regulate emotions.

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Practicing tapping daily will help you regulate your negative emotions as they come up. However, the calming effects can happen instantaneously.

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Reframing Thoughts

EFT is similar to EMDR in that it lets you think about distress in a comfortable setting. Similar to bilateral stimulation, tapping has a calming effect and it lets you think about the source of fear or anxiety with a lower arousal than would be expected.

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EFT tapping lets you reassociate your thoughts and emotions with the calm experienced through tapping.

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Decrease Physical Symptoms

The mind-body connection is an important aspect of EFT. While you use these techniques to decrease stress you may find an increase in your overall health.

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Stress wrecks your immune system and can be the source of several physical ailments. Stress markers such as blood pressure, resting heart rate, and immune function may improve while practicing EFT.

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What are Emotional Freedom Techniques Good For?

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Now that you understand what EFT is and how it works, let's talk about what it’s best used for.

Managing Stress

Stress is often the source of mental distress. Financial difficulties, family hardships, deadlines—you name it—each of these problems will cause some level of mental fatigue, anxiety, or depression.

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Because EFT is a soothing practice, it’s a great technique to add to your daily habits for managing stress.

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Anxiety

It’s a great idea to use emotional freedom techniques for anxiety. This is because these techniques regulate the amygdala which is the part of the brain that is most associated with anxiety.

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Trauma and PTSD

Trauma is hard to talk about. When events or feelings are brought up, you may experience intense emotions that make continuing the conversation near impossible.

This reaction is also normal when thinking about events or emotions surrounding trauma. PTSD and trauma can be addressed with the help of EFT by reducing emotional intensity and giving you the emotional space to work through it.

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Maintaining Good Habits

EFT can be used to decrease cravings for:

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• Food
• Substances
• Behaviors

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Tapping won’t get rid of an addiction or negative behavior on its own though. It’s a good idea to couple these techniques with other forms of therapy like CBT, DBT, and group therapies. 

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At Sequoia Behavioral Health we build individualized treatment plans for our patients that help them achieve their mental health goals. If you’re interested in learning more, set up a call to find out how we can help.

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Depression

Depression can often feel like something you can only wait out. However, EFT has been proven to improve symptoms of depression. Not only that, but it’s considered better than other methods such as breathing exercises.

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Physical Pain

EFT has also been helpful in cases of physical pain. It can address the underlying emotional issues and promote a sense of calm surrounding your pain.

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EFT at Sequoia Behavioral Health

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Sequoia Behavioral Health is dedicated to bringing compassionate trauma-informed holistic mental health care. We offer personalized treatment plans that are designed to find the root of your problem while caring for your whole body.

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EFT is just one technique used in our treatment plans. We offer outpatient and inpatient care. Start your mental health journey by contacting us.

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