Healing arts that engage ancient traditions met with skepticism. Many doctors and psychologists believe it is “woo woo”, as much of the early information involved anecdotal evidence from practitioners and people who have used EFT. However, there is a growing pool of research showing that EFT produces real, lasting breakthroughs, sometimes eliminating phobias, habits, and conditions that traditional interventions have failed to adequately change. As an example, one of my clients had been biting his nails for over 35 years, and totally eliminated the habit after one 40-minute tapping session!

Researchers at Harvard have shown that the brain’s stress and fear responses, which are controlled by a part of the brain called the amygdala, can be decreased by stimulating meridian points used in acupuncture, acupressure, energy medicine, and EFT. While the initial studies focused on acupuncture and used needles in a double-blind research protocol, later studies revealed that stimulating the same points through pressure yielded in a similar response!

Dr. Dawson Church has conducted numerous studies on EFT. In one of his studies he used a randomized controlled trial to study how an hour-long tapping session would impact the stress levels of 83 subjects. They measured the research volunteers’ levels of cortisol, a hormone secreted by the body when it undergoes stress, before and after the tapping session. Cortisol levels were reduced 24%, and some volunteers showed nearly a 50% reduction. In comparison, there were no significant cortisol reductions for volunteers who underwent an hour of traditional talk therapy. The Stress Project was also created by Dr. Dawson Church. This project teaches tapping to war veterans who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The veterans have experienced an average 63% decrease in PTSD symptoms after six rounds of tapping. These are excellent results!