In the mid 1970’s Dr. Roger Callahan discovered acupressure tapping could provide permanent relief to their patient who had a long-term fear of water. As a psychologist, he had undertaken studies in acupressure and learned about the connection between emotional feelings and the body. His patient stated their feelings of fear and anxiety about water were held in their stomach. Dr. Callahan intuitively suggested their patient tap on a point on their cheek, just under the eye. This point under the eye is connected to the stomach meridian and this is where the patient’s anxiety was held in the body. They responded by saying their feelings of fear were completely gone after tapping on the point. During the session they tested the efficacy of this result by going outside and standing next to an outdoor pool. Previously, this would have caused the patient to experience extreme anxiety, but they remained calm.
After this discovery, Dr Callahan developed a technique called Thought Field Therapy, using acupressure tapping to address a wide range of health conditions that linked thoughts, feelings and emotions. Many years later neuroscientists confirmed the link between emotions and gene expression and the impact of stress on the body and mind.
During the 1980’s Gary Craig further developed the acupressure tapping technique and created the Basic Recipe. The Basic Recipe is a process that assists in addressing the uncomfortable physical and emotional feelings held in the body and provide long term relief. Gary renamed the process, Emotional Freedom Techniques. EFT is a combination of Exposure Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and acupressure tapping. It is commonly referred to as tapping.
More than 130 clinical studies have shown that Emotional Freedom Techniques is successful in treating physiological and psychological conditions like, depression, anxiety, pain reduction, phobias, burnout, insomnia, weight issues, addiction and post-traumatic stress. EFT has been clinically proven to reduce the level of cortisol, the stress hormone in the blood.
Below is an in-depth article by Dr. Dawson Church on the advances of therapy over time and highlighting the positive impacts of EFT, as part of a growing group of therapies called Energy Psychology.