This is an excellent question and scientific investigation continues to explore the mechanisms for its effectiveness. There are multiple aspects of intervention that appear to be generating the relaxation response that EFT offers. EFT of course involves the stimulation of meridian endpoints which seems to have calming effect on the subtle energy systems of the body. It also includes a somatic (body based) stimulation that evokes a relaxation response. Beyond that, there is a critical and verbal/cognitive and self-affirming aspect as well. The combination of these elements appears to have an effect on the emotional and memory parts of the limbic system of the brain. This area includes the amygdala (the stress center in the brain) and the hippocampus (the memory center), both of which play a role in the decision-making process in response to stressful and especially fear or anxiety inducing situations. Ongoing studies using EEGs, fMRI brain imaging, hormonal and epigenetic lab studies are ongoing to help discover exactly why EFT offers such high levels of effectiveness in such a rapid time period.

Ongoing research is also showing us that EFT lowers stress hormone levels (cortisol) that has an important enhancing effect on a person’s ability to return to a relaxed and calm state instead of a stressed and anxious state. High levels of cortisol are also associated with lowered immune function with in turn can have significant and deleterious effects on our physical health.

EFT has been researched in more than 10 countries, by more than 60 investigators, whose results have been published in more than 20 different peer-reviewed journals. The gold standard of scientific research is referred to as a meta-analysis. This is in essence a “study of the studies” performed on a specific topic. At the writing of this article, there are currently five meta-analyses published in peer-reviewed journals demonstrating effectiveness for EFT usage for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, there are over 50 published randomized controlled trials that have studied and demonstrated effectiveness for EFT.

The results of these studies have been published in more than 15 different peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology, the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease and the APA journals Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training and Review of General Psychology. While questions about mechanism remain – specifically how these techniques work – a robust and growing body of research continues to document their efficacy.(5)

Conditions that have been studied include: general anxiety, test anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsion disorder, PTSD, general trauma, stress, depression, addiction, pain including fibromyalgia syndrome, tension headaches, frozen shoulder, psoriasis, insomnia, seizure disorders, sports/athletic performance, learning disabilities/educational challenges, epigenetic and physiological functioning and general psychological functioning.(6)

The demographics of people who have been studied using EFT include: college students, veterans, pain patients, overweight adults, hospital patients, athletes, health-care workers, gifted students, chemotherapy patients and phobia sufferers. (6)

Since its inception EFT has continued to grow and flourish. It has been highlighted in a wide range of popular media platforms ranging from TED talks, to television news stations around the world, health reports in newspapers, magazines and even a new film on the science of EFT tapping. (8) (9)

It is being observed that the acceptance of EFT is being seen on many levels internationally. For example school districts in multiple countries are bringing tapping into classroom settings to teach children self-regulation tools. An increasing number of EFT programs are being offered at universities, including recently at a medical school in France. A significantly higher percentage of enrollees in EFT certification programs are entering from the professions of licensed health care, i.e. social workers, counselors, nurses, physicians, psychologists, nurses and more.

Recent milestones include: In December, 2018, an arm of the UK government, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has acknowledged that EFT research met their inclusion criteria for PTSD treatment. The review suggests that CSACTs could possibly provide EFT as a treatment choice for military combat trauma.

In 2017, the U.S. Veterans Administration added EFT to List 2, approving it as a “generally safe therapy.”

In 2017, Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest hospital systems in the US, which serves more than 10 million patients each year, had its peer-reviewed publication, The Permanente Journal, publish practice guidelines for using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) with patients diagnosed with PTSD (Church, Stern et al., 2017). They recommend 5 hour long EFT sessions for those at risk for PTSD, and 10 sessions for those with full-blown symptoms.

EFT first began in the late 1990s when the founder, Gary Craig, created a popular website where he made EFT available to laypeople via low-cost videos. He had been a student of a psychologist, Dr. Roger Callahan, PhD who had patented his mind-body tapping process called Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Dr. Callahan in turn had studied and integrated the work of Dr. George Goodheart, DC and Dr. John Diamond, PhD, each of whom had discovered that verbally focusing on a problem or issue (emotional or physical) – while manually stimulating acupuncture points – could bring surprising relief in their patients – particularly with regard to fears, phobias and physical responses to stress. Craig was able to synthesize the process into a more simplified format involving fewer tapping points and with less complexity. A Stanford trained engineer and Master of NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), Craig added key NLP concepts, and called it EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques. (7)

When EFT is performed in conjunction with a practitioner, a therapeutic relationship is formed to assist the client to work with general or specific issues, whether it’s to reduce the intensity of fears, doubts and worries about specific concerns in their life, find a greater sense of peace and calm or to achieve greater excellence and performance in sport or business achievement. Practitioners who have thoroughly trained in EFT may run the gamut from being a certified practitioner to also being a life coach, psychologist, psychotherapist, physician, acupuncturist and more. It is a growing practice for a healing arts/health care provider who is interested in the mind-body connection to learn and integrate EFT into their practice. Sessions may be provided in-person or are also commonly offered remotely, typically via online video platforms. (4)

EFT can be employed as a self-help method. Millions of people are thought to be using the technique to self-regulate their own distressing and troublesome emotions. According to a news report on Examiner.com, EFT is “one of the most successful psychology self-help techniques ever developed.” Over 5 million people a month search online for “EFT tapping” and related terms, and the 5 highest-traffic EFT web sites have over 2 million page views a month.(3)

EFT continues to demonstrate itself as a rapid and effective way to provide relief for a wide variety of issues that revolve around a person’s sense of well-being. Of course while more research needs to continue to be done do better understand its mechanisms and parameters for best practices, it is certainly an option worth considering within the field of therapeutic interventions. While some debate its current status as having achieved the nomenclature as an “evidence based” modality, it cannot be argued that it has reached the level of “evidence-supported.” Of course while no single intervention works for everyone, the consideration of EFT is certainly warranted for a wide number of issues. In addition, research has shown 99% of the EFT studies demonstrate its effectiveness with no documented side effects. So as the founder of EFT said, Why not try it?