EFT is an amazing technique that heels the emotional aspect of life from the little emotional scars we all have to major phobias, depression, guilt, anger and any other negative emotion I could name. Furthermore, it usually only takes minutes to perform and the results are usually permanent. The method consists of tapping with the fingertips at the end points of the body's energy meridians. It is simple to perform and simple to learn.

The science behind EFT was not developed like many other discoveries. That is, it was not created in a laboratory and then tested in the real world. Instead, a stunning turn of events in the real world pointed the way first. Here's the story.

EFT had its start in 1980 when Dr. Roger J. Callahan, Ph.D. was working with a patient, Mary, for an intense water phobia. She suffered from frequent headaches and terrifying nightmares, both of which were related to her fear of water. To seek help, she had been going from therapist to therapist for years....with no material improvement.

Dr. Callahan tried to help her by conventional means for a year and a half, not to mention the other doctors Mary had seen. He didn't make much headway either.

Then one day he stepped outside the normal "boundaries" of psychotherapy. Out of curiosity, he had been studying the body's energy system and decided to tap with his fingertips under her eyes (an end point of the stomach meridian). This was prompted by her complaint of some stomach discomfort.

To his astonishment, she announced immediately that her phobia was gone and she raced down to a nearby swimming pool and began throwing water in her face. No fear. No headaches. It all went away....including the nightmares. And it has never returned. She is totally free of her water phobia. Results like that are rare in the field of psychotherapy...but commonplace with EFT.

A first hand description. Here's how Dr. Callahan describes it in his 1990 book, "The Rapid Treatment of Panic, Agoraphobia and Anxiety."

"....I was totally unprepared for what happened. As I tapped under her eyes, Mary said, "It's gone!." "What's gone?", I asked. "My fear of water, it's gone, I don't have those awful feelings in my stomach any more!"

We were working in my home office and I said, with a somewhat challenging and skeptical tone, "Let's go down to the pool and see."

I fully expected her to resist as usual, but, to my surprise, I had to hurry to keep up with her on the way to the pool. For the first time, she looked at the water, put her head near it and splashed water in her face, from the shallow end. I watched in amazement, as she joyfully shouted, "It's gone, it's gone!"

Mary's next move frightened me. She suddenly ran toward the deep end of the pool, and this sudden total absence of fear around the pool was so unusual for her that I shouted, "Mary, be careful!" I was afraid that she might jump into the pool and drown. She laughed when she saw my alarm and reassured me; "Don't worry Doctor Callahan, I know I can't swim." Ten years experience with the treatment has since taught me that the treatment does not cause sudden stupidity. Respect for reality, I have learned, is not diminished by successful treatment.

All Mary needed was that tap under the eyes. Later, I learned that most people need more. In any case, I started trying the treatments on some of my other phobic clients, and found that I got similar results in about one of five. The discovery of psychological reversal and other refinements in the treatments have now boosted our success rate to about 98%.

The first question I usually get is, "Does the treatment last?" The implicit assumption is that if something is done quickly, it can't last. This is pure prejudice against the "quick fix"; the answer is; it usually does last; in a small number of cases it might have to be repeated. Of course, it is easy to repeat. Usually, in such cases, the person is cured and after ten years Mary has no trace of this problem. Interestingly, there have been no nightmares about water since that first treatment....."

This, of course, got Dr. Callahan's attention.

He has since refined and expanded his findings to a series of related routines. They encompass nearly every area of emotional improvement imaginable....from phobias to panic disorders to sports performance. And, along the way, he has also applied these techniques to physical problems and addictive cravings with notable success.

EFT is based on all these procedures. It reduces years of diligent research and endless trial and error to one practical course that you can master in your living room. It is like having your own private guide to a workable version of the most stunning personal improvement findings in the last 100 years.

The Discovery Statement

Now, with this in mind, here's the essence behind EFT. We will refer to it henceforth as the "Discovery Statement."

The Cause of All Negative Emotions is a Disruption in the Body's Energy System

Let's put this in terms of Mary's water phobia. When she was experiencing her fear, the energy flowing through her stomach meridian was disrupted. That energy imbalance is what was causing her emotional intensity. Tapping under her eyes sent pulses through the meridian and fixed the disruption. It balanced it out. Once the energy meridian was balanced the emotional intensity....the fear....went away. Therein lies the most powerful thing you are ever going to learn about your unwanted emotions. They are caused by energy disruptions.

Now, let's examine the discovery statement in more detail. First, notice what it does not say. It does not say that a negative emotion is caused by the memory of a past traumatic experience. This is important to recognize because that presumed connection of traumatic memories to negative emotions is a mainstay in conventional psychotherapy.

In some circles, it is the accepted practice to treat the memory and, in the process, ask the client to repeatedly relive some emotionally painful event. EFT, by contrast, ignores the memory and addresses the true cause....a disruption in the body's energy system.

I care deeply about helping people who needlessly carry around all these emotionally charged memories. But it always seems strange to people when I tell them they don't need to painfully relive all those horrid details for EFT to help them. These memories may contribute to an unwanted emotion (you'll see how later), but they are not the direct cause. Accordingly, we don't need to spend time painfully dwelling on them. It is superfluous to do so.

Thus there is no significant emotional suffering involved with EFT. It is painless. You will be asked to briefly recall your problem, but that is all. There is no need to relive the pain. In fact, with EFT, generating prolonged emotional discomfort is frowned upon. This is but one example of where EFT is a radical departure from conventional methods.

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Last modified: May 31, 2002, Friday.