Can EFT Treat Anxiety?
So Can EFT be solution for Anxiety?
Many people claim to get relief from anxiety and stress using Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping), although energy flowing along meridians and pressure points has never actually been scientifically proven. Affirmations of self-acceptance, which are repeated in the EFT process, are certainly positive and help build healthy beliefs about yourself. And since there is no risk in speaking positive affirmations while tapping on certain body parts in succession that has ever been reported, at the very least it probably will boost your confidence and state of mind. So is there validity in using EFT to treat anxiety? You decide for yourself as you read on.
You might have something causing you anxiety, something painful or a pressing situation in your life, and as you talk about that issue while tapping on the various points along the meridians, your amygdala in your brain, which is responsible for initiating the fight-or-flight response, gets the message that it is safe to be in a state of calm, that all is well at the moment.
Now let’s examine a case study: Alexa is a 22-year-old woman who lives in New York and has landed her dream job in the fashion industry. Everything was going quite well for her until she experienced a serious health setback in her final semester of college. She became infected with a bacteria strain that put her in a coma lasting five days. Since her immune system is now compromised, she is easily prone to infections and sickness, and her level of fear and anxiety has her seriously considering walking away from her job to return home to Florida where her family, friends and support system are.
Alexa is having great difficulty coming to peaceful terms with her past and states that she doesn’t know who she is anymore.
Alexa works with Gabrielle Bernstein, a life coach trained in EFT. Ms. Bernstein has Alexa repeat some EFT phrases, such as “Even though I don’t know who I am anymore, I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I’m scared to face the world, ” etc. As Ms. Bernstein progresses on, while continuing to tap on the sequence of points, she moves to offering a different tack, having Alexa speak about being a survivor and that she can opt for new diets, new ways of living, and with her health it is possible to achieve her dreams and be fully supported.
They both take a deep breath at the end and Bernstein inquiries about Alexa’s anxiety level on a scale of zero to ten, where zero is no anxiety and ten is the highest level of anxiety. Where previously, Alexa rated her anxiety at a level of nine, she now states that it is at four.
Alexa is still advised to continue doing the tapping technique on her own at home, because there is a great deal of trauma within her as a result of her illness that still needs to be purged or resolved. Both feel they have made good progress with this first session, and that tapping can heal Alexa’s anxiety and trauma.
