22 Oct Emotional Freedom Technique EFT

This blog post was written by Jef Gazley, LMFT.  Jef Gazley, M.S., LMFT has practiced psychotherapy for over thirty-five years and is the owner operator of www.asktheinternettherapist.com since 1998, www.hypnosiscdsandmp3s.com, and www.energypsychologytherapy.com.  He is the author of 13 mental health educational videos and DVDs and is currently writing a book on distance counseling. Jef is State Licensed in General Counseling, Marriage/Family, and Substance Abuse in Arizona and is a certified hypnotherapist. He is dedicated to guiding individuals to achieving a life-long commitment to mental health and relationship mastery. In his private practice in Scottsdale, Arizona, Jef specializes in ADD, love addiction, hypnotherapy, dysfunctional families, codependency, and trauma. He is a trained counselor in EMDR, NET™, TFT, hypnotist, and Applied Kinesiology. He is the developer of ADD-care which is an all natural supplement that reduces the symptoms consistent with ADHD as well as the stimulants. Jef received his B.A. in Psychology, History, and Teaching from the University of Washington and his Masters in Counseling from the University of Oregon.

Please note that the opinions presented in the article are that of the author and not necessarily the opinions of RHN. RHN chooses to publish articles and share individual sites to evoke discussion and show all options, ideas and beliefs.

Emotional Freedom Technique is an offshoot of Thought Field Therapy. It was developed by Gary Craig, a minister and personal trainer. It is another very effective energy psychology technique. The main variations in this field are Neuro Emotional Technique, EFT, and TFT.

All of these systems work by accessing the more primitive parts of the clients brain and therefore work on the subconscious processes rather than focusing on the cognitive and conscious prefrontal cortex. It also accesses the subtle energies of the acupressure / acupuncture points and the meridian system in Chinese medicine.

Because of this change is often more rapid, less painful, and more complete than traditional psychotherapy. That should not be an argument for the obsolescence of insight oriented therapy. There is still a great benefit from understanding the self and the world.

There is very little difference between EFT and TFT. Both follow Dr. Callahan’s TFT protocol of thinking about and verbalizing an issue and then tapping on the acupuncture system to rebalance the meridian system by using an algorithm of tapping on the points, then tapping on the gamut point while using some NLP eye movements and verbalizations, and repeating the algorithm. They also both use the paradoxical points liberally.

The salient difference is that Thought Field Therapy uses their series of tapping on acupressure points on specific meridian systems that are thought to respond to different problems such as addiction, while EFT taps all the meridian systems due to their belief that if all the meridians are tapped there is no need to specify and change will occur.

In my experience with both of these schools of energy psychology, it appears that most problems are accessed by using the technique of tapping all the meridians. It works in a similar way to rebooting a computer.

All of the different energy psychology techniques work quite well, but I have found Neuro Emotional Technique™ or NET™ to be the most effective. This is due to using the more sophisticated diagnostic technique of muscle testing to locate the earliest related trauma connected to the present event.  When that blockage is cleared most psychological reversals become cleared as well.

I have found that EFT and TFT are best utilized as a homework assignment because the client can do them alone whereas the clinician needs to be present to muscle test in NET™. All the techniques are tremendously powerful and helpful especially with PTSD issues, phobias, and general anxiety.