EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE

HISTORY OF EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE (EFT)

EFT has its origins in traditional Chinese Acupuncture and Body-Mind medicine.  Acupuncture began thousands of years ago. It is a science and healing method of diagnosing and treating ailments using meridians, which are pathways of energy in the body. Chinese wisdom recognized energy within and around human beings.  This energy is called CHI in China, KI in Japan, PRANA in India, to name a few of the ancient cultures recognizing the existence of these energetic patterns.

In both China and India, treatments and practices developed around life energy that included pathways as well as intricate descriptions for these pathways (meridian system and chakra system, respectively).

During the Nixon administration, traditional Chinese Medicine was introduced to the United States.  A journalist, James Reston, needed an emergency appendectomy while in China. Acupuncture was used as anesthesia for the surgical procedure. It was Reston's personal experience and Kissinger's press briefings that caught the attention of the American people and Western Medicine.

There are several pioneers who integrated principles of eastern science and wisdom into medical practices.  George Goodheart, a Chiropractor, made connections between muscle testing and points on different meridians to assess areas of weakness in the body.  He is the founder of Applied Kinesiology. By testing the strength or weakness in the muscle where associated acupoints are located, imbalances in related organ systems could be evaluated.  Balance could be restored by manipulating, touching or tapping these points.  This practice is widely used today by Chiropractors.

In the 1970's John Diamond studied Applied Kinesiology. He was the first psychiatrist to treat specific emotions with specific acupuncture points.  His work pioneered Energy Psychology and Meridian-Based therapies.

Roger Callahan, Ph.D., a psychologist, also learned Applied Kinesiology and the meridian system of acupuncture to treat anxiety and phobias. He was the first to create a structure of tapping algorithms for emotional problems while focusing of the problem being treated.  Along with these acupoint algorithms, clients would repeat specific phrases related to the problem.  Dr. Callahan discovered this technique accidentally, while treating a client who had a water phobia.  His system is called Thought Field Therapy or TFT.

Pat Carrington developed a system called ACUTAP. Around the same time, separately and independently, Gary Craig developed Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Both asked a significant question regarding TFT's system: What if there could be a single algorithm with affirmations to focus on the problem, rather than have different series of tapping techniques to work with different emotions? As a result of Craig's studies with Roger Callahan, along with his engineering and generous mind, we have the birth of EFT.  Pat Carrington eventually dissolved her interest in ACUTAP for EFT and developed the CHOICES METHOD.

EFT falls into the category of Energy Psychology. This is a relatively new field in the area of Psychology and Psychotherapy.  Fred Gallo, Ph.D. coined the term "Energy Psychology." There are variations on Craig's EFT, which are called Meridian Therapies.  One of the main concepts of Energy Psychology today is that thought disrupts the electrical flow of energy in the body. EFT unites electricity or electromagnetic patterns in the body with meridian theory and psychology.  It is believed that tapping can change the electromagnetic holding pattern, thereby reducing signals in the field of energy that have locked in self-defeating thoughts and beliefs and negative emotions. 

More research needs to be conducted in the field of EFT and Energy Psychology.  However, professionals and lay people alike who use these techniques for healing a multitude of psychological issues and traumas, report astounding success. 

As Gary Craig said, "It doesn't look anything like psychology as we know it.  So I ask you to suspend beliefs about therapy..."

And I ask you to consider this technique as a pathway to your own healing and personal growth. I also strongly advise that you obtain the direction of an expert in the field rather than embark upon a solo adventure.

I am deeply grateful to my teachers and mentors: Gary Craig, CJ Puotinen, Victoria Britt, LCSW, Sheila Bender, Ph.D., Henry Grayson, Ph.D., and Carol Look, LCSW, DCH for sharing their knowledge and wisdom in this emerging field of EFT, TFT, EFT-A, Meridian Tapping and Energy Psychology.  And, of course, for all the masters of the ancient world for their meditative wisdom in the art and science of Oriental Medicine, without whom we would not be experiencing this revolution in the field of Psychology today.