| Alternative medicine / fringe therapies | |
| Claims | Tapping on meridian points on the body, derived from acupuncture, can release energy blockages that cause negative emotions[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Related fields | Acupuncture, Acupressure |
| Year proposed | 1993 |
| Original proponents | Gary Craig |
| See also | Thought Field Therapy, Tapas Acupressure Technique |
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a form of counseling intervention that draws on various theories of alternative medicine including acupuncture, neuro-linguistic programming and Thought Field Therapy. During an EFT session, the client will focus on a specific issue while tapping on hypothesized acupuncture points.[1] There is no plausible mechanism to explain how EFT could work and the specifics of EFT have been described as unfalsifiable and therefore pseudoscientific.[3] There is no evidence that acupuncture points, meridans or other concepts involved in traditional Chinese medicine exist.[4] A controlled study of EFT suggested that its benefits were due to placebo effects, desensitization and distraction rather than the mechanisms proposed by its practitioners.[5]
According to the EFT manual, the procedure consists of the participant rating the emotional intensity of their reaction on a Likert scale then repeating an orienting affirmation while rubbing or tapping specific points on the body. Some practitioners incorporate eye movements or other tasks. The emotional intensity is then rescored and repeated until no changes are noted in the emotional intensity.[1]
A 2003 controlled study found that EFT diminished fear in participants but that the effects were due to conventional therapeutic techniques and distraction rather than the EFT theory proposed by the practitioners.[5] An uncontrolled 2011 randomized trial found that EFT produced comparable improvements with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR, itself a speculative technique that is not well-accepted[6]).[7]
There is no evidence that acupuncture points, meridians or the other concepts of traditional Chinese medicine exist.[4] An article on EFT published in Skeptical Inquirer described the evidence supporting the theory as anecdotal and because the number of points at which the body's meridians can allegedly be manipulated are so numerous, it is impossible to falsify the theory of EFT, thus rendering it pseudoscientific.[3]