The Science & Research

A fascinating conversation that explores the most recent research around tapping. Dr. David Feinstein is a clinical psychologist who has served on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Antioch College, and the California School of Professional Psychology. He has contributed more than 80 articles to the professional literature and five of his eight books have won national awards. Press play below to listen to his interview with Jessica Ortner.

EFT Tapping draws many of its principles from the ancient healing lineage of Traditional Chinese medicine.

While modern society is just developing an appreciation for Chinese medicine’s long, rich history of success, there still remains a desire to back it up with science.

It’s for this reason emerging research about EFT Tapping’s effectiveness is so very important. Not only does it gradually silence more and more of EFT’s skeptics, it also deepens our understanding of the technique, allowing us to further harness its deep healing abilities.

So far, modern science’s investigations into just why EFT works have been astounding. The results revealed why EFT Tapping is the perfect bridge between cutting edge Western medicine and ancient healing practices from the East.

For example, studies at Harvard Medical School have revealed that by stimulating the body’s meridian points – the same spots on your body that are manipulated by acupuncturists – you can significantly reduce activity in a part of your brain called the amygdala.

Think of your amygdala as a personal alarm system. When you experience trauma or fear, the amygdala is triggered and your body is flooded with cortisol, commonly known as the “stress hormone.” This intricate chain reaction – your stress response – significantly influences and sometimes even causes whatever it is that troubles you, whether that’s an illness, injury, or even an external problem such as your finances or a relationship.

These studies show that by stimulating these parts of your body – as we do in EFT Tapping – you can drastically reduce or eliminate the distress that accompanies or gives rise to these problems you face. By so doing, you can often eliminate the problems themselves!

Another significant study was conducted by Dr. Dawson Church, one of the world’s leading experts on energy psychology, and an EFT master in his own right. His study set out to determine how an hour-long tapping session would impact the cortisol levels of 83 subjects. For the sake of comparison, he also measured the cortisol levels of people who received traditional talk therapy, as well as the cortisol levels of those who received no treatment at all.

The results were fascinating. The average cortisol reduction of those who experienced an EFT Tapping session was 24%, and even hit as high as 50% in some subjects. On the other hand, people who experienced traditional talk therapy or no treatment at all didn’t experience any significant cortisol reduction. In other words, they were just as stressed at the end of it all while those who tried tapping walked out with significantly less stress!

This is but a handful of the research being conducted on EFT. These days, it seems as if a year doesn’t pass without the emergence of some great new science-based insight into why this technique is so very effective. It’s forcing naysayers to stand up, pay attention, and reconsider their disbelief about this wondrous modality.

Two of the leading lights in this field of research are the aforementioned Dr. Dawson Church and Dr. David Feinstein. They’ve made presentations at a number of our events, including the 2013 Tapping World Summit. In the months to come, we’ll also be providing you with a great deal more information on the exciting new research that’s emerging. As these studies come to the forefront, it will become apparent to any remaining doubters that EFT Tapping not only works, but also that it is in fact on the very cusp of the future of healing.

It’s an exciting time to be working with EFT. Although the technique is almost 20 years old now, we’re beginning to see more and more research that explains just why it’s so effective. It’s important not just for our own understanding, but also for those who are doubtful about the efficacy of this amazing technique.

As with many other healing modalities that draw on ancient wisdom and/or cutting edge insights into mind and body health, EFT has been overlooked and even ridiculed by many in the world of modern Western medicine. To them, it’s a sham that’s simply too good to be true. Even thousands of stories from people around the world about just how tapping has changed their lives have not been enough to prompt the skeptics to reconsider.

That’s why this research is so very important.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of becoming colleagues and even friends with many practitioners, scholars and researchers who are at the forefront of energy medicine. Their research stands as increasingly solid proof that EFT works (and not just because of a placebo effect.) I continue to be inspired and astounded by how thorough and revelatory this research has become in furthering our understanding of just how our minds and bodies work.

Three people leading this charge are Dr. Dawson Church, Dr. David Feinstein, and Dr. Peta Stapleton

These are websites that I regularly consult in my work with EFT. You can rely on both of them as reliable sources for the latest information on what is being discovered about this incredible healing tool.

“The Science and Research Behind Tapping”- Dr. David Feinstein

“Acupoint Stimulation is Treating Psychological Disorders: Evidence of Efficiency” – Dr. David Feinstein

“Clinical EFT as an Evidence-Based Practice for the Treatment of Psychological and Physiological Conditions” – Dr. Dawson Church

Clinical Trial Success: How Brain Scans Are Showing That Tapping Rewires the Brain!

Dr. Peta Stapleton is a clinical psychologist in Queensland, Australia, who has spent the past 20 years treating eating disorders in her patients and researching weight loss and specific eating behaviors. At the time of our interview, she had concluded the rst (and most important) phase of her study on how tapping impacts food cravings and weight loss. The results were, and still are, incredibly exciting proof of what I've seen repeatedly in my clients and students.

In doing this study, Dr. Stapleton wanted to find out whether tapping affects weight loss and food cravings, and if so, how effective it is. Because of the weight loss success she and her team had documented in study participants, Dr. Stapleton had actually released some of her findings to the international medical community before they were scheduled to be published.

All of the 89 women in her controlled study were between 31 and 56 years old, and had a body mass index (BMI) that qualified them as being obese. Over an eight-week period, they completed approximately two hours of tapping per week, which averages out to just over 15 minutes per day. Just by doing the tapping—without dieting or exercise—participants lost an average of 16 pounds by the end of the study!

While Dr. Stapleton expected that participants would lose weight from doing the tapping, she admits to being surprised by how much weight these women lost. What's even more exciting is that the weight loss they achieved during the initial eight weeks seemed to last for six or more months afterward, even though most of the study participants stopped tapping once the initial eight- week period ended.