Background of EFT
Traditional Chinese Medecine seems to have been the oldest codified system to have discovered how treating certains points of our body can calm or heal physical or psychological suffering. With acupuncture, needles are used at certain specific places on canals (meridians) where energy circulates, EFT-Therapy simply uses gentle tapping.
In the 20th Century, Dr George Goodheart (chiropractor) often wondered whether he could avoid the use of needles by applying a certain pressure, tapping on certain acupuncture points. He didn't know that this practice was common in the East, but 'rediscovered' it and was surprised by its efficiency.
In 1970, John Diamond, an Australian psychiatrist, continued Goodheart's research and started treating psychological problems as well using the non-needle, tapping approach.
In 1980, Roger Callahan, an American psychologist, further "perfected" the method by having his patient concentrate on the emoitional problem while tapping. He added a diagnostic method based on Traditional Chinese Medecine principles concerning which meridians to tap on with energy tests developped by Dr. Goodheart. This was the development on which EFT today is based.
Gary Craig, a trained engineer but long-time teacher of applied psychological techniques in the US, reworked Callahan's approach into the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). In the 1990s he began to teach it, and it rapidly became known throughout the world.
It's success comes from its simplicity, ease of application, and remarkable results. His intuition was to take a few seconds longer and tap briefly on all the meridians, rather than diagnostically determine 'the' point to tap on. In doing so, many sources of the problems patients go through are balanced at the same time. EFT-Therapy is the therapeutic utilisation of these discoveries.
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Copyright © 2008 Tony Brazil