The
History of EFT Have you ever noticed someone who is going through a period of
stress " wringing his or her hands"? This natural instinct of massaging the
hands to relieve grief, pain, loss, etc has been the starting point or basis
of many alternative medicines and is a part of the EFT Family Tree. Massaging
sore spots on our bodies seems natural and over the centuries, this massaging
became more refined. The "systematic use" of massage was first introduced in
ancient Chinese medicine. It took the form of acupuncture. They chose to go
deeper into than the body than a massage and used needles to go into massage
spots, "energy meridians" or energy pathways, to relieve pain and induce healing.
Over the centuries, they refined their skills; however, they did not utilize
acupuncture for emotional issues and did not consider it as a possible psychological
treatment. In the twentieth century, a growing acceptance of acupuncture in
the West had American doctors looking at the successes and strengths of this
ancient system. They began to see that the Chinese energy meridians made sense
and they began to see at how they could apply them in their practice. These
brave doctors made great strides in advancing alternative medicine in the U.S.
Dr. George Goodheart, a well- known and respected chiropractor, was one of these
leaders but didn't realize it at first. He had no knowledge of acupuncture when
he founded a branch of chiropractic based upon testing the human body for information
about it's own needs. The method is known as "muscle testing", and the practice
that he developed, Applied Kinesiology, has been widely accepted. Many of the
aspects of his system are relevant to EFT. Upon learning about acupuncture in
1962 by reading a book written by the president of the Acupuncture Society in
Britain, Dr. Goodheart could see how this ancient system might apply to his
field. He determined that needles were not necessary and he could get equally
good results by applying pressure to acupoints. Instead of spinning the needles,
or pressing the points, he also discovered that "percussing" or tapping on them
was very effective. Doing away with the needles made acupuncture, or acupressure,
more acceptable and accessible to everyday people. In the 1970's an Austrian
psychiatrist, Dr. John Diamond, reviewed the work of Dr. Goodheart and took
Goodheart's method a little further. He created a treatment called "Behavioral
Kinesiology". This method used positive affirmations and contact on selected
acupuncture points to treat emotional problems. This was the beginning of "meridian-based
therapies and a grandparent of EFT. Applied Kinesiology was the branch from
which Dr. Roger Callahan, an American psychologist, derived his methods. In
the 1980's he refined the use of the tapping procedures and also utilized them
for emotional problems. His method combined tapping with focusing on the problem
at hand. This was the basis for a complete therapeutic method in which a fear
could be removed permanently without drugs or extensive therapy. Dr Callahan
stated that a person's fears could be removed permanently by focusing on a specific
fear while at the same time tapping on the meridian points. Dr. Callahan's treatment
system was the result of an unexpected circumstance. He had been working with
a patient, "Mary", who had an extreme fear of water. She couldn't even get into
a bathtub without experiencing extreme anxiety. His office was located in a
complex with a swimming pool and "Mary" couldn't approach it or even allow water
to touch her body without experiencing this near panic. Dr. Callahan had tried
many anxiety reduction methods and only had minor success in reducing her anxiety.
One day during treatment, "Mary" stipulated that her feeling of panic was located
in her stomach. There is an acupuncture point below the eye related to the stomach.
Dr Callahan asked her to tap on that point. He tried it because he believed
that it might balance a possible disruption of the energy system and lesson
her stomach symptoms. "Mary" did this and an unexpected thing happened. She
cried out that her fear of water was gone along with the discomfort in her stomach.
Because of many years of limited successes, Dr. Callahan didn't take her too
seriously. "Mary" got up and headed for the swimming pool to test her belief.
Dr Callahan quickly followed her because he knew that she couldn't swim and
he wanted to prevent an accident. When she reached the pool, she bent over and
began to splash water on her face. This was impossible only minutes earlier.
At this time, Dr. Callahan began to believe her statement and later, knew it
to be true. She was truly free of the fear that had plagued her for many years.
She became the first recorded, "one minute wonder' that has become a regular
occurrence in modern EFT. After this success, Dr. Callahan took another look
at Dr. John Diamond's discovery that stimulation of certain acupuncture points
could bring about changes in physical symptoms as well as emotional states.
He decided to explore using strategic tapping on certain meridian points to
treat other phobias. He was not successful on all of the phobias that he treated,
but his success with "Mary" was an important turning point. He had begun the
development of a new technology where systematic tapping on strategic points
while repeating key phrases could bring about very beneficial results in the
treatment of psychological problems. Dr. Callahan's method was based upon the
clinical observations in Applied Kinesiology. This system uses muscle testing
to determine the appropriateness of any method of treatment. He therefore utilized
it in determining treatment methods to use with his patients. Dr. Callahan also
looked at each of the meridian points and their linkages to parts of the body
and developed a fairly complicated system. He used a specific series of accupoints
for each emotional issue. This series was determined through muscle testing.
After treating patients for similar problems, he wrote "algorithms" that targeted
various emotional problems; however muscle testing remained an important part
of his treatment. Originally his method was called "The Callahan Techniques"
and is now called "Thought Field Therapy" or TFT. TFT had some drawbacks. Muscle
testing for the proper meridian points was a lengthy procedure and could not
become a self-help technique. A person utilizing TFT had to be highly trained
in muscle testing for it to be a useful tool. Some people began to wonder if
such precision was necessary. Several therapists questioned whether tapping
on all twelve meridian points would do the trick. This would allow muscle testing
to take a back seat and give more freedom to utilizing the system. Gary Craig,
a Stanford University Graduate Engineer, studied Dr. Callahan's system in the
early 1990' because he was very interested in self-help methods. He realized
the drawbacks and recognized the strengths. He then developed a single algorithm
method that took less time, was useful as a self-help tool, and didn't utilize
extensive muscle testing. After working with the system as a performance coach,
he decided to share it with others. Gary developed a Basic EFT Course comprised
of 13 videos on CD's, 1 audio CD and 1 EFT manual on CD. He also developed what
has become the leading website in the energy psychology field: www.emofree.com.
There are around twenty EFT Masters and many EFT Practitioners that regularly
contribute to his site. The EFT website has become a remarkable success. His
EFT mailing list, over 11,000 subscribers in 2006, is one of the largest. Many
important innovations in EFT have been published and distributed to his subscribers
via this list and website. He also sends out a free "EFT News & Innovations"
bi-monthly newsletter which gives up-to-date information for practitioners and
users of the system. The distribution system is loaded with anecdotal information
and reports that profess a success rate close to 80%; but to date, there hasn't
been much scientific confirmation. It is difficult for a new field like EFT
to get the funding necessary for scientific studies. Therefore EFT hasn't received
recognition in the scientific field. This is about to change as several research
studies, funded by practitioners, in EFT are completed and more are underway.
Details of these studies will be coming out soon to help confirm what we believe:
that EFT can benefit us all. The study of EFT, related energy psychology fields,
and their applications is part of a revolution in psychology. It has taken many
centuries to accept Chinese acupuncture in the West and fifty more years to
move to EFT; but this is just the beginning. The East, Asia, is beginning to
adopt and adapt EFT to their treatment of physical and emotional problems. EFT
provides us with a gentle, natural, easy to learn means of freeing us from unwanted
emotions, pain, and limiting beliefs. NOTE: For a more technical and complete
discussion of the origins of energy psychology and EFT, read the book: "Energy
Psychology" written by Dr. Fred Gallo (CRC Press).
