Emotional Freedom Technique: How Long Does it Take to Work?

By Deny D. Ritz

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Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), or Tapping, is a method of applying pressure repeatedly (or acupressure) on certain points on your body. The points are the meridian points, the channels of energy that affect your health and emotional well-being. EFT can be used to relieve physical pain and emotional issues.

How long does it take EFT Tapping to work? The answer is that it can take minutes or years. The emotional and physical relief might come instantly, but the root cause may require a long time to resolve, causing the symptoms to come up again.

Routinely doing Tapping as a daily activity can keep stress and other toxic emotions at a safe level, but it won't permanently resolve the root cause of these emotions. It's important to work on the reasons that make you feel the negative feelings, so that you experience complete remission.

The relief a person feels after Tapping can come instantly in one round, if the symptoms are tied to a specific event. It's possible to resolve the underlying cause within that one round, if the therapist, working together with the patient, can immediately identify the causal event.

An example is emotional trauma from a car accident. The physical injuries may heal relatively fast, but the mental trauma can last for years. If the trauma is only tied to the car accident, and nothing else, then it's possible to clear it within one or a few rounds of Tapping.

Here are three steps you can do to help identify the root cause of a symptom. Let's use the case of a car accident as an example.

1. Say statements that are detailed. Tapping is often done using statements that are not very specific. An example is saying “This pain I feel in my body,” or “This pain I feel in my neck.” It can still work and relieve the symptoms, but being specific creates more impact.

Identifying pain from a car accident could be simple, as the physical pain is obvious. But knowing the emotional pain might be tough, as you could be feeling guilt, anger, sadness, depression and other emotions.

Being specific with the physical pain, such as “This stabbing pain I feel in my upper left shoulder blade,” can help you to be honest with the emotional pain.

2. Find the earliest event that caused the emotion. A symptom can be the result of reoccuring events that share the same theme. Each repeating event strengthens the root cause, making it take more time to dissolve.

If a person is feeling guilt from a car accident, it might add to other experiences in the past where they felt guilty. Maybe they made big mistakes before, felt they “screwed up” in a way, and the accident adds to that guilt.

Tapping on the accident itself may not be enough to eliminate all associated pain. You would need to look at the other events that triggered the same negative emotion. If you can find the very first occurence, that would be the best. Otherwise, you can start from the earliest event you remember.

3. Tap on each aspect of the event. One event can consist of many aspects. Each aspect needs to be addressed to resolve all the pain from a single event.

An example of an aspect from a car accident is seeing the other vehicle coming and feeling fear. Though it only happened for less than a second, that fear is seared into your mind and body.

When you are in the ambulance or hospital, you might be feeling guilt or regret for making a mistake, or anger for being a victim. This is a different aspect than seeing the accident about to happen, which ignites fear. You need to Tap on these aspects separately to resolve each one.

Depending on how many aspects are involved, Tapping can take a short or long time to work. Two people in the same car, going through the same accident, could experience hugely different aspects.

When Tapping on your own, it's possible to achieve rapid results if you can identify the root cause by working through the aspects. On the other hand, working with an EFT practitioner can be very helpful to assist you in identifying all the aspects, including past events that carry the same negative theme.

These are the steps that can accelerate relief using EFT Tapping. Work on one aspect at a time, and if the issue you are facing is very serious, consider working with a practitioner to support you.

Author's Bio:

Deny D. Ritz writes for TreasureTapping.com, a website that promotes EFT Tapping to resolve money anxiety issues and overall wellness. Visit his website here.

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Disclaimer: All information on this website is for educational purposes only, and the content is not intended to suggest that it is a substitute for proper medical care or good common sense.

While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it.

In addition, the articles on this site represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the founder of EFT, Gary Craig, nor the owner of this web site, Stefan Gonick.