EFT or Tapping in Addiction Recovery
EFT [Emotional Freedom Techniques] is also called ‘Tapping Therapy’ and can be utilised as a tool to help with addiction recovery. This technique brings together principles from traditional Chinese medicine, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy [CBT], Acupuncture, and neuroscience to achieve maximum benefit.
The combined benefit of using these various techniques may lead to restructuring thought patterns, forcing them to shift, relieving the effects of excess negative emotions and physical tension. This then offers a gateway that may help achieve balance and reduce the effects or hold of addiction on the body and brain.
Why Does EFT Work?
Those who created and have since worked with EFT claim that the technique works much like acupuncture, using acupressure points or meridian points in the body, particularly the hands, face, or upper body. Instead of using needles, fingertips are used to tap these areas.
This tapping motion is thought to balance the body’s energy, as these areas of skin have a high concentration of ‘mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors respond to stimuli, like touch, and help connect the senses to the nervous system.
From a neurological standpoint, this method works as it can balance the nervous system. Plus, brain scans show that EFT stimulates and therefore impacts the emotional [limbic] part of the brain, which even includes the amygdala which is believed to play a vital part in compulsive behaviours – and addiction.
What to Expect
There are a number of stages involved in EFT. The procedure usually includes:
- Awareness – Identify the specific problem you want to work on and rate it from 1-10 by intensity.
- Balancing/ Set-Up – Locate the point necessary to set up the EFT cycle. Introduce the phrase or affirmation you will use in this cycle.
- Clearing/ Sequence – Clear the energy of the areas by tapping a sequence of points whilst mentally focusing on the chosen problem and repeating your chosen affirmation.
The Chosen affirmation is vital to this process, as this is the core neurological aspect of EFT, which works towards psychological reversal. One cycle may only take a minute or two, but it can be repeated as many times as needed to achieve the desired level of relief. Persistence and focus are important, which is why it is often recommended to be guided on this journey – especially at the start!
Potential Benefits of EFT for Addiction Recovery
EFT is thought to help reduce the psychological symptoms of addiction and may even be viewed as a type of relapse prevention tool during addiction recovery. EFT is especially helpful as it can be done anywhere and may act as a self-help tool once the technique has been experienced and learned through treatment – making it both an accessible and effective form of therapeutic intervention over a long period of time.
Potential benefits of EFT include:
- Reducing the risk of relapse.
- Minimising cravings.
- Helping withdrawal symptoms.
- Day-to-day emotional management including stress, anger, and anxiety.
- Improving self-control and restraint.
- Healing past trauma.
- Relieving tension and physical pain.
- Altering unhelpful thoughts or beliefs.
Getting Support in Your EFT Journey
Along the pathway of recovery, new techniques may be more beneficial in comparison to tried and tested methods. Every method of treatment has its own level of effectiveness and results so why not see if EFT is something that can help you or your loved one?
It is a simple tool yet often has powerful results for clients in many forms of recovery. As a long-lasting and profound method of treatment, EFT can often provide results immediately with changes in the client being seen from day one.
Although this form of therapy can be done by yourself at home, at New Leaf Recovery, we believe tools like EFT can be useful to try when guiding and supporting those in their addiction recovery. Contact New Leaf today if you need support or advice in your addiction recovery.