Use Finger Tapping To Reduce Coronavirus Anxiety

BARNSTAPLE, U.K. - April 1, 2020 - PRLog -- As the world struggles with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, many people are experiencing high levels of anxiety. A simple technique, known as Emotional Freedom Techniques, or 'tapping', may help to reduce stress levels, according to new research. With this in mind, the technique's professional body, EFT International or EFTi, based in the UK, wants to spread the message that 'tapping' can help us all.

EFT is a complementary treatment for wellbeing. It involves tapping on acupuncture points on the body. This process is thought to send calming signals to the part of the brain that controls stress.  New research carried out by Bond University in Queensland, Australia, and just published in the American Psychological Association Journal, Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, shows that using EFT can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The research was led by Dr Peta Stapleton, Associate Professor in Psychology at Bond University. "We were looking at changes in stress biochemistry and psychological distress symptoms," she said.  "We compared levels of cortisol in three groups of patients, one having EFT, the second having PE ('psychoeducation' such as supportive interviews) and the third having no treatment. We found that those having EFT had a 43% decrease in cortisol levels compared to 19% for the PE group. The third group showed a 2% rise (suggesting that stress does not go away by just resting).  These findings mirror the results of similar EFT research carried out in 2012, and further confirm that EFT can be an efficient and effective short-term treatment for reducing biological markers of stress."

The findings have been welcomed by Dr Shoshana Garfield PhD, Co-Chair of EFTi and Co-Director of its Training Board, who is based in Brighton. "EFT is easy to learn, and accessible to us all. Now, more than ever, we are looking for treatments that can be done from home, and tapping is ideal as a way of reducing anxiety."

Editors' notes

1.       More information from www.eftinternational.org. Or contact EFTi Co-Chair Jacqui Footman on 07933 998118

2.       EFT International is a UK-registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), charity number 1176538.

3.       The Bond University research is entitled 'Re-examining the Effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on Stress Biochemistry: A Randomized Controlled Trial'. It was published on 12^th March 2020 by the American Psychological Association and is available at the US National Library of Medicine, the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

4.       Press release by N (http://www.ndmedia.co.uk/)D Media