There are books and have been numerous studies (see below for links) conducted about the effectiveness of using Emotion Freedom Technique (EFT) or tapping in PTSD conditions. Trauma can play a huge impact on our behavioural patterns, some for the good (ie falling down when trying to walk as a baby can help us to try again differently), however some prevent us from moving beyond the freeze response. This may block us in life as any trigger which reminds us of a previous trauma will bring on the freeze response or other patterns of behaviours we may want to break free of.

EFT is done by using a combination of acupressure points, along with advanced psychological methods (the setup and the gamut). This method has been seen to produce quick relief from even long-held trauma patterns. 

HERE IS MY CHALLENGE:

BASIC TRANSCRIPT

Learn a key tool in beginning to release the possible negative repercussions of trauma. Help yourself to change thought patterns and behaviour responses to trigger which are no longer serving you in the present. Every day for 22 days record yourself or note down what you are tapping on and do at least two rounds of tapping. Here is the sequence to share with others to do the same and see the ripple of positivity and change occur around you. We will be tapping on the negative. It can be hard to think about all our negative thoughts and emotions when we are so conditioned now to always be positive but we are trying to reduce the intensity of the negative thought or emotion so we have to use it to monitor its effect on us. (USE THE VIDEO ABOVE TO CLARIFY TAPPING POINT LOCATIONS AND ROUTINE)

1. Write down the negative thought or emotion you would like to work on. 
2. Write down the level out of 10 that you feel this thought is true or how strong the emotion is. (1 is low 10 is high)
3. Write an opening sentence to tap on the karate chop point to set up the session
4. Tap the following in no particular order: top of the head, on the beginning of an eyebrow, on the outside of your eye (just below your temple), under the middle of your eye on the bone, under your nostril (above your top lip), on your chin, on your collar bones just above your chest, under your armpit on your rib cage, inside of your wrist, on the outside of your finger nail on each finger.
5. Do the gamut: whilst massaging the area on your hand between your pinky finger and ring finger, draw a line with your eyes diagonal to the right and then to the left, draw a circle with your eyes clockwise and then anti-clockwise. Hum the first line of happy birthday, then count to 10 and then hum the first line of happy birthday again.
6. Assess how much you feel or believe the negative thought out of 10- it should be getting lower than where you started. Think of a colour or spot in the body you may feel the emotion or thought to help assess its transformation. Keep tapping using colours, textures and be aware the emotion may also change, it may go from anger, to guilt for example. Keep the same routine until the original emotion goes significantly lower (ideally 1 or 0).
7. Make a note of other thoughts or emotions that come on to work on the following day.

Please share this challenge with others who may benefit from releasing and moving forward in their lives.

Here are three PDF’s for you to download and read on some of the research done into EFT and its effectiveness:

The Effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques for Optimal Test Performance By Sachin Jain and April Rubino

A narrative systematic review of the effectiveness of Emotional Freedoms Technique (EFT) E.H. Boath, T Stewart, A.Carryer

Clinical EFT as an Evidence-Based Practice for the Treatment of Psychological and Physiological Conditions by Dawson Church