This technique builds on the knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) about Qi and meridian points. The TCM model of health proposes the existence of meridian channels that run through the body. These channels have access points called meridian points. Each meridian channel is associated with a TCM organ and each organ is associated with different emotions. In the TCM Model of health, Mental, Emotional and Physical pathologies are associated with blockages of the meridian channel system. Whether the blockages have mental, emotional or physical effects, acupuncture can help release the blockages in the meridian channels by stimulation of meridian points.

The development of acupuncture tapping methods was indirectly assisted by Dr. George Goodheart, a well known chiropractor in the United States who founded a branch of chiropractic called Applied Kinesiology (AK). AK is based upon muscle testing, a precise method of testing the body for information about its own needs.

Substituting simple manual pressure for the acupuncture needles, he found that he could obtain the same beneficial results by simply applying manual pressure to the acupuncture points, or by “percussing” or “tapping” on them; an advance which made this acupuncture-derived method accessible to many more people, since it was non-threatening and non-invasive.

Building on the work of Goodheart, in the 1970’s an Australian psychiatrist by the name of John Diamond, M.D., took this discovery a step further by creating a variation of it which he called “Behavioral Kinesiology”. This derivative of Goodheart’s method added an interesting component. Diamond used affirmations (positive self-statements or thoughts) when the person was contacting selected acupuncture points, and did this specifically to treat emotional problems. His innovative departure in this respect foreshadowed the later development of the “meridian-based therapies” and Energy Psychology, in the forefront of which we find Meridian Tapping, including EFT and TFT, today.

But before Meridian Tapping could be invented, another step was necessary. The concept of using tapping of acupoints to treat psychological problems needed a structure to become widely applicable. This structure was supplied by an American psychologist, Dr. Roger Callahan, who had specialized in anxiety disorders.

In the early 1980’s, Dr. Callahan learned Applied Kinesiology and studied the meridian system of acupuncture in an effort to find better answers to some of the problems his patients faced, particularly those of anxiety and phobias. He then took the step that was necessary to bring the tapping procedures into a full fledged form of psychological treatment. He combined the use of “tapping” for emotional problems with simultaneous focusing on the problem at hand. Callahan had discovered that if a person is focusing on a specific fear of their own at the time they tap; this fear can be removed, often permanently.

Dr. Callahan’s new treatment came into being after he studied the meridian system. The new technology he developed consisted of systematically tapping on strategic spots on the body while repeating key phrases out loud. This system seemed to bring about beneficial changes in the person’s emotional state, and it could therefore be used to treat psychological problem not amenable to conventional therapies.

Roger Callahan pursued his new approach devotedly, and because his method built upon some of the clinical observations in Applied Kinesiology, he too employed muscle testing in his new treatment procedure. Callahan developed tapping sequences he called “Algorithms” that he used based on muscle testing. Using this method of treatment, which he originally called “The Callahan Techniques” (later it was renamed “Thought Field Therapy” or “TFT”) Callahan achieved some remarkable results in his clinical work.

The development of a “single algorithm” was developed simultaneously by Dr. Patricia Carrington and Gary Craig. Gary Craig, who had studied TFT intensively with Roger Callahan and was originally one of Callahan’s star pupils, decided to separate his work from that of Callahan in order to be able to use his own single-algorithm approach.

Accordingly, Craig developed his own individual single algorithm method which he called “Emotional Freedom Technique” (EFT) to distinguish it from “The Callahan Techniques,” and he has been teaching this method since the early 1990’s.

EFT is now the most influential and widely known Energy Psychology method in the world. EFT has been researched and have been found to be effective for many mental-emotional conditions. For more information on EFT and Depression see this paper by Jorge R. Lopez, BN.

Adapted from Patricia Carrington