EFT Tapping: What It Is and How to Do It

EFT tapping is a self-help technique where you tap with your fingertips on nine specific acupressure points on your face and body while you name what's bothering you, and that combination helps calm your nervous system, often within minutes. Its formal name is Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), sometimes shortened to tapping therapy, and it's free to learn.

I've been teaching this for almost twenty years. The first time I tried it, I felt a little ridiculous, tapping on my own face while talking out loud about a stiff neck I'd had for weeks. Fifteen minutes later the tension was gone, and I spent the next two decades trying to figure out why. That question turned into a documentary, two books, and The Tapping Solution app.

Tapping was developed in the 1980s by psychologist Roger Callahan, who found that stimulating acupressure points while focusing on a specific emotional issue could bring fast relief. In the 1990s, Gary Craig simplified Callahan's work into the single, universal sequence taught on this page, gave the manual away for free, and named it Emotional Freedom Techniques. That's still the version almost everyone means by "tapping" today. More than 400 studies have now looked at it (see the full research library), and a handful of findings show up again and again.

Start with cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, because it's a blood or saliva test, not a survey someone can talk themselves into. In a randomized trial, a single hour of tapping lowered participants' cortisol by 24% (Church, Yount & Brooks, 2012, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease). A 2020 study set out to replicate that finding with a fresh group of participants, and it did: cortisol dropped 43% after tapping (Stapleton et al., 2020, Psychological Trauma). Two separate research teams, two separate samples, the same direction.

A systematic review and meta-analysis pooling 14 randomized controlled trials found significant reductions in anxiety among people who tapped, compared with control groups (Clond, 2016, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease). For PTSD, a pooled analysis of seven randomized trials found a large effect of tapping against waitlist or usual care, with no significant difference from EMDR or CBT in the trials that compared them directly (Sebastian & Nelms, 2017, Explore). And in a 2022 systematic review covering 56 randomized trials, the authors reported no adverse events across the studies reviewed (Church et al., 2022, Frontiers in Psychology).

One more question worth asking directly: does it matter that you're tapping on these specific points, or would any calming touch do? Researchers have tested this head-to-head. In a randomized dismantling study of 56 stressed university students, one group tapped the real acupressure points and the other tapped sham points that are not part of the meridian system, with everything else kept the same. Stress dropped 39% in the real-points group versus 8% in the sham group (Rogers & Sears, 2015). An earlier trial (Fox, 2013) compared standard tapping with a modified protocol in just 20 students and was too small to show a clear difference, so the question is not fully settled, but the larger study points to the specific points mattering, not just the act of tapping.

Read the full case in our long-form guide on whether tapping really works or the deep-dive EFT tapping guide.

A part of your brain called the amygdala switches on your fight-or-flight response. It's supposed to fire when you're in real danger, but for most of us it fires just as hard over a hard conversation, a full inbox, or a memory that won't let go. Stimulating acupressure points sends a calming signal to that same part of your brain (Feinstein, 2025, Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, and Treatment), which is likely why tapping while you name a stressful thought helps your body register that you're safe right now, while the thought is still active in your mind.

That pairing, holding the stressful thought while you send your body a signal of safety, is the working theory behind why tapping moves so fast. Your nervous system gets new information while the old alarm is still ringing, and that is what lets it stand down.

Anxiety and stress is what most people come to tapping for first, and it's also the most researched use case. Muminah wrote in after a session called From Fear and Worry to Peace: "I went from a 9 to a 1 and feel complete and utter Peace. Fears and worries I had melted away. Thank you!" (Rated 9 before, 1 after.) Across 4 million completions of our Emotional Freedom sessions, the average self-rated intensity goes from 7.0 to 4.1 (app data). Twenty years of watching people tap, and the pattern is always the same: the story that felt unbearable at a 9 is still true at a 1, it just doesn't run the show anymore.

Sleep is the other place tapping earns loyal converts, usually from people who've already tried everything else. Dayanna rated a session called Fall Asleep Faster (for Chronic Sleep Issues): "This was so good and relaxing. Starting to get better sleep already!" (Rated 10 before, 0 after.) Across 3.5 million completions of our Sleep Support sessions, the average self-rated intensity goes from 6.2 to 3.2 (app data). Stephanie's story shows the longer version of the same thing: one phrase during a session reached something decades of therapy hadn't. Sleep tapping rarely works by force. It works by giving the racing mind somewhere to land.

Chronic pain and physical tension bring people to tapping who are often already doing everything a doctor told them to. Darla, tapping through a session called Release General Pain, wrote: "very effective in voice, affirmations and music & more relief than the meds and other tools I'm using. Would Love to see more tapping on specific areas of pain, like sciatica - yet it is helping very much !" (Rated 9 before, 2 after.) Across 950,000 completions of our Pain Relief sessions, the average self-rated intensity goes from 6.3 to 4.0 (app data). Jean's story, a fibromyalgia story, follows the same arc. I've learned not to promise pain relief up front. Tapping works on the fear and tension wrapped around pain, and I've watched that shift happen for thousands of people over the years.

Cravings and emotional eating show up in tapping the way they show up in real life: messy and hard to talk about anywhere else. One app user wrote after a session called Getting Back on Track: "i needed this session i purposely sabbotaged my weight loss goals last night... i also know that tapping puts my mind in a better place which is half my battle. Thank you!" (Rated 10 before, 5 after.) Across 360,000 completions of our Weight Loss and Body Confidence sessions, the average self-rated intensity goes from 7.1 to 3.9 (app data). Amy's story shows what that looks like over decades, not just one session. The craving rarely disappears the first time. What changes is the shame that used to follow it.

Trauma, grief, and old memories that still sting bring the heaviest sessions in the app, and also some of the most quietly moving feedback we get. Mindy wrote after a session called Releasing Sadness: "I have held this sadness for decades. I feel stuck and in pain. This Tapping with Jessica helps me see it more clearly and hopefully I can release it. I feel blessed to have you in my life 🙏" (Rated 10 before, 4 after.) Across 54,000 completions of our Trauma Support sessions, the average self-rated intensity goes from 6.5 to 4.0 (app data). Victoria's story and Jane's story tell the longer versions. Twenty years in, here's what I've noticed: grief needs somewhere to move, and tapping gives it that.

A useful rule of thumb: if you can rate how a feeling shows up in your body from 0 to 10, it's a candidate for a round of tapping. If it needs a diagnosis, it needs a professional, alongside your tapping practice, not instead of it.

For most people, yes. Tapping is a wellness tool that works well alongside therapy and medication, and a 2022 systematic review of 56 randomized trials reported no adverse events across the studies it covered (Church et al., 2022). Bring in a professional if you're working with significant trauma, a diagnosed psychiatric condition, or a physical symptom that hasn't been evaluated yet: tapping can support the stress and emotion wrapped around those things, but it doesn't diagnose anything, and solo tapping on major trauma can bring up more than it settles. That's exactly when a trained practitioner earns their keep.

Beyond the clinical trials, we have our own view into this: people have completed more than 32 million tapping sessions in The Tapping Solution app, and we've measured the before-and-after intensity on more than 18 million of them. In an independent study of 270,461 app users, tapping was associated with a 44% average drop in anxiety and a 45% average drop in stress (Church & Stapleton, 2020, JMIR mHealth and uHealth).

This is self-reported data from people who chose to use a tapping app, not a controlled trial on its own. But at this scale, alongside the research above, it's a real-world picture of the same pattern showing up outside the lab.

Beth described what a number like that looks like from the inside, after a session called From Fear and Worry to Peace: "It's grounding impact; from high energy anxiety to mild tranquility. WOW!" (Rated 9 before, 5 after.)

The app's own Intro to Tapping and The App (Start Here) session, built for people who are brand new to tapping, has been completed 41,742 times, with the average person's intensity dropping from 5.6 to 4.2, a 24% drop, in a single guided session.

Ready to build on the basics? Browse our full tapping points chart, our example tapping phrases, or a ready-made tapping script to follow word for word. If anxiety is your main target, our tapping sequence for anxiety is a good next stop, and our guide to calming your nervous system puts tapping in context alongside other tools.

Want to work with someone one-on-one? Find an EFT practitioner.