A simple finger tapping technique can relieve anxiety within minutes, a study has shown.
The method involves tapping eight specific points on the body with the tips of the index and middle fingers for ten minutes.
These “acupuncture points” are located at the ends of so-called “meridians,” pathways in the body through which energy flows, according to traditional Chinese medicine.
The tapping method was combined with mental reframing exercises, resulting in a strategy called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).
A simple finger-tapping technique can ease anxiety within minutes, a study shows (stock image)
The researchers did not report individual results for the study volunteers, but on average, the 22 students with specific phobias who took part in the study reported less stress with the objects of their phobias after treatment.
In fact, on this scale they fell below the threshold that qualified them to participate in the first place.
They also reported that, on average, they were less afraid of their feared situations and had less difficulty approaching the object of their fear.
In all three measures, they improved significantly more after using EFT than after a breathing exercise. None reported negative side effects.
It is more effective at reducing anxiety than deep breathing, the study published in the journal Explore shows.
EFT is a non-pharmaceutical approach that includes elements of acupressure, exposure therapy and cognitive restructuring.
Participants with specific phobias such as cockroaches, snakes, syringes, and fear of heights were asked to focus on the object of their fear while either breathing deeply with their diaphragm or doing the acupressure exercises of EFT.
The researchers then assessed their anxiety levels using a standard questionnaire that asked them about their physical and mental anxiety symptoms when they thought about their specific fear.
They also assessed participants’ overall distress and anxiety related to their phobias, as well as their ability to address their phobia without excessive anxiety.
The volunteers were divided into two groups, one trying the EFT tapping exercises first and the other trying deep breathing first.
In this study design, known as a “crossover,” both treatments were tested on both groups, so that the group that used EFT first then tried deep breathing and vice versa.
Each group completed five two-minute rounds of each treatment, so EFT only took 10 minutes total.
In the study, people who used EFT for the first time showed a significant reduction in phobia-related anxiety and found it easier to approach the object of their fear, including heights, cockroaches, snakes, syringes, darkness, and cockroaches.
The group that started with deep breathing showed a reduction in subjective anxiety (to 5.7 points on the 12-point scale), but not as much as the EFT group (2.9 points on the same scale).
When the EFT group tried deep breathing, their already reduced anxiety remained low. And when the deep breathing group tried EFT, their anxiety decreased and matched the other group’s anxiety.
A similar effect occurred on the physical and mental effects of anxiety: The deep breathing group’s average score on the 45-point anxiety scale fell to 27.9, while the EFT group’s score fell to 15.9. When the deep breathers tried EFT, their average score dropped to 15.3.
“Specific phobias are an extreme fear of objects or situations that pose little or no danger but make you very anxious,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
When a person feels fear, their sympathetic nervous system is activated, a state commonly known as “fight-or-flight mode.”
The idea behind EFT is that it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that restores a state of calm and relaxation.
To perform the short version of EFT used in the study, participants tapped eight specific points on their bodies with the tips of their index and middle fingers.
“These points correspond to the end points of traditional acupuncture meridians,” write the study authors. The first dot they tapped was on the side of their hand next to the little finger.
“While they were doing this, they repeated an affirmative statement three times. For example: “Although I am afraid of heights, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Then, as they went through the remaining seven items, typing each one seven times, they repeated a memory phrase, such as “that fear of heights.”
According to the study, these seven tapping targets include the following points: “The beginning of each eyebrow, the outer corner of the eye, about an inch below each eye, under the nose, in the middle of the upper lip, between the lower lip,” and the chin, just below the end of the collarbone next to the breastbone and about four inches below the center of each armpit.
To increase realism, the test took place in the presence of the volunteer’s feared object.
For example, participants with a fear of heights performed the exercise near high sports bleachers, and participants with a fear of snakes performed the exercise near a snake research room.
This technique may sound too simple, but recent evidence shows its effectiveness, not only for phobias but also for other forms of anxiety. Nurses caring for COVID-19 patients participated in an EFT study in 2020 that showed significant positive effects on healthcare workers’ stress and anxiety.
And a 2016 review of 14 different studies totaling more than 600 participants showed that the technique is associated with significant reductions in anxiety levels.
Interestingly, although the acupressure component of the treatment has its roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, modern neuroscientific techniques suggest that some of the benefits come from changing the way different parts of the brain communicate with each other.
A 2022 study of 24 adults with chronic pain found that EFT reduced the severity of pain, reduced their anxiety, and improved their quality of life, among other benefits. And studying her brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed why this might be the case: “The fMRI analysis showed that after EFT treatment, connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (a pain-modulating area) and the bilateral areas of the Gray matter was significantly reduced in the posterior area.” and thalamus, both areas being related to the modulation and catastrophizing of pain.”
In other words, EFT appears to have a widespread impact on the brain, easing not only a person’s anxiety but also their experience of something as distressing as chronic pain.
Severe anxiety that significantly interferes with your daily life is something you should talk to a doctor about, but in the meantime it might be worth trying EFT for minor anxiety attacks before giving a public speech or confronting a cockroach in the kitchen.