The Freedom Room offers both EFT and CBT Therapy as part of the ongoing work we do with our clients to help with alcohol and drug misuse.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), sometimes playfully referred to as “tapping,” is a valuable and evidence-based energy psychology tool that offers relief from stress and a wide range of other challenges. Despite the name, EFT isn’t about suppressing emotions but rather about gently processing the energy of long-held fear, anger, and worry through nurturing our bodies with tapping. This process can help us move from feeling overwhelmed by these emotions to a state of greater calm, ease, and inner peace, allowing our natural sense of self-worth to flourish.
What is the role of an EFT Practitioner?
The role of an EFT Practitioner (also known as ‘Emotional Freedom Technique Therapist’) is to support and guide the release of emotional trauma held within the body and in subconscious memories in a safe and controlled way.
An EFT Therapist is trained and qualified to support clients in navigating and clearing both small ‘t’ and big ‘T’ traumas that they may have experienced in their lives. Each trauma is unique and will have its own pain points and nuances; a trained EFT practitioner will be able to identify these and work to clear them effectively.
One of the main priorities of an EFT practitioner is to ensure that the individual doesn’t relive the trauma and therefore experience all the hurt and pain they would have felt in the past. EFT is very safe therapy when dealing with traumatic memories, whereas more traditional talking therapies can sometimes leave you feeling like you’ve ‘opened a can of worms’ at the end of a session. Due to its nature EFT is working on clearing negative emotions so an individual will always feel better.
The aim of an EFT Practitioner is to get an individual to a place where the traumatic event no longer has an emotional charge; they look at it from a completely different perspective or are no longer able to access the memory.
What health areas does EFT focus on?
The ‘Emotional Freedom Technique’ can be effectively used as part of any healing journey. All illnesses, whether physical or mental, have an emotional root; we encourage all clients to explore this aspect in our sessions. Once the emotional stress has been cleared, the body is able to relax and enter into a parasympathetic nervous system state, which allows the healing process to begin. Often, individuals remain in a stress cycle due to unresolved emotions, which means they are unable to heal.
Areas where EFT is known to be particularly beneficial, are:
- Addictions
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Sexual/Emotional/Physical Abuse
- PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- Stress Management
- Childhood Trauma
- Phobias
- Pain Management
- Loss and Grief
- Self-Confidence/Self-Esteem
How EFT Works:
EFT, or Tapping, offers a gentle yet effective way to work with our body’s natural stress response. Deep within our brain lies a small but powerful structure called the amygdala, which acts as a vigilant alarm system. When it senses danger, whether a genuine physical threat or something our mind interprets as stressful, it initiates the well-known “fight, flight, or freeze” response. This floods our system with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, quickens our heart rate, and sharpens our senses – all designed to help us survive.
However, in our modern lives, this ancient survival mechanism can sometimes become overactive, reacting intensely to everyday stressors or even being triggered by past experiences. This chronic activation can negatively affect our overall well-being.
This is where EFT comes in. The gentle tapping on specific acupressure points on the face and upper body while we focus on a particular distressing thought or emotion is believed to send a calming signal directly to the amygdala. It’s as if we’re gently reassuring that alarm system, communicating that the perceived threat is not as overwhelming as it feels in that moment. This physical stimulation, paired with the cognitive focus on the issue at hand, helps to disrupt the typical stress response pathway, allowing our nervous system to return to a more balanced state.
Over time, consistently using EFT can help to retrain this response, reducing the intensity and frequency of those overwhelming fight, flight or freeze reactions. Regular tapping can foster a greater sense of inner calm and emotional resilience in your daily life, allowing you to navigate the challenges of our busy world more easily.
What is Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy?
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is a psychological treatment proven effective for a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol use, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. Research shows that CBT is as effective as, or more effective than, other therapies or psychiatric medications.
CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns. These strategies might include:
- Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them in light of reality.
- Gaining a better understanding of the behavior and motivation of others.
- Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations.
- Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities.
How it works
CBT Therapy also usually involves efforts to change behavioural patterns. These strategies might include:
- Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them.
- Using role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others.
- Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body.
CBT places an emphasis on helping individuals learn to be their own therapists. Through in-session exercises and “homework” tasks, patients/clients develop coping skills. This allows them to learn to change their own thinking, problematic emotions, and behaviour.
CBT therapists emphasize what is going on in the person’s current life, rather than what has led to their difficulties. Although a certain amount of information about one’s history is needed, the focus primarily remains on moving forward. In time this will help to develop more effective ways of coping with life.
Mindfulness and ACT
Mindfulness is described as maintaining contact with the present moment rather than drifting off into automatic pilot. Practicing mindfulness helps an individual connect with the observing self, which is aware of but separate from the thinking self. These techniques help people to increase awareness of each of the five senses as well as their thoughts and emotions. ACT does not attempt to directly change or stop unwanted thoughts or feelings but instead encourages people to develop a new and compassionate relationship with those experiences.
Mindfulness also increases an individual’s ability to detach from thoughts. Challenges related to painful feelings, urges, or situations are often first reduced and then eventually accepted. Acceptance is the ability to allow internal and external experience to occur instead of fighting or avoiding the experience. If someone thinks, “I’m a terrible person,” that person might be asked to instead say, “I am having the thought that I’m a terrible person.” This effectively separates the person from the cognition, thereby stripping it of its negative charge.
When people feel anxiety, they are encouraged to acknowledge it, breathe into it, and let it be without exaggerating or minimizing.