EFT has been approved as a “generally safe” therapy by the US Veterans Administration (VA), and so can be used by VA therapists, along with several other complementary therapies that also won approval, for treating PTSD, depression, anxiety and pain.
Although EFT has been studied in more than a hundred clinical trials, a meta-analysis – or review of a range of studies – finally convinced the VA to accept the therapy as being safe and effective.
Soldiers returning from the war in Iraq in 2004 were some of the first to be treated with EFT, but the VA rejected it for many years, despite calls from several members of Congress to reconsider the decision.
It was trialled at the army base, Fort Hood, for some years until the programme was shut down in 2015, and this was replaced by the Veterans’ Stress Project, which helped create the protocols for treating PTSD, including the recommendation of 10 EFT sessions.
EFT uses a tapping technique that follows the meridian points used in acupuncture.
