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sarahsweets · Feb 13, 2020 at 03:30 AM

I am not saying it wont work or that its bunk I just like to play devils advocate when the science doesnt add up. I am also not saying it didnt work for people. I tried accupuncture for pain and it did nothing for my pain but it did wonders for my anxiety. My issue is when treatments like these are exalted above evidence based treatments or at least pushed in lieu of other treatments or marketed as a cure or the "only" solution. In that case I feel like these types of treatments may cause harm in the sense that if they are pushed as the ideal solution, someone may avoid professional help. But for people who have tried the standard types of help and have a doctor or therapists' approval I see no harm.

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Advocates claim that the technique may be used to treat a wide variety of physical and psychological disorders, and as a simple form of self-administered therapy. The Skeptical Inquirer describes the foundations of EFT as "a hodgepodge of concepts derived from a variety of sources, [primarily] the ancient Chinese philosophy of chi, which is thought to be the 'life force' that flows throughout the body." The existence of this life force is "not empirically supported".

EFT has no benefit as a therapy beyond the placebo effect or any known-effective psychological techniques that may be provided in addition to the purported "energy" technique.[3] It is generally characterized as pseudoscience and it has not garnered significant support in clinical psychology.

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Research quality
EFT has no useful effect as a therapy beyond the placebo effect or any known-effective psychological techniques that may be used with the purported "energy" technique, but proponents of EFT have published material claiming otherwise. Their work, however, is flawed and hence unreliable: high-quality research has never confirmed that EFT is effective.

A 2009 review found "methodological flaws" in research studies that had reported "small successes" for EFT and the related Tapas Acupressure Technique. The review concluded that positive results may be "attributable to well-known cognitive and behavioral techniques that are included with the energy manipulation. Psychologists and researchers should be wary of using such techniques, and make efforts to inform the public about the ill effects of therapies that advertise miraculous claims."

A 2016 systematic review found that EFT was effective in reducing anxiety compared to controls, but also called for more research comparing its effectiveness to that of established treatments.