EFT tapping is an alternative acupressure therapy treatment used to restore balance to your disrupted energy. It’s been an authorized treatment for war veterans with PTSD, and it’s demonstrated some benefits as a treatment for anxiety, depression, physical pain, and insomnia. While there are some success stories, researchers are still investigating its effectiveness on other disorders and illnesses. Continue to seek traditional treatment options. However, if you decide to pursue this alternative therapy, consult with your doctor first to reduce the likelihood of injury or worsening symptoms.

What is EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)? 5-step technique for anxiety relief

Emotional freedom technique (EFT) is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. It’s also referred to as tapping or psychological acupressure.

People who use this technique believe tapping the body can create a balance in your energy system and treat pain. According to its developer, Gary Craig, a disruption in energy is the cause of all negative emotions and pain.

Though still being researched, EFT tapping has been used to treat people with anxiety and people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

How does EFT Tapping work?

Similar to acupuncture, EFT focuses on the meridian points — or energy hot spots — to restore balance to your body’s energy. It’s believed that restoring this energy balance can relieve symptoms a negative experience or emotion may have caused.

Based on Chinese medicine, meridian points are thought of as areas of the body energy flows through. These pathways help balance energy flow to maintain your health. Any imbalance can influence disease or sickness.

Acupuncture uses needles to apply pressure to these energy points. EFT uses fingertip tapping to apply pressure.

Proponents say the tapping helps you access your body’s energy and send signals to the part of the brain that controls stress. They claim that stimulating the meridian points through EFT tapping can reduce the stress or negative emotion you feel from your issue, ultimately restoring balance to your disrupted energy.

EFT tapping in 5 steps

EFT tapping can be divided into five steps. If you have more than one issue or fear, you can repeat this sequence to address it and reduce or eliminate the intensity of your negative feeling.

1. Identify the issue

In order for this technique to be effective, you must first identify the issue or fear you have. This will be your focal point while you’re tapping. Focusing on only one problem at a time is purported to enhance your outcome.

2. Test the initial intensity

After you identify your problem area, you need to set a benchmark level of intensity. The intensity level is rated on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst or most difficult. The scale assesses the emotional or physical pain and discomfort you feel from your focal issue.

Establishing a benchmark helps you monitor your progress after performing a complete EFT sequence. If your initial intensity was 10 prior to tapping and ended at 5, you’d have accomplished a 50 percent improvement level.

3. The setup

Prior to tapping, you need to establish a phrase that explains what you’re trying to address. It must focus on two main goals:

  • acknowledging the issues
  • accepting yourself despite the problem

The common setup phrase is: “Even though I have this [fear or problem], I deeply and completely accept myself.”

You can alter this phrase so that it fits your problem, but it must not address someone else’s. For example, you can’t say, “Even though my mother is sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.” You have to focus on how the problem makes you feel in order to relieve the distress it causes. It’s better to address this situation by saying, “Even though I’m sad my mother is sick, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

4. EFT tapping sequence

The EFT tapping sequence is the methodic tapping on the ends of nine meridian points.

There are 12 major meridians that mirror each side of the body and correspond to an internal organ. However, EFT mainly focuses on these nine:

  • karate chop (KC): small intestine meridian
  • top of head (TH): governing vessel
  • eyebrow (EB): bladder meridian
  • side of the eye (SE): gallbladder meridian
  • under the eye (UE): stomach meridian
  • under the nose (UN): governing vessel
  • chin (Ch): central vessel
  • beginning of the collarbone (CB): kidney meridian
  • under the arm (UA): spleen meridian

Begin by tapping the karate chop point while simultaneously reciting your setup phrase three times. Then, tap each following point seven times, moving down the body in this ascending order:

  • eyebrow
  • side of the eye
  • under the eye
  • under the nose
  • chin
  • beginning of the collarbone
  • under the arm

After tapping the underarm point, finish the sequence at the top of the head point.

While tapping the ascending points, recite a reminder phrase to maintain focus on your problem area. If your setup phrase is, “Even though I’m sad my mother is sick, I deeply and completely accept myself,” your reminder phrase can be, “The sadness I feel that my mother is sick.” Recite this phrase at each tapping point. Repeat this sequence two or three times.

5. Test the final intensity

At the end of your sequence, rate your intensity level on a scale from 0 to 10. Compare your results with your initial intensity level. If you haven’t reached 0, repeat this process until you do.

The bottom line

EFT tapping is an alternative acupressure therapy treatment used to restore balance to your disrupted energy. It’s been an authorized treatment for war veterans with PTSD, and it’s demonstrated some benefits as a treatment for anxiety, depression, physical pain, and insomnia.

While there are some success stories, researchers are still investigating its effectiveness on other disorders and illnesses. Continue to seek traditional treatment options. However, if you decide to pursue this alternative therapy, consult with your doctor first to reduce the likelihood of injury or worsening symptoms.

EFT tapping is an alternative acupressure therapy treatment used to restore balance to your disrupted energy. It’s been an authorized treatment for war veterans with PTSD, and it’s demonstrated some benefits as a treatment for anxiety, depression, physical pain, and insomnia. While there are some success stories, researchers are still investigating its effectiveness on other disorders and illnesses. Continue to seek traditional treatment options. However, if you decide to pursue this alternative therapy, consult with your doctor first to reduce the likelihood of injury or worsening symptoms.

Relationship Tips: Restore and Repair

The holiday period can be stressful for many people and can often put pressure on relationships. When conflict does arise, it’s important to remember to be gentle. Tonia, Clinical Family Therapist at Relationships Australia SA, shares tips for helping to restore and repair and your relationship after conflict.

5 Tips to Refresh Your Relationship in

Good relationships are good for you and your children. People in supportive, loving relationships are more likely to feel healthy, happy and satisfied with their lives.

They are less likely to have mental or physical health problems or do things that affect their health. People in good relationships help each other practically as well as emotionally. They share the good times and help each other through the tough ones. All relationships have challenging times.

It’s never too late to improve your relationship and your children will benefit from your efforts.. To mark the new year, we’ve put together a few tips to help you ‘refresh your relationship’.

1. Express interest in your partner’s world

Learn what is happening in your partner’s world. Ask questions that show you are interested in their day-to-day life. We sometimes forget to check in with our partner or fail to respond to their attempts to connect. Over time this can create serious damage to the relationship. It can be as simple as asking, “How was your day?”

2. Be gentle in conflict

Avoid criticism or blame and try to focus on your own needs. For example, instead of saying, “You never help around the house,” focus on what you do need. For example, “The house needs cleaning and I would really appreciate some help.” Avoid statements of “You never…” or “You always…” It may take some practice at first.

3. Repair negative interactions

Take responsibility, even if it’s for only part of the problem. It can be difficult to admit being wrong or making a mistake, but Dr. Gottman holds ‘repair’ as one of the most important relationship skills. We can’t always avoid conflict, , so when couples make mistakes, hurt one another, or have fights – it is essential to have ways to repair the relationship. Conflict can actually deepen intimacy and bring couples closer together. Dr. Gottman says that, “conflict is an opportunity to learn how to love each other better over time.” The ability for couples to repair is directly related to the strength of their friendship. Distressed couples have as many repair attempts as happy couples, it is just that these repair attempts tend not to work because these partners don’t feel close, accepted, or safe enough.

4. Spend time alone together and make it a priority

If you have children, competing work schedules or other commitments, finding the time to be alone together without interruption can be a challenge. As with all new things, take small steps in the beginning. Thirty minutes alone together, with phones on silent is plenty of time to connect and discover what is happening in your partner’s world.

5. Express affection and let your partner know how you feel about them

We convey a great deal of information without using words with our body posture, the tone of voice, and with our facial expressions. These non-verbal ways of communicating tell the other person how we feel about them. If your feelings don’t align with your words, it tends to be the non-verbal messages that are heard and believed. If you can, kiss and hug your partner every day and give them a smile when you make eye contact. If you are uncomfortable with making physical contact, remember that small actions speak volumes! Doing something thoughtful and unexpected for your partner like picking a flower from the garden or unpacking the dishwasher, can go a long way in expressing how you feel.

Mental health - what's not what's not

Mental health: What’s normal, what’s not

What's considered normal mental health? Patterns in thoughts, feelings and behaviors can suggest when to get help for yourself or someone you care about.

What’s the difference between normal mental health and mental disorders? Sometimes the answer is clear, but often the distinction isn’t so obvious. For example, if you’re afraid of giving a speech in public, does it mean you have a mental health disorder or a run-of-the-mill case of nerves? Or, when does shyness become a case of social phobia?

Here’s help understanding how mental health conditions are identified.

What is Mental health?

Mental health is the overall wellness of how you think, regulate your feelings and behave. Sometimes people experience a significant disturbance in this mental functioning. A mental disorder may be present when patterns or changes in thinking, feeling or behaving cause distress or disrupt a person’s ability to function. A mental health disorder may affect how well you:

 
  • Maintain personal or family relationships
  • Function in social settings
  • Perform at work or school
  • Learn at a level expected for your age and intelligence
  • Participate in other important activities

Cultural norms and social expectations also play a role in defining mental health disorders. There is no standard measure across cultures to determine whether a behavior is normal or when it becomes disruptive. What might be normal in one society may be a cause for concern in another.

How are mental health disorders defined?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a guide published by the American Psychiatric Association that explains the signs and symptoms of several hundred mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

 

The DSM provides criteria for making a diagnosis based on the nature, duration and impact of signs and symptoms. It also describes the typical course of the disorder, risk factors and common co-existing conditions.

Another commonly used diagnostic guideline is the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) from the World Health Organization.

Health insurance companies use the diagnostic coding system of the DSM and ICD in determining coverage and benefits and to reimburse mental health professionals.

How do mental health professionals diagnose disorders?

A diagnosis of a mental health condition may be made by a psychiatrist, psychologist, clinical social worker or other mental health professional. Your primary care doctor may also be involved in a diagnostic assessment or make referrals to a mental health specialist.

A diagnosis may be based on the following:

 
  • A medical history of physical illness or mental health disorders in you or in your family
  • A complete physical to identify or rule out a condition that may be causing symptoms
  • Questions about your current concerns or why you’re seeking help
  • Questions about how recent events or changes in your life — trauma, relationships, work, death of a friend or relative — have affected how you think, feel or behave
  • Questionnaires or other formal tests that ask for your feedback on how you think, feel or behave in typical situations
  • Questions about past and current alcohol and drug use
  • A history of trauma, abuse, family crises or other major life events
  • Questions about past or current thoughts about violence against yourself or others
  • Questionnaires or interviews completed by someone who knows you well, such as a parent or spouse

When is an evaluation or treatment needed?

Each mental health condition has its own signs and symptoms. In general, however, professional help might be needed if you experience:

  • Marked changes in personality, eating or sleeping patterns
  • An inability to cope with problems or daily activities
  • Feeling of disconnection or withdrawal from normal activities
  • Unusual or “magical” thinking
  • Excessive anxiety
  • Prolonged sadness, depression or apathy
  • Thoughts or statements about suicide or harming others
  • Substance misuse
  • Extreme mood swings
  • Excessive anger, hostility or violent behavior
 

Many people who have mental health disorders consider their signs and symptoms a normal part of life or avoid treatment out of shame or fear. If you’re concerned about your mental health, don’t hesitate to seek advice.

Consult your primary care doctor or make an appointment with a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional. It may be important for you to find a professional who is familiar with your culture or who demonstrates an understanding of the cultural and social context that’s relevant to your experiences and life story.

With appropriate support, you can identify mental health conditions and receive appropriate treatment, such as medications or counseling.

A Mental Sign Of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

A Mental Sign Of Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Around one-in-eight people over 50 are low in vitamin B12 levels.

Poor memory, problems with thinking skills and even depression have all been linked to vitamin B12 deficiency.

Lack of vitamin B12 has also been linked to brain shrinkage with age.

People with higher vitamin B12 levels are six times less likely to suffer brain shrinkage, one study has found.

Vitamin B12 levels can be boosted through supplementation or by eating foods such as dairy, liver, salmon and eggs.

People who may have difficulty getting enough vitamin B12 include vegetarians, older people and those with some digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease.

Along with cognitive warnings, a physical sign of vitamin B12 deficiency is weakness in the muscles.

 

A review of the research has found that vitamin B12 is important in improving muscle strength and function.

 

A B12 deficiency, along with other dietary factors, can contribute to sarcopenia, which is the gradual loss of muscle mass.

Sarcopenia can lead to falls and increase the risk of bone fractures, as well as other injuries.

Professor Jean-Philippe Bonjour, study co-author, said:

“The most obvious intervention against sarcopenia is exercise in the form of resistance training.

However, adequate nutritional intake and an optimal dietary acid-base balance are also very important elements of any strategy to preserve muscle mass and strength during aging.”

Other dietary factors are also important in maintaining muscles with age.

Naturally, getting enough protein, the building blocks of muscle, is vital.

Similarly, vitamin D also plays a role in maintaining strength.

More fruits and vegetables in general are good for health and also for musculoskeletal health.

In contrast, high intakes of meat and cereal grains can increase acidity in the body, which is bad for the muscles.

Dr Ambrish Mithal, the study’s first author, said:

“Strategies to reduce the numbers of falls and fractures within our aging populations must include measures to prevent sarcopenia.

At present, the available evidence suggests that combining resistance training with optimal nutritional status has a synergistic effect in preventing and treating sarcopenia.”