Emotional freedom techniques: Stress and anxiety management for students and staff in school settings.

Abstract

E motional Freedom Techniques (EFT), more commonly known as tapping, is an emerging, research-based intervention that has been found to be an effective stress and anxiety management tool for students and school personnel. EFT uses cognitive behavior therapy techniques, such as awareness building, imaginal exposure, reframing of interpretation, and systematic desensitization, while teaching the individual to self-stimulate protocol-identified acupoints (i.e., acupuncture points; Craig, 2011;Feinstein, 2004). Guided by a school counselor, psychologist, or social worker formally trained in EFT, students talk about their stress and anxiety. As they focus on the stressor and develop an awareness of their body's stress cues (e.g., increased sweating, clenched jaw, racing thoughts, difficulty breathing, pressure in the chest), the counselor teaches them to self-stimulate the EFT acupoints by tapping on them. Concurrently, the counselor assists the students in positively reframing negative self-talk associated with the stressor as they continue to tap. The use of EFT with children and adolescents is relatively new, and therefore, research on its effectiveness is limited. Within the last decade, initial results have indicated that EFT assists students in reducing anxiety (Gaesser & Karan, 2017;Sezgin & Özcan, 2009) and the fear of failure (Stapleton et al., 2017) and in

The Effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques on Reducing Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Women Affected by Marital Infidelity

“…The results of the current study demonstrated that the training in Emotional Freedom Technique led to a reduction in the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following emotional trauma in women affected by marital infidelity. No study directly corresponding to the present research focused on PTSD symptoms in women affected by infidelity was found; however, this study aligns with the previous findings (Akbari et al, 2023;Alamdar Baghini et al, 2021;Church, 2014;Church et al, 2016;Church et al, 2018;Church et al, 2017;Clond, 2016;Dincer & Inangil, 2021;Gaesser, 2020;Minewiser et al, 2016;Nicosia et al, 2019;Sebastian & Nelms, 2017;Study, 2017;Yavari Kermani et al, 2020).…”

“…Many psychologists believe that delivering gentle, calculated taps on particular body points creates a balance in the body's energy system. This method focuses on reconstructing the nervous system and releasing unpleasant emotions; when an individual fully accepts themselves, they have traversed half the path and expend less energy hiding their problems and flaws (Gaesser, 2020).…”

What Do We Need to Teach New Teachers About Child Mental Health?

“…This paper wishes to draw attention to the following research that supports identified therapeutic approaches for future research and consideration. In particular, Dyadic Developmental Practice DDP (Philips, Milim and Hughes, 2020;Hughes, Golding and Hudson, 2019;Bomber, Golding and Philips 2020), Social Neuroscience (Cozolino, 2013), Neurosequential Model in Education (NME) (Perry, 2009), Child -Mentalization Based Treatment (C-MBT) (Bateman and Fonagy, 2013;Twemlow, Fonagy and Sacco, 2005a), Internal Family Systems (IFS) (Swartz and Sweezy, 2019;Spiegel, 2017;Wark, Thomas and Peterson, 2001), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy & Embedded Relational Mindfulness (Ogden, Goldstein and Fisher, 2013;Ogden and Fisher, 2015;Ogden and Goldstein, 2017), Mindsight (Siegel, 2010), The Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2018;Dana, 2018;Beauchaine, Gatzke-Kopp and Mead, 2017) Attachment (Bowlby, 1970;Ainsworth and Bell, 1970;Main, 2000) and Emotional Freedom Techniques (Clond, 2016;Stapleton et al, 2017;Gaesser, 2020). Future papers would critically analyse the research that suggests implementation would greatly support child mental health and gives strength to the argument that teacher training could potentially include understanding of a number of these therapeutic approaches to improve child mental health outcomes.…”

El Desarrollo de Habilidades Blandas a Través de la Técnica Mindfulness y las Expresiones Artísticas en el Ámbito Escolar

“…La falta de gestión de las emociones entre estudiantes representa una preocupación tanto en el ámbito escolar como en su desarrollo personal. Esta carencia se relaciona directamente con un bajo desempeño académico, ya que las emociones no gestionadas pueden interferir con la capacidad de concentración, el rendimiento en las tareas y la interacción positiva con los demás (Gaesser, 2020). A pesar de la creciente conciencia sobre la importancia de las habilidades blandas, como la autorregulación emocional, las prácticas integradoras para desarrollar estas habilidades siguen siendo limitadas en muchos entornos educativos.…”