EFT Tapping for Anxiety: How to Do It and What the Evidence Says

2 days ago

9 min read

Woman gently tapping her collarbone at home

EFT tapping is a self-help method in which you tap lightly on a set of points on your face and upper body while you focus on what is worrying you. Many people find it calms them within a few minutes, and a growing body of research suggests it may reduce anxiety. That research also has limits, which we set out below. This guide shows you the points, the order, a script you can adapt, and where tapping stops and professional care begins.

TL;DR

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) combines tapping on acupressure points with naming the problem aloud and a statement of self-acceptance.
You rate your anxiety from 0 to 10, tap through about eight or nine points, then rate it again. A round takes a few minutes.
Reviews report a significant drop in anxiety scores, but the authors also say the studies vary in quality and larger, better trials are needed.
Tapping is a complement to care, not a replacement. If anxiety feels overwhelming or does not ease, speak to a GP or refer yourself to NHS talking therapies.
If tapping calms the surface but something deeper keeps returning, we offer one-to-one energy healing and QHHT sessions in Kent and Greater London.

What EFT tapping is
Does EFT tapping work for anxiety?
How to tap for anxiety, step by step
The EFT points for anxiety, in order
A simple tapping script you can adapt
When tapping is not enough
Our perspective
Making tapping a habit
Working with us
FAQ
Sources

What EFT tapping is

EFT is sometimes called tapping. It blends elements of cognitive therapy with stimulation of acupressure points. One academic overview describes it as an integrative practice grounded in energy psychology that combines cognitive behavioural elements with acupressure. You do it on yourself, with your fingertips, and you do not need equipment.

The idea is simple. You bring the anxious feeling to mind, say it out loud, and tap while you stay with it. The cognitive part is the wording: you name the problem honestly and pair it with acceptance. The physical part is the gentle touch. Researchers working on Clinical EFT say the cognitive component is modelled on CBT and exposure therapy, where you face a distressing thought in a controlled way rather than pushing it away.

That is also why tapping tends to feel different from distraction. You are not trying to stop thinking about the worry. You are thinking about it while your body is doing something steadying.

Does EFT tapping work for anxiety?

The honest answer is: it looks promising, and it is not yet proven to the standard of treatments such as CBT.

Here is what the research says.

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2016 looked at studies up to December 2015. Fourteen studies with 658 participants met the criteria, and EFT treatment was linked to a significant decrease in anxiety scores.
A Frontiers in Psychology paper from 2022 reports that the 2016 meta-analysis found a large effect on anxiety compared with controls (Cohen’s d = 1.23). It also notes that EFT has shown results similar to CBT in some recent trials.
A more recent review of EFT for anxiety disorders, covering research through February 2025, calls EFT a promising and safe complementary intervention. It adds that differences between studies and methodological weaknesses prevent firm conclusions, and that high-quality randomised trials are needed.

Read those together and a fair picture emerges. Tapping is low-risk and many studies show benefit. The authors of the 2016 review also point out that more comparisons against established treatments, such as CBT, are needed before it can be clinically validated. So treat it as a useful tool in your kit, not a cure.

There is one more thing worth saying plainly. Part of the benefit may come from pausing, breathing more slowly, naming a feeling and being kind to yourself. Those are all helpful in their own right, and tapping gives you a structure for doing them.

How to tap for anxiety, step by step

The sequence below follows the standard approach described by the Cleveland Clinic and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Find somewhere quiet and sit comfortably.

Name the problem. Be specific. “I feel anxious” works, but “my chest is tight about tomorrow’s meeting” works better.
Rate it. Give the feeling a score from 0 (none) to 10 (the worst). Write the number down.
Write your setup statement. The usual format is: “Even though I have this anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.” You can swap in your own words for the problem.
Tap the setup point while saying the statement. Tap the side of the hand (the karate chop point) and repeat the statement three times.
Tap through the sequence. Tap each point about seven to nine times while you say a short reminder phrase such as “this anxiety” or “this tightness in my chest”.
Take a breath and re-rate. Check your score. If it has dropped but not gone, run another round with the wording “this remaining anxiety”.

Use light pressure, with two or more fingertips. You should not bruise or hurt yourself. If any point feels uncomfortable, it is fine to skip it, because the method is flexible.

The EFT points for anxiety, in order

The points run from the hand to the top of the head. The order below is the one given by the Cleveland Clinic.

Order	Point	Where it is
Setup	Side of the hand	The fleshy edge of either hand, below the little finger
1	Inner eyebrow	Start of the eyebrow, next to the nose
2	Side of the eye	The bone at the outer corner of the eye
3	Under the eye	The bone just below the pupil
4	Under the nose	The dip between nose and upper lip
5	Under the lip	The crease between lower lip and chin
6	Collarbone	Just below the collarbone, a thumb’s width from the centre
7	Under the arm	About a hand’s width below the armpit, along the side of the ribcage
8	Crown of the head	The top of the head

Most people tap with one hand on the face points and either hand on the body points. Which side you use does not matter.

Anxiety often sits in the body as tight shoulders, a clenched jaw or tension headaches. If you notice that, there is useful reading on easing stress-related tension in the body, and tapping the face and collarbone points can be a gentle way to check in with those areas as you go.

A simple tapping script you can adapt

You can personalise the words. Insert your own anxious thought into the setup statement, using phrases that acknowledge the feeling and still affirm self-acceptance, such as “Even though I feel anxious about X, I fully accept myself”.

Here is an example for anxiety about an upcoming event.

Setup point (three times): “Even though I feel anxious about Friday, and my stomach is in knots, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Through the points, one phrase per point:

Inner eyebrow: “This anxiety about Friday.”
Side of the eye: “My stomach is in knots.”
Under the eye: “What if it goes badly?”
Under the nose: “I am scared of getting it wrong.”
Under the lip: “All this worry.”
Collarbone: “I feel it in my whole body.”
Under the arm: “Some of me wants to let this go.”
Crown: “I can let a little of this go.”

When you finish, breathe out slowly and re-rate. Then run a second round with softer wording, for example “Even though I still feel some of this anxiety, I am open to feeling calmer.”

Two tips help. First, stay honest: words that feel false do little. Second, if a memory comes up that feels too big, stop, breathe, and put your feet on the floor. That is a sign to work with a trained person rather than push on alone.

When tapping is not enough

Tapping is for the everyday tide of worry. It is not the right tool for everything.

If you feel overwhelmed and cannot bring the intensity down on your own, the Cleveland Clinic advises you to reach out to a healthcare professional. In the UK, the NHS says that if anxiety affects your daily life you should contact NHS 111 or talk to a GP. If you live in England and are 18 or over, you can refer yourself to NHS talking therapies without a GP referral, and you do not need a diagnosis.

See a GP, rather than relying on tapping, if:

anxiety has lasted weeks and is getting in the way of work, sleep or relationships;
you have panic attacks, or physical symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath that you cannot tell are anxiety (the NHS advises seeing a GP if you are unsure);
you are using alcohol or other substances to cope;
you have thoughts of harming yourself. In that case contact NHS 111, or 999 in an emergency.

Tapping can sit alongside all of this. Many people use it between appointments as a way to steady themselves.

For more structured routines, our guides on anxiety self-help exercises aligned with NHS advice and how to overcome anxiety go further. If your worry is about illness in particular, try fast relief for health anxiety.

Our perspective

We see tapping as a good first step, and often an honest one. It teaches people something many have never been shown: that they can do something with a feeling instead of simply enduring it.

In our sessions we meet many people who have tried the usual self-help and still feel stuck. They tap, they breathe, they journal, and the anxiety settles for an hour and then returns. When that happens we do not think the person has failed. We think the feeling is often tied to something older: a belief formed in childhood, an unprocessed loss, a sense of being unsafe that never switched off.

That is where we work, using QHHT and energy healing in a calm, trauma-informed space with no pressure to relive anything you are not ready for. Some clients find that tapping at home and a session with us complement each other. The tapping keeps day-to-day tension manageable, and the deeper work addresses the root. We never ask anyone to stop medical care or therapy, and we would always urge you to speak to your GP if anxiety is severe. If you are curious about how energy work treats a related issue, our article on energy healing for PTSD and the trial support for EFT goes into it, and emotional release therapy explains how we approach letting go of held feelings.

— Paul

Making tapping a habit

Researchers who write about EFT stress regular practice, because the method works best when it becomes familiar. A few ways to make it stick:

Anchor it to something you already do. Tap for two minutes after brushing your teeth, or before you open your emails.
Keep a score diary. Write the before and after number. Seeing a pattern, such as Sunday evenings always scoring a 7, tells you where to focus.
Use it early. It is easier to bring a 4 down to a 2 than a 9 to a 5. Tap when you first notice the tightness.
Combine it with grounding. Slow breathing, feet on the floor and naming five things you can see all make a round of tapping steadier. Our piece on grounding for anxiety has more to try.
Be patient with yourself. Some days a round will help a lot and some days barely at all. That is normal.

If you like the idea of calming the mind in other ways, our guide to mindfulness for anxiety is a natural companion to tapping.

Working with us

If you would like support beyond self-help, we offer in-person and remote sessions. Evolve Quantum Healing is our energy healing session combining Reiki, chakra balancing, cord cutting, timeline healing, belief transformation and emotional release, and it costs £99, either in person or remotely. For deeper exploration of the subconscious, a QHHT session is £369, or £399 if you would like us to come to you with our mobile service. You can see the options and book on our booking page, or read about energy healing in Bromley first. If you would rather start with a structured programme at your own pace, our Rising Higher online course for overcoming anxiety and depression is available through our main site.

FAQ

Can tapping help with anxiety?

It can for many people, and reviews of the research report a significant fall in anxiety scores after EFT. The same reviews say the studies differ in quality and that better trials are needed. Use it as a complement to professional support, not a substitute.

How often should I tap?

There is no fixed rule. Many people do one or two rounds when they feel anxious, plus a short daily practice of a few minutes. Each round of about seven to nine taps per point takes only a few minutes.

Is EFT tapping safe?

The 2025 review describes EFT as safe, and the technique is gentle. Skip any point that feels uncomfortable, and stop if a strong emotion or memory arises that feels hard to manage. In that case speak to a GP or a qualified therapist.

What should I do if I cannot control my anxiety anymore?

Contact a GP or NHS 111, or refer yourself to NHS talking therapies if you live in England. If you feel at immediate risk, call 999. Tapping can help you steady yourself while you arrange that support.