O EFT opera através do balanceamento energético dos meridianos descobertos pelos chineses há milhares de anos e utilizados na acupuntura para eliminar sintomas psíquicos e psicossomáticos. Ampliando esse uso percebeu-se que, mesmo sem agulhas, se poderia ter o efeito desejado de alívio de sintomas. Através de seqüências de toques que o próprio cliente aplica em alguns pontos por onde circulam os meridianos, as lembranças traumáticas são desarmadas de sua carga emocional, passando a ser sentidas como fatos da vida sem interferência negativa nas percepções de si, do presente e do futuro da pessoa.

O EFT é uma técnica prática, eficiente e de fácil auto aplicação. Há outras técnicas que utilizam este princípio (TAT, BSFF, TFT, NAEM). Em algumas sessões se restabelece o equilíbrio do fluxo energético nos meridianos e o cliente sente o alívio imediato.

Pesquisas acadêmicas vem provando a eficácia dessas técnicas.

O psiquiatra francês David Servan Schreiber, em seu livro Guérir mostra os resultados de várias pesquisas comprovando o uso da acupuntura para questões psíquicas. Um dos pontos interessantes diz respeito ao reequilíbrio entre o sistema nervoso simpático (do alerta) e o sistema nervoso parasimpático (do relaxamento) conseguido pela acupuntura e, posso garantir, pelo trabalho nos meridianos sem agulhas.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a psychotherapeutic tool that has been described as pseudoscientific by its critics. The theory behind EFT is that negative emotions are caused by disturbances in the body's energy field and that tapping on the meridians while thinking of a negative emotion alters the body's energy field, restoring it to "balance." Critics have suggested that its utility stems from its more traditional cognitive components, such as distraction from negative thoughts, rather than from manipulation of energy meridians.

EFT was created by Gary Craig in the mid 1990s, and is meant to be a simplification and improvement of Roger Callahan's Thought Field Therapy techniques. Craig trained with Callahan in the early 1990s. In 1993, Craig was the first person Callahan trained in his most advanced procedure, a proprietary procedure known as Voice Technology. Craig found through his experience that the sequence of tapping points did not matter and that special proprietary procedures were therefore unnecessary, so by the mid 1990s he had simplified Callahan's procedures.

EFT claims to relieve many psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, general stress, addictions and phobias. The basic EFT technique involves holding a disturbing memory or emotion in mental focus and simultaneously using the fingers to tap on a series of 12 specific points on the body that correspond to meridians used in Chinese medicine. The theory behind EFT is that negative emotions are caused by disturbances in the body's energy field and that tapping on the meridians while thinking of a negative emotion alters the body's energy field, restoring it to "balance."

The basic principle of EFT is: The underlying cause of all negative emotions is an imbalance in the body's energy system.

The theory states that negative emotions are built in the following stages: A negative experience occurs; negative emotions are felt in response to this negative experience, leading to inappropriate programming inside the body; and then the body's energy system gets disrupted due to these negative emotions. The contention of EFT is that in order to remove the negative responses, tackling the negative experience is not enough, because doing so cannot correct the energy imbalance. Rather, the energy imbalance must be restored along with curing the negative emotions.

The main difference between EFT and TFT lies not in principles, but in application. In TFT, a specific sequence of tapping points (known as an algorithm) is used for a particular problem. This sequence is determined using a procedure borrowed from applied kinesiology, called muscle testing.

In EFT, the order and sequence of tapping points is deemed to be unimportant, and therefore there are no individual algorithms for different problems. Instead, a comprehensive algorithm is used for all problems, and no diagnosis or muscle testing is required.

Texto retirado da Wikipedia e do site oficial EFT.