Lecture Given on 4th October 2008 to the European College of Hypnotherapy

“Is EFT exploiting residual mechanisms derived from our primate grooming evolutionary past?”

By Edmund Law EFT Advanced Practitioner (AAMET).

Abstract: That EFT is effective in part at least because the tapping is similar to primate grooming and is exploiting the same ‘feel-good’ mechanism.

Why do I like EFT and use it in my therapy practise (where I use EFT and hypnotherapy)?

1. The case history becomes part of immediate therapy. This establishes instant rapport. The therapist is immediately engaged by and involved in the problem and is not just an analytical listener. This creates confidence in the therapist/therapy from the outset.
2. It concentrates on the negative. It accepts the negative. It removes the negative.
3. It is therefore an ideal preparation for positive suggestion to follow as in hypnotherapy.

EVIDENCE?

Various studies (Wells, Waite & Hodder, Rowe, Elder, Karber, Baker & Siegel, Salas, Schoninger) and a study of 29,000 patients in Argentina and Uruguay (Andrade & Feinstein) arguably show that EFT is more effective than CBT. It has been used in many post-traumatic case histories, with war vets and in conflict zones around the world.

EEG Brian Scans show changes towards a normal profile after tapping. Changes are seen in the amygdala, with hyper pattern recognition via the nucleus accumbens and anterior cingulate. It is supposed that the prefontal cortex over-rides the amygdala whilst client is calmed and the client is simultaneously invoking the stressor.

However precision of tapping points or routines is not essential as different tapping practitioners, using different techniques, points and protocols all get better than placebo results. The same has been shown in ‘sham’ acupuncture which can be almost as effective as when the correct points are stimulated. So could vestigial grooming lie behind energy meridians?

MECHANISM

It is believed that signals from tapping “collide” with signals from thinking about the problem and disrupt or cancel them out. Serotonin secretion also increases. Mechanoreceptors (Meissner, Ruffini and Pacini corpuscles & Merkel discs) are stimulated. Acupressure points are more concentrated with these than average.

The calcium iron signals travel via myelinated fibres, ascend ipsilaterally through the medial lemniscus and trigger the somato-sensory cortex of the parietal lobes and prefrontal cortex. This then reaches the amgydala and hippocampus where the emotional problem is encoded and interferes with the established emotional pattern.

As the whole body is covered with mechanoreceptors to a greater or lesser extent so the system can be set off in many and varied ways i.e. different tapping protocols may be equally effective.

PRIMATE GROOMING?

But why are we wired this way? .....Could this be connected to Primate grooming?

Why is touching so important to us especially as we humans have language which should mean it is less important? Already we know that:

1. Primates become neurotic if prevented from grooming even if all other needs are met.
2. Horrible and unethical studies behind the Iron Curtain in the post-war period established that children deprived of touch were at best neurotic and at worst died early!
3. Grooming is essential to social interaction, mental health, hierarchies, alliances and co-operation in primates.
4. Looking for ticks etc will press and pull at hairs and skin in a way that is quite similar to a pin-prick (acupuncture) or a tap (acupressure).
5. My superficial study of primate grooming points suggests to me that similar areas are involved in primate grooming and the main acupressure or meridian points.
6. Grooming is used to calm distressed primates.
7. A recent study led by Prof Francis McGlone proved that stroking skin where hair is or was present in our evolutionary past (e.g. back of hand) at a steady 4 cms per second caused relaxation to be induced. The same did not work on the palms of the hand where hair has never been present. These c-tactile nerve fibres or "pleasure fibres" are more prevalent on areas where there was or is hair.

During our hominid evolution we lost most of our bodily hair, developed language, clothing and restrictive social conventions about touch. However our primate ancestors were grooming for 30 million years of evolution and our hominid ancestors for most of the 3 million years of hominid evolution. This rich inheritance is not going to be switched off ‘overnight’ in the evolutionary timescale. A recent study on the genetics of human lice suggests that we lost our body hair only 600,000 years ago about the time of Homo Heidelbergensis - a pinprick in evolutionary time, sufficient in my view to leave strong residual pathways.

TESTING THE THEORY

1. First recruit primatologists to map the most common primate grooming spots with acupressure points. My prediction is that a statistically significant correlation will be found.
2. Test the efficacy of EFT with the tapping but without the accompanying verbal therapy.
3. Test the efficacy of EFT without the tapping but with the accompanying verbal therapy.
4. Teach captive apes (by copying human instructors) to do EFT-like tapping when grooming or even instead of grooming and look at the results. Do the enjoy it and carry on without enducement/reward from the laboratory assistants?

CC Copyright Edmund Law 2008 All Rights Reserved.