A New Way to Accelerate Addiction Recovery
One of my more memorable experiences working with EFT Tapping and addiction arrived about a half hour after the first screening of my documentary “The Tapping Solution” several years ago. The audience had really liked the movie, so there was a lot of excitement during the post-screening discussion. Given the mood in the room, the last thing I expected was this question from an audience member:
“I’m sorry, but I’ve been in here for over 2 hours. I’m desperate for a cigarette, can we tap on it?”
I of course agreed, and we spent the next five minutes tapping as a group, focusing on this man’s physical craving for a cigarette. By the end of several rounds of Tapping, he was amazed that he no longer felt the need to smoke. He shared that he’d really been enjoying our discussion, hadn’t wanted to leave, and was excited to have his craving out of the way so quickly!
Since that day, I’ve helped many others, using EFT to quiet, and over time resolve, different addictions, from mind-altering substances to food and more. For those of you unfamiliar with EFT Tapping, it combines the best of both healing worlds: Eastern wisdom about acupressure, or “meridian points” in our bodies, and traditional Western psychotherapy, or “talk therapy.” The practice consists of tapping with your fingertips on nine specific meridian points while talking through traumatic memories and a wide range of emotions. Because EFT accesses the “stress centers” in your brain on physical and emotional levels simultaneously, EFT can effectively treat conditions like addiction, which often can’t be resolved successfully with psychotherapy alone, or with other alternative therapies.
Treating addiction with EFT Tapping is a two-part process. The most urgent issue is typically the physical craving, which is what EFT resolved for that movie audience member. Tapping can provide surprisingly fast relief for cravings, which allows people to lower their use/intake of the addicting substance or activity surprisingly quickly. Tapping also gives addicts a healthy replacement for their addiction. For instance, someone who’s trying to stop drinking alcohol can briefly excuse him or herself from a dinner party and go into the kitchen or bathroom to tap for a few minutes to calm themselves and quiet the physical craving to drink wine.
For true long-term resolution of any addiction, you also need to address the root causes, which are the unresolved emotional issues behind the addiction. For example, an alcoholic who began drinking excessively after a divorce would ultimately need to do Tapping around his or feelings of loss or betrayal from the breakdown of that marriage, rather than just Tapping on the alcohol abuse. To do that, of course, that person has to want to stop drinking, and be willing to engage in the addiction recovery process.
David Rourke, an EFT practitioner who has been attending Narcotics Anonymous himself for over 25 years, helps serious addicts recover from addictions to heroine, alcohol, and more. In cases of severe addiction true recovery can take years, he says. What he has seen repeatedly during those years is how much EFT helps people continue progressing toward recovery. It’s a really important accomplishment, he explains, given the estimate that 50 – 90% of serious addicts relapse within 24 hours of completing a 28-day recovery program.
One reason Tapping is so helpful for addicts is its ability to calm anxiety very quickly. Using Tapping, you access the amygdala, located in your mid-brain. The amygdala regulates your body’s stress response, a process that can be initiated by a physical craving or an emotional trigger, like a painful memory. With Tapping you quickly disrupt the body’s stress response, prompting your body to release fewer “stress hormones” like cortisol and adrenaline, which flood your body during moments of high anxiety. With these hormones at healthier levels, your body and mind relax much quicker.
The relaxation response provided by EFT then allows addicts to respond to potentially stressful situations more logically, and make a rational decision about whether relapsing into their addiction will resolve their issues or ultimately cause them more pain. As David has seen repeatedly over the years, the more addicts access their own inner strength, the sooner they’re able to address the deeper emotional issues behind their addictions.
EFT Tapping, David adds, can make the entire recovery process both easier and shorter, potentially preventing relapses and giving addicts a way to treat themselves on a day-to-day, even moment-to-moment, basis.
You can learn more about Tapping basics here. For guidance, feel free to begin with our tapping practitioners page here.
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