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Contents
- Abstract
- Tapping on Acupuncture Points for Psychotherapeutic Change
- Controversies
- The Body’s Energy Systems
- Acupuncture
- Acupressure
- What Energy Psychology Adds to Acupressure
- A Typical Acupoint Tapping Session
- The Research Base
- Method
- Hierarchies of Evidence
- A Hierarchy of Evidence for Acupoint Tapping Protocols
- The Categories of Evidence
- Meta-Analyses and Systematic Reviews
- Randomized Controlled Trials
- Clinical Trials With Standardized Measures but No Comparison Group
- Clinical Case Studies
- Systematic Observations
- Anecdotal Reports
- Mixed Intervention Studies That Include a Tapping Component
- Theory, Mechanisms, and Clinical Application Papers
- Articles in Journals Not Published in English
- Conditions Treated
- Major Findings
- Meta-Analyses of Acupoint Tapping Studies
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD
- Two Additional Meta-Analyses
- Ten Head-to-Head Comparisons With “Standard of Care” Therapies
- Comparing Multiple Therapies in the Treatment of the Same Condition
- Replication Attempts
- Design Issues
- Sample Size
- Selection Criteria
- Follow-Up
- Null Results and Publication Bias
- Investigators Who Are Also Proponents of the Approach Being Studied
- Mechanisms of Action
- Is Acupoint Tapping a Critical Ingredient?
- Brain Mechanisms
- Tapping Generates Electrical Signals
- Sending Activating and Deactivating Signals to Specific Brain Areas
- Additional Explanations
- Integrating Acupoint Tapping Protocols Into Clinical Practice
- Limitations
- Conclusion
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Abstract
The integration into psychotherapy of protocols using the stimulation of acupuncture points by tapping on them, a form of acupressure, is increasingly appearing in clinical practice. An underlying premise is that the procedure generates activating and deactivating signals which, in real time, impact brain areas aroused by a client’s focus of attention. This makes it possible for a therapist to rapidly facilitate cognitive and neurological changes by shifting the wording and images that accompany the tapping. The approach has been controversial, with both enthusiastic proponents and adamant critics. A total of 309 peer-reviewed, English-language journal articles have focused on this development. The aim of this article is to put these reports into context using a “hierarchy of evidence” model. In a hierarchy of evidence, judgments about the efficacy of a clinical approach are formed according to the relative strength of the types of studies supporting the method. The hierarchy of evidence for psychotherapies that use tapping on acupuncture points includes 28 systematic reviews or meta-analyses, 125 clinical trials, 24 case studies, 26 reports describing systematic observations, 17 mixed-method clinical trials that...