Tapping, also known as Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is an alternative therapy that’s gaining a lot of interest as a low-cost, non-invasive way to help manage stress and anxiety.
Tapping involves tapping on various points of your body while saying your feelings out loud. It draws on the idea of energy meridian lines (能量经络) from Chinese medicine, suggesting that tapping on these lines can re-balance energy in the body and help manage negative emotions.
While there is limited research about tapping, some studies have shown it can help with anxiety and many people are using the technique to help them manage their mental health. Caroline Fitzgerald from Galway in Ireland is one of them.
Since she started tapping three years ago, Caroline has felt like a different person. “I’ve never felt more supported in terms of my own mental health and my emotional well-being,” she says. Tapping has helped Caroline overcome over 20 years of anxiety and insomnia. “After exhausting so many other paths — CBT (认知行为治疗), counselling, medication, talk therapy and soon, EFT tapping has allowed me to process so many limiting beliefs and memories-it has allowed me to change my thinking,” she says.
“By physically tapping on 14 key easy-to-reach points on the body while talking about how you are feeling signals are sent to the amygdala in the brain,” says Sarah Tobin, EFT practitioner and trainer, and founder of Tapping for Mums, “which can help tell the brain you are safe and turnoff the stress response in the body.”
“Tapping is the hack that tells your brain you are safe, so by tapping in moments of stressor anxiety you are able to calm your nervous system, reduce the cortisol (皮质醇) and adrenaline (肾上腺素) and start to feel safe again,” Sarah says. While it can look slightly unusual, “the act of talking about how we are feeling while we are tapping effectively releases the negative emotion, making us feel lighter and the emotional intensity itself lessens,” says Sarah, who has been tapping since 2014 and now teaches other people how to use the technique.
Some critics of EFT say it can prevent people from seeking more traditional forms of help for physical or mental health problems, but as long as it’s practiced with care and as a complementary practice the risks are very low.
8. What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us about tapping?
A.Its case study. | B.Its origin. |
C.Its teaching method. | D.Its function, |
9. What does the underlined word “amygdala” in Paragraph 5 most probably refer to?
A.The region associated with speech. |
B.The area concerned with blood pressure. |
C.The organ considered as the centre of emotions. |
D.The part governing the fight, flight and stress response. |
10. Which word can best describe the author’s attitude to tapping?
A.Skeptical. | B.Supportive. | C.Conservative. | D.In different. |
11. What can be the best title for the text?
A.How Do We Use Tapping to Save People? |
B.Can Tapping Help with Anxiety? |
C.How Does Tapping Cure Illness? |
D.Can Tapping Work with Western Medicine? |