A: EFT can work well with medical prescriptions in several ways. One I use myself is to tap when I’m taking a prescribed medication, imagining that this pill is going to do me the maximum amount of good. Tapping while affirming my highest good engages my belief system and I get the placebo effect working on my behalf. EFT may be able to enhance the positive effects of a medication in this way.
You can also tap for your body accepting a medication easily. Some prescription drugs have severe side effects and EFT can mitigate these. This has been done by cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, for instance. Several have reported that when they imagine the chemotherapy cocktail clearing out the cancer in their bodies, while tapping, they don’t experience the side effects that most other patients endure.
Another example is the drug Xanax. Research shows that the drug helps one person in six, which sounds good. However, one person in three experiences negative side effects (Whitaker, 2011). The net effect of these two numbers is that twice as many people experience harm as benefit. If you’re able to reduce the side effects of Xanax or any other drug, then you’re able to get the benefits without the side effects.
Research has not shown that combining EFT with prescription drugs poses a risk. One study of hospital patients monitored their prescription drug use during their EFT treatment; no adverse reactions were reported (Karatzias et al., 2011). Similarly, veterans with PTSD had their prescriptions noted before and after EFT (Church et al., 2013). Their prescription drug use did not go up or down during the six weeks of the study and, again, they did not report any adverse events.
Finally, by reducing stress, EFT makes it easier for your doctor to prescribe drugs for you appropriately. Recall the Healthcare Workers Study, which showed that two thirds of physical pain vanished after a brief EFT session (Church & Brooks, 2010). The remaining one third might well require medication. Your doctor is likely to appreciate that you’ve taken care of the two thirds of your pain that’s emotional using EFT rather than trying to suppress the symptoms temporarily through high levels of medication. This also signals to your doctor that you’re a responsible patient taking responsibility for your own well-being.
–from The EFT Manual, by Dawson Church
