07/11/2025
Energy Psychology’s Battle for Recognition
A Growing Healing Movement vs APA's Division 12
by Chris Lyford
I think this is one of the most emotionally authentic, heart-breaking, infuriating and motivating articles that have been written about EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques [I now refuse calling it "tapping" because that term is reductive and doesn't capture the nuanced nature of the process]) and EP (Energy Psychology).
The attempt to have EFT and EP being recognised by the APA (American Psychological Association) has been an up-hill battle and it's clear that the decision if political rather than driven by desire to help people improve their mental health - this is the bit that I find heartbreaking.
I'll post a link to the article - it's free to read but you need to input your email. I am pasting a few passages that I found the most meaningful
"You’d think most therapists would jump at the chance to give their client a sevenfold reduction in symptoms, a surge of confidence, or a foothold to begin the hard work of therapy, as Schwarz did with Mia. But not everyone is so enamored with EP. Detractors have called it a pseudoscience, questioned the integrity of its studies and the objectivity of study coordinators, and say any benefits are due to the placebo effect or the other modalities it incorporates. Some of the biggest criticism comes from therapy purists, for whom all this talk of energy, chakras, biofields, and meridians conjures up the mental image of shamans and spellcasters, not bona fide therapists who follow thoroughly researched protocols and diagnostic bibles."
"Just minutes into a session with his client Mia, Robert Schwarz does something you won’t see in most consulting rooms. He holds both palms open, as if receiving a small gift, and repeatedly bumps the sides of his hands together. At his instruction, Mia does the same.
“I imagine we could just go straight to telling the story,” Schwarz says. “But why suffer?”
For Mia, “the story” still delivers a gut punch. Even though it happened decades ago, when she was just nine years old, she has a hard time talking about the time her soccer coach cruelly poked fun at her weight while her teammates stood by and laughed. It’s all too much to handle. When Schwarz asks Mia how she usually feels when she thinks about that moment, she hunches her shoulders, shrinks her body, and balls her fists.
When she thinks about her soccer coach poking fun at her, she hunches her shoulders, shrinks her body, and balls her fists.
“Shame, embarrassment, humiliation,” she says, visibly upset. “I feel like I want to hide and make myself really small.”
“Right,” Schwarz replies, scrunching himself down too in a beautiful but subtle display of attunement. “That sure sounds like shame.” He quickly and deftly pivots. “So let’s take that memory and stick it in a box,” he continues. “Let’s not even look at it.” He pauses. “But if you were to look at it, how would you rank it on a 1-to-10 scale?”
“A seven,” Mia replies.
“So let’s start tapping,” Schwarz says, beginning the hand-bumping. “We’re going to say, ‘Even though I’d have this sense of humiliation and shame if I were to look in the box, I deeply love and accept myself.’”
Mia repeats the mantra.
“Now let’s tap the top of your head,” Schwarz instructs, tapping on his own head with his palm. He slowly moves down his body while Mia follows along on hers. He taps above his eyebrows, then his temples, upper lip, chin, chest, armpits, fingertips, and finally, the back of his left hand.
“Now, close your eyes,” Schwarz instructs. “Open your eyes. Look left. Look right. Hum a tune”—Mia obliges, humming “Happy Birthday”—“and take a deep breath.” It’s a cleansing reset, and Mia’s shoulders relax.
“Now,” Schwarz continues. “If you were to look in the box, at this moment, what do you think the number would be?”
Mia’s response is shocking.
“A one or a two.”
Beyond Tapping
It’s hard to witness what’s just happened between Schwarz and Mia and not think some sort of miracle has occurred. In just 10 minutes, Schwarz has managed to virtually eliminate Mia’s trauma symptoms—at least for now. In this moment, she’s calm, confident, and ready to engage the problem head-on. Now, she can tell the story without getting overwhelmed. But how?
Schwarz says Mia’s response is due to the unique method he’s been practicing for over 30 years, known as the Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT. It’s a form of energy psychology, or EP, a holistic, integrative approach that views the body as an interconnected system of energy. There are several forms of EP, including Thought Field Therapy, Tapas Acupressure Technique, Comprehensive Energy Psychology, Advanced Integrative Therapy, and Heart-Assisted Therapy, but they’re mostly similar.
Drawing from ancient Eastern practices like acupuncture, each involves tapping acupressure points to release the stress said to be caused by negative thoughts, emotions, and experiences that disrupt the body’s energy. Used alongside cognitive therapy interventions that target distressing thoughts or memories, like focused awareness, mindfulness, and imaginal exposure, proponents say EP can be used to treat a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, trauma, phobias, and chronic pain—and quickly reduce symptoms or eliminate them altogether.
Proponents say energy psychology can be used to treat a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, trauma, phobias, and chronic pain—and quickly reduce symptoms or eliminate them altogether.
You’d think most therapists would jump at the chance to give their client a sevenfold reduction in symptoms, a surge of confidence, or a foothold to begin the hard work of therapy, as Schwarz did with Mia. But not everyone is so enamored with EP. Detractors have called it a pseudoscience, questioned the integrity of its studies and the objectivity of study coordinators, and say any benefits are due to the placebo effect or the other modalities it incorporates. Some of the biggest criticism comes from therapy purists, for whom all this talk of energy, chakras, biofields, and meridians conjures up the mental image of shamans and spellcasters, not bona fide therapists who follow thoroughly researched protocols and diagnostic bibles.
But EP isn’t just some fringe intervention, proponents retort. It’s been around for nearly 40 years, amassing a wealth of research and success stories along the way. According to the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP), EP’s leading professional organization, today EP boasts tens of thousands of therapists and has more than 200 published research studies, including 103 randomized control trials, 95 outcome studies, nine meta-analyses, and five fMRI studies. ACEP says these studies not only cement EP as an evidence-based treatment, but place it among the top 10 percent most-researched modalities."
"“The APA has been actively restraining the dissemination of the approach for more than a decade,” Gruder wrote. “As an outside health advocacy group, it is within our purview to publicly challenge a decision regarding energy therapy that negatively impacts public health.” The APA’s stance on EP, he continued, “is inconsistent with its own CE Standards, reflects a disregard of interdisciplinary developments, and does harm to the public.” Evidence of EP’s effectiveness had been mounting, Gruder added, before taking aim at the golden child of evidence-based treatments. “Energy psychology,” he wrote, “is arguably more effective than conventional treatment strategies such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy.”
As Feinstein and Schwarz see it, the deck has always been stacked against EP. But with decades of painstaking research and countless testimonials, it seems to be speaking the APA’s language and following all the rules. So why is there still so much resistance?
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Schwarz says. “I can only assume they haven’t evaluated the literature, even though it’s there. If this was a drug, it’d be worth billions of dollars. The research shows EFT works faster, better, and costs less than many other methods. Frankly, if something came along that kicked its ass, I’d be the first to sign up.”
“The objection I run into most often is, How could this possibly work?—which was my first impression too. Even therapists who are open-minded and persuaded by the research often assume that EP works because of other factors, like exposure or placebo. I’ve been told, ‘As long as the mechanism seems so implausible, I have to find other explanations for these results.’ My most recent papers offer a compelling neurological model that makes the mechanisms seem entirely plausible.”
"Of course, any rebranding will probably have little bearing on Division 12’s blind refusal to accept EP’s merits, Schwarz adds, which doesn’t stem from some particular aversion to EP as much as from a systemic barrier to change. “Division 12 says in order for a treatment to make the cut, it must have been created out of ‘psychological science,’” he explains. “But CBT didn’t come from science; it came from clinical practice. By these standards, you’re eliminating Polyvagal Theory, interpersonal neurobiology, mindfulness, most of behavioral therapy, and anything involving the body. That’s crazy.”
"You might think that energy psychology is struggling, that it’s destined to live on the outskirts of clinical practice, or that it’s something to be pitied. But in reality, the opposite is true. Culturally speaking, EP is leading the pack. Holistic practices have never been more popular. By 2030, body, mind, and energy healing is projected to become a $395 billion market, quintupling in size. According to a national study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, more people are seeking out alternatives to conventional mental health treatment because they’re dissatisfied with mainstream options, enjoy the autonomy these methods provide, and see them as more compatible with their values and beliefs. In short, clients aren’t just curious about interventions like energy psychology; they’re asking for them by name precisely because they’re different."
“Lately I’ve been wondering why we’re working so hard to get APA approval,” Feinstein says, “because even without it, EP is finding its way into mainstream institutions, from Kaiser to the VA. It’s also resonating with the culture. Celebrities are talking about how it’s helped them with performance issues or with their fear of heights or flying. You have movies showing tapping. More than 30 countries have used it successfully in post-disaster treatment. I think it’s finally reached a tipping point.”
"Clients aren’t the only ones warming up to nontraditional methods. According to a 2024 survey published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, 78 percent of therapists say alternative, integrative, and mind-body therapies like meditation, biofeedback, hypnosis, and yoga are the most promising form of treatment, and most believe that clinicians should receive training in alternative methods. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Mental Health and Harvard teaching hospitals like Massachusetts General have added alternative treatments to their programming. Feinstein and Schwarz are seeing this same enthusiasm on their end."
“I’m not going to wait for Division 12,” he says. “My goal is to make a difference in the world, to treat the plague of trauma and dysregulation. Right now, a lot of people are suffering who don’t need to suffer.”
"Evidence-based treatments have their place. And there are therapists and clients alike who won’t touch therapies that don’t fit the bill. But again and again, studies show that what matters to clients isn’t whether their treatment is evidence-based, but rather the distinctly human qualities of their therapists, like trust, empathy, and genuine care. And nobody—not even Division 12—can accuse Robert Schwarz of not caring."
Of all the David-and-Goliath matchups in psychotherapy, few have had as many twists and turns as the one unfolding between energy psychology and the APA’s Division 12.
