The Power of Tapping: Say Goodbye to Negative Thoughts with Emotional Freedom Techniques

EFT Tapping for negative thoughts; Say Goodbye to Negative Thoughts with Emotional Freedom Techniques

Do you know negative thoughts can affect one's mental and physical well-being, leading to stress and anxiety? As a ray of hope, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) offers a powerful and holistic approach to addressing and overcoming negative thought patterns. Read this blog to learn how EFT for negativity works, its benefits, and ways to incorporate this transformative practice into your daily life to finally break free from the cycle of negative thoughts.

How often have you been told, “Don't think negatively, stay positive?”

It's as though society has instilled this fear of acknowledging anything less than sunshine and rainbows.

Everybody deals with those nasty thoughts that make you feel like you are not good enough, not just the usual feeling of not being good enough, but those thoughts that make everything seem like it's falling apart. It's like when we start imagining worst-case scenarios and it feels like we're tumbling down a never-ending staircase. It's tough when those thoughts take over.

In my line of work, I have met countless people struggling with these intrusive thoughts, thoughts that grip them with fear and anxiety, thoughts that seem to come up with the worst possible things that could happen, pulling them into a spiral of fear.

But, Emotional Freedom Techniques can help you get free from the clutches of these nagging thoughts.

EFT Tapping offers a powerful tool for overcoming these troublesome thoughts by loosening their hold on the mind. One can release emotional burdens and reframe perspectives by gently tapping on specific acupressure points while focusing on disturbing thoughts or emotions. This process helps to disengage from the cycle of negative thinking, offering relief, clarity, and a renewed sense of calmness and control over one's mental state.

So, let's get started and see what kinds of these negative thoughts are, how they impact you physically, psychologically, and emotionally, and how Emotional Freedom Techniques acts like an angel helping you overcome these disruptive thoughts.

What are negative thoughts?

Negative thoughts are pessimistic, self-critical, or defeatist thinking patterns focusing on flaws, failures, or unfavorable outcomes, leading to mental disorders if ignored.

According to the National Science Foundation, 80% of your thoughts are negative and 95% of them are repetitive (1).

What are the different types of negative thoughts?

Negative thoughts can come in various forms, often influenced by cognitive biases or emotional states. Here are five types, along with their definitions:

Catastrophising

Catastrophising is the tendency to imagine the worst possible outcome, like envisioning a ruined future after failing a test. It activates the amygdala, your brain’s stress response center, increasing anxiety.

This bias makes you focus on potential negatives, magnifying problems and ignoring positives. Cognitive biases, like confirmation bias, can reinforce these negative scenarios by seeking information that confirms your fears.

If you’re already anxious or have low self-esteem, you’re more prone to catastrophising, trapping your mind in a negative loop. While it may seem like a stress-coping mechanism, catastrophising ultimately heightens anxiety.

Overgeneralisation

Overgeneralisation is drawing broad conclusions from minimal data. For instance, failing once might lead you to believe you’re a failure in all aspects. This bias uses negative schemas, or mental frameworks, to judge unrelated situations.

Negative experiences tend to be more memorable, leading you to expect them repeatedly. Your emotions can influence overgeneralisation, with negative feelings making you expect the worst. Those prone to this bias often focus on negative details, ignoring positive or neutral ones.

Observing others overgeneralise can consolidate this thinking pattern. While it may seem protective, overgeneralisation can intensify negative emotions over time, for example, a woman’s avoidance of social events increases her loneliness.

EFT Tapping for negative thoughts; overgeneralised types of negative thoughts

Personalisation

Personalisation is when you think you are the reason for wrong things happening, even when it’s not your fault. For example, if someone gets a critical email, they might think it’s because they’re not good enough, even if there could be other reasons.

This way of thinking can make people feel awful about themselves and stop them from seeing the whole picture. It’s like blaming yourself for the rain when you have no control over the weather. It happens automatically, without you even realising it. This can make you feel worse about yourself and stop you from seeing things in a more balanced way.

All-Or-Nothing Thinking (Or Black-And-White Thinking)

All-or-nothing thinking is a psychological term where you tend to view things in extremes, as either completely good or bad. This mindset overlooks the complexities and nuances of situations.

With this thinking pattern, you build rigid beliefs about yourself and the world. If you fall short of perfection, you see yourself as a complete failure. This can lead to intense emotions like anxiety and can exaggerate minor issues into major ones.

This thinking often stems from a desire for perfection, which can lead to disappointment and a failure to acknowledge the smaller positive aspects of life.

All or nothing thinking in types of negative thoughts

Mind reading

Mind reading is the assumption of knowing others’ thoughts, often negatively. For instance, if someone doesn’t reply to a text, you might presume they are upset with you. It is essentially guessing without substantial evidence, leading to misinterpretations.

Confirmation bias can result in mind reading, as people focus on information that validates their negative assumptions. Those with high anxiety or social sensitivity are more likely to engage in mind reading.

It also involves projection, where one’s insecurities are attributed to others. Over time, mind reading can become a habitual behaviour.

Why do negative thoughts come to mind?

Here are some possible causes of negative thoughts:

Trauma

Past distressing events lead to feelings of worthlessness.

Fear of Rejection

Rejection distorts one's perception and increases negative self-image.

Body Image Issues

Societal pressure on appearance results in negative body image and low self-esteem.

Internalised Shame

Messages of shame from society or upbringing can lead to self-criticism and feelings of unworthiness.

Financial Stress

Financial struggles also evoke the feelings of failure and incompetence.

Health Challenges

Chronic illness or physical limitations trigger self-limiting thoughts about one’s capabilities.

Relationship Strain

Difficult relationships breed self-doubt and negative thoughts about one’s worthiness of love.

Self-Criticism

Past traumatic experiences or upsetting life events results in a pattern of negative thinking.

Past Experiences

Being overly critical of oneself also brings negative thoughts.

10.

Negative Bias

When the brain is wired to pay more attention to negative experiences for survival purposes, one tends to approach every situation or outcome with negative thinking.

Impact of negative thoughts on psychological well-being

Negative thoughts can significantly impact your psychological well-being. They can impair cognitive functioning, making it hard to concentrate or make decisions. They can create an attentional bias, causing you to see more negative information and overlook the positive. This can lead to executive dysfunction, affecting your self-control and decision-making.

Negative thoughts also cement negative beliefs about yourself and the world, creating a cycle of negativity. Over time, they can erode your strength and coping mechanisms, making it harder to handle stress and adversity.

Effects of negative thoughts on emotional well-being

Negative thoughts can deeply affect our emotional well-being. They can lead to depression, marked by feelings of sadness and worthlessness.

Negative thoughts can also lead to anxiety disorders, causing people to anticipate the worst and perceive non-existent threats. These thoughts result in social withdrawal and isolation, as a person may view social interactions as threatening.

Furthermore, they can reduce overall life satisfaction, impair functioning at work, overshadowing positive aspects of life, leading to unhappiness in relationships.

Effects of negative thoughts on physiological well-being

Negative thoughts can affect your physical health to a great extent. They can trigger stress responses, releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline which results in disrupted sleep, leading to insomnia due to constant worry.

Chronic exposure to such thoughts cause low-grade inflammation, overworking your body’s defenses.

EFT for negativity; Effects of negative thoughts on physiological wellbeing

This inflammation leads to health issues like autoimmune diseases and metabolic disorders.

The stress from these nagging thoughts also weakens the immune system, making you more prone to infections and illnesses, and slowing down healing processes.

How to deal with nagging negative thoughts?

Dealing with negative thoughts can be achieved through various strategies:

Mindfulness: Practice mindfulness to build self-awareness and observe your thoughts without judgement.
Identify negative thoughts: Recognise and acknowledge your negative thoughts.
Replace negative thoughts: Substitute negative thoughts with more realistic, positive ones.
Acceptance: Practice acceptance rather than trying to avoid or deny negative thoughts.
Coping with criticism: Learn to cope with feedback and criticism constructively.
Thought Tracking: Use a diary or journal to track your thoughts and identify patterns.
Recognise thought distortions: Identify and challenge distorted thinking patterns, such as black-and-white thinking or catastrophising.
Take a break: Allow yourself a certain amount of time with the thought, then take a break from focusing on it.
Let go of judgement: You often judge yourself and others, leading to dissatisfaction. Try to avoid these judgments, observe your reactions, and shift towards positive judgement by finding good qualities in every situation.
Practice gratitude: Being grateful enhances positivity and happiness. Even in tough times, find things to be thankful for. Maintain a gratitude journal to keep track of these moments.
Highlight your strengths: Humans tend to focus on negatives. Counter this by concentrating on your strengths and achievements. Whenever you catch yourself thinking negatively about yourself, pause and remind yourself of your positive traits.

Well, it is normal to have negative thoughts from time to time. But if they become persistent, it might be helpful to seek professional help, such as a therapist or counsellor.

So along with the above-shared methods, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is one potent yet gentle tool that can support overcoming this negative thought process.

How does EFT Tapping for Negative Thinking Work?

EFT Tapping helps in dealing with negative thoughts in the following ways:

Acknowledging Your Feelings

It begins with identifying and acknowledging the negative thoughts and feelings you are experiencing. By openly recognising your emotions, you start the process of addressing and understanding them rather than suppressing them. This acknowledgement is crucial as it brings awareness to the issue, setting the stage for healing.

Tapping on Negative Emotions

When you tap on specific acupressure points on your body while saying the negative emotions you're feeling, this physical act of tapping, combined with voicing your feelings, helps to set free the emotional intensity associated with these thoughts. It intervenes in the body's stress response, promoting relaxation and emotional release.

Disrupting Negative Thought Patterns

EFT Tapping helps to break the cycle of negative thinking by breaking habitual thought patterns. As you tap and focus on your thoughts, the brain's neural pathways associated with these negative patterns are interrupted. This disruption allows for the creation of new, healthier thought patterns and reduces the automatic recurrence of negative thoughts.

Reframing Negative Beliefs

The process of EFT Tapping helps reframe negative beliefs into more constructive, realistic ones. After reducing the emotional charge of a negative thought, you can introduce more constructive and empowering beliefs. This shift in perspective helps to transform how you view yourself and your circumstances, giving a more positive outlook.

Reducing Anxiety and Stress

EFT Tapping is effective in lowering anxiety and stress levels. The combination of tapping and focusing on specific thoughts calms the body's fight-or-flight response, leading to a decrease in cortisol levels. This reduction in stress hormones helps to alleviate anxiety and creates a sense of calm and relaxation.

Increasing Self-Acceptance

It promotes self-acceptance by encouraging you to affirm your worth and acknowledge your feelings without judgment. By saying positive statements during the tapping process, you reinforce self-compassion and acceptance. This practice helps to counteract self-critical thoughts and builds a stronger sense of self-worth.

Addressing Specific Triggers

It can be tailored to address specific triggers that provoke negative thoughts and emotions. By focusing on particular incidents or triggers during tapping sessions, you can directly target the root causes of your negative thinking. This targeted approach helps to neutralise the emotional impact of these triggers, reducing their power over your thoughts.

Enhancing Self-Empowerment

EFT empowers people by giving them a tool to manage and transform their emotional state. The practice of tapping lends a sense of control over one’s thoughts and emotions, providing a proactive way to deal with challenges. This empowerment leads to increased confidence and a greater ability to handle life's stresses and setbacks.

By incorporating EFT Tapping into your routine, you can effectively manage and overcome negative thoughts, leading to improved emotional well-being and a more positive outlook on life.

Pieces of evidence that supports the effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques

Sales Motivation and Physical Pain

The first client sought help for sales motivation, focus, and concentration. The therapist used EFT to address the client’s negative performance blocks. During the session, it was revealed that the client had been suffering from chronic neck pain due to a construction accident 10 years prior. The client had been harbouring feelings of shame over the accident, which was affecting his motivation. The therapist guided the client through EFT Tapping sequences targeting neck pain and the associated feelings of shame. After the session, the client reported that the neck pain had subsided, and he felt more motivated.

Overcoming Past Relationship Issues

The second client felt stuck in life due to a past incident with a friend. He believed that his ex-friend held a negative opinion of him, which was affecting his progress in life. The therapist used EFT to help the client address his feelings of shame about the situation. After several rounds of tapping, the client’s intensity level of the situation reduced significantly. He was no longer worried about what others thought of him, which helped him move forward.

In both cases, EFT was used to address feelings of shame that were rooted in past events. These feelings were causing the clients to engage in negative thinking patterns, which were affecting their present lives. By using EFT, the clients were able to “tap” into these past events, address the associated negative emotions, and free themselves from the burden of these past events. This helped them break free from the cycle of negative thinking and move forward in their lives (2).

Another case study titled “EFT As A Tool To Resolve Anxiety: A Case Study Approach” explored the effectiveness of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) in resolving anxiety which is a common outcome of continuous negative feelings.

The findings revealed two major outcomes:

The client’s traumatic event had a significant impact on their adult life, leading to performance anxiety and fear of authority. This anxiety was likely fueled by negative thoughts related to the event.

EFT helped the client understand and manage their emotions in a more positive manner.

The study concluded that regular practice of EFT can help individuals better understand and manage disturbing emotions. It also highlighted the importance of EFT in managing emotional challenges and turmoil (3).

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Steps to reduce persistent negative feelings with Emotional Freedom TechniqueS (EFT)

Step 1:

Identify Physical Sensations

Notice the physical feelings of worry or anxiety in your body. Then use the tapping technique to release the tightness and tension caused by those anxious sensations.

Note: You can replace 'anxiety' with other emotions such as frustration, anger, insecurity and fear.

Investigate the physical nature of these emotions

Connect with the worry or anxiety caused by persistent negative feelings and notice where you feel it in your body.

Common locations include the heart or chest with symptoms like heart racing, restlessness, or shaking.

Now ask yourself:

Where in the body do you experience the worry or anxiety?
What is the colour, texture, size, and shape of the worry or anxiety in your body?
What are the sensations like (e.g., rough or smooth)?

Use specific words to describe your worry or anxiety.

Measure the level of anxiety

Assess your worry or anxiety on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being very high and 1 being low.

Use your initial spontaneous response without overthinking.

Tap on the Karate Chop Point

Begin tapping on the Karate Chop point while saying:

"Even though I feel worried or anxious and it’s in my chest, it's at a number 7 and it's violet in colour and it feels rough, I deeply and completely accept myself."

(Repeat 3 times).

Tap on the facial EFT Tapping points

Use phrases like:

Eyebrow: This anxiety...
Side of the Eye: So anxious...
Under the Eye: Anxiousness in my chest...
Under the Nose: It's a violet colour...
Chin: At a number 7...
Collarbone: So rough...
Under the Arm: This worry...
Thumb: I feel it in my chest...
Index Finger: I feel worried...
Middle Finger: Really worrisome...
Little Finger: The colour violet...

Close the sequence

Tap the Karate Chop point again, saying,

"Even though I feel worried or anxious and it’s in my chest, it's at a number 7 and it's violet in colour and it feels rough, I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

Relax

Take a gentle breath in and out, and drink a sip of water.

Test

At the end of the EFT Tapping, reassess your worry or anxiety level by asking:

What number is the worry and anxiety at now?
What happened?
How does it make you feel?

Repeat the process if needed to reduce the worry or anxiety further.

Step 2:

Discover and Clear Past Memories

Explore past memories related to constant negative feelings that make you worried or anxious. Inquire by asking:

When have you felt worried or anxious before?
What happens to trigger those worries or anxiety?
Who or what triggers the worry or anxiety?
What do these sensations remind you of?

Recognise past experiences that are the root cause of negative thoughts manifesting worries or anxiety. Examples include:

Bullying in School: Consistent bullying by peers during childhood can lead to negativity of self-worth and anxiety about social interactions.
Financial Hardship: Experiencing prolonged financial instability or poverty can create deep-seated fears and worries about financial security and stability.
Divorce of Parents: Witnessing the divorce of parents during formative years can instill fears of abandonment and insecurity in relationships, leading to anxiety.
Natural Disasters: Surviving a natural disaster like an earthquake or hurricane can leave lasting trauma and anxiety, with negative thoughts about safety and security.

Such memories can trigger anxiety and potentially PTSD.

Step 3:

Explore the Limiting Beliefs that Trigger Your Worry or Anxiety

Identify and shift limiting beliefs from distressing to empowering ones. For example:

"Something bad is going to happen" to "I trust the process of life and believe that things are aligning for my highest good."
"I am not good enough" to "I am worthy of love, success, and happiness just as I am."

Step 4:

Close with Positive EFT Tapping

Use positive reminder phrases to close the tapping sequence, such as:

"Even though I was worrisome or anxious, that was then and this is now, I choose to be calm now."
"Even though I had these negative thoughts, I acknowledge them and let them go, choosing peace and positivity now."

With consistent practice, Emotional Freedom Techniques can become valuable in your mental health toolkit, offering relief and providing a sense of peace and positivity.

Whether dealing with anxiety, stress, or continuous negative thoughts, EFT provides a proactive method to regain control and cultivate a healthier, more optimistic mindset.

By addressing the root causes with EFT for negativity and transforming your thought patterns, you can unlock a more serene and best version of yourself.

Love,

Dr Rangana Rupavi Choudhari (PhD)

P.S. Want to learn EFT Tapping for negative thoughts? Book a Complimentary Discovery Call with me.

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In summary, negative thoughts are pervasive and significantly impacts your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a powerful technique to get rid of negative thinking. By tapping on specific acupressure points in your body while thinking about negative emotions, EFT helps break harmful patterns, reduce stress, and change negative beliefs to positive ones. Using EFT regularly can help you manage and reduce restraining thoughts, leading to a more optimistic outlook and better overall well-being.

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