EFT-Tapping and The Apex Effect

In her book The Science Behind Tapping, Peta Stapleton, PhD, writes that in all her years of psychotherapy, she has never seen anything like The Apex Effect. She led a randomized study beginning in 2012 involving approximately 89 obese adults.

In this 8-week EFT program, participants experienced:

• Reduced food cravings

• Decreased anxiety symptoms

And these improvements were maintained for a full year after the program ended.

In her book, Dr. Stapleton explains (and I paraphrase) that when clients tap on an issue and achieve complete resolution, they often forget that tapping made the difference. After following up with participants 12 months after the trial, and asking how the specific food cravings they had tapped on were progressing—some told her they no longer ate those foods and couldn’t remember the last time they had.

She reminded them that during the clinical trial, they had been eating those foods several times daily — and that they had specifically tapped on those cravings.

Most brushed this off nonchalantly, dismissing the idea that tapping had anything to do with the change. Instead, they credited willpower, time, distraction, or other random factors.

This raises the question:

If willpower was enough, why hadn’t it worked in the years before EFT?

This is a prime example of the Apex Effect — something I frequently observe when working with clients. Tapping the meridian points while discussing the problem neutralizes the emotional charge. Any need for the addiction and the cravings is no longer felt necessary. Therefore, the original craving, which was an issue, is no longer perceived as stressful. The problem no longer feels like a problem.

Over-eating is an addiction and a way our nervous system tries to calm fear (anxiety). It is a way to gain comfort, dissociate, and numb out from painful issues. All addictions are attempting to do this. The problem is that it's only temporary and doesn't address the root cause of one's fears.

When Tapping on Your Own

To gain awareness of your before-and-after when you tap on an issue, record the intensity on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 indicating the highest distress.

It is valuable to see how the intensity was reduced and/or eliminated.

This way, you see the difference the tapping made or didn’t; it is recorded on paper.

Also remember:

When tapping, often one issue, such as an emotion, is tapped on, another will come up afterward that needs tapping on.It'sike peeling the layers of an onion.

This is why writing it down: you can check whether the one issue no longer feels true for you before moving on to the next emotion or feeling.

To learn more about how to tap, click here: Tap Along Text Scripts.

Why Do We React the Way We Do?

We have to ask ourselves:

Why do we get triggered?

Why do we have anxiety, anger, addictions, control issues, depression, and shame?

These reactions can stem from beliefs formed early in life.

Some from trauma occurring in adult life. 
Some were inherited through family patterns.
Some were shaped by cultural trauma.

If traumatized parts of you are not healed, they will continue to run your life from beneath conscious awareness — attempting to protect you from:

• Rejection

• Attack (verbal or physical)

• Being exposed as “not good enough.”

• Failure

• Abandonment

These parts are not trying to sabotage you.
They are trying to keep you safe.

The Stress Response

EFT calms the stress response—the fight, flight, and freeze reactions in the body.

Our bodies respond this way during fearful or overwhelming events because the nervous system is deeply connected to our thoughts and beliefs.

Most people are not consciously aware of why they struggle.

When trauma occurs, parts of us dissociate and bury the experience out of our consciousness. The emotions are too overwhelming for us to process, especially for a young child.

Our survival system evolved to protect us.

This is why, in some cases of child sexual abuse, survivors have no conscious memory of the trauma  until something in the present triggers it.

As children, we do not have the resources to process such events on our own, unless a compassionate adult helps us work through the experience. The traumatic event gets 'frozen' in time.

Our Energy System

EFT works with the body’s energy system.

When you tap, it helps release the “frozen” charge around an event. You might imagine it as clearing a blocked channel so energy can flow again.

We are both physical and energetic beings.

The heart, brain, and nervous system generate measurable electrical impulses. Emotions also carry energetic patterns in the body.

As you tap on different aspects of a memory, energy begins to move.

Emotions may surface.
Forgotten memories may arise.

Not to overwhelm you — but to allow resolution.

When the charge is neutralized, freedom follows.

👉 If you need help getting free from beliefs or emotional patterns that feel stuck, I invite you to book a complimentary 20-minute consultation.

If you want to learn more about The Apex Effect, here is an article from EFT Universe on the Apex Effect and how EFT neutralized veterans’ wartime trauma.

This is from EFT Universe https://eftuniverse.com/refinements-to-eft/the-apex-effect/.

Dr. Peta Stapleton's Book: The Science Behind Tapping

Related Articles:
Overcome Procrastination the Easy Way with EFT-Tapping
10 EFT Mistakes You Should Be Aware of to Get the Best Results
Healing Dissociation and Trauma: How EFT Tapping Reconnects You to Your Body and Emotions