How To Use EFT Tapping For Addiction Relief

EFT Tapping For Addiction

In this article, you will learn about what addiction is, ways to defeat it, and how to overcome it with the help of EFT Tapping for Addiction. Since addiction usually takes place in stressful situations, EFT Tapping for Addiction is very effective, because in this technique, our body releases fewer stress hormones, thereby making an individual feel better.

You wake up in the morning from a tumultuous dream. You are groggy and uncomfortable; your back hurts and your muscles are tense. So, you reach out to the easiest form of comfort you know – coffee. “Just one small cup. That’s all”, you promise.

You take a sip of the hot, aromatic coffee. You instantly feel better. But the second see the bottom of the mug, you feel empty too. “Just one more cup.” You devour the second one and feel the momentary relief again…and just like the first time, it’s gone.

“Only one more…and one more…and one more…”

It’s been years since you went a day without caffeine. Your doctors have warned you, but you can’t seem to stop. Just the thought of giving it up gives you shivers. What would you do when you needed comfort? You cannot imagine a life without coffee.

You are an addict.

WHAT ARE ADDICTIONS?

An addiction is a condition that is the result of the uncontrollably repetitive use of a substance (alcohol, drugs, tobacco, cocaine, nicotine, caffeine), or engagement in any activity (gambling, sex, shopping) that gives you pleasure.

Your intake becomes a compulsion and necessity.

Addiction interferes with your daily responsibilities and hampers your work, relationships, and health.

Addictions To Substances:

Alcohol and Tobacco
Prescription drugs (sedatives, hypnotics, or anxiolytics like sleeping pills and tranquillizers) and Cannabis (marijuana)
Opioids (like heroin), Cocaine, Amphetamines (like methamphetamine, known as meth), and others
Caffeine

Behavioural Addiction Disorders:

Impulse control disorders such as Kleptomania (compulsive stealing) and Pyromania (compulsive setting of fires)
Gambling, sex/pornography, video games/computers/Internet, shopping, social media
Working, exercising, eating
Self-harm, and others

"There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away"

Sherman Alexis

WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO OVERCOME ADDICTIONS?

If you are addicted, you may not realise that your behaviour is problematic. You may not understand that you are engaging in your addiction excessively. Even if you do, you may not be able to deal with the stress of not continuing that action.

Both, addictive substances and highly intense actions trigger the release of dopamine in the individual’s brain (1).

This hormone is one of the body’s reward systems – it makes you feel good. The drugs releases toxins inside your body which makes you feel calm and peaceful, the alcohol seems to make people happy, and marijuana makes you feel high which your body enjoys.

Thus, the brain registers the substance/experience as "important" and remembers it as a rewarding experience. Then, to receive the dopamine reward again, the brain tells the body to indulge in the addiction again. Finally, dopamine causes addictions to stick in the brain, even if the individual tries to break them.

Hence, it's important to separate the addict from their actions – addiction is dependent and is not a conscious state.

WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF ADDICTION?

It is very important to know the stages of addiction so that they can be worked on. If you ignore the signs or stages and let them escalate, it will be extremely harmful to yourself and even for people around you. These signs are very important especially when it comes to the usage of harmful substances such as drugs or alcohol.

The 5 stages of addiction are as follows (2):

Experimentation

The first step to addiction is the first try of a substance which can be as quick as taking the first joint of weed, first drag of a cigarette or a sip of alcohol. Very few people try something with the intention of getting addicted. Usually, it's a relative or peer that offers the user a substance.

When this is not the case, it could also be because someone is going through mental distress which would lead him to experiment with these so-called "feel good" items.

If these substances work well and help these users to feel better, the urge to continue taking them becomes stronger.

Regular Use & Abuse

As people begin using these substances regularly, they portray a particular pattern. It gets a little difficult to figure out whether or not it's their usual behaviour especially if they're still functioning properly since, at this stage, they have incorporated the substances in their daily lives. However, they will start showing signs of addiction when the substance becomes an important part of their lives.

Risky Use

This stage is difficult to determine, because what you might think is risky, might be normal for the other person. As the usage of substances increases and the person becomes more attached to it, they begin exhibiting dangerous behaviours, like drunk driving. At this stage, the user requires treatment and needs to get out of this loop before the addiction intensifies.

Dependence

During this stage, the individual relies on a dangerous amount of these substances, to feel good. Their behavioural changes would be drastic and very obvious and reckless. These individuals need to be given substance-use treatment options that will help them get out of this dependency before it turns into an addiction (3).

Addiction

Once the person begins relying on the substance to a point where they are unable to function without it, it turns into addiction. The only way these users can be treated or helped is by professional addiction treatment.

What this means is, that the addict is not in control of their actions. They physically cannot stop their behaviour till their circumstances change. For them to be able to heal, their predicament must be bettered – they must be helped to achieve the same state of relaxation that the addiction allows, but without the addiction.

HOW CAN YOU DEFEAT ADDICTION?

As we have seen before, defeating addiction is not just a problem of willpower. It involves changing your body, mind, and life. You must create a new program for your brain to understand, that is as pleasurable and relaxing as the feeling while engaging in the addictive activity, so it can replace the addiction programs of the brain.

Here are some ways to help you overcome your addiction:

Convince yourself

Very often, we fall back on meeting our goals because of a lack of conviction. If you’re convinced you want to achieve something, the likelihood that you will achieve it is much higher. Thus, just by knowing in your heart you want to kick your addiction, you greatly increase your chances of getting there!

Try this exercise: Write down 100 ways in which your addiction affects your emotions, your professional life, and those around you. These are your 100 reasons to gain freedom from your addiction. Read these 100 reasons daily to reinforce your motivation to work towards ridding yourself of your compulsive habits.

Develop an outcome-focused goal

Often, even if you know what you want to do and why you want to do it, it helps to have it worded succinctly for you to be able to repeat it to yourself whenever need be.

Start by identifying the most important reason you want to be free from your addiction.
Then, think about how this reason affects you.
Now, make this one sentence – this is what you want to defeat.

For example, a client of mine wanted to give up smoking weed. Her most important reason was to stop her clothes from smelling of weed.

When I asked how it affected her, she said, “The smell on my clothes perpetually makes me feel nauseated. All of this really impacts my self-perception.”

When I asked how getting rid of all these effects would feel she said, “I would feel so proud of myself that I did it and that I am no longer controlled by smoking weed.” And this became her goal – “To feel proud of myself and be in full control of my actions.”

Eventually, she was able to kick her addiction and doesn’t feel the need to smoke anymore!

What is important is that the goal must be phrased in the positive. For example, if her goal had been “To not smoke weed every day”, she wouldn’t have had the motivation to work towards it. Since her goal was worded to emphasize the goodness of not smoking, she found the courage to free herself from this compulsion.

Cultivate pleasurable feelings consistently

When asked how she felt after her clothes stopped smelling like weed, my clients replied, “Top of the world!” Since the smell of the weed was a constant reminder of her addiction, the lack of smell made her feel free and amazingly self-confident.

When working towards gaining freedom from addiction, remember what this freedom makes you feel. When you keep in mind how achieving your goal will make you feel, you will be more motivated to keep up your momentum.

Use Emotional Freedom Techniques

Addictions can range from something as simple as a craving for a cup of coffee or more complex, like dependence on drugs or substances.

Examples of emotions underpinning addictive behaviours can be:

Anxiety
Boredom
Loneliness
Low Self-Esteem

Overuse of any substance can be detrimental to physical health and in some situations, sadly, can even lead to death. In severe cases, there can also be underlying psychological distress that can also lead to addictions. You can identify the emotions underlying your addictive behaviour using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).

With EFT Tapping, you can discover which of these or other emotions are leading to your addiction.

After this, you can use the EFT Tapping technique, which can be learned with a Certified Trainer, to find where you feel these emotions in your body and how to eliminate the addiction from the root cause.

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HOW TO USE EFT TAPPING FOR ADDICTION?

EFT Tapping for addiction is a clinically proven therapeutic method. Since addictions are extremely common and difficult to let go of, there are certain tapping methods to help you overcome these negative, harmful habits.

Take A Quick Temperature Check

Identify and explore more about what triggers your addiction to smoking, by asking the following questions:

What makes you feel like consuming drugs?
When did you first feel like you were getting addicted to it?
What happened, to make you feel this way?
Would you stop consuming drugs, if you could?

Measure the level of the addiction by asking: "On a scale of 1 to 10, what number is the addiction at, where 10 is high and 1 is not high at all."

Start Tapping On The Side Of Your Hand

“Even though I feel the need to consume drugs and I can feel it in my ….. and it’s at a number ….. and it makes me feel ….., I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

Repeat this 3 times.

Start Tapping On The Upper Body, Facial And Finger Tapping Points

Eyebrow: I feel like consuming drugs because …..
Side of Eye/Temple: I feel it in my …..
Under Eye: It’s at a number …..
Under nose: It makes me feel …..
Chin: It’s in my ….. at a number …..
Collarbone: It makes me feel ….
Under the arm: So ….
Thumb: So ….
Index Finger: I feel like consuming drugs because …..
Middle Finger: I feel it in my …..
Little Finger: So ….

End This Sequence By Tapping On The Side Of Your Hand Again

“Even though I feel the need to consume drugs and I feel it in my ….. and it’s at a number ….. and it makes me feel ….., I deeply and completely love and accept myself."

Repeat this only once.

Take A Deep Breath And A Sip Of Water

Test Yourself By Asking

“What intensity is this the urge to consume drugs at?”

If it has reduced to a level you feel happy with, you can stop. If you want it to reduce further, start the procedure again.

What's more is, that there is clinical proof behind the effectiveness of EFT as an effective adjunct to addiction treatment by reducing the severity of general psychological distress (4).

A clinical study conducted by The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) provides some insights into tobacco and alcohol use. The changing trends between NFHS 2 and NFHS 3 reflect an increase in alcohol use among males since the NFHS 2, and an increase in tobacco use among women.

The Drug Abuse Monitoring System, which evaluated the primary substance of abuse in inpatient treatment centres found that the major substances were alcohol (43.9%), opioids (26%) and cannabis (11.6%) (5).

“

Gave up Chocolate and Biscuit Cravings

Just a quick email to thank you for a fantastic day. I learned so much and feel very positive. Still, no galaxy (a Chocolate bar) and I feel in CONTROL of that. I don’t even want a hot chocolate, which is what I normally go for if I’m trying to not to have a bar of chocolate. I have come home and done all the work I have been putting off, with regards to my website and I did not even think about it. I am so happy that after just 1 day of EFT training I feel so good. I feel in control and I feel better!!

Emma Voss Business Owner and Working Mom, UK

“

Struggle With Sugar Addiction Ended

I would like to share my own story on how I got over my sugar and sweet addiction. I craved sweets and chocolates all the time. The sweeter it was the better. I had tried various methods to overcome this and it worked for some time. It was with EFT that I began to work through the layers. The emotions I felt of loneliness, abandonment, guilt, and shame. Deeper than this, there was anger and then fear.

Mridula Nair EFT Trainer, Bangalore, India

Addictions can be very debilitating. They can affect your work, your family, your relationships, and your daily mental space. Use the 6 steps above to free yourself of your addiction.

EFT Tapping for Addiction can not only help you overcome your unhealthy habit, but you can also become a qualified EFT practitioner and help others overcome their addictions to feel healthier and happier.

In conclusion, while addictions can range from something as simple as coffee to life-threatening substances like drugs or alcohol, you still have a chance to free yourself from them now.

Love,

Dr Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri (PhD), with Ashni Acharya

P.S. Want to discover if EFT is right for you? Book a Complimentary Discovery Call.

Reply right back, if you work with others in the area of addictions and are eager to learn advanced techniques that are fast, clinically proven and routinely used in addiction clinics in UK, USA and Europe.

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In summary, addictions are not just bad habits, people seek comfort in those habits and their brain is wired to make them feel good. It can be resolved by working on them patiently and consistently. Using EFT Tapping for Addiction will allow you to discover the root cause of the addiction and help you get rid of it. In this case, the addiction will leave you.

References:

Disclaimer: The information on this website is purely for educational purposes and does not in any way replace the requirement for medical and psychological diagnosis and treatment. Please do seek professional medical and psychological diagnosis and advice for all medical and mental health conditions. It is advised to always book any consultations with qualified professionals.

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