• EFT tapping can help children and young adults ………..
• Cope with Covid19 & School Related Stress 
• Reduce Stress Hormones & Lower Cortisol levels 
• Help with Sleep by calming the racing mind 
• Provide a boost of Energy to finish homework assignments. Improve focus and provide clarity 
• Can help teens and young adults with Emotional Processing / Reduce Negative thoughts 

Meridian Tapping Techniques to Help Teenagers and Young Adults Manage School-Related Stress and Anxiety

 

By Deborah Chalifoux, MA, CCC-SLP, MS-Ed, EEM-AP, RMT

 

AAdults and children alike are vulnerable to the emotional impact of the current unavoidable and traumatic circumstances brought about by Covid-19 and other recent events. However, we all have the power within ourselves to take back control over that anxiety and stress. In a previous articles, I shared information for parents about an energy psychology technique called Meridian Tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) that can help them manage the stress and anxiety of parenting in the times of a pandemic and beyond. In this article, I will be talking about Meridian Tapping in a way that is specifically geared towards older children and young adults, and how it can help them feel more centered amidst the current chaos, especially as they navigate school-related stress and overwhelm.

 

How EFT Tapping Can Help Students Deal with Stress and Overwhelm

 

EFT tapping is an easy, effective and empowering tool that can help students cope with coronavirus and school-related stress. As students settle into the new normal of e-learning for many, and as an end-date to this crisis is still unknown, a situation of chronic stress has been created, leaving many students, as well as parents and teachers, in a state of anxiety and fear of the unknown. Tapping has the potential to do a world of good in helping students in the following ways:

 

1. TAPPING CAN CHANGE ONE’S BIOLOGY

 

More and more studies are coming out showing that tapping techniques reduces your stress hormones, particularly by lowering cortisol levels, the hormone that runs wild when one is stuck in a constant state of stress. Utilizing Tapping regularly, helps one to rewire the brain in a manner that replaces negative thought patterns with more empowering and helpful beliefs.  For students, this can result in healthier, more productive self-care and study habits with less struggle and stress.

 

2.      TAPPING CAN HELP TEENS AND YounG ADULTS SLEEP

 

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential to protect mental health and emotional wellbeing and has never been more important now that we are living in a time of crisis. Unfortunately, before trying to go to sleep many teens and young adults are stuck in the habit of spending too much time with technology before bed, disrupting sleep patterns and resulting in fatigue and emotional dysregulation during the day. Using tapping techniques before bed can help them unwind, by soothing anxiety and calming the racing mind, which is the most common root of sleep issues in older children

 

3.      TAPPING CAN GIVE STUDENTS THE ENERGY BOOST YOU NEED TO FINISH ASSIGNMENTS

 

Tapping can help give students a boost of energy and the ability to stop procrastinating about their assignments, enhancing their focus, and enabling them to focus catch up on work if they’ve fallen with more ease and confidence. Students CAN stay focused and productive with Tapping.  Tapping can help them get their homework done, and their lives back, with less struggle and stress.

 

4.      Tapping CAN HELP TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS Process EMOTIONAL BLOCKS

 

One of the most powerful ways in which the tapping technique can help older children get unstuck is by helping them to figure out what the root of their problem is.  An unhelpful belief, such as, “I’m never going to be able to fall asleep tonight ” or “I’ll never finish this assignment on time,” can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy and may keep a child stuck in an unhealthy patten. Beliefs such as these are called “blocking beliefs” because they block one’s ability to move forward and thrive. Tapping helps people to reconnect with their body, so that they can listen to what their body has to say the root of these negative patterns, and what is needed to clear the blocking beliefs, enabling one to become “unstuck.” 

 

An important note regarding Mental Health

 

It’s normal to be stuck in a generic kind of stress and overwhelm, and tapping is a powerful tool that can be used to reduce stress before it escalates into a serious problem such as an anxiety disorder. It is important to note, however, that if your child has a pre-existing mental health problem such as an anxiety disorder, or their symptoms escalate in that direction, parents and children should not attempt to handle this issue on their own. Rather, it would be imperative to reach out to a licensed mental health care professional. There are many accredited EFT Practitioners who are Child Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists working online now who can help students who are suffering from a mental illness impacted by the increased psychological stress of this global crisis. You can search the  EFT Practitioners Directory to find a suitable, accredited tapping professional who could meet your needs.

 

How to use the EFT Meridian Tapping Technique

 

When tapping for older children and teens, you can use the same process as with adults, as follows (for a more detailed description of steps, see my article on EFT Tapping for Adults):

 

1. Decide on what issue you would like to change and rate your level of distress or discomfort around this issue on a scale of ten (10 = most distress, 0 = no distress).
2. State a negative thought/feeling you have associated with a specific emotional event and pair this with a self-acceptance statement: “Even though I am nervous about this test, I accept this about myself”
3. As you say this setup statement, you tap on the side of one hand (see fig. 1 below) saying the setup statement three times.
4. Then tap through all eight EFT points (see illustration below) while saying a short reminder phrase, which is usually the main feeling or body sensation, or thought (e.g. this nervousness).
5. Then take a breath and re-rate your distress out of 10.
6. Tap again from the eyebrow point through all points, using the reminder phrase or other words that come to you until your rating is 0.
7. If the initial issue shifts at any point (say, from nerves about the test to fear of failing the test), you can come up with a new setup statement, starting again from step 1.

 

 

Tapping Therapy for Kids and Teenagers – Why Not?

 

In light of the simplicity of emotional freedom techniques, it’s not difficult to give tapping a try. If it works for you works for you or your child, EFT tapping offers an easy therapeutic option to address difficult challenges teens and young adults for now and long after these difficult times have passed. There also numerous books for parents and teachers to learn more about the technique. Tapping could prove to be a very useful and inexpensive technique to help both adults and children deal with their fears and anxieties whether coronavirus related or otherwise.