Tapas Acupressure Technique (or TAT) is an
alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...
therapy that claims to clear negative emotions and past traumas. Though the full technique was invented in 1993 by Tapas Fleming, TAT incorporates elements of and builds on other
acupressure
Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique often used in conjunction with acupuncture or reflexology. It is based on the concept of life energy, which flows through "meridians" in the body. In treatment, physical pressure is applied to ac ...
techniques. Like other
energy therapies
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: wikt:ἐνέργεια#Ancient_Greek, ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is #Energy transfer, transferred to a phy ...
, TAT relies on a
putative energy for which no scientific basis has been found and no biophysical means of action determined.
TAT shows many characteristics consistent with
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
.
History
Invented in 1993 by Tapas Fleming, the underlying idea claims that unresolved emotional trauma leads to a blockage of the natural flow of
putative energy. Practitioners of TAT claim that self application of light pressure to four areas of the head (inner corner of both eyes, one-half-inch above the space between the eyebrows, and the back of head) while placing attention on a series of verbal steps releases this blockage and allows for healing. TAT was originally intended to be an allergy elimination protocol, but the emphasis switched to emotional trauma.
Scientific evaluation
No scientifically plausible method of action is proposed for Tapas Acupressure Technique, instead relying on unvalidated
putative energy and
meridian
Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to
Science
* Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon
* ...
s with no identified biophysical or histological basis. A 2005 review of so-called "
Power Therapies" concluded that TAT and similar techniques "offered no new scientifically valid theories of action, show only non-specific efficacy, show no evidence that they offer substantive improvements to extant psychiatric care, yet display many characteristics consistent with
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
."
TAT also conforms to the "nine practices of pseudoscience" as identified by AR Pratkins.
There are many, primarily psychological, explanations for positive therapeutic outcomes such as the
placebo effect
A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures.
In general ...
or
cognitive dissonance
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. ...
. A 2009 review identified "methodological flaws" in research that had reported "small successes" for TAT and a related "energy psychology" therapy (
Emotional Freedom Techniques
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a form of Intervention (counseling), counseling intervention that stimulates acupressure points by pressuring, tapping, or rubbing these points while focusing on situations that represent personal fear or ...
) "are potentially attributable to well-known cognitive and behavioral techniques that are included with the energy manipulation." The report concluded that "Psychologists and researchers should be wary of using such techniques, and make efforts to inform the public about the ill effects of therapies that advertise miraculous claims."
[{{cite journal , journal=Psychotherapy , date=June 2009 , volume=46 , issue=2 , pages=249–56 , author=McCaslin DL , doi=10.1037/a0016025 , pmid=22122622 , title=A review of efficacy claims in energy psychology]
See also
*
Emotional Freedom Techniques
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a form of Intervention (counseling), counseling intervention that stimulates acupressure points by pressuring, tapping, or rubbing these points while focusing on situations that represent personal fear or ...
*
Thought Field Therapy
Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a fringe psychological treatment developed by American psychologist Roger Callahan. Its proponents say that it can heal a variety of mental and physical ailments through specialized "tapping" with the fingers at m ...
References
Manual therapy
Energy therapies
Pseudoscience