This is a common theory with alternative therapies.  I'm personally not convinced - a similar theory is often suggested with homeopathy which, like EFT, is often extraordinarily effective with animals (who surely don't know to believe in it) and with surrogate treatments (someone tapping for someone else, often even without their knowledge.)  When I was first introduced to EFT I thought it was a load of rubbish (mostly I think because of the way I was introduced to it.)  I set out to prove it didn't work and to my surprise discovered it's amazing potential, despite not believing in it.  I give thanks that it didn't require my belief and feel somewhat embarrassed at my own arrogance setting out to prove it didn't work.

I agree that that our beliefs can prevent healing from happening with EFT - while we are often able to heal things without belief simply using the tapping, sometimes it is our very beliefs about our symptoms and our subconscious need for them that results in us hanging onto them.  A big part of EFT with any ongoing condition usually includes a look at subconscious downsides to healing, or upsides to staying sick.  From my own experience I would suggest it's probably premature to come up with theories on how EFT works when you've just experimented with it personally, even after healing heaps in my own life and supporting many people with EFT, I would be hesistant to suggest how it heals, I just enjoy the magic of witnessing the results!

Very best wishes,

Jo

I can see where you are coming from, but I personally don't agree - mainly because I was very skeptical of EFT when first introduced to it, and still managed to see results with what little belief I had.

I am glad that you acknowledge the link between emotions and physical illnesses, including cancers. If you would like to know more about the specific emotional causes of certain cancers, you can go to http://www.germannewmedicine.ca/. Like you said, if a person with cancer changes their value system, they can possibly heal themselves. I believe EFT is one vehicle through which this can be done. 

I think that there is a considerable difference between religion and EFT; EFT doesn't require you to adhere to a set of beliefs, nor perform certain rituals. People from all backgrounds are welcome to try EFT, and develop their own theory of how and why it works; this theory can be spiritual or scientific, or neither. 

If you are personally having problems getting EFT to work for you, like Jo said, you can look at the reasons why you may subconsciously be unwilling to heal.

I, too, have seen similar "placebo effect" explanations of alternative therapies, especially energy therapies which simply will not fit into the conventional healthcare paradigm.  I find this conversation interesting, as I currently spend my working life in that paradigm, although in my own self-care I prefer energy medicine as it is gentle, effective, and cheap.

Personally, I have had quite astonishing success at EFT with folks who were unable to either believe or not believe in it.  For instance, I've used it on newborns, both surrogately and directly.  I use it at work with babies who are getting circumcised and it seems to soothe them more effectively than the lidocaine and the sugar syrup.  I have even had the doctors comment on how well it works for pain relief.  I used it to reduce jaundice in another newborn.  I had one infant who was not passing his hearing test, and after a few rounds he passed very quickly.  I've also used it on my pets, both surrogately and directly, with some success -- although for more lasting results I think I will need to continue.  I have also used it surrogately, even on people I'm pretty sure would not believe in it if they knew I was tapping on their behalf.  I have seen some results there too.

In fact, I've had more success in these types of situations than I have with myself, and I actually DO believe in it, LOL!  (Of course my own problems are a bit more complicated!)

Perhaps one could argue that somehow my belief makes it work on another's behalf.  I am not aware of a way to prove orr disprove that idea.  However, in my mind it actually doesn't matter whether it works by placebo or not. The fact is, it does work.  Heck, placebos work almost as well as many medications approved by the FDA anyhow.

edited to add:

And placebos don't have side effects!

I believed and it didn't work for me....and that with over five years of tapping on the same basic issues from every angle imaginable.  I wake up some mornings so positive I am in a different time place body....I am often suprised when I am back to the same old.

The only really relevant thing regarding belief is that if you're not getting the results you want, you can simply "believe" that you're not doing it right and change the methodology or learn more about it.

EFT tends to get the best results when there's a CURRENTLY experienced emotional difficulty. It's not enough just to think about something that's happening. EFT is like a weed trimmer, but you have to pull the weed up first in order to cut it.

 In this sense, the "weed" is the emotional intensity of any kind.

And remember, too, the BIG deal about the APEX problem - when a problem is gone, you tend to forget it even existed in the first place, so this could be happening to.

 Either way, a fun experiment, depending upon how adventurous you're feeling, might be to tap on all of your emotions about how "EFT sucks" and "I can't believe I wasted all my time on this nonsense" and the anger at "I'm not getting the results I want, damn it!" and everything else that has some kind of emotional value in your original post.

 A funny way of looking at the major relevancy of it working only on NOW emotions is to think of it like bug spray, with the bug being the emotion. If you're not spraying (aiming) at a bug, of course you're going to spray with no results - nothing is "wrong" so to speak.

So try it with any sort of emotional difficulty you could think up in this moment - give it a number from 0 (totally gone) to 10 (totally intense) and see if it shifts downward. If it shifts UPWARD, then you're tapping (literal pun intended) into other areas that want to be released, too, so just EFT those.

And if you get no results whatsoever, then EFT may not be for you or you might have nothing left to clear.