How to use EFT Tapping to Overcome Phobias

We all have different phobias. Some people are terrified of heights, others panic in small spaces, while someone else might break into a sweat just seeing a spider.

Some phobias are mild, they make you uncomfortable. Others can be so chronic that they completely take over your life.

But here’s the thing: no matter what the fear is, it usually boils down to the same thing with Emotional Freedom technique(EFT), the root cause is an event (or sometimes a series of events) that left an imprint on your mind and body.

Some incidents teach us good lessons. They warn us, keep us safe. But sometimes, they traumatise us instead and plant a fear so deep that we carry it around for years, often without even knowing exactly why.

This is why EFT is so powerful for phobias because instead of treating just the surface fear, it helps you go back to the actual events that created it and release all the emotion stuck there.

My Experience

When I had first started using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques or “tapping”), I was sitting alone in my room, absolutely terrified.

Not terrified of tapping itself no, I was scared because my room had a balcony, and I was extremely afraid of heights.

I didn’t know why I felt that way. I had no memory of falling or any major incident. All I knew was that I was terrified of even glancing in that direction. So much so that I kept the balcony door shut at all times. Eventually, I even hung a thick curtain to block the view. Later, I went a step further and added windows to the balcony just so I didn’t have to look at that awful empty drop. It felt safer.

I always had these horrible images in my head, like I might just tumble off a cliff or topple from some crazy height. It wasn’t rational, but that’s what phobias are: irrational and deeply rooted in our nervous system.

Another Deep Rooted Fear: Closed Spaces

My other big phobia? Being suffocated or locked in small spaces.

I would panic at the thought of being stuck somewhere without fresh air or a way out.

How to Heal Phobias using EFT?

Now, unlike a lot of EFT practitioners out there, I’m not going to give you some generic free script to wipe away your phobia. Sorry, not sorry.

Because the truth is, there is no single script that works for everyone.

Our traumas, events, and emotions are personal. They’re tangled up with when the trauma began, how it was reinforced, and our upbringing. You have to work with your own memories to clear them.

So the solution is to figure out the events that caused it and heal them. It might seem like a long process, but do it once and the phobia will never come back — or it’ll feel like it never even existed.

Where My Fears Actually Came From

For me, my phobias were heights and small spaces and they might sound unrelated, but they actually had the same root.

When I was a child, I was neglected. I was bored and lonely, so one day I tried to run away from my parents just to create a little excitement. When my parents chased me, I felt this thrill and pleasure in my child mind I felt like finally, someone’s playing with me! It was my parents playing with ME! I thought they probably loved me because they did something I enjoyed so much! Play hide-and-seek with me.

But the game ended badly. My mother, furious, dragged me back home and threw me into a dark storeroom. It had almost no ventilation, just a tiny crack and she left me there as “punishment.”

I remember sobbing, terrified, screaming for someone to open the door. No one came. They called it discipline. For me, it was the birth of my claustrophobia and fear of abandonment.

It didn’t stop there. I would always look at that storeroom from the parking lot and it was in a corner of the 6th floor, the highest point of the building. That visual cemented my fear of heights.

How EFT Helped Me Break Free

When I finally started working with EFT, I targeted these specific memories.

I tapped on the panic, the suffocating feeling, the fear that no one would come save me, and the sheer terror of being so high up and alone.

Bit by bit, I watched those emotions collapse. It wasn’t overnight. It was event by event, layer by layer.

It was kind of hard because this event happened several times but the beauty of EFT is such that when you collapse one event you collapse them all. So within a few months I was done with my fears.

The Results: Living on the 10th Floor Without Fear

Now? I live in an apartment on the 10th floor.

I stand by the window, look down, and instead of feeling terror, I feel peace.

Do I still have a tiny bit of fear? Sure, if you told me to stand on the edge of a cliff with no railings, I’d probably hesitate. But that just tells me there are a few more layers to work through. They’re on my list, but honestly, they’re low priority.

How You Can Use EFT to Overcome Your Phobias

That’s how you get rid of phobias. Not by reading a generic script. Not by hoping it magically disappears.

But by going back to the events that caused it, feeling those emotions fully, and then tapping them down to zero.

If you’re going to try this for yourself, here’s one tip: Keep track of your emotions.

Rate them before and after each round of tapping. That way, you’ll know exactly how far you’ve come, and what’s still left to clear.

You’re Not Alone

It is the most freeing feeling in the world when one day you realize you’re standing high above the ground, or in a tiny elevator, and you’re not scared anymore.

If this resonates with you, or you’ve been battling your own phobias, I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment or send me a message. You’re not alone in this, and trust me, if I can do it, so can you.