Tapas Acupressure Technique

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Tapas Acupressure Technique (or TAT) is a controversial healing practice. While some authors have described it as pseudoscientific, one study has concluded that it is effective for weight loss maintenance.. The study is available on the TATlife website.

History

Invented by Ms. Tapas Fleming (a California licensed acupuncturist) in 1993, TAT is marketed as a "leading edge healing technique", and "an easy process for ending traumatic stress, reducing allergic reactions, and freeing yourself of negative beliefs." It is also promoted as a tested treatment for weight loss following research funded by Kaiser Permanente and The National Institutes of Health published a study in the March 2007 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The underlying theory is that trauma leads to a blockage of energy. Practitioners of TAT claim that by applying light pressure to four areas (inner corner of both eyes, one-half-inch above the space between the eyebrows, and the back of head) while putting your attention on a series of steps releases the blockage and allows healing. TAT has been taught for over 10 years in courses that earn continuing education units for acupuncturists and therapists.A study published in March 2007 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine tested TAT in a scientific randomized controlled study and found it to be effective for weight loss maintenance.TATlife.com offers phone support and email groups to support weight loss efforts.Dawson Church, Ph.D., offers scientific support for TAT specifically in his book The Genie in Your Genes, specifically citing positive affirmations effect as lowering the body's production of cortisols and naturally lowering stress, which promotes a more positive environment for healing to occur.

Criticisms

A paper published in June 2005 concluded that TAT "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." TAT also conforms to the "nine practices of pseudoscience" as identified by AR Pratkins.

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