A feature built into EFT is to measure the SUDS.
SUDS stands for Subjective Units of Distress Scale and is a measure of how intense a negative emotion feels.
EFT uses the scale of 10-0 to measure progress in a tapping session, with numbers often going down to 0 on many aspects of the issue.
As well as 10-0, some tappers use Small Medium or Large or Intense and Not-intense.
And although in certain situations, a practitioner may use a different guide, for example, if SUDS are frightening rather than reassuring to a client, most tappers find SUDS a good way of measuring progress.
It is also encouraging to know that intensity of negative emotion is going down.
SUDS also act as a guide on what to tap on.
For example, if when tapping an event down from a 10 out of 10, it goes down to and stays stuck at a 4, then we know to investigate a root cause.
Let me illustrate and tell you this example.
"Robert" was tapping for the time when he was short-changed in the grocery store the previous month.
His intensity of anger about the event was a 9 out of 10 to start with.
It went down to 8, 7, 6, 5, and then got stuck at 5.
So I then asked Robert if there was anything this anger reminded him of, what would it be.
He was astonished to hear himself coming up with childhood abuse.
This had been by someone whom his parents had trusted, and Robert was surprised to find how much anger and hurt was still there.
We worked on it and then went back to the shop incident, which soon went down to zero.
In other words, the shop incident SUDS was a flag given by the unconscious mind to draw our sttention to something deeper that needed releasing.
Robert became much happier and calmer after that session.
And SUDS not only get stuck sometimes but may even climb up.
One of the biggest EFT newbie mistakes is to panic when intensity of negative feeling increases and stop the tapping, thinking the EFT has made things worse.
In fact, this happens because the issue on the surface is diminishing and thereby exposing a bigger issue underneath.
Just like the Robert SUDS stayed at a particular number in the above example, SUDS can also climb up.
This can be frightening for a new practitioner or someone tapping on their own.
Maybe the SUDS went up because the fear of connecting to a really bad memory diminished with the tapping, or that other emotions hiding behind the issue came to the forefront to be healed.
Or it could be that as emotions started to be released, it felt too overwhelming, such as if someone is afraid of crying and they had started releasing with tears.
The best way to proceed here would be to make the tapping gentler.
For example, you can put the issue in a figurative sealed box and put the box outside the room and tap for letting this go.
Or you can chase the intensity of feeling around the body, for example from a tightness in the stomach to a discomfort in the chest to a slight headache and then out of the body and gone - Chasing the Pain.
There are many other gentle ways of going forward and whatever works is good.
So when the numbers go up, it simply is a sign that you are either ready to let go of something bigger or that you need to proceed more gently.
Of course, you can always tap for "Even though the numbers went up and I'm scared about that, I deeply...
".
Whatever works is good.
And that is just fine.