Regarding this question:

There are a number of techniques available for ridding yourself of bad mental habits or behaviors. NLP and EFT come to mind. But while NLP is based (loosely) on a metaphor of mental conditioning (which has a strong scientific basis), EFT is based on ideas which are no more effective than a sugar pill.

It might be different if EFT advertised itself as a mental discipline. But EFT claims an actual physical element to its processes (the tapping of meridian points on the body), an effect that apparently cannot be duplicated in a laboratory setting.

My question is, does this matter? Can you exchange a faulty belief with another faulty belief, and be better off?

I have a philosophical problem with techniques that claim some physical mechanism that isn't actually there. EFT apparently doesn't work because of meridian points and energy flow,. Instead, the effect is simply a consequence of changing the person's belief. Don't get me wrong; it's a real effect. The problem I have with it is that it's mental trickery.

Wouldn't it be better (albeit less profitable) to just show people how to master their own mental processes, instead of resorting to pulling rabbits out of hats?