23 studies, strongest evidence first. Search and filter to find what you need — each card explains
what the researchers did and found before giving the technical detail.
Systematic reviewPreliminary
Hamidah, H., Rauf, S., Arifuddin, S. et al. · 2024
This review pulled together studies on spiritual tapping (SEFT) for cervical cancer patients who'd finished chemoradiation and concluded it helps with pain, stress, and depression. As a narrative review of small studies rather than new controlled data, the conclusions are only as reliable as the underlying (mostly small) studies it summarizes.
A systematic review of studies from 2003-2023 found SEFT beneficial for lowering pain, stress, and depression among post-chemoradiation cervical cancer patients.
Randomized trialModerate rigor
Kaplan, M., Çelik, H. · 2025
Seventy people being treated for cancer were split into a group that got four half-hour tapping sessions over two weeks and a group that received usual hospital care. The tapping group's pain ratings dropped by roughly half and their depression scores dropped by more than a third, while the usual-care group barely improved on pain and actually got slightly more depressed over the same two weeks. It's a single-hospital study, so it's a strong early result that would benefit from replication elsewhere.
70 cancer patients were randomized to 4 EFT sessions over two weeks (n=35) or routine care (n=35); pain (VAS) fell from 4.82 to 2.44 in the EFT group versus 5.36 to 4.25 in controls (EFT p<0.05, control not significant), and depression (BDI) fell from 31.44 to 18.44 in the EFT group while it rose slightly in controls (27.94 to 31.42).
Randomized trialModerate rigor
Stapleton, P., Wilson, C., Uechtritz, N. et al. · 2025
147 adults living with ongoing pain — most of them women in their 50s — took a six-week tapping program, either with a live instructor or working through it online at their own pace, while others waited. Both tapping groups felt less pain and functioned better in daily life, and that improvement was still there six months later. Notably, doing the program alone online worked just as well as having a live instructor, suggesting tapping can be delivered remotely without losing its benefit.
147 chronic pain sufferers were randomized to a 6-week EFT program (delivered live in-person or self-paced online) or a waitlist; EFT significantly reduced pain severity and interference and improved quality of life, with gains sustained at 6-month follow-up, and the live and self-paced online formats were equally effective.
Randomized trialModerate rigor
Zhou, X., Zhang, G., Chen, D. et al. · 2025
Ninety-nine patients recovering from lower-limb fracture surgery in China were split into three groups: routine care, routine care plus ear acupressure, or routine care plus ear acupressure and EFT tapping. The group that got both ear acupressure and tapping had the least pain in the two days after surgery and the lowest anxiety three days out. Because EFT was combined with acupressure rather than tested alone, it's not possible to say how much tapping itself contributed versus the acupressure.
The combined auricular acupressure plus EFT group had significantly lower VAS pain scores at 4, 12, 24, and 48 hours post-intervention and lower anxiety scores at 72 hours than the acupressure-only or control groups (P < .05).
Randomized trialModerate rigorChinese
Li, H., Lin, Y., Hu, J. et al. · 2023
Chinese patients recovering from hemorrhoid surgery — which can involve significant pain — were randomly assigned to tapping sessions alongside their normal post-surgery care, or to standard care alone (45 patients per group). The group that tapped reported feeling less anxious and down, slept better, and rated their quality of life higher than the group that didn't tap, with all differences reaching statistical significance.
In a randomized trial of 90 post-hemorrhoidectomy patients (45 EFT vs 45 standard care), the EFT group had significantly lower post-intervention SAS (40.36 vs 48.84), SDS (41.85 vs 50.52), and PSQI (8.02 vs 11.65) scores, and higher quality-of-life scores, than the control group (all p<0.05).
Randomized trialPreliminary
Benor, D., Rossiter-Thornton, J., Toussaint, L. · 2016
Twenty-four people with chronic pain, most also dealing with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue, tried WHEE, a hybrid of EFT and a trauma-processing technique, for six weeks, compared to a waiting list. The treatment group saw less anxiety and depression than those waiting, and when the waitlist group later got the same treatment, their pain and depression eased too, though not every measure improved for every group. This is a genuinely small pilot trial, and the authors are candid that it's promising rather than conclusive.
WHEE significantly decreased anxiety (P < .05) [reported in source] and depression (P < .05) compared with the waitlist control group; the wait-list-turned-WHEE group later showed decreased pain severity (P < .05) and depression (P < .04) but not pain interference or anxiety.
Dismantling studyModerate rigorCritical finding
Church, D., et al. · 2016
Thirty-seven people with a frozen, painful shoulder tried a single 30-minute tapping session, compared against a breathing exercise designed to test whether the acupressure part of tapping mattered. Both groups felt less pain and less anxious afterward, but actual shoulder mobility didn't clearly improve in most measurements. This was a small, one-session study meant to isolate what part of tapping does the work, not a full treatment trial, and it wasn't found on PubMed (published in an APA specialty journal), so the exact statistics could not be independently re-verified.
37 participants with frozen shoulder were assessed before and after a single 30-minute session and again 30 days later; both EFT and diaphragmatic-breathing groups improved on pain and psychological symptoms post-session, but range-of-motion changes were not statistically significant for most measures, and reduced psychological distress was associated with reduced pain and some ROM improvement.
Randomized trialHigher rigor
Church, D., Brooks, A. J. · 2014
Fifty-nine veterans with clinically significant PTSD symptoms, on top of their usual care, received six sessions of EFT coaching. Even though pain, depression, and anxiety weren't the direct target, all three improved significantly along with PTSD symptoms, and the pain relief was still there six months later. This randomized trial adds to a body of evidence that treating PTSD with EFT tends to lift mood and reduce pain as well, not just trauma symptoms in isolation.
Pain decreased significantly during the intervention period (-41%, p < .0001), and anxiety and depression both reduced significantly, alongside significant PTSD symptom improvement, with gains tracked at 3 and 6 months.
Randomized trialModerate rigor
Bougea, A.M., Spandideas, N., Alexopoulos, E.C. et al. · 2013
Thirty-five people with frequent tension headaches were split into a group that tapped twice a day for two months and a group that just continued their usual care. The tapping group had fewer and less intense headaches, felt less stressed, and reported a better quality of life across the board — but their cortisol (stress hormone) levels didn't actually change, which is a useful honest detail since it means the improvement wasn't explained by that particular biological marker. It's a small trial with a standard-care comparison rather than a placebo.
35 patients were randomized to EFT twice daily for two months (n=19) or standard care (n=16); the EFT group had significant reductions in perceived stress, headache frequency, and headache intensity, and improvement on all SF-36 subscales, but no significant change in salivary cortisol in either group.
Randomized trialModerate rigor
Brattberg, G. · 2008
Sixty-two women with fibromyalgia — a condition causing widespread pain and fatigue — tried daily self-guided tapping for eight weeks, while a comparison group did nothing different. The tapping group ended up less anxious and less depressed, and reported better quality of life in areas like vitality, social functioning, and mental health, though pain itself and a couple of other measures didn't show a clear difference. It's a modest-sized study with a do-nothing comparison group, so it's an encouraging early result rather than the final word.
26 women did daily self-administered EFT for 8 weeks (56 sessions total) versus 36 on a no-treatment control; the EFT group had significantly lower anxiety (7.4 vs 9.7, p<0.05) and depression (6.9 vs 9.1, p<0.05) on the HADS, and improved on 5 of 8 SF-36 quality-of-life subscales, though self-efficacy and some physical-function subscales did not differ significantly.
Randomized trialModerate rigorCritical finding
Brattberg, G. · 2008
Fibromyalgia patients with high anxiety did eight weeks of self-administered tapping while a comparison group waited. The tapping group trended toward lower anxiety, but with this sample size the result could plausibly be due to chance.
8 weeks of EFT (n=26) vs waitlist (n=36); anxiety difference d=0.49 (95% CI −0.06–1.04, p=0.083), not statistically significant in Clond's table.
Randomized trialHigher rigor
Kober, A., Scheck, T., Greher, M. et al. · 2002
Sixty trauma patients being transported by ambulance were randomly assigned to real acupressure, sham acupressure, or none, with paramedics trained to apply it. The real-point group ended up with significantly less pain, less anxiety, a lower heart rate, and higher satisfaction than the other two groups. It's a study of acupressure rather than EFT tapping specifically, but supports the underlying acupoint-stimulation mechanism.
In a double-blinded RCT of 60 trauma patients, paramedic-delivered acupressure at true points produced significantly less pain, anxiety, and heart rate, and greater satisfaction than sham or no acupressure (P < 0.01).
Controlled trialPreliminary
Church, D., Vasudevan, A., De Foe, A. et al. · 2023
Fifty-four people did a two-day EFT workshop focused on money-related anxiety, either in person before COVID or virtually during the pandemic. The in-person group showed clearer statistically significant improvements in anxiety, PTSD, and pain, while the virtual group's mood improved significantly but some measures like anxiety and depression showed only non-significant trends. Both formats improved money-related attitudes. This is a retrospective comparison of two convenience samples rather than a randomized head-to-head trial.
The in-person group had significant reductions in anxiety (P=.023), PTSD (P=.013), and pain (P=.029) and improved happiness (P<.001) post-intervention; the virtual group had a significant increase in happiness (P<.001) with non-significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and pain; both groups showed significant improvements in money attitude subscales.
Outcome studyPreliminary
Hamidah, H., Rauf, S., Arifuddin, S. et al. · 2025
Cervical cancer patients undergoing chemoradiation practiced Spiritual EFT and had their pain, stress hormone (cortisol), and an inflammation marker (IL-6) measured before and after. All three dropped substantially. Because this was a one-group pre/post design with no control group, some of the change could reflect the chemoradiation treatment itself rather than SEFT alone.
Average pain severity fell from 4.5 to 1.6, cortisol from 632.9 to 305.3, and IL-6 from 260.1 to 106.7 after SEFT (p < 0.001 for cortisol; significant correlations between pain, cortisol, and IL-6, p<0.001).
Outcome studyPreliminary
Stapleton, P., Kang, Y., Schwarz, R. et al. · 2023
This study looked at whether childhood adversity predicts how bad someone's chronic pain feels today, in nearly 200 adults recruited worldwide. Once the researchers accounted for age, income, and how long someone had been in pain, childhood adversity on its own didn't clearly predict pain severity - a null finding worth reporting honestly rather than downplaying. This is a correlational survey study, not a treatment trial, so it doesn't test whether EFT itself helps.
After controlling for age, socioeconomic status, and pain duration, low and high ACEs scores were not significantly associated with pain intensity or interference compared to no ACEs, and the proposed PTSS mediation could not be tested.
Outcome studyPreliminary
Church, D., Stapleton, P., Gosatti, D. et al. · 2022
One hundred fifty-one people attended a one-day virtual workshop combining EFT with heart-coherence training and mindfulness (EcoMeditation), and showed large drops in anxiety, depression, PTSD symptoms, and pain, plus increases in happiness and flow states that mostly held up three months later. There's no control group, so improvement can't be separated from the general experience of an intensive group workshop, but the follow-up data adds some durability evidence.
Post-workshop (N=111), significant reductions occurred in anxiety (-42.3%, p<0.001), depression (-37.5%, p<0.001), PTSD (-13.0%, p<0.001), and pain (-63.2%, p<0.001), with significant increases in happiness (+111.1%), flow states (+17.4%), and transcendent experiences (+18.5%); gains persisted at 3-month follow-up for a smaller subsample (N=72).
Outcome studyPreliminary
Stapleton, P., Chatwin, H., Sheppard, L. et al. · 2016
People living with chronic pain first described, in their own words, how much pain was costing them at work and in relationships. Then, after just one four-hour group tapping session, their pain severity dropped about 12% and how much the pain interfered with their life dropped nearly 18%, both real, not chance, effects. It's a single-session, uncontrolled study, so it shows a brief group format can move the needle on pain in the short term rather than proving a lasting cure.
After a single four-hour EFT group therapy session, chronic pain sufferers showed a significant decrease in pain severity (-12.04%, p=.044) and pain impact (-17.62%, p=.008); a companion qualitative survey detailed how pain disrupted participants' employment, relationships, and emotional life.
Case seriesPreliminary
Rodriguez, Victoria · 2022
This is a dance/movement MFA thesis describing an artistic and personal creative process that incorporates EFT among several other body-based practices to create a new movement sequence. It is a creative arts project and personal reflection, not a research study measuring EFT's clinical effectiveness.
This MFA dance thesis describes creating a somatic movement sequence called 'Tapping In,' drawing on Pilates, yoga, EFT, and physical therapy, intended to facilitate mind-body connection and release of trauma and physical pain.
Case seriesPreliminary
Weaver, T. B. · 2021
One person dealing with complex PTSD and fibromyalgia, who had taken on caregiving for a nephew, went through nine tapping-based therapy sessions. By the end, they no longer met the clinical criteria for complex PTSD, and their fibromyalgia pain had eased. As a single case study, this can't be generalized, but it illustrates how energy psychology approaches are being applied to intergenerational trauma.
After nine 90-minute sessions of Advanced Integrative Therapy, the client no longer met criteria for complex PTSD and showed reduced fibromyalgia-related pain intensity and quantity.
Case seriesPreliminary
Sukesi, N., Wahyuningsih, W., Prasetyorini, H. · 2020
This is a very small case study — just four cancer patients in Indonesia — looking at whether SEFT (the Indonesian spiritual variant of tapping, which includes Islamic prayer) helped with pain. The researchers described the patients as experiencing less pain afterward, based on interviews rather than a formal before-and-after measurement with a statistical test. With only four people and no comparison group, this counts as a very early, exploratory observation rather than solid evidence.
In this four-patient case series, SEFT was described as having a meaningful influence in reducing cancer pain, based on qualitative interview and observation data rather than a formal statistical test.
ReviewPreliminary
Hart, J. · 2022
This is an explanatory/educational article describing what EFT tapping is and its general therapeutic uses; it doesn't present original research data.
This descriptive article explains the EFT tapping protocol and its recognized applications for anxiety, weight loss issues, pain, and stress.
ReviewPreliminary
Church, D. · 2013
This review makes the case that a single EFT session can meaningfully help with phobias and certain anxiety disorders, and points to trial evidence that even one session lowers the stress hormone cortisol and normalizes stress-related brainwave patterns. It also cautions that more complex, co-occurring conditions like complicated PTSD need longer courses of treatment, not just one session. As a review and case discussion rather than a new trial, it doesn't carry its own participant count or effect size.
The chapter reports that randomized controlled trials show EFT effectively treats phobias and certain anxiety disorders in a single session, with a single session also producing a significant drop in cortisol and normalization of stress-associated EEG frequencies.
ReviewPreliminary
Gallo, F. · 2009
This paper positions tapping-based energy psychology as a genuinely new branch of psychological treatment history, following psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic therapy, and focuses on how it applies to rehabilitation, especially trauma and chronic pain. It walks through case examples and the research base as of 2009, but as a historical and conceptual review rather than a new trial, it doesn't report its own participant numbers or effect sizes.
The article frames energy psychology as psychology's 'fourth force' following psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic/transpersonal approaches, and reviews its historical development, techniques (acupoints, chakras, postures, affirmations, imagery), and evidence base for treating psychological trauma and physical pain in rehabilitation settings.