Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health

Outcome study👥 203 participantsPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 United States

In plain English. Over 200 adults attending a multi-day tapping training had their anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms measured before and after, and a smaller group of 31 also had blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol, and immune markers tracked. Self-reported anxiety and depression dropped substantially, and several physical stress markers, including cortisol and resting heart rate, improved too. There was no comparison group, so we can't rule out that some of this reflects the general effect of attending an immersive workshop rather than tapping specifically.

What they found

203

people took part

Across the workshop sample, self-reported anxiety fell 40% (p<.000), depression 35% (p<.000), and PTSD symptoms 32% (p<.000); in a physiological subsample (n=31), cortisol fell 37% (p<.000), resting heart rate fell 8% (p=.001), and salivary immunoglobulin A rose 113% (p=.017); heart rate variability and heart coherence showed positive trends without a reported significance value.

How the study worked

Who took partadults attending 4-day EFT training workshops (n=203)

What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.

Measured withheart rate variability, heart coherence, resting heart rate, blood pressure, salivary cortisol, salivary immunoglobulin A, anxiety/depression/PTSD/pain/craving/happiness self-report scales

⭐ Why this study matters

This study didn't settle for one signal — it tracked a whole panel of things a person can't consciously control: cortisol, resting heart rate, blood pressure, and salivary immunoglobulin A, a marker of immune defense. Seeing several independent physiological systems move together in the same healthy direction after a tapping workshop is a much stronger signal than any single measure alone, because it's hard to explain away that many different lab numbers shifting at once by expectation.

💡 Where this could help

If these patterns hold up in tighter trials, it suggests that people willing to invest a few days learning tapping at a workshop could walk away with changes across multiple body systems, from stress hormones to immune markers, using a skill that costs nothing to practice afterward and needs no ongoing professional involvement.

🔬 What to study next

With cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure, and immune markers all measured in the same people, the natural next step is modeling whether these changes actually track each other within individuals — does the person with the biggest cortisol drop also show the biggest rise in immunoglobulin A? Adding continuous wearable HRV monitoring in the weeks after the workshop, rather than single before/after readings, would also show whether these physiological shifts settle into a lasting new baseline or fade like a temporary post-workshop glow.

The full record

Design	Outcome study
Participants	203 people
Population	adults attending 4-day EFT training workshops
Outcome measures	heart rate variability, heart coherence, resting heart rate, blood pressure, salivary cortisol, salivary immunoglobulin A, anxiety/depression/PTSD/pain/craving/happiness self-report scales
Journal	Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine
Year	2019
Country	United States
Language	English
Method	EFT / tapping
Publication type	Study / trial
Verification	✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Bach, D., Groesbeck, G., Stapleton, P., Sims, R., Blickheuser, K., & Church, D. (2019). Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health. Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515690X18823691

This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/tapping. Explore more studies on Stress & Cortisol · Anxiety · Depression · How It Works (Biology)