Self-Administered EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) in Individuals with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Trial

Randomized trial 👥 62 participants ⚖️ vs. no intervention (waitlist) 📈 Cohen's 0.49 (small) Moderate rigor ✓ Source-checked 📍 Sweden

In plain English. 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.

What they found

Cohen's = 0.49

a small effect · 95% CI −0.06–1.04 · on anxiety, EFT vs waitlist; between-group d=0.49 (95% CI -0.06 to 1.04, p=.083, NO

small moderate large

0 0.5 0.8 2.5

Sixty-two women with fibromyalgia — a condition causing widespread pain and fatigue — tried daily self-guided tapping for eight weeks, while a comparison group…

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.

How the study worked

Who took part women with fibromyalgia and elevated anxiety (86 randomized, 62 analyzed) (n=62)

What they did In a randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive tapping or a comparison condition, then measured and compared.

Compared with no intervention (waitlist)

Measured with HADS anxiety, HADS depression, SF-36 quality of life, General Self-Efficacy scale

💡 Where this could help

If self-administered tapping keeps easing anxiety and depression in people with fibromyalgia, it could matter for a population often dismissed by conventional medicine and left to manage widespread pain and fatigue largely alone — a free technique they can practice themselves, on their own schedule, without another appointment to get to. That self-sufficiency is the whole point for a condition where patients already spend years being passed between specialists who can't fully help.

🔬 What to study next

Fibromyalgia is increasingly understood through central sensitization and stress-axis dysregulation, so the compelling next step is testing whether daily self-administered EFT shifts inflammatory markers, cortisol rhythm, or pain-processing measures on functional imaging, alongside the anxiety, depression, and quality-of-life scales already used here. A larger sample would also help clarify why self-efficacy and some physical-function subscales didn't improve even as anxiety and depression did.

The full record

Design	Randomized trial
Participants	62 people
Population	women with fibromyalgia and elevated anxiety (86 randomized, 62 analyzed)
Comparison group	no intervention (waitlist)
Effect size	Cohen's d (EFT vs waitlist) = 0.49 (95% CI −0.06–1.04) — on anxiety, EFT vs waitlist; between-group d=0.49 (95% CI -0.06 to 1.04, p=.083, NOT significant) per Clond (2016).
Outcome measures	HADS anxiety, HADS depression, SF-36 quality of life, General Self-Efficacy scale
Journal	Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal
Year	2008
Country	Sweden
Language	English
Method	EFT / Tapping
Publication type	Study / trial
Verification	✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Brattberg, G. (2008). Self-Administered EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) in Individuals with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Trial. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal.

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 Pain · Anxiety · Depression