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Depression · Anxiety · Stress & Cortisol · Test Anxiety & Students

The Efficacy of EFT on the Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among College Students' during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Basis for the Development of Psychological Acupuncture Intervention

Bustamante-Paster, A. · International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis · 2022

Outcome study👥 45 participantsPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 Philippines
In plain English. Forty-five Filipino college students struggling with severe pandemic-era depression, anxiety, or stress went through 16 tapping sessions. Across all three groups, average scores moved from the severe range down to normal or mild by the end. There was no control group, so some of the improvement over 16 sessions could reflect time passing rather than EFT alone.

What they found

45
people took part

After 16 sessions of EFT, the anxiety group's mean DASS score fell from 16.69 (severe) to 4.84 (normal), the depression group's from 22.77 (severe) to 10.38 (mild), and the stress group's from 25.50 (severe) to 8.70 (normal).

How the study worked

Who took partcollege students during the COVID-19 pandemic with moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety, or stress (n=45)
What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.
Measured withDepression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)

💡 Where this could help

If findings like these hold up in larger trials, the promise is simple: a low-cost, self-administered tool that could reach people struggling with depression who can't easily access traditional care — at home, between appointments, or where there aren't enough clinicians to go around.

🔬 What to study next

The natural next step: a head-to-head trial against an established treatment like CBT, and a larger sample to confirm the effect.

The full record

DesignOutcome study
Participants45 people
Populationcollege students during the COVID-19 pandemic with moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety, or stress
Outcome measuresDepression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)
JournalInternational Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis
Year2022
CountryPhilippines
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Bustamante-Paster, A. (2022). The Efficacy of EFT on the Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among College Students' during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Basis for the Development of Psychological Acupuncture Intervention. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Analysis. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmra/v5-i7-06

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 Depression · Anxiety · Stress & Cortisol · Test Anxiety & Students

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Depression 45 participants WHAT THEY FOUND After 16 sessions of EFT, the anxietygroup's mean DASS score fell from 16.69(severe) to 4.84 (normal), the… Outcome study · 45 participants Bustamante-Paster · 2022 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com