Brief Group Intervention Using Emotional Freedom Techniques for Depression in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Randomized trial👥 18 participants⚖️ vs. no-treatment control📈 Cohen's 2.28 (large)Moderate rigor✓ Source-checked📍 Philippines

In plain English. 18 first-year psychology students with moderate-to-severe depression were split between four weekly group tapping sessions and no treatment. The students who tapped ended up with depression scores in the normal range, while those who didn't stayed moderately depressed — a difference the researchers describe as very large, bigger than what many antidepressant trials typically show. This was a small study with a lot of dropout from the original sample of 30, so it's a strong early signal rather than the final word.

What they found

Cohen's = 2.28

a large effect · on post-test depression scores

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After four 90-minute group EFT sessions over three weeks, the EFT group's post-test BDI scores fell into the non-depressed range (mean 6.08) while the control group remained in the moderate-depression range (mean 18.04), a difference described by the authors as a very large effect (Cohen's d=2.28, p=.001).

How the study worked

Who took partfirst-year psychology students with moderate-to-severe depression on screening (n=18)

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

Compared withno-treatment control

Measured withBeck Depression Inventory (BDI)

💡 Where this could help

Picture a first-year college student, away from home for the first time, sinking into depression while the campus counseling center has a months-long waitlist. If this finding replicates, it suggests a short group program — just four sessions, after which students carry the skill forward on their own for free — could reach students during that vulnerable transition before things get worse.

🔬 What to study next

Given how large this effect looked after just four sessions, a valuable next step is replicating this brief group protocol in a bigger, more diverse student population while tracking cortisol or inflammatory markers alongside the depression scores, to see whether the shift from moderate-to-severe into the non-depressed range corresponds with measurable biological recovery during a notoriously stressful academic transition. Following students well past the three-week program, into exam periods and subsequent semesters, would also clarify how long the benefit holds without booster sessions.

The full record

Design	Randomized trial
Participants	18 people
Population	first-year psychology students with moderate-to-severe depression on screening
Comparison group	no-treatment control
Effect size	Cohen's d = 2.28 — on post-test depression scores
Outcome measures	Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
Journal	Depression Research and Treatment
Year	2012
Country	Philippines
Language	English
Method	EFT / tapping
Publication type	Study / trial
Verification	✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Church, D., De Asis, M.A., & Brooks, A.J. (2012). Brief Group Intervention Using Emotional Freedom Techniques for Depression in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Depression Research and Treatment. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/257172

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