Naturally Thin You: Weight Loss and Psychological Symptoms After a Six-Week Online Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Course

Outcome study 👥 76 participants Preliminary ✓ Source-checked 📍 United States

In plain English. Seventy-six people took a six-week online course that used tapping to work on emotional eating, with live group calls and a year of ongoing support afterward, no specific diet prescribed. A year later, they'd lost weight steadily, felt less controlled by food, and were less depressed — though their anxiety, trauma symptoms, and overall happiness didn't show a clear change. There was no comparison group, so we can't rule out that other factors (like the ongoing support itself) played a role.

What they found

Seventy-six people took a six-week online course that used tapping to work on emotional eating, with live group calls and a year of ongoing support afterward…

76 participants in a six-week online EFT course (live group teleclasses plus a year of monthly support) showed significant improvements from pre- to 12-month follow-up in body weight (p<.001, averaging about 1 lb/week during the course and 2 lb/month afterward), depression (p=.010), restraint (p=.025), and power of food (p=.018); PTSD symptoms and anxiety were unchanged, and happiness gains were not significant.

How the study worked

Who took part adults enrolled in a six-week online weight-loss course using EFT ("Naturally Thin You") (n=76)

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

Measured with body weight, dietary restraint, power of food, happiness, PTSD symptom checklist

💡 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 weight & food cravings 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 randomized controlled design.

The full record

Design	Outcome study
Participants	76 people
Population	adults enrolled in a six-week online weight-loss course using EFT ("Naturally Thin You")
Outcome measures	body weight, dietary restraint, power of food, happiness, PTSD symptom checklist
Journal	Explore (NY)
Year	2018
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

Church, D., Stapleton, P., Sheppard, L., & Carter, B. (2018). Naturally Thin You: Weight Loss and Psychological Symptoms After a Six-Week Online Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Course. Explore (NY). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2017.10.009

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 Weight & Food Cravings · Depression