Church, D., Clond, M. · Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease · 2019
Anxiety reduced significantly in the in-person but not the online group; both groups showed significant improvements in depression (p<0.001) and relationship satisfaction (29% improvement, p<0.003), with sharper symptom declines in the in-person group; gains were maintained at 1-year follow-up in both groups.
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 anxiety who can't easily access traditional care — at home, between appointments, or where there aren't enough clinicians to go around.
The natural next step: longer-term follow-up to see how durable the benefit is, and an active ('sham tapping') control to isolate what's doing the work.
| Design | Controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Participants | 74 people |
| Population | participants in a relationship-skills program, delivered either in-person (6-day workshop) or online (12-week course) |
| Comparison group | in-person group compared with online group (no inactive control) |
| Outcome measures | depression, anxiety, and relationship satisfaction measures |
| Journal | Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease |
| Year | 2019 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Method | EFT / tapping |
| Publication type | Study / trial |
| Verification | ✓ Confirmed against the primary source |
Church, D., & Clond, M. (2019). Is online treatment as effective as in-person treatment? Psychological change in two relationship skills groups. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000975
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 Anxiety · Depression
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