Connolly, S.M., Sakai, C.E. · International Journal of Emergency Mental Health · 2012
Group differences adjusted for pretest scores were statistically significant at p<.001 for 9 of 10 TSI trauma subscales and for both severity and frequency on the MPSS, with moderate to large effect sizes; reductions sustained at 2-year follow-up.
In a population of genocide survivors — people carrying some of the deepest trauma a society can experience, in a place where mental health infrastructure had been destroyed alongside everything else — this trial found significant improvement on nine of ten trauma symptom measures, with those gains still present two years later. Durability at that scale, in that population, is rare in any trauma treatment research, and it suggests tapping's benefit isn't just a short-term comfort but something that can genuinely hold over years.
If these results hold up in other post-conflict settings, it could mean genocide and war survivors — in places where mental health infrastructure was destroyed alongside everything else — get a technique that needs no clinic, no medication supply chain, and no ongoing dependence on a therapist, with relief that can last years rather than weeks. Because it's self-administered once taught, it's one of the few interventions that could keep working even where the aid organization that introduced it has since left.
With reductions holding up two years later in genocide survivors, the mechanistic question worth chasing is whether that durability shows up biologically — cortisol patterns, heart-rate variability, inflammatory markers — measured at the same long-term follow-up points as the psychological symptom scales. Replicating this waitlist-controlled design in other post-conflict settings, and combining it with broader community psychosocial reconstruction programs, would test how far this kind of intervention travels beyond Rwanda specifically.
| Design | Randomized trial |
|---|---|
| Participants | 145 people |
| Population | 145 adult survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide |
| Comparison group | waitlist control group vs immediate TFT treatment group |
| Outcome measures | Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), Modified PTSD Symptom Scale (MPSS) |
| Journal | International Journal of Emergency Mental Health |
| Year | 2012 |
| Country | Rwanda |
| Language | English |
| Method | Thought Field Therapy (related tapping method) |
| Publication type | Study / trial |
| Verification | ✓ Confirmed against the primary source |
Connolly, S.M., & Sakai, C.E. (2012). Brief trauma symptom intervention with Rwandan genocide survivors using Thought Field Therapy. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health.
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 PTSD & Trauma · Other Physical Conditions
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