The Tapping Evidence Base
Anxiety · PTSD & Trauma

Veterans PTSD trial with anxiety outcome (as tabulated in Clond 2016 / Sebastian & Nelms 2017 / Stapleton 2023)

Geronilla, L., McWilliams, M., Clond, M., Palmer-Hoffman, J. · 2014

Randomized trial👥 54 participants⚖️ vs. treatment as usual / waitlist📈 Cohen's 2.3 (large)Higher rigor✓ Source-checked📍 United States
In plain English. In this trial of 54 veterans with PTSD, six tapping sessions produced a very large drop in anxiety compared with usual care — one of the largest effects seen across all the studies in this area. The same veterans' PTSD symptoms specifically are covered in a separate record.

What they found

Cohen's = 2.3
a large effect · 95% CI 1.38–3.22 · on anxiety symptoms
smallmoderatelarge
00.50.82.5

Six EFT sessions (n=29) vs TAU (n=25); anxiety difference d=2.3 (95% CI 1.38–3.22, p<0.001). The same trial's PTSD outcome is reported in Sebastian & Nelms 2017 (d=3.06) and Stapleton 2023 (g=2.51, the largest effect in that table).

How the study worked

Who took partveterans with PTSD (PCL-M clinical cutoff) (n=54)
What they didIn a randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive tapping or a comparison condition, then measured and compared.
Compared withtreatment as usual / waitlist
Measured withPCL-M, SA-45

💡 Where this could help

If an effect this large keeps showing up across independent replications, picture veterans carrying wartime anxiety for years, offered six sessions after which they can keep administering the technique to themselves for free, cutting that burden faster than many longer therapy courses require. That kind of speed matters for veterans whose access to sustained mental health care is limited by distance, stigma, or long wait times.

🔬 What to study next

An anxiety effect this large deserves replication with objective measures common in PTSD research — heart-rate variability, cortisol reactivity to a standardized stress task, or even startle-response testing — to see whether the self-reported drop is mirrored physiologically. It would also be worth testing whether six sessions is really the right dose, since knowing the minimum effective number would matter enormously for scaling this to veterans facing long VA waitlists.

The full record

DesignRandomized trial
Participants54 people
Populationveterans with PTSD (PCL-M clinical cutoff)
Comparison grouptreatment as usual / waitlist
Effect sizeCohen's d (EFT vs TAU) = 2.3 (95% CI 1.38–3.22) — on anxiety symptoms
Outcome measuresPCL-M, SA-45
JournalOriginal publication venue not confirmed (indexed via Clond 2016 Table 1/2; also cited as Geronilla et al. 2016 in later reviews)
Year2014
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Geronilla, L., McWilliams, M., Clond, M., & Palmer-Hoffman, J. (2014). Veterans PTSD trial with anxiety outcome (as tabulated in Clond 2016 / Sebastian & Nelms 2017 / Stapleton 2023). https://doi.org/10.9769/EPJ.2016.8.2.LG

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 · PTSD & Trauma

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Anxiety Cohen's 2.3 large effect WHAT THEY FOUND Six EFT sessions (n=29) vs TAU (n=25);anxiety difference d=2.3 (95% CI 1.38–3.22,p<0.001). The same trial's PTSD… Randomized trial · 54 participants Geronilla · 2014 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com