The Tapping Evidence Base
Depression · PTSD & Trauma

EMDR vs EFT trial — depression outcome (as tabulated in Nelms & Castel 2016)

Karatzias, T., Power, K., Brown, K., McGoldrick, T., Begum, M., Young, J. et al. · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · 2011

Randomized trial👥 46 participants⚖️ vs. EMDR (active comparator)📈 Cohen's 0.69 (moderate)Higher rigor✓ Source-checked📍 United Kingdom
In plain English. This same head-to-head trial of tapping versus EMDR also measured depression, and found a moderate improvement in the tapping group — broadly in line with the similar results seen for anxiety and PTSD symptoms in this study.

What they found

Cohen's = 0.69
a moderate effect · on depressive symptoms
smallmoderatelarge
00.50.82.5

Depression symptoms decreased by 28% (d=0.69) in this analyzed subsample; the same trial's anxiety and PTSD outcomes are recorded in separate records (karatzias-2011-ptsd-anxiety).

How the study worked

Who took partNHS Scotland patients referred for psychotherapy with DSM-IV PTSD (n=46)
What they didIn a randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive tapping or a comparison condition, then measured and compared.
Compared withEMDR (active comparator)
Measured withHADS

💡 Where this could help

If tapping keeps matching up reasonably well against EMDR for depression tied to PTSD, it could mean trauma survivors get another effective option where EMDR-trained clinicians are scarce or waitlists are long within public health systems like the NHS. Unlike EMDR, which always requires a trained clinician in the room, tapping can be handed to the patient as a self-administered skill they keep using between and after appointments.

🔬 What to study next

With EFT tracking reasonably close to EMDR for depression tied to PTSD in this subsample, the next step is pairing future head-to-head trials with objective markers — cortisol, heart-rate variability, or amygdala reactivity on fMRI — to see whether the two approaches are converging on the same physiological endpoint through different routes. That would help explain why two such different-looking therapies keep landing in similar territory on symptom scales.

The full record

DesignRandomized trial
Participants46 people
PopulationNHS Scotland patients referred for psychotherapy with DSM-IV PTSD
Comparison groupEMDR (active comparator)
Effect sizeCohen's d = 0.69 — on depressive symptoms
Outcome measuresHADS
JournalThe Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Year2011
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Karatzias, T., Power, K., Brown, K., McGoldrick, T., Begum, M., Young, J., Loughran, P., Chouliara, Z., & Adams, S. (2011). EMDR vs EFT trial — depression outcome (as tabulated in Nelms & Castel 2016). The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0b013e31821cd262

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 · PTSD & Trauma

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Depression Cohen's 0.69 moderate effect WHAT THEY FOUND Depression symptoms decreased by 28%(d=0.69) in this analyzed subsample; thesame trial's anxiety and PTSD outcomes… Randomized trial · 46 participants Karatzias · 2011 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com