The Tapping Evidence Base
Depression

Effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques: A pilot study

Krishnamurthy, D., Sharma, A. · Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development · 2019

Randomized trial👥 10 participants⚖️ vs. treatment as usual (TAU) groupPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 India
In plain English. This tiny pilot study randomized 10 depressed patients (5 per group) to add EFT to routine treatment or receive routine treatment alone for three days. The EFT group ended up with notably lower depression scores. With only five people per group, results here are highly preliminary despite being randomized.

What they found

10
people took part

EFT participants (n=5, M=11.80) showed significantly lower depression than TAU participants (n=5, M=4.20) after a 3-day, 40-minute EFT intervention (p=0.05).

How the study worked

Who took partpatients aged 18+ diagnosed with depression, scoring 21-40 on the Beck Depression Inventory (n=10)
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 (TAU) group
Measured withBeck Depression Inventory

💡 Where this could help

Picture someone with moderate-to-severe depression whose current treatment isn't offering much relief, looking for anything to add on top of what they're already doing. If this early pilot signal holds up in bigger trials, tapping could become a simple, low-risk add-on that clinicians feel comfortable recommending alongside standard depression treatment — something the patient practices themselves between appointments at no extra cost, not as a replacement but as extra support.

🔬 What to study next

This pilot is far too small to draw conclusions from, so the priority is a fully powered trial — but depression is a condition where biomarkers are increasingly well understood, and it would be worth tracking inflammatory markers like IL-6 and CRP (both elevated in depression), cortisol patterns, and frontal EEG asymmetry alongside the Beck Depression Inventory to see whether reported mood change lines up with known biological signatures of depression lifting.

The full record

DesignRandomized trial
Participants10 people
Populationpatients aged 18+ diagnosed with depression, scoring 21-40 on the Beck Depression Inventory
Comparison grouptreatment as usual (TAU) group
Outcome measuresBeck Depression Inventory
JournalIndian Journal of Public Health Research & Development
Year2019
CountryIndia
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

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Cite this study

APA

Krishnamurthy, D., & Sharma, A. (2019). Effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques: A pilot study. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development. https://doi.org/10.5958/0976-5506.2019.02836.5

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

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Depression 10 participants WHAT THEY FOUND EFT participants (n=5, M=11.80) showedsignificantly lower depression than TAUparticipants (n=5, M=4.20) after a… Randomized trial · 10 participants Krishnamurthy · 2019 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com