The Lived Experience of Chronic Pain and the Impact of Brief Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Group Therapy on Coping

Outcome studyPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 Australia

In plain English. People living with chronic pain first described, in their own words, how much pain was costing them at work and in relationships. Then, after just one four-hour group tapping session, their pain severity dropped about 12% and how much the pain interfered with their life dropped nearly 18%, both real, not chance, effects. It's a single-session, uncontrolled study, so it shows a brief group format can move the needle on pain in the short term rather than proving a lasting cure.

What they found

After a single four-hour EFT group therapy session, chronic pain sufferers showed a significant decrease in pain severity (-12.04%, p=.044) and pain impact (-17.62%, p=.008); a companion qualitative survey detailed how pain disrupted participants' employment, relationships, and emotional life.

How the study worked

Who took partadults with chronic pain, first surveyed qualitatively online about the lived impact of their pain, then given a single brief (four-hour) EFT group therapy session

What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.

Measured withself-rated pain severity, self-rated pain impact, open-ended qualitative survey on lived experience of chronic pain

💡 Where this could help

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 pain who can't easily access traditional care — at home, between appointments, or where there aren't enough clinicians to go around.

🔬 What to study next

The natural next step: a head-to-head trial against an established treatment like CBT, and a randomized controlled design.

The full record

Design	Outcome study
Population	adults with chronic pain, first surveyed qualitatively online about the lived impact of their pain, then given a single brief (four-hour) EFT group therapy session
Outcome measures	self-rated pain severity, self-rated pain impact, open-ended qualitative survey on lived experience of chronic pain
Journal	Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, and Treatment
Year	2016
Country	Australia
Language	English
Method	EFT / tapping
Publication type	Study / trial
Verification	✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Stapleton, P., Chatwin, H., Sheppard, L., & McSwan, J. (2016). The Lived Experience of Chronic Pain and the Impact of Brief Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Group Therapy on Coping. Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, and Treatment.

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 Pain