The Tapping Evidence Base
Pain · Trauma (other)

The impact of adverse childhood experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms on chronic pain

Stapleton, P., Kang, Y., Schwarz, R., Freedom, J. · Frontiers in Psychology · 2023

Outcome study👥 199 participantsPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 Unknown
In plain English. This study looked at whether childhood adversity predicts how bad someone's chronic pain feels today, in nearly 200 adults recruited worldwide. Once the researchers accounted for age, income, and how long someone had been in pain, childhood adversity on its own didn't clearly predict pain severity - a null finding worth reporting honestly rather than downplaying. This is a correlational survey study, not a treatment trial, so it doesn't test whether EFT itself helps.

What they found

199
people took part

After controlling for age, socioeconomic status, and pain duration, low and high ACEs scores were not significantly associated with pain intensity or interference compared to no ACEs, and the proposed PTSS mediation could not be tested.

How the study worked

Who took partadults worldwide with chronic pain (n=199)
What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.
Measured withACEs score, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), pain intensity and interference

The full record

DesignOutcome study
Participants199 people
Populationadults worldwide with chronic pain
Outcome measuresACEs score, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), pain intensity and interference
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Year2023
CountryUnknown
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

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Cite this study

APA

Stapleton, P., Kang, Y., Schwarz, R., & Freedom, J. (2023). The impact of adverse childhood experiences and posttraumatic stress symptoms on chronic pain. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1243570

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 · Trauma (other)

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Pain 199 participants WHAT THEY FOUND After controlling for age, socioeconomicstatus, and pain duration, low and high ACEsscores were not significantly… Outcome study · 199 participants Stapleton · 2023 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com