The Tapping Evidence Base
Multiple Conditions · Anxiety

Effectiveness of a single emotional freedom techniques session on facilitating forgiveness and mental health: a randomized clinical trial

Stapleton, P., Le Sech, K., Toussaint, L. L., Hsieh, H. K. · Cogent Psychology · 2025

Randomized trial👥 98 participants⚖️ vs. control task (online, non-EFT)Moderate rigor✓ Source-checked📍 Australia/United States
In plain English. Ninety-eight adults who had experienced interpersonal betrayals or hurts were randomly assigned to a single online EFT session or a control task, then assessed on forgiveness, empathy, rumination, mood, and anxiety. The EFT group showed moderate improvements across most of these measures. This is a preregistered randomized trial, which adds credibility, though it tested only a single session's effect.

What they found

98
people took part

Results revealed moderate improvements in most outcomes for the EFT group compared to control, suggesting a role in fostering forgiveness and psychological recovery after interpersonal offenses.

How the study worked

Who took partadults (91% female, aged 28-72) from Australia and the U.S. dealing with interpersonal transgressions (n=98)
What they didIn a randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive tapping or a comparison condition, then measured and compared.
Compared withcontrol task (online, non-EFT)
Measured withforgiveness measures, empathy measures, rumination measures, mood measures, anxiety measures

💡 Where this could help

Picture someone still carrying resentment years after a betrayal by a friend or family member, unsure how to move past it without formal therapy. If a single online session can meaningfully nudge people toward forgiveness and recovery, it points toward a scalable, low-barrier tool a person could do entirely on their own — offered through an app or workplace wellness program, with no therapist involved — for people who would never seek therapy specifically to 'work on forgiveness.'

🔬 What to study next

A single online session is a striking dose to test biologically: does it produce a measurable dip in cortisol or a rise in heart-rate variability right afterward, the kind of shift you'd expect if rumination is genuinely easing rather than just being reported as easier? EEG or fMRI work on rumination-related brain activity before and after the session would help confirm whether something is changing in how the brain processes the old grievance. It would also be worth testing durability months later, and testing the same single-session format inside a workplace wellness app to see if the effect scales outside a research setting.

The full record

DesignRandomized trial
Participants98 people
Populationadults (91% female, aged 28-72) from Australia and the U.S. dealing with interpersonal transgressions
Comparison groupcontrol task (online, non-EFT)
Outcome measuresforgiveness measures, empathy measures, rumination measures, mood measures, anxiety measures
JournalCogent Psychology
Year2025
CountryAustralia/United States
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Stapleton, P., Le Sech, K., Toussaint, L. L., & Hsieh, H. K. (2025). Effectiveness of a single emotional freedom techniques session on facilitating forgiveness and mental health: a randomized clinical trial. Cogent Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2025.2538740

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

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Multiple Conditions 98 participants WHAT THEY FOUND Results revealed moderate improvements inmost outcomes for the EFT group compared tocontrol, suggesting a role in… Randomized trial · 98 participants Stapleton · 2025 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com