The Tapping Evidence Base
Anxiety · Phobias

Reducing Anxiety in Dental Patients using EFT: A Pilot Study

Temple, G., Mollon, P. · Energy Psychology: Theory, Research & Treatment · 2011

Outcome study👥 30 participantsPreliminary✓ Source-checked📍 United Kingdom
In plain English. Thirty anxious dental patients tried a brief, 10-minute EFT intervention right before their treatment. Their self-rated anxiety fell by roughly two-thirds on average, a highly significant drop. There was no control group, but the size of the effect lines up with other published EFT anxiety findings, and the authors call for a controlled follow-up with independent observer ratings.

What they found

30
people took part

Mean anxiety dropped from a pretreatment score of 8.03 to a posttreatment score of 3.03 (p < .001) after a 10-minute EFT intervention.

How the study worked

Who took partadult dental patients screened for high anxiety awaiting treatment (n=30)
What they didParticipants received tapping and were measured before and after, without a separate comparison group.
Measured with11-point Likert self-reported anxiety scale

💡 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 anxiety 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 larger sample to confirm the effect.

The full record

DesignOutcome study
Participants30 people
Populationadult dental patients screened for high anxiety awaiting treatment
Outcome measures11-point Likert self-reported anxiety scale
JournalEnergy Psychology: Theory, Research & Treatment
Year2011
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

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Cite this study

APA

Temple, G., & Mollon, P. (2011). Reducing Anxiety in Dental Patients using EFT: A Pilot Study. Energy Psychology: Theory, Research & 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 Anxiety · Phobias

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Anxiety 30 participants WHAT THEY FOUND Mean anxiety dropped from a pretreatmentscore of 8.03 to a posttreatment score of3.03 (p < .001) after a 10-minute… Outcome study · 30 participants Temple · 2011 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com