The Tapping Evidence Base
Anxiety · PTSD & Trauma · Trauma (other)

The Effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Technique on Anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in Women with Spontaneous Abortion

Yavari Kermani, M., Razavi, S., Shabani, M. · Journal of Applied Family Therapy · 2020

Case series👥 6 participants⚖️ vs. single-case multiple-baseline design (own control)Preliminary✓ Source-checked📍 Iran
In plain English. Six women grieving a miscarriage went through individual EFT sessions to address both their anxiety and post-traumatic stress. Across the group, anxiety and trauma symptoms improved substantially and the gains held at follow-up. With just six participants and a single-case design, this is an early signal for a population, pregnancy loss, that badly needs more attention in the tapping literature.

What they found

6
people took part

Trait anxiety improved 38.75% in the treatment phase and 43.06% at follow-up; state anxiety improved 47.14% and 47.91% (as reported); PTSD symptoms improved 49.92% in treatment and 50.29% at follow-up.

How the study worked

Who took partwomen who experienced spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), Isfahan, Iran (n=6)
What they didThis is a detailed report following a small number of individual cases through tapping.
Compared withsingle-case multiple-baseline design (own control)
Measured withSpielberger Anxiety Inventory, PTSD symptom self-report scale (Foa et al.)

💡 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 larger sample to confirm the effect, and a randomized controlled design.

The full record

DesignCase series
Participants6 people
Populationwomen who experienced spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), Isfahan, Iran
Comparison groupsingle-case multiple-baseline design (own control)
Outcome measuresSpielberger Anxiety Inventory, PTSD symptom self-report scale (Foa et al.)
JournalJournal of Applied Family Therapy
Year2020
CountryIran
LanguagePersian
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeCase report
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source
Verification note. DOI mismatch found: record lists 10.22034/aftj.2021.266082.1050, but the publisher's page for this exact article (same title/authors/abstract/n=6) shows DOI 10.61838/kman.aftj.1.4.4. Left the doi field unchanged per correction scope (only numeric effect_size/n corrections authorized), but flagging for follow-up/possible DOI field fix. Fixed a digit-transposition typo in key_finding: the source abstract states follow-up state anxiety recovery of 47.91%, not 91.47% as originally recorded.

Read the original study →

Cite this study

APA

Yavari Kermani, M., Razavi, S., & Shabani, M. (2020). The Effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Technique on Anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in Women with Spontaneous Abortion. Journal of Applied Family Therapy. https://doi.org/10.22034/aftj.2021.266082.1050

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 · PTSD & Trauma · Trauma (other)

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Anxiety 6 participants WHAT THEY FOUND Trait anxiety improved 38.75% in thetreatment phase and 43.06% at follow-up;state anxiety improved 47.14% and… Case series · 6 participants Yavari Kermani · 2020 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com