Completed Research 

     An excellent study by psychologist Steve Wells and his associates in Australia and the United States studied the effects of EFT on phobias of small animals and insects.  This study is published in a leading peer reviewed journal, the Journal of Clinical Psychology.  

     The results of the study are impressive.  Those subjects who had learned EFT, as compared to those in a comparison group who had learned a deep breathing method, showed significantly greater reduction in their fear of small animals and insects -- -- both in terms of their ability to approach the feared animal after the treatment, and their self reported indexes of fear.  What is more, these results held up just as well six to nine months later as they did at the time of the treatment, showing that the results of EFT are lasting - an important consideration. 

      The deep breathing group improved also in their symptoms, but significantly less so.  All told, this careful study represents a strong confirmation of EFT as a treatment for phobias and common fears. You can cite the Wells et al. research as follows:

 
Wells, S., Polglase, K., Andrews, H.B., Carrington, P., & Baker, A.H. (2003).  Evaluation of a Meridian Based Intervention, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), for Reducing Specific Phobias of Small Animals.   Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 59(9), 943-966

(For abstract of the Wells et al. study CLICK HERE).

 Contact:  Steve Wells:  wells@iinet.net.au. 

_________________________________________________

     Another research study, conducted by Dr. Paul Swingle and his colleagues (Swingle, Pulos & Swingle, 2001), studied the effects of EFT on auto accident victims suffering from post traumatic stress disorder -- an extremely disabling conditioning that involves unreasonable fears and often panic attacks, physiological symptoms of stress, nightmares, flashbacks, and other disabling symptoms.  These researchers found that three months after they had learned EFT (in two sessions) these auto accident victims showed significant positive changes in their brain waves and in self-reported symptoms of stress.

     The Swingle at al. study has now been written up and submitted for publication.  It can be cited as research since it was presented at a scientific meeting.  The researchers are presently attempting to obtain grant money for a much larger study based on this investigation.  The new study, if funded, would have more subjects and also a control group. The latter was absent from the present study. 

You can use the citation below to report this study:  

Swingle, P., Pulos, L., & Swingle, M. (May, 2000).  Effects of a meridian-based therapy, EFT, on symptoms of PTSD in auto accident victims.  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, Las Vegas, NV.

Contact: Dr. Paul Swingle.  Phone:  604-608-0444 

________________________________________________  

     In still another study, Dr. Swingle used EFT as a treatment for children diagnosed with epilepsy.  The children were administered EFT by their parents every time each day that the parents suspected a seizure might occur.  Swingle found significant reductions in seizure frequency among these very young children, as well as extensive clinical improvement in the children's E. E. G. readings after exposure to two weeks of daily in-home EFT treatment –– an impressive result.  This study has not yet been written up but can be cited as follows: 

           Swingle, P. (May, 2000).  Effects of the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) method on seizure frequency in children diagnosed with epilepsy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, Las   Vegas, NV.

Contact: Dr. Paul Swingle.  Phone:  604-608-0444 

____________________________________________________ 

Research in Progress 

     Several studies on EFT are in progress or in the planning stage that should put us considerably ahead with respect to research when they are completed.  

(1)   A careful replication of the Wells et al. study on the use of EFT for fears of small animals and insects is now in its final stage of data analysis at Queens College in New York.  Researchers Dr. Harvey Baker and Linda Seigel attempted to match as closely as possible Wells’ procedures, but they used a different comparison group.  Instead of the deep breathing condition used in the Wells’ study, they used a form of counseling closely related to nondirective counseling (they called it the “Supportive Interview”) and compared this condition to EFT. In addition, a third condition, a no treatment control group, was included in the study.

     The results on immediate retesting were extremely significant (in favor of EFT) and strikingly similar to Wells’ results – even to the failure of the single physiological measure, pulse rate, to show any difference between EFT and the other conditions.  The close correspondence between these preliminary results and those of Wells is good news indeed and should greatly heighten the impact of the Wells study when this replication is completed.  I will be posting a summary of the final Baker-Seigel findings on this website as soon as this is available.

______________________________________________
 
(2)     The first controlled study on EFT to be undertaken in a clinical setting is scheduled to start at Stairways Behavioral Health, an outpatient clinic in Erie, Pennsylvania that services patients many of whom have just been discharged from mental hospitals.

      The study will consist of a treatment group using EFT, a group using a psycho-education approach for the same number of weeks as the treatment group (6 weeks), and a no treatment control group (no treatment does not mean that they may not be seeing the psychiatrist for medication, but they will not be engaged by the individual therapist). This will be the first EFT study to use videotaped instruction to teach EFT its subjects, (Dr. Carrington's Introduction to EFT course), thereby insuring that each subject receives identical instruction in the method, an important consideration in research.

(3)  Research on the effects of EFT on Math Anxiety is planned by Doctors Lois and Ronald Worthington and Dr Harvey Baker of Princeton, NJ.  The study, will compare two different treatments––  EFT and a sham variant of EFT (where no true acupoints are tapped). There will also be a no treatment control group in this study , and the experimenters will learn EFT from my Introduction to EFT  Course.  If an adequate number of subjects are recruited (always a problem in behavioral science) this study should prove extremely informative from an educational standpoint.   

Future Studies Now in the Planning Stage 

     Research in any area of science depends on adequate funding to get off the ground.  The following studies represent an ideal toward which we are striving.  For them, all the mechanisms are in place and an outstanding researcher, Dr. Harvey Baker, is standing by to oversee a project that involve a series of graded studies on EFT, each building upon the last.

(1)     In the Psychology Department of Queens College in New York, under Harvey Baker’s direction, students will undertake a study to determine the effect of EFT vs. gentle calisthenics, and the effect of a no-treatment control group, on what is called “free throw” in basketball.  This is the ability to get the ball into the hoop, or measurably close to it, at a stated distance.  This study should shed important light on the use of EFT to improve athletic performance.