The Journal of Oriental Neurology published a study by Lee et al. The study looked at EFT as a stress-reducing tool for medical students. The study found that a brief, group EFT practice alleviated test stress, negative affect, and anxiety in medical students in just six, 15-minute sessions.

Explore more research on energy psychology and academic performance

The research section of our web site contains a comprehensive list of energy psychology studies. You can download a bibliography of studies organized by condition here. In it, you'll find a section on academic performance.

The problem and the rationale

Medical students often experience higher academic stress and lower quality of life than college students from other disciplines. Students attribute this stress to an overwhelming volume of learning to be completed in a short time, frequent examinations, concerns regarding academic grades, and fear of grade retention. 

The academic stress of medical students is known to affect the doctor-patient relationship and quality of clinical practice, and contributes to frequent experiences of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, interpersonal insensitivity, and lowered immune functioning. 

Given the importance of this concern and EFT’s track record of reducing stress, researchers wondered if a brief, group EFT intervention could relieve stress in medical students. 

The study setup

This was a single group pre- post study. 

Participants 

A class of first-year medical school students (n=36) participated in an after-school EFT group intervention program.

Protocol 

The program included six sessions of 15 minutes/session twice a week for three weeks. The program was led by a neuropsychiatry resident who had completed an eight-hour EFT training workshop. 

Assessments 

Students were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores pre- and post-EFT and at two-week follow-up.

Study results

There were significant reductions at post-EFT and follow-up measures in TAI-Total, TAI-Worry, TAI-Emotionality, PSS-Negative Perspective, and PANAS-Negative Affect subscales.  Trait anxiety was significantly mitigated in the post-EFT measure and the state anxiety at the two-week follow-up measure.

Why this study matters

The authors concluded that the brief (15minutes/day, two sessions/week for 3 weeks) group intervention of EFT alleviated test stress, negative affect, and anxiety in medical students. This study contributes to an understanding of academic stress and shows how EFT can be used successfully to mitigate stress in the competitive environment of medical education.

Do you want to participate in research?

ACEP has partnered with Peta Stapleton to create an online database to track clinical results of practitioners and their clients using a variety of energy psychology methods. This study will add to the literature on non-tapping methods as well as EFT and TFT, which already have a robust body of literature supporting them. If you would like to add to the data, go to ep-research.comand get started!

Authors

John Freedom, CEHP, serves as the chair of ACEP’s research committee, on the Board of Trustees of EFT International, and as executive director of FREA: Finding Recovery and Empowerment from Abuse.  The author of Heal Yourself with Emotional Freedom Technique, he leads trainings and events throughout the US and in Europe.

Sarah Murphy, NCC, LPC, serves on ACEP’s board and as the chair of ACEP’s research committee. She has a private counseling practice. She also works as staff counselor for Unite for HER, where she provides counseling for clients who have cancer. 

Photo by Sean Kong on unsplash