Observations placeholder
EFT and anxiety
Identifier
006210
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
J Nerv Ment Dis. 2012 Oct;200(10):891-6. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31826b9fc1. The effect of emotional freedom techniques on stress biochemistry: a randomized controlled trial. Church D, Yount G, Brooks AJ. Foundation for Epigenetic Medicine, Fulton, CA 95439, USA. dawson@soulmedicine.net
This study examined the changes in cortisol levels and psychological distress symptoms of 83 nonclinical subjects receiving a single hour long intervention.
Subjects were randomly assigned to either an emotional freedom technique (EFT) group, a psychotherapy group receiving a supportive interviews (SI), or a no treatment (NT) group.
Salivary cortisol assays were performed immediately before and 30 minutes after the intervention. Psychological distress symptoms were assessed using the symptom assessment-45.
The EFT group showed statistically significant improvements in anxiety (-58.34%, p < 0.05), depression (-49.33%, p < 0.002), the overall severity of symptoms (-50.5%, p < 0.001), and symptom breadth (-41.93%, p < 0.001). The EFT group experienced a significant decrease in cortisol level (-24.39%; SE, 2.62) compared with the decrease observed in the SI (-14.25%; SE, 2.61) and NT (-14.44%; SE, 2.67) groups (p < 0.03). The decrease in cortisol levels in the EFT group mirrored the observed improvement in psychological distress.
PMID: 22986277