Can Tapping Help Reduce Anxiety, Depression and Anger? New Research on Clinical EFT and Vision Impairment

Oct 10

6 min read

Exploring how Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT/Tapping) may support emotional wellbeing when living with vision challenges.

Living with a visual impairment can affect far more than eyesight. It may influence confidence, independence, relationships, everyday activities and our sense of control over life. For some people, these challenges can also contribute to anxiety, depression, frustration and anger.

So, could a simple technique involving gentle fingertip tapping help people manage some of these emotional challenges?

A 2026 study by Australian researchers Peta Stapleton and Christine Roil explores this question, examining the effects of Clinical Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), commonly known as tapping, on psychological wellbeing among people with visual impairment.

The findings offer encouraging insights into the potential role of tapping as a complementary approach to emotional wellbeing.

What did the researchers investigate?

The study, published in Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, examined whether an eight-week, self-directed online Clinical EFT program could improve anxiety, depression, anger and participants' perceptions of their visual functioning. The researchers recruited adults with self-reported visual impairment and randomly allocated them to either an EFT intervention or a waitlist control group. Participants were assessed before and after the intervention, with further follow-ups at three and six months. The analysis included 588 participants: 321 in the EFT intervention group and 267 in the waitlist control group.

The researchers were interested in two important questions:

Could tapping help reduce emotional distress associated with living with visual impairment?
Could any improvements be maintained after the eight-week program had finished?

What did the study find?

The results were encouraging. Compared with the waitlist group, participants in the EFT intervention group experienced significant improvements in several psychological outcomes.

1. Reduced anxiety

Anxiety can arise when everyday activities become more difficult, when independence feels uncertain or when people worry about the future.

The EFT group experienced reductions in anxiety, and these improvements were maintained at the three- and six-month follow-ups.

2. Reduced depressive symptoms

Living with ongoing health challenges can sometimes contribute to sadness, withdrawal, loss of confidence and feelings of helplessness.

The study found reductions in depressive symptoms among participants who completed the EFT program, with improvements also evident in analyses that accounted for participants who did not complete every stage.

3. Reduced anger

Frustration and anger are understandable responses when circumstances change, daily tasks become challenging, or independence is affected.

The study found significant reductions in anger in the EFT group compared with the waitlist group. This highlights the importance of addressing emotional wellbeing alongside practical and medical support.

4. Improvements in perceived visual functioning

Interestingly, participants receiving EFT also reported improvements in their subjective visual functioning compared with the waitlist group.

This finding requires careful interpretation. Subjective visual functioning refers to how people perceive their ability to manage vision-related tasks and activities. The study did not establish that tapping improved eyesight itself or changed the underlying eye condition.

Taken together, the findings suggest that addressing emotional distress may be a valuable part of supporting people who live with visual impairment.

What is Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)?

Emotional Freedom Techniques is a structured approach that combines elements of psychological techniques, including aspects of cognitive behavioural therapy and exposure-based approaches, with gentle tapping on specific points on the face and upper body.

EFT is sometimes described as emotional acupressure because it involves stimulating a sequence of points with the fingertips while bringing attention to a particular thought, emotion, memory or concern.

During a tapping exercise, a person may:

Identify an emotion or situation that feels distressing.
Notice the intensity of the emotional response.
Gently tap through a sequence of established points while using a relevant setup statement and reminder phrases.
Reassess the intensity of the emotion and repeat the process as appropriate.

For example, someone experiencing frustration about changes in their independence might use a statement such as: “Even though I feel frustrated by the challenges I'm facing, I can acknowledge how difficult this is and offer myself some compassion.”

The purpose is not to deny difficult emotions or force ourselves to feel positive. Instead, tapping provides a structured way to acknowledge what we are experiencing while practising a more supportive response to ourselves.

Why might tapping be helpful for emotional wellbeing?

When we experience stress, our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and behaviours can influence one another. Worry may contribute to physical tension. Frustration may lead to irritability or withdrawal. Persistent distress can make it harder to concentrate, sleep well or engage in activities that matter to us.

EFT encourages people to focus on a specific concern while engaging in a repetitive, structured physical activity. This combination may help some people process distressing experiences and change their emotional response to them. However, the precise mechanisms responsible for the improvements observed in this study are not yet established. Further research is needed to determine how much of the benefit comes from tapping itself, the focused attention, the psychological strategies involved or other factors.

What matters clinically is that emotional distress deserves attention and that people should have access to supportive approaches suited to their individual needs.

How can EFT be used in everyday life?

One practical feature of the program studied was its online, self-directed format. The tapping exercises were brief, making the approach potentially accessible to people who may find regular in-person appointments difficult. In the study, participants followed an eight-week program using guided exercises of approximately six minutes. The program encouraged regular practice and reassessment of emotional intensity.

For someone experiencing everyday stress, a gentle tapping exercise could be used as an opportunity to pause, notice an emotion and respond with greater self-awareness.

For example, you might begin by asking yourself:

What am I feeling right now?
What thoughts or concerns are contributing to this feeling?
Where do I notice the emotion in my body?
Can I acknowledge this experience without judging myself?
Has the intensity of the feeling changed after the exercise?

Not every exercise will work for everyone, and emotional responses can vary. If focusing on a difficult memory or feeling becomes overwhelming, it is important to pause, return to grounding strategies and seek professional support when needed.

For people experiencing significant trauma, persistent depression or severe anxiety, tapping is best considered within an appropriate therapeutic plan rather than as a replacement for professional care.

What does this research mean for people living with chronic health challenges?

Although this study focused specifically on visual impairment, it raises an important broader consideration: physical health and emotional wellbeing are closely connected.

When someone is navigating a long-term health condition, their emotional experience may include uncertainty, grief, anger, fear, exhaustion or changes in identity. These feelings are not a personal failure. They are human responses to challenging circumstances.

A holistic approach recognises that supporting wellbeing may involve more than addressing the physical condition alone. Depending on the individual's needs, useful support may include medical care, psychological therapy, practical assistance, social connection and strategies for managing stress. The findings from Stapleton and Roil's study add to the growing research interest in Clinical EFT as one possible component of this broader approach.

Important limitations to keep in mind

While the findings are promising, it is important to interpret them responsibly.

The study compared EFT with a waitlist rather than another active psychological intervention. Consequently, it cannot fully establish whether the improvements were specifically caused by tapping or partly reflected other factors, such as expectations, attention or engagement in a structured program. The study also relied on self-reported outcomes, and the participants were not representative of every person living with visual impairment. People with complete sight loss or very low vision that prevented them from independently completing the online program were excluded.

Further research using active comparison groups, more diverse participants and objective measures of visual function will help clarify the findings. Most importantly, the study provides evidence about psychological wellbeing and perceived visual functioning. It does not demonstrate that EFT restores eyesight or treats the medical causes of visual impairment.

A message of hope: small steps can support emotional wellbeing

Living with a health challenge can bring circumstances we never expected and emotions we may struggle to make sense of. We cannot always change what has happened to us, but with appropriate support, we may be able to change how we respond to some of the thoughts, emotions and physical sensations that accompany difficult experiences.

The research by Stapleton and Roil offers encouraging evidence that a structured Clinical EFT program may help reduce anxiety, depressive symptoms and anger among people living with visual impairment, with improvements maintained over several months.

It also reminds us of the importance of seeing the whole person, not just the health condition.

At Holistic Therapy & Counselling, I believe there is always hope for change.

A compassionate, individualised approach can help people explore practical ways to support emotional wellbeing, develop greater self-awareness and reconnect with what matters to them. EFT is one of the approaches that may form part of that journey, depending on each person's circumstances and needs.

You don't have to navigate life's challenges alone.

If you are experiencing anxiety, stress, trauma or difficulties adjusting to changes in your health or circumstances, professional support can help you explore approaches suited to you.

About Holistic Therapy & Counselling

Gun Meskanen Hopkins is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and Clinical Evidence-Based EFT practitioner offering holistic, trauma-informed counselling and evidence-informed therapeutic approaches. Holistic Therapy & Counselling offers in-person appointments on the Sunshine Coast and in Gympie, as well as online sessions across Australia.

Learn more at holistictherapycounselling.com.au.

Research reference

Stapleton, P., & Roil, C. (2026). Clinical EFT for individuals with visual impairment: effects on psychological wellbeing and subjective visual functioning. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 14(1), Article 2699488.

Read the original research paper.