Online Delivery of Emotional Freedom Techniques for Food Cravings and Weight Management: 2-Year Follow-Up

December 2, 2019

Citation: Online Delivery of Emotional Freedom Techniques for Food Cravings and Weight Management: 2-Year Follow-Up
Stapleton, P., Lilley-Hale, E., Mackintosh, G., and Sparenburg, E., J Altern Complement Med. 2019 Nov 25. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0309

Full PDF of paper available with free 30 day access at http://bit.ly/37G22gT

The current study evaluated food cravings, dietary restraint, subjective power of food, weight changes, and self-reported symptoms (e.g., somatic, anxious, and depressive) 2 years after an 8-week online self-directed EFT intervention with additional online support.

Participants were initially randomly allocated to a treatment or waitlist group. The treatment group was instructed to  online EFT treatment program made up of seven modules throughout the 8-week intervention period, and the waitlist was also completed at the end of this period.

Analyses of the online EFT intervention program indicated significantly reduced scores for food cravings (-28.2%), power of food (-26.7%), depression (-12.3%), anxiety (-23.3%), and somatic symptoms (-10.6%) from pre to postintervention and from pre (baseline) until the 2-year follow-up and significantly improved scores for restraint (+13.4%). Improvements were experienced for carbohydrates and fast food cravings between 6 months and 2 years. Body Mass Index and weight significantly decreased although there were no differences at the 2-year point.

EFT deemed highly effective in reducing food cravings, perceived power of food, psychologic symptomatology, and improving dietary restraint and maintaining those improvements over a 2-year period. The addition of EFT to traditional weight loss interventions is timely and supported by this research.

Thanks to Craig Weiner for permission to reproduce this from EFT Tapping Training website