Tapping for Depression: Unlocking the Benefits of EFT

Depression can make even small things feel impossibly heavy, and Tapping is a tool that can help lighten that load, alongside the care of a doctor or therapist, not instead of it. Let's look at how Tapping can support you, and what the research says.

If you're having thoughts of harming yourself, or things feel unsafe right now, please stop reading and contact a crisis line or emergency services now, before anything else on this page.

Depression is a very common mood disorder that can be incredibly impactful on a person’s life.

It can affect how you feel, think, and manage daily activities, with ripple effects into all areas of life like working, parenting, sleeping, eating, and more.[1] It is a very difficult condition to experience, and also to manage.

Talk therapy and prescription medications are the two most well-used treatment options for depression. And while these are very helpful tools for many people, they can also have their drawbacks. They can be costly, time-consuming, and hard to access. Plus, antidepressant medications can come with unwanted side effects.

For that reason, many people are looking for natural remedies for depression that can provide safe, easy, and low-cost relief. Today, I want to talk about one of those natural ways to deal with depression that has been proven to be incredibly effective: Tapping!

Tapping for depression is a powerful way to help people with depression get back to feeling like themselves. Let’s learn a little bit more about depression, how Tapping can help, and the research behind this game-changing tool for depression relief.

Please note: As always, if you are experiencing any physical or mental health concerns, consult with a doctor, therapist, or other qualified health practitioners. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. If you are having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please reach out to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) before anything else on this page.

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

Firstly, let's talk about depression. Depression can look different for different people, and there are various types, it’s not a one-size-fits-all disorder.

But generally speaking, the signs and symptoms of depression can often include:

• Persistent sadness, anxiousness, or “empty” mood
• Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
• Irritability
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities
• Decreased energy and fatigue
• Restlessness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Interrupted sleep
• Appetite and weight changes
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Unexplained aches and pains [1]

As a mood disorder, depression involves strong emotions and emotional experiences. Some of the major risk factors for developing depression include stress, major life changes, trauma, physical ailments, and more.[1]

Tapping for Depression: What Is It and How Does It Work?

As a condition with a strong emotional component, depression is an excellent target for Tapping. A technique designed to help us acknowledge and let go of negative emotions and unresolved problems, send calming signals to our brain, and bring our lives back into balance.

Tapping, also often known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is a healing tool based on the combined principles of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology.

The Tapping technique asks you to focus on a negative emotion or experience, while you use your fingers to tap on nine specific meridian points on the body (traditional Chinese medicine acupressure points). When you physically tap on these points, it sends calming signals to the brain letting it know it’s safe to relax.

When we think about the issue at hand and simultaneously tap on the EFT Tapping points, it helps our mind understand that we are safe, and that all is well. It helps calm the brain and body so that we can release the stress, anger, sadness, overwhelm, or other root cause of our distress.

Tapping and depression, how it works

When it comes to depression, Tapping can be of benefit from all different angles. For example, it can be used to:

• Address difficult experiences or traumas from the past, helping you to let go of unresolved emotions. 
• Release strong emotions like hopelessness, discontent, grief, or anxiety. 
• Boost energy, focus, productivity, and motivation. 
• Increase your confidence, self-compassion, sense of self-worth, and more.

All of these benefits can support a person with depression to feel better, and the Tapping technique can be tailored to the individual for maximum support.

For those with depression, Tapping can make a major difference.

I’ve seen it time and time again in real life. I have watched people struggling with low mood and depression to find their sense of self again - regaining their energy, mood, productivity, and zest for life.

And the great thing is that it can be done from the comfort of your own home. It’s free, completely safe, and easy to learn.

But you don’t just have to take my word for it. There’s also a solid body of scientific research to support the use of Tapping for depression, anxiety, and many other mental and physical concerns as well.

What tapping can do when you're low

Depression doesn't always look like sadness. A lot of people describe it as heaviness: a body that feels like it's moving through wet sand, a mind that won't hold a thought, and a running commentary of self-criticism that won't let up even when you're already doing your best.

Tapping doesn't reach into brain chemistry the way medication does, and it isn't therapy. What it can do, alongside whatever care you're already getting, is work on the stress signals your body is sending itself moment to moment. When you tap while naming exactly how flat, tired, or self-critical you feel right now, instead of pushing it away, you're giving your nervous system a chance to register that the alarm can stand down, at least for these few minutes. The nervous-system framework in my book REWIRED describes this kind of build-up as a debt: stress your body never got to finish processing, sitting there and draining your energy even when nothing "wrong" is happening right now. Tapping is one way to make a small payment against that debt, a little at a time, rather than trying to think your way out of it.

That's often where the self-criticism loop lives too. Tapping on "even though I'm being hard on myself for feeling this way, I accept myself anyway" doesn't argue with the inner critic. It just interrupts the loop long enough for something calmer to have room to show up.

A gentle 3-minute round for the heaviness

This is a short, low-effort round for the days when everything feels heavy and doing anything, including tapping, feels like a lot. It's not meant to replace a longer session or your own care team, just to give your nervous system a small nudge.

1. Setup (repeat three times, tapping the side of your hand): "Even though I feel so heavy and low right now, and I don't have much energy for this, I'm willing to be gentle with myself."
2. Eyebrow: "This heaviness."
3. Side of Eye: "I don't have the energy for this."
4. Under Eye: "Everything feels like too much right now."
5. Under Nose: "I'm so tired of feeling this way."
6. Chin: "I don't have to fix everything right now."
7. Collarbone: "Just this one small breath."
8. Under Arm: "I'm allowed to go slowly."
9. Top of Head: "Giving myself permission to feel a little lighter."

Take a breath and notice if anything shifted, even a little. If the heaviness doesn't move, or you notice it building instead of easing, that's worth mentioning to your doctor or therapist rather than pushing through more rounds alone.

Research Says Tapping for Depression Really Works

Many different studies have been conducted on a wide variety of groups of people with depression. From college students to postmenopausal women to healthcare workers. They have found over and over again that Tapping makes a big difference and is an effective way to help with depression.

In 2016, researchers performed a type of study called a systematic review and meta-analysis on EFT for depression. This means that they rounded up all of the high-quality studies they could find published on the topic in a given time period, and then assessed the results to better understand what the studies could tell us about the usefulness of using EFT Tapping to relieve depression.

In the end, they included data from 20 studies in their review.[2] And what they found next was incredible! Their conclusion, in the section below on what the research found, was that EFT Tapping was highly effective in reducing symptoms of depression in a variety of populations and settings. In fact, they noted an average reduction in depression symptoms of 41% across all of the studies. 41%! Can you believe that?[2]

And here’s what is even more impressive...

The authors found that Tapping was at least as effective, if not more effective, than the standard treatments for depression like antidepressant medication and talk therapy.[2]

So not only does Tapping work for depression, but it seems to work really, really well, rivaling the standard, conventional treatments.

The research studies looking at Tapping for depression continue to show promise to this day as more and more are published. A study from 2021 in postmenopausal women, for example, found that EFT Tapping helped cut depression scores by almost half.[3]

Another study from 2019 looked at changes in psychological and physiological measures in participants before and after an EFT Tapping workshop to better understand the effects of Tapping for anxiety and depression, along with other factors like pain, blood pressure, and more. They found depression scores decreased by over 30% after just a 4-day training in Tapping![4]

Research at a glance

The 2016 meta-analysis above pooled 20 studies of Tapping for depression: 12 randomized controlled trials with 398 participants, and 8 additional outcome studies with 461 more. The randomized trials, the stronger evidence because they compare Tapping against a control group, showed a very large drop in depression. The uncontrolled studies, which can't rule out that people would have felt better anyway, showed a smaller effect, an honest contrast worth knowing rather than only citing the biggest number.

What our data shows

The Tapping Solution App's 5-Day Depression Support Series with Dr. Damon Silas has been used hundreds of thousands of times. On Day 1, "Lifting the Fog of Depression," 49,260 completions show the average mood rating dropping from 7.3 to 4.7. The rest of the series shows a similar pattern: "Clearing Fatigue and Irritability" (30,927 completions, 6.8 to 4.2), "Releasing Stuck Emotions in Your Body" (35,118 completions, 6.6 to 4.2), "Finding Focus and Motivation" (20,216 completions, 6.8 to 3.8), and "Tapping into Hope" (17,311 completions, 6.2 to 3.4) (app data, not a clinical study).

"Releasing Sadness," a session built for the heaviness that often comes with depression, has been completed 113,594 times, with the average rating going from 7.5 to 4.5. Across the wider Emotional Freedom category of the app (58 sessions built for processing stuck emotions), 4,022,551 completed sessions show intensity ratings dropping from an average of 7.0 to 4.1, a 42% drop, in a single sitting.

A larger, published study of 270,461 Tapping Solution App users found anxiety dropped an average of 44% and stress dropped 45% after using the app (Church & Stapleton, 2020, JMIR Mental Health). Depression wasn't the specific outcome measured in that study, so we're not attaching a depression number to it here, but it's the same app and the same Tapping practice behind the depression-specific numbers above.

In their own words

Kayla, Releasing Sadness, rated her sadness a 9 before tapping, a 2 after

Ann, Releasing Sadness, rated her sadness a 6 before tapping, a 3 after

How to Tap for Depression Relief

Today, we learned about the research behind one of the many powerful uses of Tapping: depression relief!

In sum, Tapping is an excellent healing modality that can help you to release strong emotions and reclaim your energy, your sense of self, and your joy in the process.

The great news is that this is a tool you can learn all on your own, at home, on your own time, without any big investment. It is a tool that allows you to take back control, empower yourself to create positive change in your life, and get back to feeling more like yourself.

Try The Tapping Solution App for Depression Relief

Why wait to see if this transformative tool can make a difference for you? Head to The Tapping Solution App now. In the app, you’ll find an extensive library of meditations guiding you through Tapping for depression and anxiety, along with a whole host of other topics.

Try out our 5-Day Depression Support Series with Dr. Damon Silas to get started. In this simple, yet profound, 5-day journey of EFT Tapping, you’ll learn how to:

• Lift the Fog of Depression
• Clear Fatigue and Irritability
• Release Stuck Emotions in Your Body
• Find Focus and Motivation
• Tap into Hope

Other Tapping Meditations in the app that can also help out with depression support include:

• Releasing Sadness
• Releasing Loneliness
• Releasing Winter Blues
• Releasing Grief
• Cultivating Hope
• Instant Boost of Energy
• Instant Boost of Joy
• Micro Boost of Focus
• Micro Boost of Optimism

In addition to the meditations in The Tapping Solution App, we also have several more powerful resources. For example, our 4-Part Masterclass on Depression with psychologist Steve Wells.

You might also want to check out Jessica’s Adventures in Happiness podcast. She’s interviewed some awesome experts on depression, like Dr. Kelly Brogan and Marianne Williamson.

• Episode 56. The Truth About Depression and How to Reclaim Your Life with Dr. Kelly Brogan
• Episode 31. Finding Hope Within Depression with Marianne Williamson

Until next time...

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner

Go deeper

• Real stories and results from people who've used Tapping alongside their own care for depression.
• The basic Tapping sequence for anxiety, if anxiety is showing up alongside the low mood.
• Nervous system regulation: what it actually means and how to do it, for the wider picture beyond depression-specific tapping.
• The EFT tapping chart, if you want the 9 points at a glance.
• Ready-to-use EFT tapping scripts, if you want the words already written out for you.
• If you'd like to work with someone one-on-one, our practitioner directory lists independent EFT practitioners who work online and in person.

Tap along with me

Dr. Kelly Brogan joins me in this conversation about depression and what actually helps, worth watching alongside everything above.

Tapping for Depression: Your Questions, Answered

Does tapping help with depression?

Many people find that Tapping eases the heaviness, low energy, and self-critical thinking that come with depression. Tapping works alongside the care of a doctor or therapist, not in place of it, and it does not treat or cure depression as a diagnosis.

Can tapping replace antidepressants?

No. Tapping is not a substitute for antidepressant medication or therapy, and you should never stop or change a prescribed medication without talking to the doctor who prescribed it. Many people use Tapping alongside their medication and therapy, not instead of them.

What does the research say about tapping for depression?

A 2016 meta-analysis of 20 studies and a 2024 meta-analysis of 18 studies both found large average drops in depressive symptoms after Tapping, and a small head-to-head trial found Tapping's improvement showed up faster than CBT's. Most of this research looked at mild-to-moderate symptoms, and some trials are small, so it's promising evidence rather than a settled verdict for severe, diagnosed depression.

How do I tap when I have no energy?

Start with the short, gentle round on this page. It's designed to work even when doing anything feels like a lot, using short phrases like "this heaviness" instead of a long round. Tapping while sitting or lying down is fine. Something short and done is more useful than a longer round you never start.

What do I say while tapping for depression?

Name what's actually true for you right now, even if it's just "this heaviness" or "I don't have the energy for this," rather than reaching for more positive language before you're ready. Tapping works by acknowledging the feeling, not by talking yourself out of it.

How often should I tap for depression?

There's no fixed number. Many people find a short daily round, even just the 3-minute one on this page, more helpful than a longer session done rarely. Consistency tends to matter more than length.

When should I get help right now?

If you're having thoughts of harming yourself, or things feel unsafe, contact a crisis line or emergency services now rather than continuing to read or tap. If depression is affecting your daily life, a doctor or therapist can help you find the right combination of care, and Tapping can be one part of that alongside them, not instead of it.

References

1. “Depression.” National Institute of Mental Health. Updated Feburary 2018. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression
2. Nelms JA, Castel L. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized and Nonrandomized Trials of Clinical Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for the Treatment of Depression. Explore (NY). 2016;12(6):416-426. Doi:10.1016/j.explore.2016.08.001
3. Mehdipour A, Abedi P, Ansari S, Dastoorpoor M. The effectiveness of emotional freedom techniques (EFT) on depression of postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial [published online ahead of print, 2021 May 19]. J Complement Integr Med. 2021;10.1515/jcim-2020-0245. Doi:10.1515/jcim-2020-0245
4. Bach D, Groesbeck G, Stapleton P, Sims R, Blickheuser K, Church D. Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Improves Multiple Physiological Markers of Health. J Evid Based Integr Med. 2019;24:2515690X18823691. Doi:10.1177/2515690X18823691