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Updated: May 18, 2026

Psychophysiological Stress Assessment Using Biofeedback
Published on: July 31, 2009
The effect of emotional freedom techniques on stress biochemistry: a randomized controlled trial
Dawson Church1, Garret Yount, Audrey J Brooks
1Foundation for Epigenetic Medicine, Fulton, CA 95439, USA. dawson@soulmedicine.net
Abstract:
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.
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