A New Category of Intervention

Self-guided support for anxiety, depression and chronic pain, in the hours between visits

Many digital tools ask a patient to think clearly at the moment that is hardest to do. NeuroTap is body-first: guided tapping sessions a patient can follow when they feel wound up or in pain. For symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic musculoskeletal pain—offered to Medicare beneficiaries under the CMS ACCESS Model.

16.6M Rated sessions analyzed, from The Tapping Solution platform
d = 1.21–1.66 Within-session change, 11 domains (observational, no control group)
300+ Peer-reviewed studies and reviews
"Like someone turned off the anxiety switch."
— Debbie, member of The Tapping Solution app

The Real Problem

Great tools—with one blind spot

Meditation

Builds real resilience

Regular practice builds calm over time, and the evidence for it is solid. It asks for steady attention, which is hard to find when someone is wound up, chest tight, thoughts racing.

CBT Apps

Teach powerful skills

Cognitive restructuring works. It's one of the most evidence-based approaches in psychology. But it requires clear thinking, which is hardest to find when distress or pain is high.

Mood Trackers

Reveal important patterns

Tracking over time helps you and your therapist spot triggers and trends. That insight is valuable. But logging how you feel doesn't change how you feel in the moment.

These tools work. They ask the most of a patient when the patient has the least to give.

The gap:

When thinking clearly is hard, a body-first approach gives a patient something to do. The body leads, the mind follows. That's where we work—and that's why we complement everything else.

Why Therapists Recommend Us

We don't compete with therapy. We make therapy work better.

Therapists see their patients an hour a week—maybe. What happens the other 167 hours?

Clinicians recommend our approach because it gives patients a tool patients can use between sessions—something to do, not only something to track or study. We're not replacing care. We're extending it into the hours between visits.

167

hours per week without your therapist

1 hour of therapy leaves 167 hours where patients are on their own. That's where daily life happens—and that's where we work.

"I work in healthcare. I was so stressed out I couldn't even catch my breath. My mind and heart were pounding. I sat in my car and did that anxiety meditation about 4x and felt such relief. I was shocked."
— Healthcare worker, member of The Tapping Solution app

Two Dimensions of Change

Change within a session. Change over time.

We measure both. The data so far are observational, and they are below.

State Change

Within a single session

When anxiety rises, when a pain flare starts, when a trigger arrives between appointments—a guided session gives the patient something to do right then. Sessions usually run 5 to 20 minutes.

62–85% of rated sessions end at least 2 points lower on a 0–10 scale, by domain (The Tapping Solution platform; observational, no control group)

Trait Change

Lower starting levels over a program

In our five-day anxiety program, users arrive at Day 5 with lower starting anxiety than on Day 1—measured before that day's session. This is before-and-after data with no control group, so it shows association, not cause.

24% lower starting anxiety by Day 5 — measured before that day's session, across 150,000+ rated sessions of our five-day anxiety program (The Tapping Solution platform, 2020–2025)
"I used to be under the grip of constant pain for the last seven years. My overall pain level went from usually 6-8 to an average of 2-3."
— Eva, Chronic Pain Relief Program, The Tapping Solution app

The working idea is practice: each time a person moves from wound up to settled, settling may get easier. Under the ACCESS Model, NeuroTap measures change with Medicare's own outcome questionnaires.

The Evidence

Population-scale data. Not a pilot study.

Nearly two decades of real-world data from a consumer app, across anxiety, low mood and pain.

16.6M

Rated sessions analyzed

868,244

Unique users in the cohort

1.21–1.66

Within-session effect sizes (Cohen's d), eleven domains; no control group

62–85%

Rated sessions ending at least 2 points lower (0–10 scale)

Real-world data from The Tapping Solution platform. Manuscript under peer review with MGH and Harvard co-authors; full results held for publication. Explore the evidence →

The JIT-R Framework

Why a body-first approach fits these moments

When distress is high, clear thinking is hard. Approaches that depend on thinking ask the most at the hardest time. Our approach starts with the body.

01

Intervene at the Spike

Traditional programs deliver modules on a schedule. NeuroTap also has sessions a patient can open when distress or pain rises.

02

Keep It Somatic

When distress is high, the body leads. Sessions pair tapping on acupressure points with words to follow, so the patient does not have to reason their way through.

03

Remove All Barriers

No appointment. No waiting room. The program is self-guided and on the patient's phone, so it is there whenever they open it. It is not monitored in real time and is not a crisis service.

04

Repeat Until It Sticks

The program is built around regular practice, with check-ins on Medicare's outcome measures to show whether symptoms are changing.

Learn more about the JIT-R Framework →

The Intervention

Guided tapping sessions, on the patient's phone

Evidence-based EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) delivered through guided audio sessions. Users tap on acupressure points while speaking the feeling out loud—naming and acknowledging what's actually there, guided word by word, rather than tapping in silence. Pairing somatic stimulation with spoken emotional processing is the core of the technique.

  • Usually 5 to 20 minute sessions designed for real-world use
  • Condition-specific tracks for anxiety, depression, and chronic musculoskeletal pain
  • Pre/post distress ratings measuring immediate impact
  • No learning curve—guidance is built into every session
NeuroTap App - Releasing Overwhelm and Frustration about Chronic Pain

Why Now

The moment for digital mental health is here

Post-pandemic demand

Mental health needs have surged while provider capacity remains flat. The gap between demand and supply has never been wider—or more urgent to fill.

Value-based care momentum

CMS and commercial payers are aggressively pursuing behavioral health integration—the ACCESS Model itself is the proof. What gets covered is what can demonstrate outcomes, not just engagement.

Evidence at scale

The Tapping Solution—our consumer platform, and the dataset NeuroTap is built on—has run for nearly 20 years. The 16.6 million rated sessions we analyzed are real-world, observational data at a scale few digital programs can show.

Category creation

Digital mental health is crowded with tools that teach skills for later. Few are built for the moment itself—something a patient can do when thinking clearly is hard. That is where we work.

Two Clinical Tracks. One Mechanism.

Addressing two high-cost populations

NeuroTap offers two tracks under the ACCESS Model: behavioral health (symptoms of anxiety and depression) and chronic musculoskeletal pain. Both use the same guided tapping method.

Behavioral Health Track

Anxiety & Depression

d = 1.44

Anxiety, our within-session data

g = 1.27

Depression, 18 published RCTs

Anxiety Depression

Chronic Pain Track

Musculoskeletal (MSK) & Chronic Pain Management

d = 1.21

Pain, our within-session data

6 mo

RCT gains held at follow-up

Chronic MSK Pain Back Pain Joint Pain Pain Catastrophizing

Why one method for both: anxiety and chronic pain both involve the body's stress response. The proposed mechanism is that tapping while naming the feeling helps the body settle. This is a hypothesis under study.

Complementary by Design

We fill the gap other tools weren't designed for

We're not replacing CBT apps or meditation. NeuroTap is designed to sit alongside them.

CBT Apps

Best for skill building

Teaches powerful cognitive techniques. Requires clear thinking to apply, which is harder when distress is high.

NeuroTap

Built for use in the moment

Body-first and guided word by word, so it can be followed when thinking clearly is hard.

Meditation Apps

Best for resilience building

Builds long-term calm and awareness. Requires baseline regulation to practice effectively.

These tools can work together. A patient who can settle their body may find CBT homework and meditation practice easier to do.

Leadership

Built with clinical and scientific rigor

Guided by leaders in psychiatry, neuroscience, and digital health.

Nick Ortner

Nick Ortner

Founder & CEO

Founder of The Tapping Solution. Nearly 20 years pioneering evidence-based EFT delivery at scale.

Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins

Strategic Advisor

Bestselling author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Maurizio Fava

Dr. Maurizio Fava

Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Chair of Psychiatry, Mass General Brigham. Slater Family Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Mark Rapaport

Dr. Mark Rapaport

Scientific Advisory Board

President, American Psychiatric Association (2026–2027). Founding CEO, Emeritus, Huntsman Mental Health Institute.

Dr. Helen Lavretsky

Dr. Helen Lavretsky

Scientific Advisory Board

Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA. Expert in integrative mental health and aging.

For Payers & Health Systems

Support between visits, measured on Medicare's outcomes.

Most of a patient's week happens away from care. NeuroTap gives Medicare beneficiaries a self-guided program for those hours, and reports outcomes on the measures the ACCESS Model uses.

Learn More

$0

Cost to the beneficiary under the ACCESS Model

63M

Americans serving as family caregivers

167

Hours a week without a therapist

2

ACCESS tracks: behavioral health and musculoskeletal pain

Get in Touch

Interested in bringing a self-guided program for anxiety, depression and chronic pain to your population?

We're partnering with health systems, payers, and researchers committed to filling the gaps in mental health care.

Contact Us