The results are frequently amazing as emotional problems often disappear in minutes. Instead the patient taps on various parts of the body with their fingers. It works rather like acupuncture by stimulating the body’s energy meridians to resolve problems with the body’s emotional control system. Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a new technique for the rapid relief of all kinds of emotional distress. Roger Callahan started developing TFT in 1979-1980 and has been improving it ever “Acupuncture and the Age of Unreason.” Lancet, 1(8387) (1984): 1169–1171.What is Thought Field Therapy "Tapping into natures healing system"ĭr. “Research on Traditional Acupuncture- Science or Myth? A Review.” Journal of The Royal Society of Medicine, 81(10) (1988): 588–590 New York: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books, 2000 Tapping the Healer Within: Using Thought Field Therapy to Instantly Conquer Your Fears, Anxieties, and Emotional Distress. Indian Wells, CA: The Callahan Techniques, 1996 Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and Trauma: Treatment and Theory. Furthermore, the lack of evidence for traditional acupuncture meridians renders it a bit difficult to take seriously the suggestion that, contrary to modern scientific psychology research, they are the source of all psychological disorders. To the contrary, recent reviews plainly show that there is insufficient evidence to justify seeking treatments based on the existence of such energies (Basser, 1998 Richardson, 1986 Prance, 1988 Skrabanek, 1984). In contrast to the claims of TFT, however, no research has confirmed the existence of human energy fields related either to illness or to response to treatment. The flow of energy around and through the body is a vital part of Callahan’s approach, and so evidence that such a flow exists would seem an important component of any argument in favor of Callahan. The amygdala, a structure deep within the brain, for example, is not involved in production of emotional states after all (despite what every introductory psychology or neurology text teaches)- that job is carried out entirely by the human energy field (see Therapeutic Touch). In TFT, emotional and psychological disturbances are also seen as due to the impeded flow of energy, and the therapy consists largely of sequences of finger tapping on acupuncture (acupressure) points, along with other activities such as repeating statements, counting, rolling the eyes, or humming a tune, all while thinking of the distressing situation.Ĭallahan’s promotional books and Web sites assert, among other oddities, that large quantities of extremely well documented and widely accepted neurological knowledge are simply wrong. In traditional acupuncture, these blockages and imbalances are corrected through the insertion of very thin needles into the body. It is based loosely on the ideas underlying traditional Chinese acupuncture- that is, that good and bad energies flow through a set of invisible meridians in the body, and health problems are due to insufficient or blocked flow of energy through these. These are truly remarkable claims, and TFT is a truly remarkable therapy. Callahan’s Voice Technology, “all the required information for diagnosis is contained in the voice, it is possible for treatment to be completed in the course of a telephone call from anywhere in the world.” More challenging still to the reader well-read in the psychotherapy literature is the claim that through Dr. The suggestion that a 97 percent cure rate for “almost all psychological and some physical problems” is possible, often in a single session (seems a bit difficult to take seriously. Psychological disorders, especially such difficult and intractable conditions as major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, are difficult to treat and often take a long time to improve and cure rates in the 50 percent or lower range are not unusual, even for relatively effective treatments. To see the source of the skepticism towards TFT within the psychological community, one need not look beyond the use of the words “five minute” and “instantly” in those book titles. Callahan, clinical psychologist and author of The Five Minute Phobia Cure and (with Richard Turbo) Tapping the Healer Within: Using Thought Field Therapy to Instantly Conquer Your Fears, Anxieties, and Emotional Distress. Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a relatively new therapy, of somewhat dubious value, invented and promoted by Dr.