Thought Field Therapy F.A.Q

 

What is T.F.T?

Thought Field Therapy (T.F.T) is a safe and effective technique for the elimination of emotional distress. It gives immediate relief for P.T.S.D, addictions, phobias, fears and anxieties by directly treating the blockage in the energy flow created by a disturbing thought pattern. It virtually eliminates any negative feeling previously associated with a thought.

T.F.T eliminated disturbances created by negative emotions by using key meridian points in specific sequences. The gentle training program offers the latest technology in removing disruptions in the body's energy system. These disruptions are responsible for causing physical problems, negative emotions, addictions and cravings. It is truly a mind-body treatment using a combination of modern science, Oriental medicine, and the body's energy system.

 

A new view on the Mind-Body connection

T.F.T was discovered in 1981 by Dr. Roger Callahan, a cognitive psychologist who had tried everything in his repertoire to help a woman with a lifelong, severe and apparently intractable water phobia.

He decided to try a variation on a holistic, mind-body healing method he had been studying, based on the theory in Chinese medicine that energy flows along meridian lines in the body. These meridian points appear to act as a governing force in healing and growth. When the energy points are blocked or unbalanced, the person experiences emotional disturbance or what Dr. Roger Callahan calls "perturbations."

He discovered that by directly treating the blockage in the energy flow created by a disturbing thought pattern, the disturbance or upset disappears. It virtually eliminates any negative feeling previously associated with a thought.

In an attempt to help Mary, his patient with the water phobia, he tested his theory. He asked her to think about water, tap with two fingers on the point that connected with the stomach meridian and much to his surprise, her fear of water completely disappeared.

"The fear is gone!," she exclaimed and went running around the swimming pool behind his office.

Not only had her fear evaporated but the apparent cure remains effective to this day.

Callahan continued to expand on his discovery and has come up with a number of brief treatments or "algorithms." Algorithms are step-by-step procedures or sequences of body taps geared to particular conditions which patients can perform on themselves.

 

How It Works

The therapist asks a person to think about a situation or event and rate how uncomfortable they feel at the moment on a scale from one to ten, where ten is the worst you can feel and one is no trace of the problem.

Then, at the direction of the therapist, the patient taps with two fingers on various acupressure points on the body. During this process, the patient rates how they feel. The tapping is done according to a prescribed recipe pattern (algorithm). The algorithm is based on the particular emotions elicited by the upset.

 

The Apex Problem

Psychotherapy is predictable in many ways. When a person finally gets up the nerve to go to someone for help, they think they will be expected to sit in therapy and talk about the problem. Then, after a few or many sessions, they expect to feel better. They rarely expect to be cured.

Since there is nothing in our culture that allows for a cognitive understanding as to why tapping on the meridian points works, it is very difficult to accept that something they have coped and lived with for years could disappear in minutes. Dr. Callahan calls this the "apex problem," which is that patients and those observing the therapy cannot believe that such a simple technique can work so well.

Instead, they try to come up with explanations that they are familiar with to account for the outcome. After the series of tapping, which takes only five to six minutes, the treatment is complete and the distress is eliminated.