TFT Thought Field Therapy

A generally successful algorithm for trauma is presented in order to give the reader a brief introduction to TFT treatments and an opportunity to test its efficacy. The algorithm has been used for over eighteen years and the only harm known to come from it is that a very small number of individuals with apparent self-directed hostility may take the opportunity, when tapping on their body, to use too much pressure.© Roger J. Callahan 1996

The first new fact is that that this reproducible procedure can eliminate not only the immediate upset experienced (extant sometimes for many decades) in instances of trauma, but is usually accompanied by the elimination of sequelae such as nightmares and obsession over the trauma. Lest this effect be confused with the "normal" reduction of problems with time or with other approaches to psychotherapy, it should be kept in mind that the therapy effect is predicted and takes place within minutes. This is mentioned because if one is working in therapy with a person over weeks, months or years, the opportunity for the beneficent role of extraneous variables, other than the treatment, have an increasing opportunity to operate. Anyone looking into the power treatments investigated by Figley and Carbonell (1995, 1997) must take these repeatable and robust observable facts into account; i.e. that the treatments are done rapidly (minutes) and with the confident prediction that the person will report dramatic improvement in how they feel after the treatment. To ignore these new and unique facts is to completely bypass the radical theoretical import of this new approach to psychotherapy.

Another surprising fact about the TFT treatment is that the progress is saltatory; i.e., it takes place in large definite leaps as the therapy progresses. For example, a trauma victim who begins at a SUD of 10 (SUD - Subjective Units of Distress) will typically progress, within minutes, to a 7, then to a 4 and then will show no upset when thinking about the trauma event, a 1 on the ten-point SUD scale.

Should one wish to practice the procedure, first with oneself, colleagues, friends and family in order to gain some experience before attempting it on clients, it is helpful to recognise that the therapist does not need to know what the trauma was or is, but need only obtain a SUD rating when the subject thinks about the problem. The SUD allows comparison of pre- and post-therapy states (Note 2).

A trauma has special interest for psychological theory since it is a psychological problem which appears to be a normal response to a terrible situation. Most psychological problems are peculiar or abnormal emotional reactions; for example a phobia is a persistent fear which makes no sense, even to the phobic. The theoretical implications of successful treatment for traumas goes beyond that of treating other problems.

The algorithm has been updated a number of times to incorporate later discoveries, e.g. mini-psychological reversal, which was discovered years after the original psychological reversal correction and the trauma treatment. The emphasis in this paper is upon description of the procedure with no theory due to space limitations. Also, until people are aware of the potency of the treatment there is quite naturally little interest in the theory. Full details are available in the book "TFT and trauma - Treatment and Theory" provided to all trainees.

Firstly, explain that you are experimenting with a new procedure that is quite different and that will seem a little strange.

Step 1: The first step in the procedure is to determine the degree of distress or discomfort the subject experiences when the trauma is attuned or thought about. Record the SUD rating that develops at that moment (10 being the highest, 1 the lowest), not how it has been in the past nor how it is anticipated to be in the future. Be sure to write it down in the presence of the subject (see apex problem below). The more severe the upset the more dramatic the demonstration.

Step 2: Ask the subject to use two fingers to tap the beginning of the eyebrow adjacent to the bridge of the nose; five good taps, firm enough to put energy into the system but not enough to hurt or bruise. (Note 4 and Diagram)

Step 3: Ask the subject to tap under the eye about 2cm below the bottom of the eyeball, at the centre of the bony orbit, high on the cheek. Tap solidly, but not nearly enough to hurt. About 5 taps will do.

Step 4: Ask the subject to tap solidly on the side of their chest under their arm, about 4 inches directly below the armpit on the chest wall, again 5 times. This point is level with the nipple in the male and about the centre of the bra panel under the arm in the female.

Step 5: Find the "collar bone point" in the following manner. Take two fingers of either hand and run them down the centre of the throat until the superior end of the sternum (top of the breastbone) is reached. From this point go straight down 3cm; from this point go to the right or left 3cm. Tap this point five times.

Step 6: At this time, ask for a second SUD rating. If the decrease is 2 or more points, continue with step 7. If there was no change or was only one point (Note 5) correct for PSYCHOLOGICAL REVERSAL (PR), and repeat steps 1-6.

Step 7 - The Nine Gamut Treatments: To locate the gamut spot (Note 6) on the back of the hand make a fist with the non-dominant hand. This causes the knuckles to stand out on the back of the hand. Place index finger of dominant hand (Note 7) in the valley between the little finger and ring finger knuckles. Move the index finger about 2cm back toward the wrist. This point is the gamut spot. Ask subject to tap the gamut spot on the back of the hand (about 3 to 5 times per second) and continue to tap while going through the nine procedures as follows. It is crucial to tap the gamut spot throughout, five to ten times at each stage.

1. Eyes open
2. Eyes closed
3. Eyes open, move eyes down to one side, head still
4. Eyes open, move eyes down to opposite side, head still
5. Roll eyes in a circle in one direction
6. Roll eyes in a circle, opposite direction
7. Hum a few notes of a tune
8. Count 1 to 5 out loud
9. Hum a few notes of a tune

Step 8: Repeat steps 2-6. At this repetition the presenting problem will usually not bring up any trace of an upset and hence be a 1. If the SUD rating has decreased significantly, but is not yet a 1, then have the subject correct for mini-PR (see below) and repeat steps 1-8.

Floor to ceiling eye roll

The floor to ceiling eye roll is given at the end of a successful series of treatments. The subject usually reports a 1 or a 2 on the scale and this treatment serves to consolidate a 1 and to bring a 2 to a 1. The subject taps the gamut spot on the back of the hand while the head is held level (many people want to move their head in this exercise rather than their eyes). The eyes are then rotated downwards to look at the floor and then steadily rotated vertically (taking about 10 seconds) all the way up to look at the ceiling. The gamut spot must be tapped constantly during the moving of the eyes.

Psychological Reversal can prevent an otherwise successful treatment from working due, we believe, to a literal polarity reversal in the meridians (Note 8). To correct, tap firmly, approximately 15-20 times, what we call the PR spot which is located on the outside edge of the hand about mid-way between the wrist and the base of the little finger. The PR spot is at the point of impact if one were to do a karate chop. Mini-PR is corrected in exactly the same way but with the subject focusing on what remains of the problem.

PR correction is not a treatment for the problem but rather a treatment for a block which prevents the treatment from working; therefore the treatments for the problem (steps 2 - 6) must then be repeated. This procedure is just one of many used to correct PR in those affected by it.

How long does it last?

This question is regularly heard by practitioners of TFT, but rarely, if ever, by conventional psychotherapists. It implies that the subject clearly recognises the immediate loss of their symptoms - a very significant event. Records of thousands of treatments have shown that when a traumatised individual is brought down from a high SUD score to a low, the treatment effect usually endures over time. Our clients are instructed to try to resurrect the upset and if any degree of upset occurs after they leave they immediately call for another appointment to have the cause investigated.

What we call the "apex problem" is a surprising, yet common response to these treatments. If one does more than a few of these treatments it is certain that this problem will arise and it is beneficial to be aware of it. The apex problem is the robust tendency (it may even be considered compulsive) for the successfully treated individual to "explain" the treatment by invoking something other than the treatment for the therapy effect. Interestingly, the subject accurately reports positive changes but will appear to have a strong need to deny that the treatment was responsible for the change. The subject will usually claim that he was distracted from the problem even though the evidence is that he is asked to think about the problem as clearly as possible (and to try to get upset after it) a number of times during the treatment. In fact, treatment is impossible without thinking about the problem.

However, another common apex response is "I can't seem to think about it" when what is meant is that when the subject thinks of the problem he is unable to get upset (perhaps for the first time in years). The absence of associated symptoms is interpreted as being absence of thought - an impossible event! A similar phenomenon is observed in post-hypnotic suggestion with amnesia and also reported by Gazzaniga in his work with split brain subjects.

Therapists who have observed the result of the treatments often invoke such notions as suggestion, hypnosis, placebo effect, orienting reflex, etc., even though none of those therapists had ever personally witnessed a trauma being eliminated through such means.

Due to the apex problem it is believed that we do not get our fair share of placebo cures with this treatment though the treatment does pretty well without placebo - patients simply do not believe such an odd procedure could work for them. There is clinical value in understanding the "apex" but the scientific value of identifying the "apex problem" is that it refines prediction: we do not predict that the subject will credit the treatment, we predict that he will report a dramatic improvement after the treatment.

Callahan, R. (1981) Psychological reversal. Collected Papers of the International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAK).

Callahan, R. (1981) A rapid treatment for phobias. Collected Papers of ICAK.

Callahan, Roger J. (1985) Five Minute Phobia Cure. Wilmington, Enterprise, (out of print).

Callahan, R and Perry, P. (1992) Why Do I Eat When I’m Not Hungry? Doubleday. NY. (1993, Avon).

Callahan, R. (1993) The Five Minute Phobia Cure Video. Indian Wells, CA.

Figley, C. and Carbonell, J. (1995) PTSD Treatment:- what works best. An invited workshop at the Family Therapy Symposium. Washington, DC, March.

Figley, C. and Carbonell, J. (1997) A systematic clinical demonstration of promising PTSD treatment approaches. traumaTOLOGY Volume 5 Issue 1 - Gazzaniga, M (1985) The Social Brain. NY, Basic Books.

1. Used carefully and as described, this truncated treatment can be expected to yield a success rate of around 70+%. In its complete form (including additional PR corrections) this rate rises to around 95%. Success means a dramatic reduction or elimination of the active psychological pain of the trauma and its sequelae such as nightmares, obsession, rumination, etc.
2. A common verbal reaction after successful therapy is "I can't think about it" which should be taken as a "1" on the SUD scale.
3. There are different algorithms for phobias and other problems, though a phobia which is traumatically induced (a minority of phobias) may also require the trauma treatment.
4. It does not matter on which side of the body the treatment point is tapped. Some TFT practitioners ask their clients to tap both sides simultaneously, reporting that the subject finds this more comfortable and balanced to apply. This is, of course, very difficult to achieve with the "under arm" point!
5. At the higher range of SUD, i.e., 7 or above, a reported change of only one point is suspect and often indicates "positive thinking" or an imagined rather than an actual change and is best ignored. Unlike conventional approaches the subject should be encouraged to avoid positive thinking. When the subject reports a 1 on the SUD scale they may even be actively encouraged to try to become upset, thereby eliminating the argument that distraction or orienting reflex are responsible for the observed change.
6. Named the "gamut spot" due to the literal gamut of treatments done off this point which was found through numerous empirical tests.
7. Which hand doesn't matter but most prefer to tap with the dominant hand.
8. The meridians refer to the "acupuncture" meridians of energy and have been found to be quite palpable and supported by investigation.