Thought Field Therapy is defined as:
“…a treatment that when applied to a psychological problem an individual is focusing upon will modify discrete information patterns in the Thought Field, the fundamental cause of all negative emotions.”
“This work is not like any other psychological approach. I believe that we have found the basic cause of psychological problems. This underlying cause is unrelated to other previous theories. Unlike a placebo, you don’t have to believe in the treatments; as you will see they work even if you don’t believe in them!”
Roger J. Callahan, PhD
When we think of a particular problem (such as a specific fear) we generate an individual thought field in much the same way as an electrical field is generated around an item of electrical equipment. According to Dr. Callahan’s theory, emotional problems are generated by equally specific information patterns in these thought fields, which he describes as “perturbations”. These perturbations have been found to be the generating power behind the emotional (and occasionally, physical) signs and symptoms recognised by conventional medicine. Most existing therapies simply attempt to subdue those symptoms with varying degrees of success, or teach the patient coping skills. Whatever the outcome of such treatments the perturbations in the Thought Field (the cause of the problem in the first place) still remain. In order to remove the perturbations completely, and therefore the problem itself, one must apply a code that nature has provided.
“The benevolence of Natural Law lies in assuring us that miracles are open to us, but it does not extend to telling us how to accomplish them; it is for us to discover the keys, the encoding and decoding, by which they can be brought to pass”.
Robert Rosen – Theoretical Biologist
Put simply, TFT treatments work like opening a combination lock. You may well know all of the numbers, but if you don’t apply them in the correct order, the lock won’t open. Thought Field Therapy diagnostic procedures not only reveal the correct code, but also the application sequence required for successful treatment.
Hence, when the identified energy points are addressed in the correct order most people notice a rapid and dramatic improvement in the way they feel. A common response of patients when asked to think about their problem following the treatment is “I can’t think about it!” This could never be the case, of course, as one cannot utter such a comment without actually thinking about the problem! (For example, try saying this to yourself – “I am not thinking about elephants”…). A more precise statement would be “Now when I think about the problem that upset me terribly moments ago, I no longer get upset!”
Sceptics argue that TFT employs positive suggestion or merely distracts the individual from their problem. However, the most important feature of successful treatment is that the patient is required to think about their problem as clearly as possible both before and after the treatment. If the aim were to distract the patient or to encourage positive thinking, this would clearly lead to failure on both counts.
Mary was the first patient of Dr. Callahan’s to be treated with TFT in its earliest form. She suffered from an intense fear of water, so intense that even after 18 months of conventional therapy with Dr. Callahan she would only grudgingly approach the edge of a swimming pool – but not look at the water. Her treatment included rational-emotive psychotherapy, client-centred therapy, cognitive and behavioural therapy, systematic desensitisation, biofeedback, hypnosis and relaxation training, none of which conquered her fear.
Despite the intensive efforts made, Mary still suffered from nightmares about “water getting her”, could not leave her house if it was raining, and could only tolerate a few centimetres of water in a bathtub with which to bathe. A 30 year old, Mary had suffered from this phobia for as long as she or her parents could remember, no known trauma being identified as the cause.
At the time Dr. Callahan was learning Applied Kinesiology and, applying its diagnostic procedures to Mary, discovered that her stomach energy meridian was somehow affected. This meridian, according to ancient body maps used in acupuncture, begins below the eye, rises over the head and travels down the body to where it ends on the second toe. Dr. Callahan, expecting nothing and desperate to try anything to help his patient, told Mary to think about her fear while he tapped under her eye.
Suddenly, Mary said “It’s gone! My fear of water, it’s gone! I don’t have those awful feelings in my stomach any more!”
Totally unprepared for what happened next, Dr. Callahan suggested to Mary that they try approaching the shallow end of a swimming pool near the office. Without hesitation, Mary did just that, hurrying to the side of the pool and splashing her face with the water. Fearing the consequences, Dr. Callahan then watched Mary rush to the deep end of the pool. Shouting “Mary, be careful!” he was rapidly reassured by Mary who said “Don’t worry, I know I can’t swim!” It was clear that the treatment, whatever it had done, did not cause sudden stupidity!
Over 30 years later, Mary remains completely free of her phobia.
In the later stages of her conventional treatment, getting Mary to sit by the side of the pool was certainly a behavioural improvement! However, she was still not free of her feelings of fear and she remained miserable. All Mary needed to cure her fear in an instant was to have just one energy meridian point under her eye tapped with the fingers. Later, Dr. Callahan discovered that most people need more of these meridian points treated. Nevertheless, this single treatment worked with about 20% of his patients.
His curiosity peaked, Dr. Callahan went on to refine his discovery further, revealing the coded nature of the body’s emotional control and healing systems and the role played by environmental toxins in the recurrence of symptoms. The success rate rapidly rose from 20% to an incredible 97%.