Thought Field Therapy – The Original Tapping Therapy

For the past 35 years, a simple technique called Thought Field Therapy has been rapidly healing trauma, anxiety, pain and disease for people who are desperate to regain wellness and normalcy in their lives.

What started as a simple therapeutic treatment to stimulate the body’s own healing systems through tapping on various points of the body—much the same way Chinese physicians use acupuncture to do—has become much more mainstream, launching the fields of energy psychology and energy medicine in the western world.

Thousands have recovered rapidly from troublesome disorders like insomnia, gout or tinnitus. Others have eliminated stress, anxiety and fears – and even physical pain literally within minutes. Hundreds have regained their lives by curbing addictive urges for nicotine, controlled substances or obsessive behaviors. Those suffering the aftereffects of trauma—warfare, rape, injury or loss— have instantly removed the horrible emotions and feelings tied to that event which previously controlled their lives, sometimes for decades.

How Did Thought Field Therapy Come Into Being?

In 1979, as a licensed psychologist in private practice, Roger was counseling a young mother who was terrified of water. In fact, her phobia was so extreme; she was unable to pursue even the most basic activities if they involved water or brought her near to water. To our great frustration, after a year of using all the traditional therapy methods, our patient “Mary” was no better than before.

Sitting outside near our swimming pool one day, she became nauseous from just the thought of the water nearby. Then Roger had an idea. Remembering that the Chinese had used acupuncture for over 5,000 years to stimulate the flow of energy through what they call the body’s “meridians” or electrical pathways, he asked Mary to tap a few times under her eye – the location of the end point of the stomach meridian.

After several seconds of tapping, Mary exclaimed, “It’s gone!” and made a beeline for the pool bending down to splash water on her face. Quite frankly, we were dumbfounded. Yet that night, Mary decided to test her phobia cure further by driving to the ocean in a rare California rainstorm. Wading into the surf, she remained completely free of her fear. Trying to make sense of what had just happened; we questioned how such an unusual technique could bring about results when it was so contrary to all our traditional training and all recognized therapy protocols.

Perhaps the act of “tapping” was somehow influencing the body’s fundamental energy system reorganizing mental and physical responses (a feat that years of traditional “talk therapy” had failed to accomplish). Or perhaps, this “tapping” technique was somehow unblocking the flow of calming, balancing energy—much like life-giving blood flowing through previously blocked arteries.

Realizing that a stunning discovery had been handed to us, we set about proving the underlying reasons why it worked— and how it could be used with many more people to resolve many more ailments. We soon discovered that many people needed a series of points to be tapped and that, depending on the problem, one tapping sequence was more effective than others. Before long, we had developed various tapping formulas—not only for different phobias, but for all kinds of disorders and afflicted conditions. Our clients were not only getting relief from mental and emotional disturbances, but their physical bodies were healing, too.

Soon, we discovered that many clients were still suffering the effects—years later—from traumas, injuries or grief they had all but forgotten about. We developed a method for diagnosing the underlying ailment and determining a customized tapping sequence for the healing of the past trauma.

And then, we discovered the role that “energy toxins” played in causing disease and hampering a healing result—foods, products and medications that caused an allergic-like reaction in the individual. So we developed a tapping protocol to neutralize these toxins. Through it all, Thought Field Therapy has delivered predictable and unparalleled results, often with instant relief—such as in the case of trauma and phobias—or with at least immediate evidence that physical healing has begun – such as in pain relief.

A Recognized Treatment That’s Now Mainstream

Of course, with results like these, the scientific community began to take notice. As we continued to develop tapping treatments for complex disorders and conditions and evolved it into the treatment protocol we call “Thought Field Therapy,” we began training other professionals in many of the allied health care fields. Researchers continued to study TFT and its effectiveness.

The first study to establish TFT as a treatment worthy of attention was the search for a cure for post-traumatic stress disorder— or PTSD—with its horrible symptoms of nightmares, flashbacks, phobias and addictive behavior, done at Florida State University by professors Charles Figley and Joyce Carbonell. The results were excellent and found to endure when test patients were followed up with six months later.

Our research and work with TFT has continued around the world. The TFT Foundation has completed four PTSD studies with excellent results. The TFT Foundation has developed a model for large-scale trauma relief that has been proven effective, both in the studies and in real life.

A Fast, Effective and Enduring Treatment

These findings did not surprise us, as we’ve known for decades that TFT is effective, fast and pain-free for eliminating the emotional aftereffects of trauma. We have participated in both formal and informal research studies and humanitarian relief in traumatized regions such as Kosovo, Rwanda, Haiti, Japan and around the world. TFT stands up to scrutiny even as many other treatments do not in these severe disaster settings. Whether the studies today looking into TFT are formal or informal, research shows that TFT works.

Best of all, it does no harm. Now, three decades of research later—and 33 years of field testing with real people— we’ve refined and enhanced the tapping sequences so that Thought Field Therapy now produces unparalleled and near-instantaneous results. Along the way, we’ve trained thousands of doctors, alternative healthcare practitioners, therapists, social workers, religious professionals, lay ministers, chiropractors, school counselors, aid workers, emergency personnel and other professionals to use Thought Field Therapy in their work.

Many health practitioners have now added TFT to their offerings. It allows their clients to become more receptive and receiving to their treatments.

One of our TFT practitioners says,

“As a TFT Advanced DX Practitioner, I am a visiting consultant to many of the world’s top resorts and spas primarily in Europe, the Middle-East, S.E Asia and Australia. Many of my clients are celebrities even Royalty as well as top Bollywood movie stars. I have been working within the spa industry for approx eight years and am well known within the spa industry being considered a pioneer for introducing ‘tapping’ into it many years before it became a popular therapy… Fortunately TFT is perfect for spas as it’s generally a quick effective therapy with little/no set up and costs. All I need is a small table and two chairs.” – Paul Emery

Anyone Can Master the Basics

But perhaps most importantly, people can take their health and wellness into their own hands and seek to improve it with Thought Field Therapy. While “tapping” is never a substitute for emergency medical care or critical surgeries or treatment, it will astonish you at what it can do—even after traditional medical care has given up on finding a cure for what ails you.

As the greater medical profession gradually incorporates Thought Field Therapy as a mainstream treatment, hundreds of cutting-edge practitioners are daily proving its effectiveness in their local medical and therapy offices, as we do.

But interestingly, TFT also works on simple ailments when everyday people use just the standard tapping sequences after having learned them for the first time, either from a friend, or in a book or video.

Our large-scale model for trauma relief, has shown us that TFT helps, regardless of age, gender or culture. It is safe and can be self-applied without harm. And, clearly, TFT works—even for people who have only a modest amount of training or who are learning for the first time how to tap out the healing sequences on themselves.

Because of this versatility, safety and broad application, we have developed many free and low cost delivery systems.

We hope you too can find the healthy new lifestyle, freedom from illness, or formula for a better future you desire.

Joanne Callahan
Callahan Techniques