Frequently Asked Questions..                                                                                            Tilbake til startsiden. What is Thought Field Therapy (TFT)?  Thought Field Therapy is defined as: "...a treatment for psychological disturbances which provides a code that when applied to a psychological problem an individual is focusing upon will eliminate pertubasjon in the Thought Field, the fundamental cause of all negative emotions.  This code is elicited using a causal diagnostic procedure through which the TFT algorithms were developed." How was TFT discovered? 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!  Twenty years later, Mary remains completely free of her phobia. What is a Thought Field? A "field", in scientific terms, is defined as "an invisible sphere of influence", magnetic fields and gravitational fields being familiar examples.  In this case, when we think about a situation a Thought Field (a manifestation of the body's energy system) becomes active.  Effectively, the Thought Field has been "tuned in" to that specific thought.  The body responds to its influence by reproducing, to a greater or lesser extent, the nervous, hormonal, chemical and cognitive activity that occurs when we are in the real situation.  If that Thought Field contains perturbations then the response is inappropriate.  For example, someone with acrophobia (fear of heights) may feel intense nausea and be in a state of complete panic when simply thinking of climbing a few steps of a ladder, something that would not trouble a normal individual. What are perturbations? The generating power behind the nervous, hormonal, chemical and cognitive activity associated with negative emotions.  Such activity is not the fundamental cause of the negative emotions;  it is the perturbations themselves.  Removal of the perturbations, therefore, has a knock-on effect  -  restoring those activities to normal with the consequent loss of the negative emotions. What is Psychological Reversal? A state or condition which blocks natural healing and prevents otherwise effective treatments from working.  The psychologically reversed state is usually accompanied by negative attitudes and self-sabotaging behaviour.  In everyday life, psychological reversal is often recognised as the "psychological block" which prevents us from accomplishing certain tasks with ease.  TFT offers rapid and simple treatment for this problem. Is TFT painful in any way? Not at all.  No needles or other instruments are used, nor does it require you to talk at length about your problem, something that can cause considerable distress in itself. What does a treatment involve? Quite simply, the patient is first asked to think about their particular problem  which, amongst many others, can be an anxiety state, a phobia, a trauma, a loss, or a feeling of anger or of guilt.   They are then asked to quantify their feelings on a scale of 1 to 10, with a 10 representing maximum distress.  Next, they are asked to tap on his or her own body in specific places, or energy points, in a defined and precise order.  Following the treatment the patient is asked, once again, to think about their problem as clearly and as negatively as possible.  Typically, the patient reports that they cannot do so at all!  At this point the patient is now free of their problem as they can no longer evoke the psychological distress they once experienced.  A cure has been effected. Is TFT suitable for children? Very much so.  Children are particularly responsive to, and indeed enjoy, the treatment.  The simplicity and safety of TFT makes it especially suitable for nervous children who might find conventional approaches intimidating. Does TFT work with animals? Although still in the experimental stage, early findings indicate that animals such as dogs, cats and horses do respond to application of TFT.   What are TFT algorithms? Determined using TFT causal diagnostic procedures, the algorithms are precise treatment sequences that are known to have a curative effect when applied to specific problems. Does TFT have any side-effects? By side effects, most people mean unpleasant side-effects.  The answer is simply "No". However, recent evidence using Heart Rate Variability analyses has shown that successful TFT treatment has at least one very beneficial side effect - the rebalancing of the autonomic nervous system. How successful are the techniques? Using TFT algorithms alone a success rate of around 80% can be expected.  Individual diagnosis by a diagnostically-trained practitioner raises this figure to around 90- 95%.  With the use of Voice Technology™ the success rate approaches the ultimate.  And all this within a few minutes.  No other treatment presently available, conventional or complementary, can claim the same success rate, speed and completeness. What is Voice Technology™? In 1986, Dr. Callahan discovered that the voice carries a code reflecting the specific cause (the perturbations in the Thought Field) of the problem being experienced.  This unique technology provides a means of extracting the relevant information from the voice using a holographic imaging procedure.  The specific tapping sequence(s) for complete treatment can then be determined.  VT™ provides the means for a previously unheard of psychotherapeutic procedure - curative treatment over the telephone in minutes.  Naturally, this sounds very far-fetched but to appreciate how this could be possible one might consider the vast amount of information contained in the groove cut into a vinyl sound recording.  To the eye it appears as a single wavy line, as is the sound pressure wave induced from it when shown on an oscilloscope.  From this single strand of information the mind can pick out the individual sound of every single instrument in the finest detail, a phenomenal feat of information analysis. I'm a die-hard sceptic. What if I don't believe the treatment will work? It makes no difference.  The treatments work whether you believe in them or not. If TFT is so revolutionary, why haven't I heard of it before now? In common with many other ground-breaking discoveries, TFT has met with considerable resistance and opposition to acceptance despite the continuing build-up of evidence in its favour.  One possible reason for this negativity is that TFT theory will inevitably, as a consequence of its own success, demand a complete rethink of many therapeutic approaches in psychological medicine, and upon which many "experts" have built their careers.  It is worth bearing in mind that chemical anaesthesia was first discovered in the mid-1800s yet it took almost 50 years for its use to become universally accepted. "Faced with the choice of changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. J.K. Galbraith What proof is there that TFT has beneficial effects on the nervous system? Recent clinical evidence obtained from the use of the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) test, which is not subject to placebo effect nor to researcher manipulation, has provided conclusive proof that successful TFT treatment also rebalances the sympathetic and parasympathetic contribution to autonomic nervous system function. Can TFT really cure psychological problems? A cure is defined variously as recovery or relief from disease or disorder, to restore to health, something that corrects, heals or permanently alleviates a harmful or troublesome situation, to free from something objectionable or harmful, to rectify an unhealthy or undesirable condition, successful remedial treatment. As TFT can achieve all of the above it is reasonable to claim that it offers a cure.  In a successful treatment all trace of the original problem disappears - by the patient's own report.  In the event of a return of the problem, this doesn't mean that a cure was not achieved in the first place, only that it has been undone.  For example, a person taking aspirin to cure a headache will, in all likelihood, be cured.  If that person then suffers another headache a few days later it does not mean that the original dose failed to effect a cure, only that the headache has returned.  Retreatment leads to cure once again. How long does the effect last? Once all aspects or complexities of a problem have been successfully treated (i.e. all perturbations have been removed from the Thought Field) and anything that may have undone the cure has been identified and eliminated, the effects appear to endure over time. Many, Dr. Callahan's first case to be treated with TFT, remains free of her severe hydrophobia 20 years later. I've heard that "energy toxins" can undo a successful treatment.  Why? The exact reason is unknown but it is clear from experience that if a successfully treated individual is exposed to certain exogenous toxins, their problem returns.  Once the toxins have been identified and eliminated the problem, once again, can be cured and stay that way.  The individual need not be allergic to the toxin but sensitive to its effects on the Thought Field.  Such toxins are often "natural", e.g. endogenous chemicals of plants with which they deter insect attack.  Recent developments in TFT treatments have shown that it is now possible to resolve energy toxicity temporarily with a very high degree of success.