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"... we name a new field, use it and it no longer seems mysterious. But we still do not know what an electric or a gravitational field really is.""... we have introduced a concept that is new in the context of physics - a concept that we shall call active information. The basic idea of active information is that a form having very little energy enters into and directs a much greater energy. The activity of the latter is in this way given a form similar to that of the smaller energy."
David Bohm
Theoretical Physicist
Mary was the first client treated with what is now called Thought Field Therapy (TFT). She had been treated by the author for a year and a half with a variety of psychotherapeutic methods and although her behavior improved somewhat, the therapy experience was a terrible ordeal and nightmares about water "getting her" continued. An experiment with this new therapy dramatically removed every trace of the recalcitrant intense phobic fear and also the nightmares centering around this problem. The treatment has held for sixteen years. Additional developments in TFT since that time have enabled the treatments to achieve a growing success rate with a wide variety of psychological problems.
Mary was a forty-two year old woman who complained of an extremely intense phobia of water. Her working middle class parents were still alive at the time of treatment and she asked them how long she had the fear of water. They reported that she suffered from this intense phobia for as long as anyone in the family could remember. There was no report of traumas associated with water since she carefully avoided any contact with water beyond bathing (where a minimum of water was used). Mary's family reported that she seemed to have this fear as far back as any could recall.The fear was so pervasive and intense that Mary was unable to even view television which showed a body of water. She would have to leave the room whenever water in any form was shown on television. She had three children and they would often ask her to take them to the beach to swim. She reported that she was very appreciative when the film "Jaws" was released since her children stopped asking her to go to the beach. Though she lived in Southern California, Mary was never able to drive near the beach.
Bathing was a torture which she regularly but unhappily endured. In order to bathe, Mary would put a very small amount of water in a tub and completed the ordeal as quickly as possible. A rainstorm generated intense torture for this woman who had the corollary fear that water, somehow, would "get her." The nightmares which took place several times a week, for as long as she could remember, were described as terrifying events in which water "got her." These weekly horrible dreams would cause her to awaken sobbing in a cold sweat.
Her brother had a beautiful boat but she was unable to go near it. When her friends went on cruises she would make up excuses as to why she could not join them. Like many people with intense phobias, Mary wrongly believed the common notion that phobics are people who lack courage and therefore she felt shame over her problem.
She requested psychotherapy and treatment was started at the author's house since there was a pool which could provide tests of the therapy success as well as an opportunity for systematic de-sensitization with relaxation training and exposure. The pool was a deep source of distress to Mary and she could not bear to look at it nor could she walk anywhere near the deep end of the pool.
I was a pioneer in cognitive and behavior therapies and had been doing psychotherapy for 30 years prior to this point. I used every psychotherapy modality at my disposal during the year and a half of treatment. Suggestion, placebo, clinical hypnosis, behavioral therapy, rational-emotive, systematic desensitization, distraction techniques, progressive relaxation, client-centered therapy, and exposure, were among the modalities used.
Each treatment was started in the house where the author would regularly teach relaxation, induce hypnosis, and attempt to help Mary challenge her deep erroneous beliefs about the danger of water. After the office part of the session, the remaining part of each session consisted of getting her to go near the edge of the shallow end of the pool. During the last six months of this therapy an increasing amount of time was spent at the pool. There was extreme reluctance on her part each time we approached the pool and she made great efforts to avoid looking at the water which still, after all the extensive exposure and therapy, caused her emotional and stomach upset.
Eventually, over many months, she gradually achieved the goal of sitting at the shallow end of the pool. She still could not look at the water. From an overt behavioral standpoint one could say that the therapy was moderately successful in that after a year and a half of this therapy she was able to do something she could not do prior to therapy - she was able to sit on the side of the pool with her feet dangling in the water. However, despite this advance, it remained very difficult for her; she still could not look at the water and she suffered from a severe headache after each therapy session, and the regular upsetting nightmares about water persisted. The therapy was torture but she was determined to do anything which would eliminate this intense phobia. One might describe the sum total of all this therapy as providing Mary with the knowledge that she could withstand a great deal more suffering than she formerly thought she could.
I was never satisfied with the efficacy of the conventional procedures and was exploring alternative approaches. I was taking a course which included some information on acupuncture or meridian therapy. Mary complained about a feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever she thought about water.
Through examining acupuncture charts it was found that the stomach meridian started under the eye, traveled to the top of the head and then descended down the body ending at the tip of the second toe. The intuitive thought of putting physical energy into that meridian occurred and the author asked her to tap below the center of the eye, about an inch below the bottom center of the eyeball.
A strange look immediately came upon her face and she said, "It's gone!" Confused, the writer asked, "What's gone?" "The awful feeling in the pit of my stomach - it's gone! I don't think I'm afraid of water any more; for the first time in my life I feel fine when I think about water!"
Naturally, the writer was quite skeptical regarding this report and suggested we go to the pool to test this report as well as the therapy. Instead of the usual reluctance and holding back, she dashed out the door and ran to the pool. Not having any idea of what was going on, the writer was quite frightened. The author ran after her and shouted as she approached the pool, "Mary, look out!." She was already near the deep end, a territory to which she never ventured before and she stopped when she heard me cry out. Seeing the intense fear on my face, she laughed and shouted, "Dr. Callahan, don't worry, I know I don't know how to swim, I'm not going to jump into that pool."
The author was greatly relieved. At that instant, something of great importance about the treatment was learned. The treatment, while apparently removing the problem, did not at the same time, make Mary careless nor forget important information such as safety.
As the author reached Mary she began to lean into the deep end of the pool, put her face near the water and splashed water on her face. She was thrilled as was the author. She suddenly appeared to have no trace of her former severe phobia of water.
As we finished talking about the experience it became evident that a severe storm was brewing. Formerly, this event would be a cause of great anguish and the need to rush home to safety before the water from the storm could "get her." She looked at the sky of moving darkening clouds and remarked, "This is the first time in my life that I can look at a stormy sky and feel peace."
The next day she phoned to report to me that after she left she wanted to test the extent of her apparent cure and that instead of rushing home after the therapy session she casually drove to the beach. She parked her car and walked to the beach near to the large growing waves while the wind and the rain blew strongly against her. Here was an acid test for Mary. She said that she had no trace of the fear and was perfectly relaxed. She was ecstatic!
The author vividly recalls finding it hard to believe that Mary could actually be cured but follow-up forced me to accept this startling conclusion. As mentioned, prior to this time I had about 30 years of practice in psychotherapy with various modalities and never experienced nor did I ever even hear of such a dramatic result with such a severe phobia.
About a year later I received a card from Mary with a picture of an ocean vessel on it. She wrote a lovely note explaining that she was having a wonderful time with a group of friends on this ship; with no trace of the phobia. The nightmares vanished immediately after the treatment and have not returned. Sixteen years of follow-up support the conclusion that Mary's cure has endured over time (Callahan, 1993).
The author was pleased with this result but quickly found that merely tapping under the eye did not do the same for all, nor even most phobic clients, although it formed an important part of the successful treatment of most phobics. The author was encouraged by this one dramatic result and persisted in exploring what it would take to help a greater number of people.
Over a period of months a number of additional procedures which eventually allowed me, as well as others, (Callahan, 1981, 1986, 1993; Leonoff, 1996) to obtain a high success with phobias and other anxiety symptoms treated in a highly public setting. The TFT algorithm for phobias and anxiety symptoms is given elsewhere (Callahan, 1993).
Attempts to account for the surprising results of TFT by such notions as placebo, suggestion, charisma, or transference cures do not accord with the facts of the treatment. Why, for example, after using every therapy procedure with which I was familiar, did Mary not respond until she was tapped under her eye? It should be kept in mind, that not only was Mary expecting nothing from this new procedure, but neither was the author - it was purely an experiment.
The fact that therapy results (Callahan, 1986) with 66 individuals were duplicated, almost exactly, by a newly trained therapist (Dr. Glenn Leonoff, 1996) a decade later lends strong support for more research in TFT. Hundreds of other therapists, almost all of whom are initially skeptical, report very similar results (Callahan, 1995).
In Callahan's study, 11 people called who were terrified of speaking over the radio which they were doing at the time of calling. An analysis of this sub-group showed their SUD lowered after TFT treatment while engaging in their fear. These guests had an average SUD of 8.8 prior to treatment to a 1.9 (1 equals the lowest possible level of disturbance in this study) after treatment. This represents an average decline in SUD level of 6.9. The average time required for this was 5 minutes and 16 seconds. All 11 individuals of this sub-group reported dramatic improvements. These results support the desirability of further investigation of the TFT procedures under more controlled conditions and with appropriate follow-up.
As mentioned, the author was a pioneer in behavioral and cognitive methods in the 1950's. Cognitive theory was used in the attempt to understand TFT. Somehow, it seemed that tapping in the correct places, and in the correct order (determined by TFT diagnosis) appeared to change deeply held cognitive beliefs. In fact, in the many years of attempting to change the deeply held beliefs of clients related to their emotional problems, the writer had never experienced a more rapid and complete procedure for accomplishing this presumed result.The cognitive attempt at understanding TFT results was diligently pursued for about 10 years. However, about 6 years ago a gedanken (as it is commonly called in science) or thought experiment, suggested that the cognitive issue was after all, not likely a fruitful avenue of exploration (Callahan and Callahan).
If deeply held beliefs could be so easily changed with a few appropriate taps then it ought to be possible to change the deeply held beliefs of a Muslim to that of a Jew or a Christian; or to change a communist into a capitalist, a conservative into a liberal, or vice-versa with just a few well placed taps. It was immediately apparent that when deep beliefs are viewed in this fashion that this was an absurdity and would not be possible. The author needed to look elsewhere.At the present stage of development we can only speculate what is happening in the treatment. In the last 16 years the writer has read a great deal of theoretical biology and also quantum physics. The reason for quantum physics is due to the interesting and predictable changes typically taking place in the TFT treatment. The changes follow a pattern, within minutes, of going from a SUD of 10, when the first phase is given, to 7 and then to a 4 after the middle phase and ending typically at a 1. These are quantum like leaps between SUD levels without passing through intermediate levels of disturbance. This is a robust finding in TFT.
Briefly, it can be mentioned that certain quantum theorists (Bohm and Bohm and Hiley - see introductory quote) have written on the concept of information in quantum theory and this work appears to cohere with TFT empirical results and contribute to a deep level of explanation. Much scientific work has been done on the energy system and is cited in the recent book on trauma (Callahan and Callahan).
Briefly, we propose that the fundamental causal source of negative emotions rather than being in the hard wiring of the brain, nervous system, chemistry, or even the cognitive system, as is commonly believed, resides rather in the thought field in the form of an entity which we call a perturbation (which the regular dictionary defines as " a cause of mental disquietude"). TFT of course, is not addressing the commonly attributed causes of disturbed emotions but a whole new, to western science, source - the energy or meridian system associated with the body and the mind, through the attuned thought field. When a thought field containing perturbations is attuned the person gets emotionally upset. By addressing the thought field and collapsing the perturbation through TFT, the upset disappears.
The perturbation is an isolable aspect of the thought field and contains the active information which triggers the sequence of events (chemical, neurological, the amygdala, and the cognitive systems) resulting in what is experienced as a negative emotion. The perturbation (a bioenergy concept) is proposed as more fundamental in the causal chain than the chemistry, cognitive, and nervous and brain systems and that is why its collapse, with successful treatment, has such evident far-reaching effects on all these systems.
Bohm and Hiley describe their pivotal concept in quantum physics: "... we have introduced a concept that is new in the context of physics - a concept that we shall call active information. The basic idea of active information is that a form having very little energy enters into and directs a much greater energy. The activity of the latter is in this way given a form similar to that of the smaller energy." (Bohm and Hiley, p 35). The process described here for quantum theory appears to fit the notions of numerous investigators into the bioenergy-energy realm as the process by which biological control systems operate. One may understand the relevance of the TFT usage of "active information" in that it is proposed that the microstate of the perturbations generate the macrostate that the person feels when depressed, angry, anxious, etc. Successful psychotherapy is the transformation, collapse, or subsumption of this active informational microstate (perturbation) which results in the commonly observed and successfully predicted elimination of the negative emotions in TFT.
We are fully aware of the radical nature of these proposals but the algorithms (Callahan, 1993 and Callahan and Callahan, 1996 and 1997) allow the reader to test first the efficacy of the treatment (without special training) and will then be in a better position to understand the theoretical proposals which have been carefully developed over the last decade and a half to accord with the numerous new facts generated by TFT.
Bohm, David (1990) A new theory of the relationship of mind and matter. Philosophical Psychology, Vol 3, No 2, pp 271-286.Bohm, David and Hiley, B. (1993) The Undivided Universe: An ontological interpretation of quantum theory., Routledge, NY.
Callahan, R. (1981) A rapid treatment for phobias. Collected Papers of International College of Applied Kinesiology.
Callahan, R. (1986) Successful treatment of phobias and anxiety by telephone and radio. Collected Papers of International College of Applied Kinesiology.
Callahan, R. (1993) The Five Minute Phobia Cure Video. Thought Field Therapy and Trauma: Treatment and Theory. TFT Training Center, Indian Wells.
Callahan, R. (1995a) What Professionals Say. A video. Thought Field Therapy and Trauma: Treatment and Theory. TFT Training Center, Indian Wells. Callahan, R. (1995b) A Thought Field Algorithm for Trauma. Paper delivered at APA, August, 1995.
Callahan, R. and Callahan, J. (1996) Thought Field Therapy and Trauma: Treatment and Theory. TFT Training Center, Indian Wells. Callahan, R. and Callahan J. (1997) Thought Field Therapy: Aiding the Bereavement Process. In Figley, C., Bride, B. and Mazza, N. Death and Trauma: The Traumatology of Grieving. Taylor and Francis, Washington, DC
Callahan, R. (1997) Introduction to TFT. A video. TFT Training Center, Indian Wells.
Leonoff, G. (1996) Phobia and anxiety treatment: The final results of a replication of Callahan's 1985-6 study. TFT Newsletter, vol 2, Issue 1.
Roger Callahan, Ph.D.
45350 Vista Santa Rosa
Indian Wells, CA 92210
760 345-4737
RCallahan@compuserve.com
http://www.tftrx.com
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