What is the theory?

At this point there has not been enough research to show definitively why these methods are so successful.  However, thousands upon thousands of positive outcomes all over the world and with a broad spectrum of people show us that something very helpful is happening.  Since the origins of the techniques are in the "energy" system of acupuncture, we assume that this is what is behind its success.  There may be other explanations, however, that are neurological, biochemical, bioelectric.  Any or all of these explanations may be what is at play, especially since all of these systems have effects on the others.  It will be fascinating to watch what future researchers discover.

In a nutshell, though, Energy Psychology methods, such as Thought Field Therapy (TFT), Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and many other related and equally successful techniques, use the same Energy Meridian System of the body that is used in the medical treatments of Acupuncture and Acupressure as well as other aspects of our bio-energy.  Instead of treating physical illness, though, these techniques use the body's energy systems to relieve many kinds of emotional and psychological distress, often in a matter of minutes. (Even some physical symptoms can be relieved as well.)

The working theory is that emotional distress is lodged in and kept in place by patterns in the body's energy systems. Using a variety of techniques, we have a precise way of clearing and strengthening the subtle energy, and thus, eliminating the emotional distress. When it's working you will feel it happening.

It may sound incredible, but we see rapid, if not instant, improvement with 80-90% of the people we work with.   These techniques really work. (No acupuncture needles are involved, by the way)

In dealing with painful emotions and psychological distress, talk therapy has been the traditional path for more than a century.  Talk therapy produces much understanding, insight and effective coping strategies.  And a supportive therapy relationship can be very healing.  This is what we were trained in and it has helped many people. 

Now, Energy Psychology techniques are available. These methods can relieve many forms of emotional and psychological distress entirely, eliminating the need for more and more insight, understanding and coping strategies because there is no longer any distress to cope with!

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How Was This Phenomenon Discovered?

Thought Field Therapy (also known as the Callahan Techniques) was the first set of methods made available to the psychological community that demonstrated our ability to clear certain kinds of emotional and mental distress by affecting the acupuncture meridians.  Thought Field Therapy was developed by Dr. Roger Callahan, a Clinical Psychologist, as a result of a major discovery over 20 years ago. 

Dr. Callahan was already a well established and seasoned Clinical Psychologist specializing in, among other things, the treatment of phobias.  At that time he was treating a woman named Mary for her severe fear of water.  This fear was so debilitating that she was flooded with fear and panic whenever she was confronted with any type of water.  She had severe fearful reactions to puddles, baths, showers, even rain!  Dr. Callahan was treating her at his home, where he had a swimming pool, in hopes of getting her used to the water gradually, using the usual Cognitive Behavioral and Desensitization Techniques. It was very slow and very painful for Mary.

Dr. Callahan was becoming dissatisfied with the results of traditional therapy techniques and was searching for a faster, more pain-free, more effective way for his clients to be relieved of their symptoms.  Among the theories he was exploring were Acupuncture and Acupressure of Eastern Medicine.

One day, Mary mentioned that when she looked at the water she felt sick to her stomach.  Dr. Callahan knew that one of the major Acupunture points for the Stomach Meridian was just under the eyes.  On a hunch, he asked Mary to tap firmly under both eyes.  To the total amazement of both Mary and Dr. Callahan, her fear of the water rapidly disappeared!  In minutes, Mary’s fear of the water was totally gone, and has not returned to this day, more than 17 years later!

Needless to say, Dr. Callahan was fascinated!  Mary's experience turned out to be just the starting point.He threw himself into finding out why this had happened and how to make it happen again with others, and how to apply it to other kinds of emotional and psychological distress. 

Dr. Callahan has been developing these breakthrough techniques over the last two decades .  He has developed a complex and very effective system for rapidly diagnosing and treating many forms of emotional distress (and sometimes their physical symptoms as well).  These techniques have proven themselves to be highly effective and now they are available to all. 

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How does it work?

This kind of therapy treats a wide range of psychological problems by addressing the bio-energy system directly, using the same Energy Meridian System as Acupuncture and Acupressure. The therapist will have the client tap on a specific sequence of Acupuncture Meridian points, or do other energy clearing techniques (none of which are difficult or painful) while focusing mentally on the issue being addressed. (The tapping stimulates the acupuncture meridians like the needles and other methods that acupuncturists use) 

By directly addressing the energy flows established by their thoughts, clients are quickly able to end long-standing, overwhelming negative feelings in the mind and body. It does not involve prolonged re-living of a problem for clients to get better. Suffering is very often relieved in minutes. 

Therapists can also easily teach their clients the tapping patterns so clients can continue to treat their problems away from the therapist's office.

This therapy is sometimes used to treat specific problems alone (which are often completely relieved very rapidly!) or with other approaches as a part of an ongoing therapy process. 

A further explanation:

You can think of Thought Field Therapy^TM as therapy applied to “thought fields”. We all experience the effects of “thought fields” in our everyday life: 

By definition, a field is an “invisible sphere of influence", like a magnetic field or gravitational field.  When we focus on a current problem or painful memory (or the object of a phobia, like Mary and water), we can tangibly feel the “invisible influence” of that thought in our bodies, its “field”, especially if that thought is particularly distressing.  Thinking about the problem or memory may make us uncomfortable, angry, fearful, sad, depressed, defensive or upset.  These feelings can be very strong and be a powerful influence for us to act, or avoid acting, in some particular way.  They can seriously limit our choices and positive experience of life. 

What Dr. Callahan discovered is that when we “tune into”a distressing thought field, and experience the negative emotions that go with it, we are actually feeling a disturbance in the body’s electrical energy system.  You might think of it as static in a radio signal when you tune into a station where there is interference.

Thought Field Therapy eliminates the disturbance in the body’s energy system!  Once the disturbance is eliminated, the client no longer experiences the upsetting feelings!  This opens the way for more comfort, more options, personal freedom, pleasure and personal power.

To use a simple example, consider a person with a phobia of snakes.  When they are in touch with it, they can suffer intense fear.  Even the thought or mental picture of a snake may provoke a severely uncomfortable reaction.  Their life choices may be curtailed because of this fear: they might not go hiking, to the beach, into long grass, woods, or desert, for instance. 

This tangible fear is the evidence of the disturbance in the thought field.  When the phobia is treated with TFT, the disturbance in the thought field of snakes is eliminated and the person can think of snakes, and be in the presence of snakes, without distress. 

When treating simple phobias, such as Mary's fear of water, or fears of snakes, heights, spiders, etc., even public speaking, it is very possible have relief in one session...and the relief is immediate, complete and lasting...likely with no relapse.

One great advantage of these techniques is that it removes the fear response but does not remove normal caution.  In fact, it enhances the ability of the person to handle a situation in a calm, sensible and clear-minded way.

These techniques are also used successfully with many more complicated emotional problems. TFT and related therapies can treat the long-standing effects of past trauma, anxiety and panic, anger, depression, grief, obsessive thoughts, love pain, jealousy, performance blocks, addictive cravings, and more...

We find that we can take this even further.  These techniques can change people's negative beliefs about life and themselves in favor of more positive and hopeful ones that naturally trigger positive emotions and behavior.

(You can see examples of the results people are experiencing on our Success Stories and Client Experiences pages on this site.)

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What kinds of problems does this help with?

In our practices, we have seen Energy Psychology make real and lasting changes in many ways and in many kinds of situations. 

Energy Psychology

- can dissolve the lingering effects of past trauma such as abuse, crime, accidents, and negative personal events large and small. 

- can significantly accelerate recovery from emotional issues such as depression, anxiety and panic disorders, phobias, grief and loss, love pain, jealousy, anger, obsessions, compulsive behaviors, etc. 

 - can remove blocks to success and personal performance in public speakers, actors, singers, teachers, salespeople, or anyone wishing to enhance their level of success. 

 - can dramatically reduce destructive patterns in personal relationships, parenting and families so they can be as enjoyable as they were meant to be. 

 - can reduce emotional issues that interfere with satisfaction and productivity on the job. 

 - can help people in recovery successfully manage addictive cravings and the ups and downs of life without returning to their addictive substances and behaviors.

 - can help you conquer unwanted habits that you have not been able to change before.

You can also expect excellent results in, among other things:

improving your self-esteem
overcoming procrastination
becoming more assertive
overcoming fear or avoidance of conflict
letting go of anxiety and worry
having the courage to pursue your dreams
improving the quality of your personal or business relationships
improving negative or volatile relationships
stopping your attraction to the wrong people
changing old patterns in love relationships
dealing with difficult people
handling the stress of the legal system
handling the stress of financial issues
fear of the dentist or other medical treatments
dealing with chronic illness and pain
dissolving test and interview anxiety
turning around negative self-concepts
controlling your emotions as a parent
changing your belief that suffering is necessary......and more.

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What happens during a "treatment"?

During the actual treatment of a problem, your therapist will ask you to focus on the distressing thought or feeling that you want relieved. (This will only last a few minutes.) She will then show you how to tap on precisely the correct points on the upper body in precisely the correct order that will introduce vibrational energy into specific Energy Meridians.  There may also be other ways to balance and strengthen your energy system that will help your emotional distress dissolve.  In most cases, you will feel your distress level about that problem dissolve right then and there. And it will not return.

There are no needles, no lying down, no repeated emotional catharsis, and no medications required.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But it works. To read what other clients say about their experiences, go to our Client Experiences page on this site.

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What is the success rate for these techniques?

Of course, no technique works with 100% of people all the time, or with every kind of emotional or mental distress, but this is far beyond any other therapy technique we've seen.  And the effects are so concrete and tangible.

Dr. Callahan has observed, through working with thousands of clients, that TFT is effective 80 to 90 percent of the time, unheard of in studies of traditional therapy approaches, and definitely beyond any “placebo” effect.  Our experience confirms these estimates, especially with added methods beyond TFT alone.

How long will the treatments take?

For simple problems, such as a phobias of a single thing (snakes, heights, needles, the dentist, public speaking, etc.) 1-5 sessions. For more complex situations, we integrate these techniques into the therapy process. With these techniques included, therapy is far more short-term, rapid and effective than ever before. You can see some examples of both kinds of cases on our Success Stories page on this site.

Do the effects last?

Yes, they do. There may be more than one aspect to a problem, or there may be complexities that need to be addressed, but once the problem has been successfully treated the effects appear to be permanent. Dr. Callahan's client Mary has not had a return of her water phobia in over 17 years. We have followed up with a number of our clients who we have treated for a variety of problems and they report no return of the emotional distress we addressed. If the problem does return it is nearly always due to a different element of the problem or factor involved that can be addressed successfully.

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Can I use my insurance?

In many cases, yes. Coverage for this treatment, or any mental health treatment, depends on the mental health coverage provided by your particular insurance plan. You can call or e-mail us, or contact your insurance company, to find out if your insurance will apply.

But I've had this problem for so long...

We are treating the effects of the problem in your energy system as it stands in present time. How long you have had the problem is not what determines the treatments, how many treatments you will need, or whether they will be successful. Very long-standing problems can be cleared up as easily as problems that have begun very recently. Sometimes a problem you have had for a very long time can be relieved simply. Sometimes a problem that has begun recently can be more complex. We treat whatever disturbance is in the energy system now that is causing your distress.

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I'm really skeptical...I can't believe this will work...

Needless to say, we were extremely skeptical when we were first introduced to TFT and other Energy Psychology methods. It was so different from our usual approaches to therapy.  We would not fault anyone for having the same skepticism.

It was only with repeated and consistent results, that could not be explained in any other way, that our skepticism diminished and disappeared. We have been using these techniques for many years now, and with many, many people, and the results are consistent and dependable.  Thankfully these methods work, and in some cases don't work, regardless of the belief of either the therapist or the client.  

The more we use these techniques, the more we are amazed at the dramatically positive outcomes for the vast majority of people.  When our clients are open to trying it, they are amazed too.  It is so exciting to see the rapid healing and enjoyment of life emerging in our clients. 

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I am intrigued.... What do I do next?

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