TFT | EFT
Thought Field Therapy | TFT
This is a form of a psychotherapy to reduce symptoms of psychological distress. Doctor Roger Callahan Techniques, eventually became known as Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and are still in wide use today. With TFT the client thinks of the problem while tapping the specific points and monitors the emotional intensity using Subjective Units of Distress (SUDS). During his exploration, Callahan found that some patients had what he called Psychological Reversal (basically a resistance or fear to getting over the problem… whether conscious or not).
He found that affirmations or tapping on the small intestine meridian on the side of the hand (our Karate Chop point) while thinking about the issue would normally resolve this. He also developed the collarbone breathing technique and 9 Gamut procedures for unusual cases. Callahan found that there were certain patterns of tapping points that worked well for specific problems. He published these tapping algorithms so muscle testing or other advanced forms of diagnosis were no longer required in all cases. Several of Callahan’s students investigated simplified versions of his procedures, exploring whether muscle testing and his version of “diagnosis” were necessary.
Patricia Carrington is one of these early tapping pioneers. By 1987, Carrington had developed and was using for her patients and in workshops a “single algorithm” tapping method which she called Acutap. This method intentionally did not use any diagnostic procedure such as muscle testing. She simply asked people to tap on all of the acupuncture end-points each time they did a round of tapping.
Using this method, Carrington was able to help her clients in ways that had never been possible before. During the years since, she has continued to be a leader in the field of meridian tapping, and her Choices Method played a key role in bringing client-centered positive choices into the tapping process. He ultimately developed a simple yet very profound set of techniques that can reroute you neurological pathway and their connection to certain event.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques – a powerful approach that works directly with the body as an energy system in order to release physical, mental and emotional distress. Developed by Gary Craig in the 1990s as a simplified version of Roger Callahan’s Thought Field Therapy (TFT), EFT represents a synthesis of elements drawn from traditional Chinese healing arts on one hand and contemporary psychological and psychotherapeutic approaches on the other hand.
Craig, was also a student of Callahan. In 1995 he released his own tapping techniques which involved tapping all the meridians in sequence… without concern for the order. He added the reminder phrase, spoken at each tapping point. He also emphasized that there can be many aspects to an issue, and he introduced reframes, questioning, and other story-processing approaches that would be familiar to anyone who has studied Neural Linguistic Programming (NLP). He also encouraged people to allow the words to flow “though them” as they tapped rather than getting stuck on doing it the one “right” way.
Craig makes the point that he was a Stanford-trained engineer, not a mental health or medical professional. Against the strongly held opinion of many traditionalists, Craig felt that tapping could become a “universal healing aid” and wanted to share this information with everyone… so people can try it and see for themselves whether tapping relieves their emotional and physical pains. By making the tapping process simpler, providing a free manual to all who wanted it, publishing a free email newsletter with case studies, and offering for sale a comprehensive library of EFT instructional videos, Craig was a leader in spreading the word about tapping to the general public. (Gary Craig retired in 2010 and released EFT into the public domain.)