
Results might be seen after just one treatment for a simple phobia or might take nine months or longer for PTSD. Referrals: Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (visit and click on “membership” and then “member directory”)…or Association for the Advancement of Meridian Energy Techniques (visit and click on “search members and events”)…or Dr. Garfield recommended working with a psychologist trained in TFT who can provide testimonials from other patients with phobias similar to yours. After a few minutes of tapping, she said that she no longer felt any fear, then ran to the pool and splashed water on her face-something she could not do previously.įor best results, Dr. Callahan instructed the woman to tap a spot under each eye while looking at a swimming pool. After more than a year of ineffective conventional treatment, Dr. Garfield described a woman who had a lifelong fear of water. Other studies have demonstrated TFT’s effectiveness in reducing depression…and in patients with anxiety disorder, EEG scans showed that abnormal brain wave patterns associated with anxiety normalized after TFT treatment.Ĭiting the classic example from TFT founder Roger Callahan, PhD, Dr. This stimulates activity of both brain hemispheres and of the corpus callosum that connects them…deactivates signals associated with fear-triggered hyperarousal of the limbic system…and “rewires” cognitive function, releasing distress.Įvidence: In a 2010 study, PTSD patients treated with TFT showed dramatic decreases in nightmares, flashbacks, concentration problems, jumpiness, aggression and isolation. TFT also simultaneously provides sensory data to the right brain (the emotional side) and left brain (the logical side).

This helps unblock the body’s energy system, which can become overwhelmed by fear, Dr. She told me that TFT has roots in acupuncture, in that you tap on points that correspond to energy meridians. Since TFT sounded almost too good to be true, I interviewed psychologist Shoshana Garfield, PhD, who uses TFT to help patients overcome phobias and PTSD.

TFT falls within the field of energy psychology (as does the similar Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT). TFT involves thinking about the feared object or event while tapping specific points on the face and body and humming, counting or moving the eyes.

No medications are used, so there are no side effects.
Thought field therapy techniques free#
Called Thought Field Therapy (TFT), the technique is designed to help people permanently free themselves from phobias (strong, irrational fears of things that pose little or no actual danger), such as fear of spiders or of public speaking…and even from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder that can develop after a terrifying event in which grave harm occurred or was threatened. I would like to get over this-and I recently learned about a fascinating method that may help. But now whenever I drive through construction, even in broad daylight, I feel unduly anxious and afraid. Though our car was totaled, miraculously no one was badly hurt.
Thought field therapy techniques driver#
One rainy night last year, a drunk driver crossed the centerline in a narrow construction zone and smashed nearly head-on into the car my husband, kids and I were in.
