Previous studies performed on TFT have received criticism in the medical literature.
Specifically, they note its evasion of the peer review system and absence of boundary conditions. Lilienfeld, Lynn & Lohr also use TFT as an example of a therapy that contains some of the hallmark indicators of a pseudoscience. Devilly states that there is no evidence for the claimed efficacy of power therapies including TFT, Emotional Freedom Techniques, and others such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and they all exhibit the characteristics of pseudoscience. The sample included both practicing clinical psychologists and academic psychologists. Ī 2006 Delphi poll of psychologists on discredited therapies, published in an APA journal, indicated that on average, participants rated TFT as "probably discredited". In 2000, an article was published in the Skeptical Inquirer which argued that there is no plausible mechanism to explain how TFT could work, and described it as a baseless pseudoscience. There is concern by clinical psychologists of the adoption of TFT as an unvalidated and pseudoscientific therapy by government bodies and the public at large. Thought Field Therapy in the media: a critical analysis of one exemplar. The fee listed on Callahan's website for this training is $5,000. Training for the advanced VT is provided by Callahan. Ĭallahan also asserts that his most advanced level, Voice Technology (VT) can be performed over the phone using an undisclosed "technology".
In 1985 in his first book on TFT, he wrote that specific phobias could be cured in as little as five minutes. Callahan has also stated that TFT can treat or prevent physical problems, including atrial fibrillation. A typical treatment session lasts up to fifteen minutes, and is not repeated. Ĭallahan states that the process can relieve a wide variety of psychological issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, addiction, and phobia. He posits that tapping unblocks or balances the flow of qi. In order to eliminate the emotional upset, Callahan says that a precise sequence of meridian points must be tapped.
Callahan maintains that these perturbations are the root cause of negative emotions and that each perturbation corresponds to a meridian point on the body. Perturbations are said to be precisely encoded information contained in the thought field each deformation of a person's thought field is connected to a particular problem, and is activated by thinking about that problem. Callahan terms his treatment "Thought Field Therapy" because he theorizes that when a person thinks about an experience or thought associated with an emotional problem, they are tuning into a "thought field." He describes this field as "the most fundamental concept in the TFT system," stating that it "creates an imaginary, though quite real scaffold, upon which we may erect our explanatory notions".