TFT: The Missing Link

Figure 1. A representation of the medical model conceptualisation of the relationship between “symptoms” and “treatment.”
Figure 1. A representation of the medical model conceptualisation of the relationship between “symptoms” and “treatment.”

Thought Field Therapy – The missing link to effective trauma-informed care and practice

By Christopher Semmens Clinical Psychologist Perth, Western Australia

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Niccolo Machiavlli

Trauma- informed care and practice is a framework for the provision of services for mental health clients that originated in the early 1990s and has especially been put forth as a sensible service model since Harris and Fallot’s 2001 publication Using trauma theory to design service systems. Trauma-informed care can be seen to be characterised by three main considerations in regard to the provision of treatment services:

  1. That they incorporate a recognition of the reality that there is a high incidence of traumatic stress in those presenting for mental health care services.
  2. That a comprehensive understanding of the significant psychological, neurological, biological and social manifestation of traumatic and violent experiences can have on a person.
  3. That the care provided to these clients in recognising these effects is collaborative, skill-based and supportive.

In Australia these ideas were the focus of a consciousness raising conference: Trauma-Informed Care and Practice: Meeting the Challenge conducted by the Mental Health Coordinating Council in Sydney in June 2011. The conference was part of an initiative towards a national agenda to promote the philosophy of trauma-informed care to be integrated into practice across service systems throughout Australia.

It has only really been since studies such as Continue reading “TFT: The Missing Link”

Radio Interview: From Trauma to Peace

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJeiU4ivhFk&feature=player_embedded]

Interview on KAOI talkradio in Hawaii with Bob Stone, co-producer of the TFT Foundation’s documentary “From Trauma to Peace” and Joanne Callahan, co-developer of Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and president of the TFT Foundation.

From Trauma to Peace

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBnD5A2zQOM&rel=0]

Peace IS within our grasp. It is at the tip of our fingers…literally. The upcoming documentary “From Trauma to Peace” will shock you in how quickly and easily people can be relieved of the devastating effects of trauma through the safe and effective “tapping” technique of Thought Field Therapy (TFT). AND how the impact of that emotional freedom not only brings peace of mind to the individual, but facilitates peace within and among communities

TFT Relieves Trauma of Baby’s Death

sad woman
(stock photo)

From “The Thought Field”, Vol 2, Issue 3

by Fred Gallo

A young mother, 23, saw me about the trauma when her first child was born and died in the hospital a couple days later. This placed a strain of her relationship with her husband since he did not appear to be caring or understanding about this. She was depressed and had lost the love she previously had for her husband.

Although I couldn’t do much for her marriage, we successfully treated the trauma of the death of her baby with a few minutes as well as the trauma of a cousin’s suicide. I saw her for a time and helped her resolve the depression, also with TFT. The traumas never came back to haunt or bother her.

The Power of TFT

The following article is from “David Baldwin’s Trauma Information Pages”  and was written by Charles R. Figley, PhD,  Director of the Tulane University (formerly of Florida State University) Traumatology Institute. On behalf of the institution, he is editor in chief for Traumatology, the field’s independent, peer-reviewed, scientific/medical journal.

Charles R. Figley, PhD

Psychosocial Stress Research Program & Clinical Laboratory
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4097
June 27, 1995

Dear Colleagues,
As some of you may recall, I sent out early last year, via Internet and other media, nominations from clinicians about approaches that appeared to offer a “cure” for PTSD. I had become frustrated that, although we knew a great deal about the etiology, incidence and prevalence of PTSD, there was no known cure. My intention was to find a cure. and if one could not be found, build upon those offering the best hope for providing one.

Thanks to the help of colleagues all over the world, we were able to find four approaches that appeared to hold great promise for reaching our goal. We were so impressed with them that we invited the innovators of these approaches to our clinical laboratory for a week to participate in our systematic clinical demonstration study. The primary purpose of their visit was to treat our clients, while meeting with our Tallahassee clinical practitioner colleagues prior to and following their work here. The Four approaches we studied were: Traumatic Incident Reduction, Visual Kinesthetic Dissociation, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and Thought Field Therapy (TFT).

Here I would like to tell you about one of the four approaches. I do this not because we are suggesting that it is better than any other approach. All four of the approaches we investigated generated impressive results. But TFT stood out from all other approaches of which I am aware because of five reasons:

  1. It is extraordinarily powerful, in that clients receive nearly immediate relief from their suffering and the treatment appears to be permanent.
  2. It can be taught to nearly anyone so that clients can not only treat themselves, but treat others affected.
  3. It appears to do no harm.
  4. It does not require the client to talk about their troubles, something that often causes more emotional pain and discourages many for seeking treatment.
  5. It is extremely efficient (fast and long-lasting).

In this brief space I would like to describe how it works in sufficient detail to permit you to try it yourself. By doing so, my hope is that the necessary work of clinical research will begin in as many laboratories as possible. It is only after the difficult work of science in testing the utility of the approach and an explanation for its effectiveness will it be sanctioned by our fields and utilized extensively. And, then, will we have a chance of realizing the full potential of this important discovery.

Dr. Figley then describes how to use the basic TFT trauma algorithm and invites colleagues to join him as “collaborative investigators” into the effects of TFT.

 

TFT Relieves Trauma from Spouse’s Suicide

Actor Conrad Bain describes how he used the TFT trauma relief technique to help a friend who was severely traumatized by the suicide of her husband. (Note: he refers to it as the “love pain algorithm”, but it is the same technique as described on this blog.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTWBK-U7_HU&rel=0]

Note: The “love pain algorithm” mentioned by Mr. Bain is the TFT trauma relief technique.