Dr. Roger Callahan, founder of Thought Field Therapy, wrote the following in the newsletter “The Thought Field”, Volume 6, Issue 4:
A health care professional became very interested in my work when she observed obvious improvements in some of her patients and herself as a result of TFT done by a colleague. After observing such events over a period of two years, she began to wonder if TFT might be able to help her daughter who had been raped two years earlier when she was only 13 years old. Lenore (a fictitious name) had been in psychotherapy for two years with a very dedicated psychotherapist. Despite the fine efforts of the therapist, Lenore was still suffering terribly.
The possibility did not initially occur to the mother that TFT might help her daughter’s condition since her many disturbances were clearly due to a terrible reality situation. Believing the conventional view, she assumed that the problem would have to be treated gradually over a period of years and that a rapid treatment could not possibly have a good effect on such a terrible and real situation.
Prior to the rape Lenore was a very sociable, happy, and generally outstanding child. Lenore was doing very well in school and was doing well in a number of ways.
After the rape, Lenore became a completely different youngster. She began to overeat and purge. She constantly obsessed about the rape and had regular severe nightmares. Formerly a superb student, she became a very poor one. She was hospitalized in an institution specializing in eating disorders. Unfortunately, she became worse while in the hospital and began cutting herself and taking laxatives. Lenore’s parents removed her from the hospital and she started smoking and was beginning to develop severe depression.
She was seeing a very dedicated psychotherapist but she could not speak about the rape; even though it took place two years earlier. She cried almost continually. She often awakened from a sound sleep and reported hearing voices telling her she is bad. She had increasing suicidal thoughts. The mother finally decided to see if TFT Voice Technology might help her child.
Lenore was not pleased with talking to still another therapist but seemed relieved when she found that not much talking would be required.
I was informed beforehand that this slender young girl believed that she was obese; this is usually an interesting aspect of anorexia nervosa – her particular eating disorder, however, is called “bulimia.” Feeling fat (when one is not) is called “body image distortion” and is a delusional issue. Lenore had no aversion to food, however, since she would eat and purge.
I did not want to start out, in this case, attempting to treat the rape trauma since Lenore was still unable to talk about the tragedy. Based upon information given to me, there were two issues that I decided to begin with: 1/ the feeling of fatness; and 2/ depression which became especially severe in the evening.
She readily agreed that she felt fat and I asked her to quantify this on the 10 point scale. She thought for a moment and said that she felt fat at a 7. I then briefly explained my procedures, her mother was there to help take her through them, and in a few moments, she acknowledged, with some surprise and hidden delight, that she no longer felt fat!
It was in the middle of the day and she was not yet feeling intensely depressed at this time. I gave her a preventive treatment for depression. We would not know until the evening passed whether this treatment did the job.
I spoke to Lenore the next morning and arranged to talk with her again prior to going to bed. Lenore was very pleased for she reported last night was the first good night she could remember; there was no trace of the previously chronic depression. I was pleased with this and asked her to phone again prior to bedtime so I could check to see if the treatment held. Lenore was again completely free of depression.
I instructed Lenore and her mother to phone me at the first sign of any stress whatsoever. Our next session took place on the fourth evening, prior to bedtime, and Lenore was still totally free of any depression. Everything was going well.
Later, I treated her for the rape trauma and for quitting smoking. The emotional upset associated with the rape went from a 10 to a 1 within minutes. She wanted me to treat her for smoking and that went very well.
I was very pleased to see that in a week, Lenore phoned me on her own. She suddenly became upset in school and received permission to go home. As soon as she arrived home she phoned me. After eliminating this upset in several minutes, I immediately tested everything she ingested at school and found that liquid cheese, that she got in the school cafeteria, was a toxin and she was happy to know that and vowed to eliminate it. [We all have different things which can trigger an upset and though liquid cheese might not bother someone else, it was bad for Lenore.]
The week after, she again voluntarily called me as she noticed a slight degree of upset begin to creep back. I immediately found she had a Diet Pepsi and this also tested bad. I treated her upset and asked her to not have Diet Pepsi. She understood thoroughly and vowed that she did not want to have anything to do with it again. She saw clearly how these toxins (for her) caused her to feel bad again.
I received permission from Lenore’s parents to report the details of her case and before doing so, I got permission from Lenore. All were very pleased and wanted the story told of how TFT helped make her normal again.