Energy Psychology

Psychologist Roger Callahan, Ph.D. had been Mary's therapist for more than a year, but they'd made little progress on the middle-aged woman's lifelong water phobia. At first Mary hadn't even been able to look at television scenes depicting water. Bathing herself felt like torture. Callahan tried all the standard treatments for phobias and severe anxiety, and Mary eventually was able to sit beside the pool at his California home office if she averted her gaze. But whenever she thought of or looked at water she still felt sick to her stomach. As Callahan reported 15 years later, her fear itself hadn't lessened.

In recent years he'd been studying body-centered treatments and Oriental medicine, fascinated by chiropractor George Goodheart's discovery that a strong muscle would temporarily weaken when a patient thought of something that made him anxious. It seemed a powerful demonstration of the connection between mind and body. Because Mary felt sick at her stomach whenever she focused on water, one day Callahan suggested she tap lightly on the beginning of the stomach meridians (in Oriental medicine, two of several channels of subtle energy running through the body) while thinking about water. Mary did so.

"It's gone," she said.

"What do you mean?" Callahan asked. Mary got up and ran toward the swimming pool.

Startled, Callahan cried out, "Mary! Don't fall in!"

She turned and started laughing. "Don't worry, Dr. Callahan, I'm not going to jump in. I know I can't swim."

It was then Callahan realized her fear had disappeared. Fifteen years later, he recounted in a 1995 interview with protege Gary Craig, her fear was still gone.

Callahan continued his studies and clinical work, and developed what is now recognized as the first Energy Psychology modality, Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Therapists trained in TFT address the relationship between the mind and body through protocols intended to identify and release subtle energy blockages associated with emotional distress. TFT treatment usually involves gentle tapping of specific points along the body's energy meridians in sequences that differ according to the diagnosis or problem. The individual may also be asked to perform simple tasks such as counting, humming a tune, or moving the eyes, which activate different areas or functions of the brain. During the entire procedure, the individual mentally focuses upon his or her trouble, which seems to help "tune in" and target the treatment.

Callahan has taught his methods to many people, including retired engineer and minister Gary Craig, who (with lay therapist Adrienne Fowlie) developed a simplified protocol called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). EFT includes the gist of TFT's treatments in a sequence that can be performed in a couple of minutes.

EFT is relatively easy to learn. I've taught it to clients to use as a coping strategy, but it can also be used in session to work through emotional distress and related issues. Some therapists use it in combination with other treatments, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to lessen the pain associated with traumatic memories and other difficult experiences.

Neither TFT nor EFT or its therapeutic relatives have been the focus of much scientific research, which (along with the often-unbelievable claims of rapid "cures") has made many mental health professionals skeptical. (Last year, however, the New York Times reported a study of EFT's effectiveness in treating phobias was in progress, and an unpublished study conducted by a TFT practitioner in 1996 found TFT decreased individuals' fear of heights significantly more than did a dummy tapping procedure.)

I'm not surprised at the doubts. These techniques do sound weird, and are a conceptual shift out of traditional Western thinking about mind and behavior. But they do seem to help many people.