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The International Electronic Journal of Innovations in the Study of the
Traumatization Process and Methods for Reducing or Eliminating Related Human
Suffering
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A Thought Field Therapy (TFT) Algorithm for Trauma

by Roger J. Callahan, PhD, TFT Training Center, Indian Wells, CA
Summary: A -1- algorithm for traumas is presented in order to give the
generally successful
reader a brief introduction to the TFT treatment and an opportunity to test its efficacy. The
algorithm has been used for fifteen years and the only harm known to come from it is that a
very small number of individuals with apparent self-directed hostility may take the
opportunity, when tapping on their body, to use too much pressure. [Word Count: 2329]
Hundreds of therapists using the algorithm report general success as well as no known harm
to result from the treatment. As with any treatment it works best when done with a person
whose trauma is not excessively complicated by numerous other psychological problems but
it has been known to work with difficult cases. [A young eight year old girl who was
unresponsive to conventional therapy for five years was successfully treated with the
algorithm in two brief sessions. (Callahan, Hope With Reason Video; and another anecdotal
report from Craig and Fowlie 1994) who report robust success with a group of veterans who
were reportedly recalcitrant for therapy for two decades and who responded very well to the
TFT treatment.]. It is believed that the reader will find support for the startling new facts for
science, generated by TFT and other Figley-Carbonell therapies (reference) which could not
have been predicted nor be easily explained by current theories in psychology.

New Facts for Psychology

The first new fact is that that this reproducible procedure can eliminate not only the
immediate upset experienced, extant sometimes for many decades, in instances of trauma,
but is usually accompanied by the elimination of sequelae such as nightmares and obsession
over the trauma. Lest this effect be confused with the !normal! reduction of problems with
time or with other approaches to psychotherapy, it should be kept in mind that the therapy
effect is predicted and the therapy effect takes place within minutes. This is mentioned
because if one is working in therapy with a person over weeks, months or years; the
opportunity for the beneficent role of extraneous variables, other than the treatment, have ar

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increasing opportunity to operate. Anyone looking into the power treatments investigated by
Figley and Carbonell (Charles, please insert relevant reference) must take these repeatable
and robust observable facts into account; i.e., that the therapies are done rapidly (minutes)
and with the prediction that the person will report a dramatic improvement in how they feel
after the treatment. To ignore these new and unique facts is to completely bypass the radical
theoretical import of the facts introduced by these new treatments.

Another surprising fact about the TFT treatment is that the progress is saltatory; i.e., it takes
place in large definite leaps as the therapy progresses. For example, a trauma victim who
begins at a 10 (SUD) will typically progress, within minutes, to a 7, then to a 5, a 3 and then
will show no upset when thinking about the trauma event.

Should one practice the procedure, first with oneself, colleagues, friends and family
wish to
in order to gain some experience before attempting it on clients, it is helpful to recognize
that the therapist does not need to know what the trauma was or is, but need only obtain a
SUD rating when the client thinks about the problem. The SUD allows comparison for pre
and post-therapy effect (Note -2-).

TFT Algorithm .

An algorithm is a recipe that usually works. The dictionary definition of an algorithm is a

set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest
common divisor in math.

A trauma has special interest for psychological theory since it is a psychological problem
which appears to be a normal response to a terrible situation. Most psychological problems
are peculiar or abnormal emotional reactions; for example a phobia is a persistent fear
’

which makes no sense, even to the phobic. The theoretical implications of successful
treatment for traumas goes beyond that of treating other problems.

In-person training or a video is the preferred method of learning the procedure but we will
do our best to describe, in writing, the points and the therapy routine.

The trauma treatment was discovered in 1980 and appeared in 1982 under the enthusiastic
title !The Amazing Love Pain Treatment! (Callahan, 1982). At the time I was researching
what I called !amouraphobia! (Callahan, 1982). Love pain is a reaction to loss of a romantic
relationship. Although people joke about love pain it is often a quite serious traumatic event
which can lead to suicides and murders as well as other problems. Romeo and Juliet, e.g.,
young adolescents, were sufferers of love pain. I found that few professionals understand
the potential severity of !love pain! but I consider it another trauma. Support for that notion
is that the algorithm is the same for love pain or any other trauma.

The algorithm has been updated since the time of discovery to incorporate later discoveries,
e.g., mini-psychological reversal; which was discovered years after the original trauma

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treatment and the discovery of psychological reversal. The emphasis in this paper is upon
description of the procedure with no theory due to space limitations. Also until people are
aware of the potency of the treatment there is quite naturally little interest in the theory.

However, the author is currently developing a theory which can explain the results and the
treatments.

Trauma Algorithm (Note -3-)

The first step in the procedure is to determine the degree of pain or discomfort when the
trauma is attuned or thought about. Record the SUD rating by writing it down in the
presence of the client (see apex problembelow). The more severe the upset the more
dramatic the demonstration.

Explain that you are experimenting with a new procedure that is quite different and that will
seem a little strange.

Step 1. Ask the client to think about the trauma and specify the SUD rating that develops as
it is attuned. It is desirable to write it down with the client observing (due to apex problem -
see below).

Step 2: Ask the client to use two fingers to tap the beginning of the eyebrow above the
bridge of the nose; five good taps, firm enough to put energy into the system but not nearly
hard enough to hurt or bruise. I

Step 3:Ask the client to tap under the eye about an inch below the bottom of the eyeball, at
the bottom of the center of the bony orbit, high on the cheek. Tap solidly, but not nearly
enough to hurt. About 5 taps will do.

Step 4: Ask the client to tap solidly under their arm, about 4 inches directly below the arm
pit, 5 times. This point is even with the nipple in the male and about the center of the bra
under the arm in the female.

Step 5: Find the!collar bone point! in the following manner. Take two fingers of either
hand and run them down the center of the throat until the top of the center collar bone notch
is reached. From this point go straight down one inch; from this point go to the right one
inch. Tap this point five times.

Step 6:At this time, ask for a second SUD rating. If the decrease is 2 or more points,
continue with step 7. If there was no change or was only one point-4- , CORRECT
PSYCHOLOGICAL REVERSAL (see below Psychological Reversal Corrections), and
repeat steps 1-6.

Step 7:The Nine Gamut-5- treatments. To locate the gamut spot on the back of the hand
make a fist with the non-dominant-6- hand. This causes the large knuckles to stand out on

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the back of the hand. Place index finger of dominant hand in the valley between the little
finger and ring finger knuckles. Move index finger about one inch back toward the wrist.
This point is called the !gamut! point.

Ask client to tap the gamut spot on the back of the hand (about 3 to 5 times per second) and
continue to tap while going through the nine procedures as follows (tapping about 5 or 6
times for each of the nine gamut positions). It is crucial to tap the gamut spot throughout the
nine steps.

.. Eyes open
.. Eyes closed
.. Open eyes and point them down and to the left
.. Point eyes down and to the right
.. Whirl eyes around in a circle in one direction

.. Whirl eyes around in opposite direction - rest eyes and

.. Hum a few bars of any tune (more than one note)

.. Count to five

.. Hum a few bars again

Step 8: Repeat steps 2-6. At this

repetition the presenting problem will usually not bring up
any trace of an upset and hence be a 1 (or a 0 depending on whether a 10 or 11 point SUD
scale is used). If the SUD rating has decreased significantly, but is not yet a 1, then have the
client CORRECT MINI-PR (see below) and repeat steps 1-8.

Floor To Ceiling Eye Roll

The floor to ceiling eye roll is given at the end of a successful series of treatments. The
client usually reports a 1 or a 2 on the scale and this treatment serves to solidify a 1 and to
bring a 2 to a 1. The client taps the gamut spot on the back of the hand while the head is
held rather level (many people want to move their head in this exercise rather than their
eyes). We use the word !rather! because some deviation from the level is acceptable. The
eyes are then placed down and rather steadily (taking about 6 or 7 seconds) raised all the
way up. The gamut spot is tapped during the moving of the eyes. This exercise will typically
bring a 2 down to a 1.

Psychological Reversal (PR) Correction

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Psychological reversal can prevent an otherwise successful treatment from working due, we
believe, to a literal polarity reversal in the meridians-7-. To correct, tap what we call a pr-8-
spot which is located on the outside edge of the hand about mid-way between the wrist and
the base of the little finger. The pr spot is at the point of impact if one were to do a karate
chop. While tapping, say three times, !I accept myself even though I have this problem!
(while thinking of the problem). PR is not a treatment for the problem but rather a treatment
for a block which prevents the treatment from working; therefore, the treatments for the
problem (2-6) must be repeated.
Mini-Psychological Reversal Correction
Tap the PR spot, as described above, and say three times, !I accept myself even though I
STILL have SOME of this problem!. When a traumatized individual is brought down from
a high SUD score to a low, the treatment effect usually endures over time. Our clients are
instructed to try to resurrect the upset and if any degree of upset occurs after they leave they
immediately call for another appointment.
The Apex Problem

What we call the !apex problem! is a surprising and unanticipated common response to
these treatments. If one does more than a few of these treatments it is certain that this
problem will arise and it is quite good to be aware of it. The apex problem is the robust
tendency, it may be considered compulsive, for the successfully treated individual to
!explain! the treatment by invoking something other than the treatment for the therapy
effect. Interestingly, the client accurately reports positive changes but will appear to have a
strong need to deny that the treatment was responsible for the change. The client will
usually claim that he was distracted from the problem even though the evidence is that he is
asked to think about the problem. In fact, treatment is impossible without thinking about the
problem. However, another favorite apex response is !I can!t think about the problem! when
what is meant is that when the client thinks of the problem he is unable to get upset (perhaps
for the first time in years).

A similar phenomenon is observed in hypnosis with post-hypnotic suggestion with amnesia

and also reported by Gazzaniga in his work with split brain subjects. Therapists who
observe the result of the treatments usually invoke such notions as suggestion, hypnosis,
placebo effect even though none of the therapists had ever personally witnessed a trauma
being eliminated through such means. Due to the apex problem it is believed that we do not
get our fair share of placebo cures with this treatment though the treatmnet does pretty well
without placebo. There is clinical value in understanding the !apex! but the scientific value
of identifying the !apex problem! is that it refines prediction: we do not predict that the
client will credit the treatment, we predict that he will report adramatic improvement after
the treatment.

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References

Callahan, R. (1981) Psychological reversal. Collected Papers of the International College of

Applied Kinesiology (ICAK).
Callahan, R. (1981) A rapid treatment for phobias. Collected Papers of ICAK.

Callahan, R. (1982) The amazing love pain treatment. Collected Papers of ICAK.

Callahan, R. with Levine, K. (1982) It Can Happen To You. New York, New American
Library: Signet.
Callahan, Roger J. (1985) Five Minute Phobia Cure. Wilmington, Enterprise, (out of print).

Callahan, R and Perry, P. (1992). Why Do I Eat When I!m Not Hungry? Doubleday. NY.
(1993, Avon).

Callahan, R. (1993) The Five Minute Phobia Cure Video. Indian Wells, CA.

Callahan, R. (1993) The Love Pain and Post Traumatic Stress Video. Indian Wells, CA.

Craig, G. and Fowlie, A. (1994) Anecdotal report. TFT Newsletter, Vol 1, No 1.

Figley, C. and Carbonell, J. (1995). PTSD Treatment: What works best. An invited
workshop at the Family Therapy Symposium. Washington, DC, March.
Gazzaniga, M (1985) The Social Brain. NY, Basic Books.
FOOTNOTES:

1 Success in a group whose sole major problem is the effect of the trauma, is expected to be
in the neigborhood of 70% if the procedure is done carefully and correctly. Success means a
dramatic reduction or elimination of the active psychological pain of the trauma and the
sequalae such as nightmares, rumination, etc.
2 A common reaction after successful therapy is !I can’t think about it! which should be
taken as a !1! or!0! on the SUD.

3 There different algorithms for phobias and other problems. Though a phobia which is
are

traumatically induced (a minority of phobias) may also require the trauma treatment.
4 At the higher range of SUD, i.e., 7 or above, a reported change of only one point is
suspect and often indicates !positive thinking! or an imagined rather than an actual change.

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5 Named for the !gamut point! due to the literal gamut of treatments done off this point
which was found through numerous empirical tests.

6 Which hand doesn’t matter but most prefer to tap with dominant hand.

7 The meridians refer to the !acupuncture! meridians of energy and have been found to be
quite palpable and supported by investigation (to be published).
8 There are other pr correction spots for different purposes; omitted for simplicity.

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