Meridian (Tapping) Therapies

In 1981 Dr. Roger Callahan, an American Cognitive Psychologist discovered a treatment based on the theory in Chinese medicine that energy flows along meridian lines in the body. Callahan’s theory was that these meridian points appear to act as a governing force in healing and growth. When the energy points are blocked or unbalanced, the person experiences emotional disturbance. He discovered that by directly treating the blockage in the energy flow created by a disturbing thought pattern, the disturbance or upset disappears. It virtually eliminates any negative feeling previously associated with a thought. Dr Callahan called his treatment ‘Thought Field Therapy’ (TFT).

How It Works
During therapy, the client is first asked to think about a troublesome issue. They are then asked to quantify their feelings on a scale of 1 to 10, with a 10 representing maximum distress. Next, the client is asked to tap on his or her own body in specific places, or energy points, in a specific order. Following the treatment the client is once again asked to think about their problem or issue and rate it, indicating how much distress they feel. Typically, a person will report that the distress is completely gone and even that they can't think about it at all! Of course, they are thinking about it because they are talking about it. However, the thought no longer holds the emotional charge that it once did. At this point the client is now free of their problem, as they can no longer get back the original feeling of distress. In the majority of cases the results will be permanent.

In the mid 1990’s a student of Dr Callahan, Gary Craig devised the ‘Emotional Freedom Technique’ (EFT) as a simplification and improvement of Callahan's techniques. Whilst TFT used a different tapping sequence for each problem, Craig suggested that one might as well use all points for all problems. In order to create a difference between EFT and TFT, Craig also suggested the client chant a mantra during the tapping procedure. The tapping points themselves are virtually the same.