Thought field therapy (TFT) (also known as Callahan Techniques Training, Tapping Therapy, Meridian Energy Therapy)- TFT was developed by American psychologist Roger Callahan (1925-2013) in the 1980s with his first book on TFT published in 1985. Callahan terms his treatment "Thought Field Therapy" because he theorizes that when a person thinks about an experience or thought associated with an emotional problem, they are tuning into a "thought field." He describes this field as "the most fundamental concept in the TFT system," stating that it "creates an imaginary, though quite real scaffold, upon which we may erect our explanatory notions".  Perturbations are said to be precisely encoded information contained in the thought field; each deformation of a person's thought field is connected to a particular problem, and is activated by thinking about that problem. Callahan maintains that these perturbations are the root cause of negative emotions and that each perturbation corresponds to a meridian point on the body. In order to eliminate the emotional upset, Callahan says that a precise sequence of meridian points must be tapped. He posits that tapping unblocks or balances the flow of qi.  The treatment sessions last 15 minutes and need not be repeated.  Callahan contended that TFT was useful for treatment of PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction, and phobia.

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TFT applies imaginal exposure in combination with tapping on traditional Chinese acupoints.  TFT was first used as a treatment for anxiety disorders and traumatic memories, but has expanded for an large number of medical conditions.  Imaginal exposure consists of the therapist asking the patient to focus on the selected incident, and to make it as vivid as possible.  The therapist questions the patient as to what the patient sees, smells, who else is present, and the most frightening thought about the incident.  A Subjective Unit of Distress Scale (SUDS) developed by Wolpe using a scale 0-10 is used.  It is preferred the patients do the tapping themselves on defined acupoints on the face, hand, chest, and fingers.  Callahan also added a procedure that includes eye movements, counting and humming while tapping an acupoint on the edge of the hand.

There is no alpha level therapy, but there is beta level therapy (RCTs) that TFT is equivalent to cognitive behavioral therapy and better than no therapy for the treatment of agoraphobia both short and long term (Front Psychol. 2017 Jun 20;8:1027).  A RCT for TFT for anxiety treatment demonstrated significant improvement in the TFT group that was maintained at 3 and 12 months. (Explore (NY). 2012 Nov-Dec;8(6):331-8).  It should be noted there was a retraction of a 2001 article published by Callahan in the J Clin Psychology 2005 in which the editors retracted the 2001 article contending Callahan misinterpreted the literature on heart rate variability, and the editor subsequently questioned his claims and premises about TFT.   At this time, there is limited cautious support for the technique used in the treatment of anxiety and agoraphobia.