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THE “FIVE-MINUTE
PHOBIA CURE”
By Robb Murray,
ctoncall@aol.com
Do
you have a fear of public speaking? Are you afraid of spiders, snakes or bats, or of
flying, or heights? Many people assume that
such “irrational fears” are conditions that must simply be endured. But I want to tell you about a simple, harmless
anti-phobic technique that has helped me countless times for over 15 years. Perhaps you will also find it useful.
It
was developed empirically by a therapist, Dr. Roger Callahan, who used applied kinesiology
and acupressure to relieve severely phobic patients. In
the mid-80s, he published The Five-Minute Phobia
Cure, which is how I learned the procedure. Since then, the Callahan Technique (sometimes
called TFT, “Thought Field Therapy”) has spawned both a cult following and
detractors.
It involves tapping
in a prescribed way on the face, the upper body, and the hand. I’m not calling it “therapy” or a
cure-all, but it’s worth trying. Here’s
how you do it:
First, arouse your
fear state, by remembering or approaching the actual scary situation. Stay in touch with your fear throughout the whole
process. Next, assign your fear a number on a scale
of 1 to 10 (10 = panic; 1 = calm), and write it down as a reference point. This is important.
Hold the first two fingers of your dominant hand together. You will use these as a tapping tool. We will tap firmly, twice a second, but never
producing pain. If you have medical issues in
any tapped area, don’t employ this process. If
it ever hurts (it should give you a mild “ping” sensation, max), stop.
The procedure has
three parts. We first tap on face and body,
then on the hand (while performing additional actions), then we repeat Part One. It may seem a little odd but, if you’re
phobic, it’s worth it. Ready?
1 While feeling your fear, tap
below either eye, on the face, centered just under the eye socket, for 10 seconds. Now raise the arm opposite your tapping hand and
rest your fingers on the nipple of the breast closest to that arm. Trace outward at that latitude into the center of
the armpit area. Tap for 10 seconds. Now find where your collarbones come together at
the top of the sternum. Put your tapping
fingers on the bottom edge of that little hollow. Move
down one inch, then to either side one inch. Tap
for 10 seconds. Heave a big sigh. That’s Part One.
You should already
feel some relief. Rate your anxiety again,
scale of 1-10. Write the new number next to
the first. If it isn’t at least 2 points
lower, tap the center of the outer, “Karate chop” edge of your nondominant hand
for 10 seconds, then repeat Part One above. If
you still don’t feel somewhat better, this isn’t for you. Seek other remedies.
But assuming it has helped, proceed as follows:
2 Hold your non-tapping hand out,
palm down. Spread your fingers apart. Find the place between the knuckles of the
little finger and the ring finger. We will tap here continuously as we do each of the
following for 5 seconds:
a) Keep eyes open.
b) Close eyes.
c) Open eyes, holding head still, look down to the
right
d) Look down to left
e) Roll eyes in big circles in one direction
f) Roll in other direction
g) Hum a few notes of any tune
h) Count backwards from 10 to 1
i) Hum again
Part Two is now finished.
3 Go back and repeat
Part One above. Then again rate your fear,
1-10. If your fear is not at a “2”
or lower, again do the “Karate chop” tapping.
Then tap the knuckle space on the hand again and, holding head facing steadily
forward, roll your eyes from looking far down to far up in about an 8-second movement.
Repeat all the
steps of the procedure through again until you are feeling as calm as you wish.
When the method
works, you feel the effect immediately and viscerally, and the problem often does not
return (hence, "cure"). But why? “Placebo effect? No: many people who don’t believe in the
procedure or don’t want it to work, find it relieving.
Some say “it’s a distraction system”.
But it won’t work unless you actually experience your fear when doing it. “Hypnosis” is another guess--but you
never go into alpha state.
Another guess: “you intuitively knew how to calm yourself
already. When you do all this, you self-cure
as a payoff for putting forth the effort.”
But the technique works with babies, children or inattentive people who don’t
even know that a “procedure” is being applied.
All this is leading to calls for more double-blind studies on top of previous
studies.
Let the jury
debate. Because if you benefit from this, as I
have, you won’t care whether we’re talking about a marvelous therapeutic
breakthrough or simply a 21st Century form of folk medicine.
- - -
To
read more about the Callahan Technique, see
www.tftrx.com
and www.nodistress.com, and comments on newsgroups. For
affordable copies of several of Callahan’s books, click
here.
For
attacks on the Callahan Technique, look up TFT on www.quackwatch.com and see this report in
the Skeptical Inquirer.