indicadoRes de apRoBación según asignatuRas

As many practioners of TFT are aware, Dr. Charles Figley and I conducted a Systematic Clinical Dem- onstration (SCD) study of four therapies, including TFT. This SCD study utilized clients who had suffered a trauma or who suffered from a phobia. All of the treatments tested were demonstrated to be effective, based on SUD ratings (subjective units of distress) and other paper and pencil measures. In order to further examine TFT, one of my students (Neta Mappa) and I decided to an experiment to supplement the clini- cal demonstration. Although there has been a great deal of clinical support for TFT, there had been no true experimentation. The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether TFT would decrease the anxiety level of acrophobics more than a placebo control experiment.

We chose to do our experiment with acrophobics (height phobics) for several reasons. First, this is a fairly common phobia. In addition, there is a screening measure, the Cohen Acrophobia Questionnaire (Cohen, 1973), that can be used to screen people for acrophobia. And, we could also do a behaviour test of the sub- ject’s fear of heights both before and after treatment. Finally, there is a TFT algorithm for phobias. It was important to be able to use an algorithm to ensure that all subjects received the same treatment.

The subjects in the study were college students who identified themselves as having a fear of heights. There were 156 students who signed up for the experiment, indicting that they had a fear of heights. They were all given the screening measure and 49 of them reached the cutoff for heights phobics. These 49 subjects who reached the cutoff were then given a behaviour test. They were asked to approach and climb a four foot ladder. We hoped that the ladder was of sufficient height to provoke as acrophobic response, but not so high as to put the subject at physical risk. The floor in front of the ladder was marked off in one foot intervals for four feet. The subject was asked for a SUD rating at each mark, and then again on each step of the ladder. The subjects were free to stop ascending the ladder at any point.

After completing the behaviour test, the subjects were taken to a separate room and were met by another experimenter. They were then asked to give a SUD rating. They were requested to think of a situation related to heights that made them anxious and then rate their anxiety on a scale of 0-10. In order to assign the subjects randomly to either TFT or a placebo TFT, they were asked to draw a piece of paper from a box. All of the papers in the box were numbered 1 or 2. Those who drew the number one received the TFT algorithm for phobias and those who drew the number two received a treatment that consisted of tapping on various parts of the body that are not used in TFT. Before any treatment began, all of the subjects were treated for reversal.

Then, the experimenter treated them with either TFT or the placebo treatment. After treatment they were asked for a SUD rating. If the SUD was not zero, the treatment was administered again. After the second treatment, post-testing began, regardless of the SUD rating.

After the treatment, subjects were returned to the first experimenter who did post testing with the subjects. It is important to note that the experimenter who did the pre and post tests was unaware of which treatment the subject had received. At the post test, subjects were again asked to approach and climb the ladder, giv- ing a SUD rating at each step, just as they had before treatment.

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groups were comparable. Given the random assignment to condition we did not expect the groups to differ on pre-treatment measures and they did not. Although both groups got somewhat better there was a statisti- cally significant difference between those subjects who had received real TFT and those who had received placebo, with the TFT subjects showing significantly more improvement. There was a significant difference when all the SUD scores were averaged for each subject and the difference was more pronounced when ex- amining the SUD scores of the subjects while climbing the ladder. Thus, those who were treated with TFT had less anxiety then those who received the placebo.

The study provides important data about TFT. While clinical trials demonstrate the usefulness of TFT, they do not have control groups, nor are subjects randomly assigned to condition. In this study, subjects were randomly assigned to condition and there was a placebo treatment. Unlike the SCD study, the goal was not necessarily to reduce the SUD to zero, but to determine if TFT, administered under controlled con- ditions, would differ significantly from a placebo treatment that was similar to TFT. The clinical study and experimental study, taken together, provide unique support for TFT. We plan to publish the full results of the study in the future.

Copyright ©2009 Callahan Techniques, Ltd.

www.rogercallahan.com

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