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Thinking through your phobias
Do you hate spiders? Or are you petrified of water? What about wanting to give up that chocolate craving? We might have met the woman for you. Sadie Hawker finds out more about Thought Field Therapy and watches it in action
Every day countless people have their lives restricted and affected by fears, phobias, trauma, anxieties or addictions.
Some people grow accustomed to, and adapt their lives around living with such conditions, often never even realising that there's anything affecting them, let alone something that can be easily resolved.
Frances Lavelle Parker has spent the last nine and a half years practicing Reiki and alternative therapies, including the last three and a half years training as a Thought Field Therapy practitioner.
Frances initially trained as a state-registered nurse and spent many years practicing medicine. Then 10 years ago her husband was treated using Reiki after conventional medicine had failed.
"I was amazed. I'd always believed that conventional medicine was the best way of treating illness and ailments. But when my husband was treated with Reiki it opened my eyes to complementary medicine. When I witnessed the results first hand I decided to train in Reiki. After four years I qualified as a Reiki Master and teacher and spent a great deal of time treating people with Reiki. I found it amazing - people were genuinely shocked at how successful the treatments were and the positive results after just a few sessions.
"Then I read about Thought Field Therapy in a newsletter I had signed up for. It sounded like the next step forward for me and I paid for a course."
Thought Field Therapy, or TFT, is a revolutionary form of treatment for psychological problems discovered and developed by Dr Roger Callaghan PhD.
Dr. Callaghan is a clinical psychologist with more than 40 years experience and first developed TFT when he had been treating a patient with a fear of water for 18months.
None of his conventional training had helped alleviate the fear and so he began to think unconventionally, eventually discovering TFT.
The patient felt sick to the stomach' with her fear of water, so Dr Callaghan tapped the stomach meridian point under her eye.
The phobia vanished and Dr Callaghan realised that he had made a very important discovery. After years of research and development, he discovered that most emotional problems could be cured by tapping on the correct body meridians in specific sequences.
Frances has trained with Dr Callaghan and now frequently treats patients with a huge range of emotional problems, including fears and phobias, anxiety and smoking.
"When I qualified I was the first diagnostician in Wales - there are still only three of us now. I regularly attend courses and seminars to keep up-to-date with recent developments.
"TFT can be very powerful, especially for people who suffer with fears. I've had more than a 90 per cent success rate treating patients and regularly give public talks and demonstrations. When I give a talk I always include a demonstration of TFT on a volunteer from the audience. It's usually someone with an addiction, like a chocoholic or sometimes a smoker, and the audience is able to see the effects straight away."
"When I treat someone I ask them to think about the particular issue that is troublesome.
"This is usually a phobia, an anxiety, a past trauma, loss, grief, or feelings of anger or physical pain.
"Next, I ask the client to quantify their feeling on a scale of 10, with 10 representing the most intense feelings of discomfort. The client is then asked to tap on their body in specific places, in a specific order that corresponds to their personal complaint."
Frances demonstrates the process in front of me with a chocoholic who has been struggling with secret binges for many years. The patient explains to Frances that she keeps a stash of her favourite chocolate hidden and regularly eats it when her children have gone to bed and she can no longer resist the temptation.
Frances brings out a plate with a variety of chocolates on and instructs the patient to look at them carefully and choose her favourite. The patient is visibly affected by the chocolates and her addiction is clear. She chooses a chocolate and Frances takes it from her, cutting it in half.
Handing the chocolate to the patient, she tells her to smell the chocolate and imagine eating it, having the chocolate melt in her mouth.
The patient tells Frances she wants to eat the whole plate, but Frances tells her she will not be eating any of them.
"I am going to polarise your body so that the feelings compelling you to eat the chocolate vanish. Every body is polarised, positive at the top and negative at the bottom.
"Chocolate is a toxin and has an adverse affect on certain people, reversing the polarities in the body. By using a sequence of tapping on specific pressure points and resisting the temptation to eat the chocolate, we will be able to re-set the positive and negative polarities." Frances explains.
Frances asks the patient how much she wants to eat the chocolate on a scale of one to ten.
"Ten!" She replies. Frances explains this is common, and then begins a tapping sequence on parts of the patient's body.
Gradually the patient loses her urge to eat the chocolate until she no longer feels anything for it at all.
"I can still smell it, it smells nice, but I don't want to eat it," she says.
What Frances demonstrates is very quick and extremely effective - it leaves both the patient and myself amazed.
"This process is just as simple with many issues.With addictions like smoking and eating disorders it can take a little longer, but eventually the outcome is the same.But the maximum number of treatments I've needed to give someone has been four,"Frances tells me.
Frances has a therapy room in Monmouth once a week and treats people in her own home. Her reputation has grown through word of mouth and she is regularly contacted by new patients. TFT is globally recognised and has been used to successfully treat extreme trauma as far as Kosovo.
"My family has been very supportive of me over the years and is amazed at how well it works.I have treated friends and family and even used TFT on myself!" she laughs.
Frances is working towards becoming a trainer in the future so that she can pass on what she has learned and spread TFT even further.
For more details click on the link below.
12:16pm Friday 17th November 2006
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CommentPosted by: Tim Norton, Lancaster on 5:45pm Wed 5 Mar 08
I'm trying to find out about different therapies. Is thought field therapy different from emotional freedom technique, as I've read briefly about both on the internet and feel a bit confused! Thanks, Tim
I'm trying to find out about different therapies. Is thought field therapy different from emotional freedom technique, as I've read briefly about both on the internet and feel a bit confused! Thanks, Tim
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