By Linda Melone

If you’ve ever canceled a trip because you were afraid to get on an airplane, you know how debilitating a phobia can be. I know, because I’ve been there, too. But that feeling of helplessness changed the moment I tried a phobia cure called thought field therapy (TFT).

Developed by Roger Callahan, PhD, more than 20 years ago, TFT is based on the principles of Chinese medicine, which theorizes that energy flows along meridians, or energy pathways, in the body. By literally tapping on these meridian sites, a person can unblock his or her own energy flow and eliminate fear. The tapping patterns, also called algorithms, vary depending on the phobia and the individual. However, this basic algorithm from Callahan’s book Tapping the Healer Within (McGraw Hill, 2002) should do the trick.
1. Think about the traumatic event that triggers your emotional stress. You must feel strongly connected to this event to eliminate the fear.
2. Rate your distress level on a scale of 1 (least) to 10 (worst). Record this number.
3. Using two fingers of one hand, tap a spot at the beginning of the eyebrows, just above the bridge of the nose. Tap there five times, firmly.
4. Find the collarbone point. Run two fingers down the center of the throat to the top of the center of the collarbone notch. From there, move straight down an additional inch and to the right 1 inch. Tap this point five times.
5. Take a second stress level reading. If this reading has decreased two or more points, go to step 6. If not, find a spot on the outside edge of the hand, about midway between the wrist and the base of the little finger. Tap this point five times with two fingers of the opposite hand, and then repeat steps 1 through 5.
6. Locate the “gamut” spot on the back of either hand, about an inch below the raised knuckles of the ring finger and the little finger when you’re making a fist. Tap the gamut spot with two fingers of the opposite hand, about three to five times per second, and continue tapping while performing these steps (tap five or six times for each step):
Open the eyes. • Close the eyes. • Open the eyes and look down and to the left. • Look down and to the right. • Whirl the eyes around in a circle in one direction. • Whirl the eyes around in the opposite direction. • Hum a few bars of any tune aloud. • Count aloud from one to five. • Hum the same tune again.
7. Tap the eyebrow point again, five times firmly.
8. Tap the collarbone five times.
9. Rate your stress level. It should have declined to a 1. If not, tap the edge of your hand 15 times again, as in step 5, and then repeat all the steps above.