Supporting the Association for Thought Field Therapy by furthering research, education and charitable purposes.
If research continues to document the speed and power of Thought Field Therapy, it would be unethical to hold back access to this form of help, writes Atle Dyregrov.
In 2009, I published a small paper in the journal of the Norwegian Psychological Association (Dyregrov, 2009) pointing out that despite its rather meek academic merits, I found Thought Field Therapy very useful for dealing with problems originating from trauma or loss. I wanted to make clinicians interested in learning more about the method. I mentioned the scepticism that I first encountered when I introduced Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing to Scandinavian clinicians in the early 1990s (Dyregrov, 1993), and how over time this method has come to be regarded as one of the most efficient and well-documented post-traumatic therapies (i.e., Chen et al., 2014). (more…)
Abstract
Background Trauma-focused therapies (TFTs) are first-line treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, TFTs are under-utilised, partly due to clinicians’ and patients’ fear that TFT is too challenging or harmful. We review the qualitative studies on how adults with PTSD experience TFTs to enhance the understanding of user perspectives, therapeutic processes, and outcomes.
Methods
PubMed, PsychINFO and PTSDPubs were searched between October 1st and November 30th, 2021. Study quality assessments were undertaken, and studies were analysed using a descriptive-interpretative approach. Nine studies were included.
Results
The analysis resulted in the identification of four key domains, representing a temporal sequence of TFT stages: Overcoming ambivalence towards TFT, Experience of treatment elements, Motivation for dropout/retention, and Perceived changes post-treatment.
Conclusion
Although many participants reported high levels of distress and considered dropping out, only a minority did eventually drop out and most patients expressed that the hardships in therapy were necessary for PTSD improvement. Establishing a safe therapeutic environment and working with the ambivalence towards treatment was essential for retention. This review serves a dual purpose, to shed light on diverse TFT experiences found to be important for treatment satisfaction, and to elucidate common treatment patterns. The results can be used in preparing patients for therapy and in training TFT therapists. Studies had moderate to high quality, and more studies of experiences of TFT non-responders and dropouts in a non-veteran population are needed to further our understanding of the utility and limitations of TFTs.
Dear TFT Community,
As some of you may be aware, Suzanne Connolly was our first ever TFT trainer after Roger and I. She is also one of our first and leading TFT researchers and for several decades has put much her time and her own funds into supporting humanitarian relief efforts and quality research with TFT.
Please take a few minutes to read about her latest efforts and how you can help us support this work.
“Hi Suzanne Connolly here, and I’m asking those interested in furthering the use of TFT in the world to consider a much needed donation, either small or large. The authors of recent research, including myself, need your help. As some of you may know, I am devoting my off-work hours to advancing the application of TFT to relieve trauma worldwide. As we know, trauma is the root of many of the world’s most chronic issues. People who are hurting are the most apt to hurt others. Research has shown, for instance, that most radical extremists in both Israel and the Gaza Strip have suffered the loss of loved ones at the hands of “the other”—people who are hurt. One thing we can all do to stop the chain of violence is to reduce the symptoms of PTSD. People who no longer experience the symptoms of PTSD can find peace in their hearts and most often want to live peacefully.
I have personally made six trips to Rwanda and participated in three research studies there. Now that’s reached sustainability. I have seen the changes occur between two formerly opposing groups. I have seen people in Kuwait heal after Saddam Hussein’s invasion. I have most recently seen women in camps for internally displaced people, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, heal after one treatment for PTSD. This is where our team, which includes our Iraqi contact and two professors from the University of South Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, needs your help. The professors from Iraq and UNC believe this study is important and that it could lead to additional funding if published in a top-tier journal. We are aiming for a well respected, top-rated journal. The cost for publishing will be approximately $2500.00. Please help us raise this funding so our study can be published in a reputable journal. Journals are now mostly open-access and have no subscriptions to sell. They need to pay their staff and publishing expenses.
I’ve already personally donated over $2,000 to this project: Others, colleagues, an additional $2,000, to match the funds. A TFT devotee friend gave us an additional $4,000.00. A total of $8,000 was raised to fund this project. All of the authors have worked hundreds of hours without compensation. Please help us get this study into a top-tier journal where it belongs. Click here to offer whatever support you can for us to reach our $2500 goal for publication.
While many modalities can assist in healing PTSD, the literature review and meta-analysis I led, along with a team of international researchers, demonstrated medium and high effect sizes for TFT studies after just one two-day training and one treatment by lay counselors chosen from the community they lived and worked in. This is truly a healing tool for the masses. Please help us share it with more in a world where it is so critically needed. Click here
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
Suzanne
Mental health interventions by lay counsellors: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Suzanne M Connolly,a Michelle Vanchu-Orosco,b Jan Warner,c Pegah A Seidi,d Jenny Edwards,e Elisabeth Boathf & AC Irgensg
A recent reappraisal of the global burden of mental illness using a broad definition of mental illness as a disease concluded that it accounted for a greater percentage of the global burden of disease, in terms of years lost to disability, than any other disease category.1
Moreover, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2011 between 76% and 85% of people with mental illnesses in low- and middle-income countries went untreated.2 This gap was partly due to a shortage of mental health professionals and to resources being concentrated in large, centrally located institutions rather than in community settings.3
In many places in the world, there may be only one psychiatrist for every 500 000 people and most professional mental health resources are taken up by patients with severe mental illnesses.4 This problem has been exacerbated by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, which has further challenged people’s psychological and physical resilience.5,6 The use of community health workers has been examined as a partial solution to the shortage of mental health workers. However, in many settings, there are few community health workers, they are overburdened and little research has been performed into their cost–effectiveness in providing mental health interventions.
Conclusion The use of professionally trained, lay counsellors to provide mental health interventions in low- and middle-income countries was associated with significant improvements in mental health symptoms across a range of settings.
Additional RCT’s Published:
The main paper:http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01027/full
The thesis: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/66248
Download: Mental health interventions by lay counsellors. a systematic review and meta-analysis
Research Study and Presentation by Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, LMFT,
Leanor Zarazua, MA, and John Freedom, CEHP
Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, LMFT, Leanor Zarazua, MA, and John Freedom, CEHP presented their study at the Research Symposium on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) conference. The title of the study was A Teacher-Led Classroom Intervention In An Area of Mexico Experiencing Community Violence a Controlled Mixed-Method Feasibility Study.
Purpose: We aimed to explore the effectiveness of a daily ten-minute teacher-led group Thought Field Therapy stress-reduction intervention on middle-school adolescents residing in an area experiencing high levels of interpersonal and community violence. We hypothesized that it would lead to a reduction of trauma symptoms and improve grades in reading and math.
Method: In this double-blind feasibility study, adolescents in one school received a daily teacher-led Thought Field Therapy intervention, and children in a different school served as an active waitlist group and received the same amount of time in a daily unguided drawing activity. The two schools were geographically distant to prevent cross-contamination.
Results: Due to differences between groups in PTSD and academic performance prior to intervention, differences within each school’s scores over time were calculated and compared to each other for indirect assessment of effect. PTSD scores at the treatment school showed no lasting changes at five months, while the control school showed moderate improvement. Adolescents in the treatment group demonstrated large improvements in both reading and math. Adolescents in the control group demonstrated a moderate decrease in math, and no change in reading.
Discussion: Preliminary evidence gained in this study suggests that a teacher-led ten-minute group Thought Field Therapy exercise may assist adolescents’ learning in math and reading.
Presentation at the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
by Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, LMFT
Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, LMFT also presented a seminar at the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology in Litchfield, AZ on Saturday, May 31, 2025. The title was Integrating CBT & REBT with TFT to Treat Negative Self-Assumptions & Shame.
Negative self-assumptions and shame can be deeply ingrained, but combining CBT, REBT, and energy psychology offers a powerful, efficient approach to transformation. Learn how these modalities work together to create rapid results through live demonstrations and immersive exercises.
Objectives:
Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, LMFT, is licensed as a clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist, and substance abuse counselor. She participated in three research studies in Rwanda that have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Suzanne serves as an advisor to Japan Association for TFT. She has conducted thought Field Therapy (TFT) trainings throughout the world.
Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, LMFT Presents the June Training for Members of the
Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
Members of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology received the following e-mail:
The June 2025 member training is with Suzanne Connolly, LCSW. Learn about TFT and how it can benefit your healing practice.
Introduction to Thought Field Therapy
Thought Field Therapy (TFT) was the first of the “tapping” approaches. In this introductory workshop you will learn about the history of tapping approaches, the meridians used in all tapping approaches, and their association with different emotions. Discover a simplified use of algorithms you can use to help your clients deal with trauma, anger, shame and rage. Finally, you will learn how to use TFT as a non-verbal approach that can be used with many different populations.
Suzanne Connolly, LCSW has been a licensed clinical social worker, a marriage and family therapist and a substance abuse counselor for over 35 years. She is the author of Thought Field Therapy: Clinical Applications, Integrating TFT in Psychotherapy as well as several research studies on TFT. She has presented over 250 Thought Field Therapy workshops to mental health professionals all over the world, including Israel, Mexico, France, Canada, Kuwait, Rwanda and the U.S.
A Meta-Analysis of Randomized and Non-Randomized Trials of Thought Field Therapy (TFT) for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Anxiety
Authors, Jenny Edwards, PhD; Fielding Graduate University, and, Michelle Vanchu-Orosco, PhD; Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region, have been accepted to present for the Research Symposium on Thursday, May 30 at the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) annual conference held at The Wigwam Resort, Litchfield, AZ (Phoenix).
The video above is from last year’s Keynote presentation by Suzanne Connolly on the ins and outs of doing good research. It wasn’t filmed so she had it filmed later because so many had asked for a copy.
You will find Suzanne’s explanatory notes, attached here.
As the TFT community, we want good research!! It is currently getting included in more literature reviews and meta-analyses. In the past, some of the TFT research conducted in other countries was of poor quality so we hope this excellent presentation, from an experienced TFT researcher, and may help encourage and guide others to do research.
Suzanne has said that she is willing to assist anyone doing TFT research (not do the work, but point them in the right direction. The research she has been involved in is getting better as she learns from past mistakes. The video is an effort to help others learn from those mistakes as well.
There is a chronic shortage of psychiatrists, psychologists, and trained professionals worldwide, especially in “third world” countries. With both natural as well as man-made disasters, the need for effective treatment is great.
Here is an opinion piece that appeared in a Norwegian psychiatric journal by Audun Irgens, PhD., and Anne Udal, PhD. Dr Irgens is a Norwegian psychologist who has co-authored several research studies on the effectiveness of Thought Field Therapy. The TFT community, including Suzanne Connolly, Carolyn Sakai, Irgens, and others have pioneered an approach whereby lay counselors who are trained in a brief, two-day training deliver TFT therapy to people in their communities suffering from anxiety, depression and PTSD. (more…)
Jennifer Cribbs
Abstract
Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a promising psychotherapy approach based on its ability to rapidly relieve human suffering. Drawing from the information gathered at SpiritLife Inc., an inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, this research examines the effects of a TFT intervention on individuals who have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder (SUD) and were experiencing distress related to trauma. This study found that 100% of participants experienced a reduction in distress symptoms post-intervention.
By AUDUN IRGENS: Audun Irgens, PhD, specialist in psychiatry and senior consultant at Østre Agder District Psychiatric Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Sørlandet Hospital Arendal.
In large parts of the world, professional psychiatric resources are unavailable. Training laypeople to provide treatment could help extend service provision.
Worldwide, mental illness represents a greater burden of disability than any other disease category (1). In large parts of the world, there is a gap between the need for and the availability of professional psychiatric resources. In 2011, the World Health Organization estimated that 76–85 % of psychiatric patients in low-income countries receive no treatment (2). In those parts of the world, there is a widespread shortage of trained health workers (3).
In an editorial in issue 17/2021 of the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association, Martine Rostadmo wrote: ‘The world is unfair. The report from 2019 points out that research and development are mostly undertaken in high-income countries and fail to focus on the needs of low-income countries’ (4).
One of the authors of this article participated in a meta-study that was the first to investigate the effect of psychiatric treatment provided only by lay counsellors. The study was published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in the summer of 2021 (5). The main finding drawn from 20 studies with a total of 5 612 participants was that lay counsellors can provide effective treatment of anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress, depression and alcohol abuse in low- and medium-income countries. In the six studies that showed the best effect, the lay counsellors had been given 2–10 days of training (three studies: two days / two studies: one week / one study: ten days). In five of these studies, supervision was provided during the treatment sessions.
«Lay counsellors can provide efficacious treatment of anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress, depression and alcohol abuse»
In other words, psychiatric treatment provided by lay counsellors who have undergone training and work under supervision can be an important contribution to extending effective psychiatric health assistance far more widely to people in low-income countries. This will also be significantly less resource-intensive and time-consuming than training a sufficient number of professionals. We therefore hope that the results of this study will be seen and used by national health authorities in many countries, as well as by Norwegian humanitarian aid authorities.
References:
