AUTHOR=Irgens Audun C. , Hoffart Asle , Nysæter Tor E. , Haaland Vegard Ø. , Borge Finn-Magnus , Pripp Are H. , Martinsen Egil W. , Dammen Toril 

TITLE=Thought Field Therapy Compared to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Wait-List for Agoraphobia: A Randomized, Controlled Study with a 12-Month Follow-up

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01027

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01027

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Thought field therapy (TFT) is used for many psychiatric conditions, but its efficacy has not been sufficiently documented. Hence, there is a need for studies comparing TFT to well-established treatments. This study compares the efficacy of TFT and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients with agoraphobia.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Seventy-two patients were randomized to CBT (<italic>N</italic> = 24), TFT (<italic>N</italic> = 24) or a wait-list condition (WLC) (<italic>N</italic> = 24) after a diagnostic procedure including the MINI PLUS that was performed before treatment or WLC. Following a 3 months waiting period, the WL patients were randomized to CBT (<italic>n</italic> = 12) or TFT (<italic>n</italic> = 12), and all patients were reassessed after treatment or waiting period and at 12 months follow-up. At first we compared the three groups CBT, TFT, and WL. After the post WL randomization, we compared CBT (<italic>N</italic> = 12 + 24 = 36) to TFT (<italic>N</italic> = 12 + 24 = 36), applying the pre-treatment scores as baseline for all patients. The primary outcome measure was a symptom score from the Anxiety Disorders Interview Scale that was performed by an interviewer blinded to the treatment condition. For statistical comparisons, we used the independent sample’s <italic>t</italic>-test, the Fisher’s exact test and the ANOVA and ANCOVA tests.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Both CBT and TFT showed better results than the WLC (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) at post-treatment. Post-treatment and at the 12-month follow-up, there were not significant differences between CBT and TFT (<italic>p</italic> = 0.33 and <italic>p</italic> = 0.90, respectively).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> This paper reports the first study comparing TFT to CBT for any disorder. The study indicated that TFT may be an efficient treatment for patients with agoraphobia.</p><p><bold>Trial Registration:</bold><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://clinicaltrials.gov/</ext-link>, identifier NCT00932919.</p>