Atlas›Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield›Guide 039
Guide XII-039

Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT)

Tapas Fleming1993California
A 27 · L 34 · M 3918 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: TAT® as currently published by TATLife® (tatlife.com): an intention plus the nine Steps, done while the client holds the TAT Pose, as given on the TATLife FAQ and certification pages and summarised in the TAT-101 eBook. Where TATLife's published pages are silent (exact finger placement, timing per step, trauma protocol), this guide says so and marks its own guidance [synthesis].

Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT) was developed in 1993 by Tapas Fleming, a California-licensed acupuncturist (licensed 1987). TATLife states it began as a way to ease allergic reactions in her patients and that she then observed it also clearing the effects of past stressful or traumatic experiences [source: TATLife, What is TAT?]. It sits in the energy-psychology family: the client lightly holds points on the front and back of the head (the TAT Pose) while attending, in turn, to a fixed sequence of focused statements, about 20 to 30 minutes per standard session [source: TATLife FAQs; EFT vs TAT].

Core idea of change, as TATLife holds it: beliefs formed during stressful or traumatic experiences (for example, that life is not safe) keep the body's alarm system switched on; attending to the problem, its opposite, where it is held, its origins, forgiveness, the parts involved and what remains, while holding the Pose, lets the problem and the identification with it resolve without reliving the event, talking it through or knowing its cause [source: TATLife FAQs]. TATLife frames this with its own energy vocabulary (frequencies, energetic fields, subtle bodies, a core fractal pattern, projections) and with claims about epigenetics and immediate cellular change; these are TATLife's concepts and claims, presented here as attributed, not as established fact [source: TATLife FAQs].

Evidence status (one line): one randomised trial (285 adults, group TAT vs professionally led social support for weight-loss maintenance) found no significant difference on its primary outcome [source: Elder et al. 2012, DOAJ record]; critical reviews have classed TAT among "power therapies" lacking a validated mechanism [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. TAT is a complementary, self-applied relaxation and focusing method, not a treatment for any physical disease; TATLife's claims about physical-health benefits and allergy are attributed to TATLife only [synthesis].

2. Framework

Structure of one TAT session [source: TATLife FAQs; Become a Certified TAT Practitioner]

  • Intention: the session is held with the intention of safe and easy healing.
  • Choose the topic and put it in "the pot" (TATLife's metaphor for whatever is being worked on in that session); several related sources of distress can be bundled into one statement.
  • Steps 1 to 9, each attended to briefly while holding the Pose: (1) The Problem, (2) The Opposite Condition, (3) The Places, (4) The Origins, (5) Forgiveness, (6) The Parts, (7) Everything That's Left, (8) I Choose, (9) Integration.
  • A standard guided session takes about 20 minutes; an expanded beginners' lesson about 40 minutes, including time to write about how one feels [source: TAT-101 product page].
  • Holding limit: TATLife recommends holding the Pose for no more than 20 minutes in any 24-hour period, and the Pose need not be held throughout the session [source: TATLife FAQs].

Course of work. TATLife does not publish a fixed number of sessions; it offers single guided sessions, weekly group TAT, topic "Transformation Tracks" (for example, trauma and post-traumatic stress; overthinking and anxiety) and the Healing ACEs programme, which pairs TAT with education on adverse childhood experiences [source: TATLife, What is TAT?; Transformation Track titles: uncertain, not verified]. In the one published trial, TAT was given as eight group sessions over six months [source: Elder et al. 2012]. For psychotherapy, a workable format is a short TAT segment (within the 20-minute Pose limit) inside a normal session, with the rest of the hour used for preparation, debriefing and ordinary therapy [synthesis].

Moving between steps and topics. TATLife's Basics 1 course teaches timing for each step and how to know when a session is finished, but the published pages do not state the criteria [uncertain: not verified]. Practical criteria [synthesis]: move to the next Step when the client signals they have attended to the current one (a nod, a breath, a shift, or simply nothing more arising); close the session after Integration even if the topic feels incomplete; return to the same topic in a later session if distress ratings stay high; switch from TAT to stabilisation if arousal rises beyond the client's window of tolerance.

Phases for therapists using TAT within therapy [synthesis, built on the TATLife structure]:

  1. Assessment and consent: suitability, trauma and dissociation screening, informed consent (complementary method, self-applied head-hold, evidence status).
  2. Teaching: the Pose, the intention, the pot, the Steps, the normal experiences TATLife lists.
  3. Guided sessions in therapy: topic selection, guided Steps, debrief, brief ratings.
  4. Self-application: recordings or written Steps for home use if the client wants it and can self-regulate.
  5. Review: link changes to the therapy goals; decide whether to continue.

Training and certification route [source: Become a Certified TAT Practitioner]: register as a student practitioner; complete The Basics of TAT 1: Learn the Essentials (six two-hour recorded teaching sessions, each containing a full TAT session); complete The Basics of TAT 2: Working with Others (six two-hour recordings covering sessions for others, trauma, parts, the practitioner's own material and ethical issues); watch the recorded Q&A webinars with Tapas Fleming. Completing these makes one a TAT Practitioner; Certified TAT Professional and Certified TAT Trainer levels exist, listed in TATLife directories, but their requirements are [uncertain: not verified]. Certification is issued through TATLife, Inc., which holds the TAT® and TATLife® trademarks. Level 1 resources include TATLife's ethical guidelines for practitioners and a document on what practitioners do and do not do [source: Become a Certified TAT Practitioner]. At the time of writing, student registration was stated to be closed while the programme was updated. The 2020 International Energy Psychology Conference (ACEP) carried a Learning Lab by Tapas Fleming on ACEs and TAT, offered without CE credit [source: ACEP CE21 course page].

Combining with psychotherapy; scope; professional positions. TATLife's published pages do not describe how to combine TAT with psychotherapy and do not mention referral to therapists or medical care [source: TATLife, What is TAT?; FAQs]. No professional-body or licensing-board statement specific to TAT was found [uncertain: not verified]. Use TAT only within your existing licence, as an adjunct inside a treatment plan, with documented consent, and do not market it as treating any medical condition [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

  • No reliving needed [source: TATLife, What is TAT?; FAQs]: the client does not need to retell, relive or analyse the event. Practical meaning: you can work with a memory the client names in a few words or not at all.
  • Cause need not be known [source: TATLife FAQs]: the client can simply note they feel this way and do not want to. Practical meaning: do not stall a session hunting for the root.
  • Bundling into the pot [source: TATLife FAQs; EFT vs TAT]: related worries, fears or aspects can go into one statement. Practical meaning: use one inclusive wording rather than many micro-targets.
  • Gentle, contained focus [source: EFT vs TAT]: TATLife says the Pose provides containment and that attending to the fact of a situation can comfort those overwhelmed by emotion. Practical meaning: keep attention light and brief; this is not exposure.
  • Intention of safe and easy healing [source: TATLife FAQs]: every session is framed by this intention. Practical meaning: name safety explicitly and let the client stop at any point.
  • Stopper thoughts go in the pot [source: TATLife FAQs]: doubts such as "this will never work" are added to what is being worked on, not argued with. Practical meaning: validate doubt; do not push belief.
  • Whatever happens is normal [source: TATLife FAQs]: TATLife lists colours, images, memory fragments, a sense of energy moving, yawning or sighing, peace or sleepiness, a wandering mind, or nothing at all. Practical meaning: normalise; do not demand a particular experience.
  • Self-application and choice [source: TATLife, What is TAT?]: TAT is designed to be learned and done by the person themselves. Practical meaning: the client holds their own head; you guide and model, you do not touch [synthesis].
  • Limits on holding [source: TATLife FAQs]: no more than 20 minutes of Pose in 24 hours. Practical meaning: plan in-session and home use together so the limit is respected.
  • Spiritual content is optional and the client's own [source: TATLife FAQs]: the Forgiveness step names God or the client's chosen name for the divine, if any. Practical meaning: adapt wording to the client's beliefs, including none [synthesis].
  • Forgiveness is not condoning [synthesis]: in abuse or ongoing harm, the client chooses what, if anything, to forgive; safety and protection come first.
  • Window of tolerance first [synthesis]: if arousal rises or dissociation appears, stop TAT and stabilise; TAT is an adjunct, not a substitute for trauma-focused treatment where it is indicated.
  • Attribution of energy and health claims [synthesis]: describe TATLife's energy concepts as TATLife's; do not tell clients TAT treats allergy or any physical illness.
  • No commerce with clients [synthesis]: do not sell TATLife products, tracks or trainings to your clients; if you suggest TATLife's free or paid materials, disclose any affiliation.

4. Intervention inventory

The Step names and their focus follow TATLife's published list [source: TATLife FAQs; Become a Certified TAT Practitioner]. TATLife's exact Step statements, the Parts Script and the meaning-of-each-Step document are part of its copyrighted training materials and are not reproduced here; all wording below is illustrative.

4.1 Assessment, suitability and informed consent

  • Purpose: decide whether TAT fits this client now and obtain informed consent. Use before any first session [synthesis].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Take the usual history, including trauma history in outline, dissociation (a brief screening measure you are trained in), current risk, substance use, seizures or head injury, and medical conditions the client attributes to stress.
    2. Explain TAT: a complementary, self-applied method; the client lightly holds points on the front and back of their own head while you read short focusing statements; about 20 minutes; no retelling required; spiritual wording in one Step is optional.
    3. Give the evidence status in one line (one randomised trial with no primary-outcome difference; mechanism claims not established) and state that it does not replace medical care or evidence-based trauma treatment.
    4. Confirm there will be no touch by you; the client touches only their own head and can stop at any moment.
    5. Record consent, the rationale for an adjunctive method, and the client's goals.
  • Example language (illustrative): "This is a complementary technique. You'd rest your own hands on your forehead area and the back of your head while I read a few short focusing statements. You won't need to describe what happened. Research on it is limited, so we'll treat it as an experiment and keep checking whether it helps. You can drop your hands and stop at any point."
  • Watch for: high dissociation scores, active suicidality, psychosis, current domestic violence or ongoing abuse (prioritise safety work), a wish to use TAT instead of medical treatment (address that first), and clients who feel pressured to say "yes".

4.2 Teaching the TAT Pose

  • Purpose: give the client the self-applied head-hold that TATLife says provides containment during the Steps [source: EFT vs TAT].
  • Steps:
    1. Show the Pose on yourself first. TATLife describes it as holding the head gently in the front and back [source: EFT vs TAT]. One hand lightly touches points at the front of the face (the inner corners of the eyes and a point a little above the space between the eyebrows), and the other hand rests on the back of the head [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. TATLife's TAT-101 eBook contains images of the exact finger placement; follow those images [source: TAT-101 product page].
    2. Ask the client to copy it with light pressure only, elbows supported (cushion or table) so the arms do not tire [synthesis].
    3. Remind them the Pose need not be held throughout; they can rest their arms and resume [source: TATLife FAQs].
    4. Keep total Pose time within 20 minutes in a 24-hour period, counting any home practice that day [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Watch me first. One hand rests lightly here at the front, the other cups the back of your head. Very light, like resting, not pressing. If your arms get tired, just lower them; that's fine."
  • Watch for: discomfort from contact lenses or eye conditions (offer to hover the fingers just off the skin or rest them on the brow instead [synthesis]); shoulder or arm pain; feeling trapped by covering the face; a history of being held by the head or face during abuse. Hands-off alternative [synthesis]: hands resting in the lap or on the chest while the Steps are read, recorded as a non-standard adaptation.

4.3 Setting the intention and choosing the topic (the pot)

  • Purpose: frame the session and name what is being worked on [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps:
    1. State the intention of safe and easy healing [source: TATLife FAQs].
    2. Help the client choose one topic. TATLife allows bundling: a single inclusive statement covering all the related stress, fear or worry, or "everything that led up to" a difficulty [source: TATLife FAQs; EFT vs TAT].
    3. Name the topic briefly, in the client's words, without detail [source: TATLife FAQs].
    4. Optionally take a 0 to 10 distress rating before and after [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's set the intention that whatever we do today is safe and easy. What would you like to put in the pot? A few words are enough, for example 'all the fear connected with that night'."
  • Watch for: topics too large to contain in one session for a fragile client (start with a smaller slice [synthesis]); clients who start telling the story in detail (gently redirect to a short label).

4.4 Step 1: The Problem

  • Purpose: bring the chosen problem into attention while holding the Pose [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps: client takes the Pose; you read a short statement acknowledging the problem as it is; client attends briefly and signals when done [synthesis on signalling].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Just notice that this happened, and that you feel the way you do about it. Nothing to figure out. Let me know when you're ready to move on."
  • Watch for: rising arousal, breath-holding, eyes glazing; if so pause, open eyes, ground (see 4.15).

4.5 Step 2: The Opposite Condition

  • Purpose: attend to the state of no longer identifying with or being connected to the problem [source: TATLife FAQs; Become a Certified TAT Practitioner].
  • Steps: read a statement that the problem has resolved or that the client is not defined by it; client simply notices how that sits.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Now just consider: this has finished. You're no longer carrying it. You don't have to believe it, just notice what happens when you hold that."
  • Watch for: "that's not true" reactions; treat them as stopper thoughts (4.14) rather than arguing.

4.6 Step 3: The Places

  • Purpose: attend to where the problem is stored in mind, body and life [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps: read a statement that whatever places in the mind, body or life have held the problem are being healed; the client does not need to locate them.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Wherever this has been held, in your thoughts, your body, or your life, just let your attention rest there for a moment."
  • Watch for: strong body sensations; normalise per TATLife's list of normal experiences, and check intensity.

4.7 Step 4: The Origins

  • Purpose: attend to where and when the problem began, known or unknown [source: TATLife FAQs; Become a Certified TAT Practitioner].
  • Steps: read a statement that whatever originated the problem is being healed; reassure that the client need not know or recall the origin [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Wherever and whenever this started, whether you know or not, just let that be included. No need to go looking."
  • Watch for: unexpected early memories or memory fragments. Do not probe or interpret them as recovered memories [synthesis]; note them and return to the Step sequence or stop.

4.8 Step 5: Forgiveness

  • Purpose: forgiving, and accepting forgiveness from, everyone involved, including God or the client's chosen name for the divine (if any) and oneself [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps [synthesis on adaptation]:
    1. Before the session, discuss what forgiveness means for the client, and agree a wording: some clients prefer "letting go of what I'm carrying" or "accepting".
    2. Read the agreed statement; the spiritual reference is included only if the client wants it.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Whoever was involved, including yourself, just consider forgiving and being forgiven, as far as feels right. If 'forgive' doesn't fit for you, we use 'let go of carrying this'."
  • Watch for: anger or protest, especially in abuse; self-blame; religious distress or scrupulosity. Forgiveness is never required, and it is never framed as excusing harm or as a reason to resume contact with an abuser [synthesis].

4.9 Step 6: The Parts

  • Purpose: include all parts of the person involved (TATLife names spiritual, emotional, mental, physical and energetic parts) [source: TATLife FAQs]. TATLife also teaches a separate Parts Script in its training [source: Become a Certified TAT Practitioner]; its content is [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: read an inclusive statement that all parts involved are being healed and integrated; no need to identify them.
  • Example language (illustrative): "All the parts of you connected to this, whatever they are, are welcome to be included now."
  • Watch for: clients with dissociative identity disorder or marked parts experiences. Do not use TAT's parts statements to bypass a phased trauma treatment plan; consult your dissociation-informed supervision [synthesis].

4.10 Step 7: Everything That's Left

  • Purpose: include any remaining aspects of the problem [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps: read an all-inclusive statement covering whatever has not yet been addressed.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Anything else connected to this that still needs attention, just let it be included."
  • Watch for: new topics appearing; note them for a later session rather than expanding this one [synthesis].

4.11 Step 8: I Choose

  • Purpose: state positive, present-tense choices to replace the old pattern [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps: help the client choose one or two short affirmations in their own words before the Pose; read them during Step 8.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What would you like to choose instead? ... Good: 'I choose to feel safe in my own home now.' Just hold that."
  • Watch for: affirmations that are unrealistic or unsafe in the client's current situation (for example, choosing to trust someone who is still harming them); keep choices within the client's control [synthesis].

4.12 Step 9: Integration

  • Purpose: accept and allow the process to settle [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps: read a short statement inviting the changes to settle; the client lowers the hands, rests and opens the eyes when ready.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let whatever has shifted settle in its own time. When you're ready, lower your hands, take a breath, and look around the room."
  • Watch for: lingering spaciness or sleepiness, which TATLife lists as normal [source: TATLife FAQs]; ground before the client leaves (4.15).

4.13 Bundling and inclusive statements

  • Purpose: cover many related aspects or sources at once without identifying each [source: TATLife FAQs; EFT vs TAT].
  • Steps: help the client draft one inclusive phrase (all the anxiety, stress, fear or worry about X; everything that led up to Y) and use it throughout the Steps.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Rather than list every worry, we can just say 'all of my worry about my health and everything connected to it'."
  • Watch for: bundles so wide that the client cannot tell whether anything changed; narrow next time [synthesis].

4.14 Working with stopper thoughts

  • Purpose: handle doubts and blocking thoughts that arise during a session (examples TATLife gives: this will never work for me; this is too big; nothing can change this) [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Steps: when the client reports such a thought, add it to the pot rather than dismissing it, and continue [source: TATLife FAQs].
  • Example language (illustrative): "That thought, 'this can't work for me', is welcome. Let's put it in the pot too and carry on."
  • Watch for: a stopper thought that is actually a sign of overwhelm, hopelessness or suicidal thinking; assess rather than fold it into the session [synthesis].

4.15 Trauma preparation, titration and grounding

  • Purpose: keep trauma work within the window of tolerance. TATLife states that TAT does not require reliving or talking about the trauma and that the Pose provides containment [source: TATLife, What is TAT?; EFT vs TAT]; its Basics 2 course covers working with trauma, but the content is [uncertain: not verified]. The steps below are [synthesis].
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Preparation: before trauma topics, establish grounding skills (feet on floor, naming objects in the room, paced breathing), a stop signal, and a safe-place or resource image if the client uses one.
    2. Titration: start with a peripheral or lower-intensity aspect or a single bundled label, not the worst moment; rate distress before and after.
    3. Eyes open option: let the client keep eyes open or half open throughout.
    4. Dissociation check: watch for blank stare, slowed speech, numbness, loss of time; stop the Steps, lower the hands, orient to the room, and resume only if the client is clearly present.
    5. Close every session with Integration plus grounding, a brief debrief and a plan for the time until the next session.
    6. Do not open more than one major trauma topic per session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before we start, let's agree on a stop signal. If you raise one finger, we pause and come back into the room together." / "Can you tell me three things you can see right now? Good. Feet on the floor."
  • Watch for: abreaction, flashbacks, intrusive memory fragments after the session, sleep disturbance; contact plan if distress rises between sessions.

4.16 Group TAT

  • Purpose: deliver TAT to several people at once. TATLife states TAT can be done individually or in groups and runs weekly group sessions and the Healing ACEs programme [source: TATLife, What is TAT?]; the published trial used eight group sessions over six months [source: Elder et al. 2012].
  • Steps [synthesis]: screen members individually; agree group rules (no sharing of trauma detail, the right to sit out); everyone chooses a private topic; the leader reads the Steps; brief, optional sharing of the experience (not content) afterwards; a co-facilitator watches for distress.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Everyone choose your own topic privately; you won't be asked to share it. If you need to stop, just lower your hands and rest."
  • Watch for: contagion of distress, members hiding dissociation in a group, pressure to report positive results.

4.17 Self-application and home practice

  • Purpose: let the client use TAT on their own. TATLife designs TAT to be self-taught and offers recordings and on-demand guided sessions [source: TATLife, What is TAT?; TAT-101 product page].
  • Steps [synthesis]: agree topics suited to home use (everyday stress, not core trauma); provide your own written list of Step names or point the client to TATLife's materials if they choose to buy them (with no financial interest on your side); respect the 20-minute daily Pose limit [source: TATLife FAQs]; ask the client to note what they worked on and how they felt for the next session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "For this week, keep home TAT to the everyday stress, and save the bigger memories for our sessions where we can pace them."
  • Watch for: over-use as avoidance, using TAT to suppress feelings that need processing, distress after home sessions.

4.18 Debrief, measurement and integration into therapy

  • Purpose: link TAT to therapy goals and judge whether it helps [synthesis].
  • Steps [synthesis]: after Integration, ask what the client noticed (TATLife lists anything from images to nothing at all as normal [source: TATLife FAQs]); re-rate distress; connect any new perspective to the treatment plan (for example, a changed belief explored in cognitive work); record the topic, ratings and any adverse reaction; review benefit over several sessions and stop if there is none.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What did you notice, if anything? And thinking of the topic now, where would you put it on that 0 to 10 scale?"
  • Watch for: it is working when distress ratings fall and stay lower between sessions, the client reports more ease or a shifted belief, and functioning improves; it is not working if ratings are unchanged over several sessions or distress rises.

5. Handling problems

TATLife's published guidance on problems is limited to stopper thoughts, the list of normal experiences, not needing to know the cause, and the Pose time limit [source: TATLife FAQs]. Everything else below is [synthesis].

  • Nothing happens / "I felt nothing" [source: TATLife FAQs, for "nothing at all" being normal]: normalise; re-rate distress, since change sometimes shows only in the rating; check the topic label is personally meaningful; try a narrower or more specific topic next time. If several sessions bring no change, stop TAT and continue with your main therapy [synthesis].
  • Doubt, scepticism, "this is weird": treat it as a stopper thought and add it to the pot [source: TATLife FAQs]; also respect it as legitimate. Offer TAT as an optional experiment, never as a requirement, and accept a "no" without loss to the therapy [synthesis].
  • Stuck on a Step: if the client cannot move past the Opposite Condition or Forgiveness, name it, add the difficulty to the pot, or skip forward and return to it in a later session; explore the block in ordinary talk therapy afterwards [synthesis].
  • Overwhelm, abreaction or flashback during the Steps: stop; lower the hands; eyes open; orient to the room (name objects, feet on floor, temperature of the hands); slow exhalation; do not resume the same topic that session; debrief and plan support until the next session [synthesis].
  • Dissociation: stop at the first signs (glazed eyes, slowed or absent responses, numbness, time loss); orient; reduce the length of later Pose segments; keep eyes open; reconsider TAT altogether for clients with dissociative disorders unless you have specialist training and supervision [synthesis].
  • Distress after the session or at home: agree in advance what the client will do (grounding skills, contact route, crisis line); advise keeping home TAT to everyday stress; review at the next session whether to change the approach [synthesis].
  • Over-use or avoidance: if the client uses TAT many times a day to shut down feelings, explore the function of the behaviour; remind them of TATLife's 20-minute daily Pose limit [source: TATLife FAQs] and reframe TAT as one tool among several [synthesis].
  • Non-adherence with home practice: explore barriers (time, doubt, discomfort with the Pose, fear of what may come up); reduce the task; keep TAT in session only if preferred [synthesis].
  • Forgiveness ruptures: a client may feel that being asked to forgive minimises their abuse. Repair: acknowledge the impact, make clear forgiveness is optional and never a condition of healing, and re-word or omit the Step [synthesis].
  • Spiritual or religious conflict: the Forgiveness Step can name God or the divine [source: TATLife FAQs]; some clients find this distressing or at odds with their faith or atheism; adapt wording, or omit the reference, and do not impose any belief about energy or spirit [synthesis].
  • Discomfort with the Pose: covering the eyes or holding the head may feel trapping, especially after abuse involving restraint of the head or face. Offer eyes open, hovering hands, or the hands-off adaptation (hands resting in the lap), and record it as a deviation from the standard Pose [synthesis].
  • Touch questions: in TAT the client holds their own head. The therapist does not touch the client. If a client asks you to place your hands for them, decline and offer to demonstrate on yourself; any touch in therapy requires explicit consent before and during, the right to stop at any time, and is never sexual; follow your professional body's guidance on touch and chaperones and document it [synthesis].
  • Health claims and medical care: if a client hopes TAT will cure allergy, weight problems, or any physical illness (claims TATLife makes about stress-related health), explain that TAT is used here only as a relaxation and focusing adjunct and that it is not a treatment for physical disease; encourage them to keep their medical care and never to stop or change a medicine on the strength of TAT; with consent, coordinate with their doctor [synthesis].
  • Unexpected memories: images or memory fragments are listed by TATLife as normal [source: TATLife FAQs]. Do not interpret them as recovered memories or suggest abuse that the client has not reported; handle them as ordinary trauma material, at the client's pace [synthesis].
  • Commercial pressure: TATLife sells recordings, tracks, private sessions and tiered training. Do not sell these to clients, take referral fees or recruit clients into trainings; disclose any affiliation and manage conflicts of interest under your profession's ethics code [synthesis].
  • Children and young people: TATLife's published pages give no guidance on children [source: TATLife FAQs]. If used with a young person, obtain parental consent and the child's assent, keep sessions short, keep trauma work within an established evidence-based treatment, and follow safeguarding duties for any disclosure [synthesis].
  • Risk disclosures during TAT: a disclosure of suicidal thinking, self-harm or ongoing harm takes priority over completing the Steps; stop and follow standard risk assessment and safeguarding procedures [synthesis].

Sources

Sources consulted:

Books and papers cited:

  • Fleming, T. TAT-101: A Comprehensive Introduction (eBook and video, TATLife; contains the Steps and images of the TAT Pose) [uncertain: year not verified; content not verified].
  • Devilly, G. J. (2005). Power Therapies and possible threats to the science of psychology and psychiatry. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39(6), 437–445 [uncertain: secondary, unverified].
  • McCaslin, D. L. (2009). A review of efficacy claims in energy psychology. Psychotherapy, 46(2), 249–256 [uncertain: secondary, unverified].
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