While I do not feel it is wise to take the word of Callahan about TFT's overinflated success rates without any confirming data, I do believe that the treatment may produce benefits in some individuals. Placebo effects are sometimes produced through the mere suggestion of treatment rather than the treatment itself. However, most clinicians, while understanding placebo effects at least to some degree, often ignore this explanation when examining a treatment's efficacy. This may be partly due to the bias clinicians implicitly possess. Most clinicians seek to believe that their interventions are producing the benefits.
Placebo effects can be a serious blow to the clinical ego.
Today, most researchers agree that almost any psychotherapy will produce benefits, which may have nothing to do with the treatment itself. New evidence even demonstrates that placebo plays a larger than thought of influence on the effectiveness of anti-depressant drugs . First, it would be foolish to take Callahan simply at his word here. Only proper research can provide evidence for Callahan's claims. Callahan argues that TFT lacks face validity, meaning that client's are highly skeptical about the effectiveness of the treatment.