PTSD: A POSSIBLE SOLUTION???

The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an extraordinarily easy-to-use, energy-psychology technique for promoting mind-body healing. After introducing the technique in Part 1, we will now discuss its potential for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition plaguing many returning combat veterans.

Review

As summarized before, EFT is a form of acupressure-assisted exposure therapy. The EFT procedure consists of tapping on key acupressure (i.e., acupuncture) points while focusing on specific emotional issues. Interestingly, some of these points are locations we instinctively rub when under stress. If you have limited finger mobility, you can use your hands or visualize the tapping.

Although often just used to energetically deflate life’s ongoing irritants that drag us down, EFT can be very effective in treating major mental or physical trauma - such as child abuse, spinal cord injury (SCI), or combat-related events. These traumatizing incidents can be emotional minefields buried in our consciousness, waiting for the right triggers to explode and sabotage life. Basically, EFT is a behavioral desensitization technique that defuses the emotional charge on memories so they are no longer experienced as being painful or traumatic.

Although EFT has been criticized by skeptics as not being an “evidenced-based therapy,” preliminary studies suggest that it works much faster and with greater efficacy than conventional approaches.

The basic EFT-tapping procedures are simple and can be easily learned by reading or watching various, readily available resources. (Editorial note: if possible, include procedural sidebar again.) For major issues like PTSD, it is helpful to be guided initially by an experienced EFT practitioner because complex issues need to be gently peeled away. However, even in the most serious PTSD cases, many have benefitted from self-learned EFT practice. A good starting point is the book “EFT for PTSD,” authored by EFT developer Gary Craig.

PTSD

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that arises after living through a shocking event in which serious physical harm or threat of such harm occurred in susceptible individuals. The incident causes a fight-or-flight, hyperarousal state that can turn into full-blown PTSD. PTSD is one of the ‘invisible wounds’ of combat, and afflicted individuals often:

1) relive the traumatizing event through nightmares and flashbacks, and have strong physical reactions when reminded of it.

2) avoid reminding activities, thoughts, feelings, and conversations.

3) are unable to remember event details, feel emotionally numb and detached from the present moment.

4) lose interest in important activities, feel alone with nothing to look forward to, can’t experience normal emotions.

5) can’t relax or concentrate; have trouble sleeping; are irritable, on guard, or angry.

6) are more prone to breakups, divorce, and relationship issues.

7) often use drugs and alcohol to self-medicate the pain and anxiety.

PTSD has been traditionally treated using psychotherapy and antidepressant medications with questionable effectiveness. Although we tend to associate PTSD with more serious traumatization, like combat, it represents an affliction spectrum encompassing anyone whose thoughts and behaviors that have been affected by a life-threatening, traumatizing situation.

Clearly, spinal cord injury, regardless of cause, falls within this spectrum. Within the SCI community, we have all heard the what-if stories concerning injuries. For example, a friend has damned himself for years because he ordered decaf coffee before falling asleep driving home. Another friend has knocked himself for 30 years for scrambling up a wobbly ladder to fix defective roof flashing before a fast-approaching storm. This is baggage no one needs to carry around forever. In other words, EFT’s healing possibilities aren’t just limited to, for example, the soldier surviving an IED roadside bomb explosion, but also can be used to deal with the seemingly mundane actions or decisions whose life-changing consequences haunt us.

Combat’s Toll

Studies are demonstrating that combat exacts a huge toll on our returning veterans:

Such statistics underscore the problem’s severity and, in turn, the need for new solutions, one of which may be EFT. Clearly, given the technique’s simplicity, there is nothing to lose – except allegiance to failed treatment paradigms - and perhaps much to gain.

PTSD is Real

Because some have suggested that PTSD symptoms are merely the consequence of a veteran’s maladjusted personality, scientists have examined the issue in identical twins by comparing symptoms in a twin with Vietnam-combat exposure with the twin that did not. If the skeptics were correct, the non-traumatized twin would have similar symptoms due to having the same genetic makeup and upbringing. This was not the situation. The investigators concluded “the majority of symptoms reported by combat veterans with PTSD would not have been present were it not for their exposure to traumatic events.”

EFT & PTSD

Dr. Dawson Church (Santa Rosa, CA) recently published the results of a pilot study treating PTSD-afflicted veterans with EFT. Subject age ranged from 26 to 61, and seven subjects were male and four female. Although nine had served in Vietnam or the Iraqi wars, two were family members with “transferred military PTSD.” Several had physical disabilities.

PTSD was measured with assessment scales and questionnaires adopted by the military. The scales evaluated a variety of PTSD symptoms, including anxiety, depression, obsessive or psychotic behaviors, phobias, hostility, paranoia, insomnia, etc. Evaluations were carried out one month before the study, at the beginning and end of treatment, and periodically thereafter.

Subjects received several 60-minute EFT sessions daily for five days. At the end of the intervention, they were given an instructional DVD so they could continue the practice at home. Before treatment, the average PTSD score was 62 on a scale ranging from 85 (most severe) to 17, meaning the subjects had a high baseline level of PTSD. After the sessions, the average PTSD score decreased to 23, a huge reduction. After 30 days, 90 days, and one year, the scores were still only 32, 33, and 33, respectively. The data implied that EFT is an effective tool for persistent, long-term PTSD alleviation.

Other studies indicate that EFT exerts specific physiological effects. For example, it reduces cortisol, a hormonal marker of stress. It also induces a shift in brain waves. Specifically, before EFT, abnormal brain waves were observed when thinking about the traumatizing event, whereby after treatment, a more neutral pattern emerged.  

One subject’s experience is recounted in the sidebar.

Because these are pilot studies with a limited sample size, results cannot be over extrapolated. Fortunately, larger studies are being initiated at several major research institutions, including the Columbia Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco) and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Conclusion

Clearly, combat veterans have much to offer society through the insights and greater awareness they have gained from their challenging experiences. I, myself, have felt honored to have worked with so many of them over the years. Perhaps EFT is one tool that will help transform their traumatizing experiences into needed understandings that, as Buddhist Scholar, Thich Nhat Hanh stated, can illuminate the way for the whole nation.

Acknowledgments: Special thanks are extended to all my EFT teachers, especially John Freedom.

Resources:

Internet: 

1) www.eftuniverse.com  - a comprehensive EFT website listing many resources (including free “get-started package”).

2) www.stressproject.org  – Iraq Vets Stress Project helps veterans access low-cost EFT.

Book: 

EFT for PTSD, Gary Craig, Energy Psychology Press, 2008.

DVD:

Operation: Emotional Freedom – The Answer. Skywriter Communications, 2010 (available at www.eftuniverse.com and elsewhere) - a moving documentary demonstrating EFT’s life-affirming potential.

Select Articles:

1) Gilbertson MW, et al. Is trauma a causal agent of psychopathological symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder? Findings from identical twins discordant for combat exposure. J Clin Psychiatry 2010; 71(10).

2) Church D. The treatment of combat veterans using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques): a pilot protocol. Traumatology 2010; 16(1).

3) Diepold JH, Goldstein DM. Thought field therapy and QEEG changes in the treatment of trauma: a case study. Traumatology 2009; 15(1).

4) Dinter I. Veterans: Finding their way home with EFT. Int J Healing & Caring September 2008.

Adapted from article appearing in February 2011 Paraplegia News (For subscriptions, call 602-224-0500) or go to www.pn-magazine.com. 

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