January 30, 2017 | Author: David Kanosh | Category: N/A
Using EFT for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Emotional Traumas of Every Kind by Gary Craig, EFT Practitioners, Combat Veterans, and Other Users
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Copyright 2008 by Gary Craig www.emofree.com
Edited by CJ Puotinen The clip art contained herein has been provided by the following: New Vision Technologies, Inc. Corel, 3G Graphics, Inc., Archive Arts, Image Club Graphics, Inc., Cartesia Software, One Mile Up, Inc., Techpool Studios, and Totem Graphics, Inc.
Important note: While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it. Further, Gary Craig is not a licensed health professional and offers EFT as an ordained minister and as a personal performance coach. This book is written for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, health care professionals, counselors, and others who work with patients who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as for those who have PTSD. If you suffer from PTSD yourself, please consult a qualified health practitioner regarding your use of EFT. Then read the entire book, paying special attention to Chapter Thirteen. EFT can be a valuable tool for those motivated to help themselves, but for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, it should be used with specific safeguards that are explained in Chapter Thirteen.
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Table of Contents Notes and Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 3 How to learn EFT 7 Why EFT often works where nothing else will 8 Why I Wrote This Book 10 A Vital Guide for Reading This Book 12 Chapter One: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 15 A Marine overcomes PTSD 17 by Sgt. Trent Miller Testing EFT with combat veterans 19 Can EFT cure PTSD? 22 Observing EFT for veterans with PTSD 23 by Stephen S. Nagy, M.D. Chapter Two: EFT’s Basic Recipe 29 Defining the problem 29 Measuring intensity on the 0-to-10 scale 29 The Basic Recipe 30 Ingredient #1 ... The Setup 31 The Affirmation 33 The Sore Spot 34 The Karate Chop Point 35 Ingredient #2 ... The Sequence 36 Ingredient #3 ... The 9 Gamut Procedure 40 Ingredient #4 ... The Sequence (again) 42 The Reminder Phrase 42 Subsequent round adjustments 44 Optional points 46 Putting it all together 46 The Apex effect 49 The art of delivery 50
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Chapter Three: The Acceptance Phrase 51 Soft language to ease the EFT Acceptance Phrase 52 by Betty Moore-Hafter Ideas for enhancing EFT Setups by Jo Hainsworth 55 More notes on positive Setups 57 Chapter Four: Tapping for PTSD 58 Example of Basic Recipe applied to a general description 58 Example of the Basic Recipe applied to a specific memory 60 How EFT helped my PTSD 61 by Gena D. How Unresolved Trauma Triggers PTSD 63 by Dr. Carol Look An EFT formula for specific trauma 69 by Maggie Adkins Chapter Five: EFT for Combat Veterans 78 Six days at the V.A. 78 The Generalization Effect 83 Delivering EFT to a macho war veteran 86 by Dr. Patricia Carrington Layers of trauma 90 by Sophia Cayer War trauma – no more nightmares 103 by Crystal Hawk Trauma relief for a prisoner of war 104 by Wayne Clayton-Robb EFT for a prisoner who is also a veteran 104 by Gene Joseph EFT clears PTSD from a bombing in Iraq 106 by Andrea Fredi Vietnam vet with severe PTSD sleeps through the night 108 by Kim Eisen Chapter Six: Exploring Underlying Issues 111 Introducing Aspects 111 Discovering “Core Issues” 113 The Personal Peace Procedure 114 The Watch a Movie and Tell a Story Techniques 115 The Tearless Trauma Technique 115 iv
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Surrogate or proxy tapping 117 Borrowing Benefits 118 Additional tapping procedures 120 Touch and breathe (TAB method) 120 The Constricted Breathing Technique 121 The Floor-to-Ceiling Eye Roll 122 Collarbone Breathing 122 Advantages of the 9 Gamut Procedure 123 by Mair Llewellyn-Edwards Chapter Seven: Improving EFT’s Effectiveness 126 The tap-while-you-gripe technique 127 by Rick Wilkes Can you do EFT incorrectly? 129 Tapping on a single “personal” point 130 by Jerem Egan Conditions that interfere 131 Psychological reversal 131 Self-talk and the “writings on your walls” 131 Tail-enders 132 Saying goodbye to the past 133 How to tell whether EFT is working 134 When EFT loses its effectiveness 136 by Gene Monterastelli Chapter Eight: Choices, Solutions, and Tapping Tips 139 Dr. Patricia Carrington’s “Choices” Method 139 Top ten tapping tips 143 by Dr. Carol Look When EFT doesn’t work 149 Improving EFT results at home 153 by Barbara Smith Tapping for being “able, willing, and worthy” 156 by Deborah Lindsey Chapter Nine: Terrorist Attacks and Other Nightmares 157 EFT and the aftermath of 9/11 157 by Dr. Carol Look EFT “Choices” for recent New York City trauma victims 161 by Dr. Patricia Carrington v
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Using EFT after a terrorist attack 165 by David Lake EFT for a Hurricane Katrina survivor 169 by Rebecca Marina Using EFT for Trauma Relief after a major earthquake 171 by Deepak Mostert How to weather hurricane stress with EFT 173 by Gwenn Bonnell Chapter Ten: Advanced Work with Veterans 176 Tapping for Collections of Traumas 176 by Lindsay Kenny Trust and integrity with combat veterans 182 by Ingrid Dinter Chapter Eleven: PTSD Complications 202 Abreactions and dissociation 205 EFT for severe dissociative disorder 207 by Jerem Egan Where only the pros should tred 211 by Lori Lorenz An extreme trauma with a severe abreaction 214 and what to do about it by Jayne Morgan-Kidd Chapter Twelve: EFT for PTSD’s Many Causes 217 Dealing with anger 217 Employee overcomes anger at supervisor 218 by Steve Wells Using EFT for forgiveness: The one-percent solution 219 by Dr. Patricia Carrington Reframes (seeing things differently) 222 for guilt, shame, and sorrow by Stewart Robertson EFT for panic, agoraphobia, and feeling 223 like a failure by Zoe Zimmerman Relieving the trauma of a car accident 226 by JoAnn SkyWatcher vi
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Tip-toeing into two car accident traumas 228 by Alan Morison Rapid relief from accident flashbacks 230 by Ann Adams “Preventive” EFT after an attack in the street 232 by Denis Franklin Handling the aftermath of a mugging with EFT 233 over the phone by Rosemary Eads Using EFT after a hanging 234 and for unresolved mother-death grief By Dawn Norton EFT for elementary school trauma 236 by Monica Broadfoot Johnson Drowning-related trauma relief for a 9-year-old boy 237 by Tom Altaffer Resolving PTSD from a traumatic miscarriage 238 by Marcia Platt EFT clears up a long-ago date-rape trauma 243 by Jeanne Ranger Using EFT to reduce rape trauma 246 by David Peppiatt Rape trauma: It just doesn’t seem to bother me 247 like it did by Alan Batchelder Getting over a gang rape – including a follow-up 248 by Ellen Simes Trauma in the trunk of a car 249 by Ken Barclay Chapter Thirteen: Do-It-Yourself EFT 251 A client resolves life-long anger on her own 254 by Mair Llewellyn-Edwards Accident victim resolves her own PTSD 40 years later 256 by Pat Farrell How I handled my child abuse PTSD all by myself 258 by Lisa Rogers EFT beginner collapses her own PTSD 261 by Jamala Rose vii
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Beginner taps on childhood events 264 by Angie Muccillo EFT in the aftermath of domestic violence 266 by Ann Peck Paramedic cures his own PTSD 267 by Bob Patefield In conclusion 268 EFT Glossary 269 Authors’ Contact Information 272 Index 276
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Notes and Acknowledgements The list of individuals who contributed to the development of EFT can never be complete because most of them lived over 5,000 years ago. Those are the brilliant physicians who discovered and mapped the centerpiece of EFT, namely, the subtle energies that course through our bodies. These subtle energies are also the centerpiece of acupuncture and, as a result, EFT and acupuncture are cousins. Both disciplines are growing rapidly here in the West and, as time unfolds, they are destined to have a primary role in emotional and physical healing. In the 20th Century, other dedicated souls advanced our use of ancient techniques that utilize the body’s energy. Principal among them is Dr. George Goodheart, who developed Applied Kinesiology, a forerunner of EFT. In the 1960s, Dr. Goodheart discovered that muscle testing could be used to gather important information from the body, and he went on to train many health care practitioners and publish important books and papers. Dr. John Diamond’s work deserves applause because, to my knowledge, he was one of the first psychiatrists to use and write about these subtle energies. His many pioneering concepts, together with advanced ideas from Applied Kinesiology, have formed the foundation upon which our work is constructed. Dr. Diamond’s best-sellers include Life Energy: Using the Meridians to Unlock the Power of Your Emotions (Continuum International, 1990) and Life Energy and the Emotions (Eden Grove, 1997). Dr. Roger Callahan, the clinical psychologist from whom I received my original introduction to “emotional acupressure,” deserves all the credit history can give him. He was the first to bring these techniques to the public in a substantial way and he did so despite open hostility from his own profession. As you might appreciate, it takes heavy doses of conviction to plow through the ingrained beliefs of conventional thinking. Without Roger Callahan’s missionary drive, we might still be sitting around theorizing about this “interesting thing.” It is upon the shoulders of these giants that I humbly stand. My own contribution to the rapidly expanding field of meridian therapies has been to reduce the unnecessary complexity that inevitably finds its way into new discoveries. EFT is an elegantly simple version of these procedures, which professionals and laypeople alike can use on a variety of problems. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to Adrienne Fowlie, who, through a friend, introduced me to meridian tapping techniques and helped me develop EFT. Many EFT students and practitioners helped make this book possible. I am grateful to all who contributed case studies and reports. Many of the examples given here were published in our email newsletter and are posted in the newsletter’s archives on the EFT website, www.emofree.com. To contact any of our report authors, see the Resources section at the end of this book. 1
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The names given in the reports presented here have often been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. This is especially likely if only first names are given. All of the names given here are as they originally appeared in reports published in our newsletter and on the EFT website. When a person’s full name is given, it has not been changed and is used with permission. In the interests of editorial consistency, reports from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and other countries that use British spelling and punctuation have been changed to conform to standard American English. Many references are made to the V.A., which stands for hospitals and services run by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, especially its Veterans Benefits Administration and Veterans Health Administration. Like most topics of special interest, EFT has its own words and abbreviations that have special meaning for its students and practitioners. You’ll find a list of EFT terms and their definitions in the Glossary on page 269
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Introduction Welcome to the world of EFT. The word world is appropriate because in the last ten years, Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT has become a global phenomenon. Our free manual, which has been translated by EFT practitioners into19 languages, has been downloaded by over half a million people, and another 5,000 to 10,000 download it every month. While most EFT practitioners live in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, the technique is being taught and used in dozens of countries around the world. If you would like to study EFT in Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati (a language of India), Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, or Turkish, simply download the manual in translation. For convenience, the manual is also available as a paperback book sold in retail bookstores and online. Look for The EFT Manual (EFT: Emotional Freedom Techniques) by Gary Craig, published by Energy Psychology Press, 2008. This book will open your eyes to a new way of health and healing. It can alleviate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and keep it from ever returning while simultaneously improving a person’s love life, finances, golf game, and personal happiness. I know that sounds like hype from an infomercial. But it’s true. EFT can do all of these things and more. EFT’s basic premise is that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system. I can’t emphasize this concept enough. When our energy is flowing normally, without obstruction, we feel good in every way. When our energy becomes blocked or stagnant or is otherwise disrupted, negative or damaging emotions can develop along with all types of symptoms, including PTSD. EFT is often called emotional acupuncture because when someone combines gentle tapping on key acupuncture points with focused thoughts about past events, present problems, physical discomfort, or anything else, the underlying emotional factors that contributed in any way to the situation are released along with the acupuncture meridians’ energy blocks. Consider that: EFT often brings relief when nothing else does. Further, it brings relief in about 80 percent of the cases in which it’s tried, and in the hands of a skilled practitioner, its success rate can exceed 95 percent. This is as true for PTSD as it is for physical pain, difficult family relationships, performance anxiety, health problems, and anything else.
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Sometimes the discomfort goes away permanently while in other cases the process needs to be continued. But even if the condition returns, it can usually be reduced or eliminated quickly and effectively just by repeating the procedure. People are often astonished at the results they experience because their belief systems have not yet adapted to this common-sense process. Somehow, relief from PTSD is supposed to be much more difficult than tapping with your fingertips on key acupuncture points. EFT is extremely easy to use. Small children learn it quickly, and kids as young as eight or ten have no trouble teaching it to others. It’s fully portable, requires no special equipment, and can be used at any time of the day or night and under any circumstances. No drugs, surgeries, radiations, or other medical interventions are involved in EFT. In fact, it’s so different from conventional medicine that the medical profession has no way of explaining its results. It doesn’t seem to matter what the patient’s diagnostic tests show. Relief is likely to occur with EFT no matter what the diagnosis. That’s because we are addressing a cause for PTSD that is outside the medical box. This is not to say that the person being treated should ignore his or her physician’s advice. On the contrary, I encourage everyone to consult with qualified health care providers. Quite a few EFT practitioners are physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, dentists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, psychologists, counselors, and other health care providers. As EFT becomes more widely known, it will become easier to find licensed health care practitioners who are knowledgeable about EFT. Using a few minutes of EFT will often end or significantly improve a person’s symptoms. When it doesn’t, there is likely to be some underlying emotional issue that is creating chemicals and/or tension in the body that aggravates the condition. If that’s the case, EFT is ideal for collapsing and neutralizing emotional issues, and it often does the job in minutes. EFT was originally designed for reducing the psychotherapy process from months or years down to minutes or, in complicated cases, a few sessions. What excites me most about EFT is its application to both physical and emotional health and wellness. I’m convinced more than ever that Modern Medicine has walked right past a major contributor to chronic and acute diseases and psychological disorders. Our unresolved angers, fears, and traumas show up in our physical bodies and manifest not only as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder but as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and hundreds of other illnesses.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Just about everyone knows this intuitively. Whenever Los Angeles physician Eric Robins, MD, shows patients how to do EFT, he explains that past traumas can be stored in muscles and organs in the body and that releasing past events and all the emotions they generate may alleviate physical symptoms. Dr. Robins reports that most patients grasp this concept at once, and as soon as they tap away their anger, frustration, or unhappy memories, their symptoms improve. Psychologists have always known that there are powerful connections between mind and body, but conventional talk therapy seldom cures anything, and neither do psychoactive drugs. But balancing the body’s energy can help with everything, and it’s as simple as tapping on your head and torso while focusing on a problem. As Dr. Robins explains, this simple procedure releases or neutralizes the condition’s underlying cause, and as soon as that happens, the condition itself disappears. No technique or procedure works for everyone, but by all accounts, the vast majority of those who try EFT for a specific problem experience significant results. That’s a stunning statistic, one that would be the envy of any prescription drug, surgical procedure, or medical treatment. EFT has come a long way in the last ten years, but it’s not even a blip on conventional medicine’s radar. When it is noticed, it’s often relegated to the “support therapy” category, something to be used later, after conventional treatments. I hope that will soon change. Unless there is a medical emergency that requires immediate attention, EFT should be the FIRST treatment offered. This, in my observation, will dramatically reduce the need for drugs and other conventional procedures. Even in emergencies, such as accidents or injuries, EFT can be extremely helpful, for it helps people think clearly while reducing pain and discomfort. In all situations, it speeds recovery and healing. To satisfy my curiosity about EFT’s effectiveness in the treatment of serious diseases, I recently spent two years traveling to different cities giving three-day seminars in which I worked onstage with actual patients. As a result, I know more than ever that EFT is a truly universal healing tool. The same basic approach that treats PTSD, back pain, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivities works as well for glaucoma, muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, allergies, pulled hamstring muscles, high blood pressure, heart disease, and every other physical ailment you can name. And when it comes to fears, phobias, anger, and anxiety, EFT is in a class by itself. In early 2008, it was my pleasure to work with five fellow EFT practitioners and coaches in a study of 11 combat veterans and family members who suffered from PostTraumatic Stress Disorder. The results of this well-documented research project, which is described in Chapter One, were dramatic. EFT is truly one of the fastest acting and most effective treatments that has ever been used for this difficult problem.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
EFT is so new that it’s still evolving. I encourage practitioners and newcomers alike to experiment – to try it on everything, not just PTSD. It makes sense that if your energy is balanced, everything inside and around you will improve. Please keep in mind that all of the EFT techniques, approaches, formulas, and procedures described here apply not only to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder but to all types of physical, emotional, and mental discomfort. It’s no exaggeration to say that the more you use and practice EFT, the easier it will be to apply it to any problem – quickly, with a minimum of effort, and with success. At its most basic, EFT combines a short description of a problem with an “Acceptance Phrase,” a short Reminder Phrase, and tapping. The procedure usually takes less than a minute. I was trained as an engineer at Stanford University and, like most engineers, I’m an experimentalist at heart. Theories are interesting, but results are what matter. I took Dr. Callahan’s training and became a practitioner of his techniques, and I never ceased to be amazed at the results. That’s when I began to appreciate the connections between the mind, the physical body, and the body’s energy system. Medical doctors study the electrical activity of our brains with electroencephalograms (EEGs) and our hearts with electrocardiograms (ECGs or EKGs) all the time. Electricity flows through us from the moment we’re conceived until we die. Just where and how it flows is a fascinating subject. Thousands of years ago, Chinese physicians mapped the body’s energy paths, the meridians, which are connected by hundreds of key points. They perfected a system of pulse diagnosis, in which pulses coursing through the wrist reveal whether a meridian’s energy is moving smoothly and in the right direction or is blocked, slowed, or moving incorrectly. When a meridian’s key points are stimulated with the incredibly thin needles used in acupuncture, with burning herbs held just above the surface of the skin (called moxibustion), or by fingertip massage (called acupressure), the blocks that interfere with the free flow of Chi, or energy, are removed. As soon as that happens, energy flows and the action or efficiency of the organ linked to the affected meridian improves. In this way, acupuncturists routinely treat all types of disease and discomfort. In EFT, gentle fingertip tapping on key acupuncture points clears energy blocks along the body’s meridians. That by itself would improve health and well being. But EFT does much more. When tapping is combined with focused thought, especially emotional thought about physical symptoms or past events that are in any way linked to them, the symptoms clear up and so do the emotions that contributed to them. This is why EFT’s results can be so lasting. Once emotions are cleared, they no longer trigger symptoms. The result truly is emotional freedom.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
How to learn EFT There are several ways to learn EFT. You can start by reading the EFT Manual, which can be freely downloaded from www.emofree.com or purchased from retail and online booksellers as a paperback book, The EFT Manual (EFT: Emotional Freedom Techniques) by Gary Craig, published by Energy Psychology Press, 2008. The manual describes the science behind EFT, its basic procedure, tips for applying it, case histories, how to correct factors that can interfere with EFT, shortcuts, and recommendations for improving results. You can read the entire manual on your computer, but most students print it out or have it printed at a copy center, then place it in a three-ring binder or have it bound for convenience. Some add blank pages for note taking, or they use Post-It notes and highlighters to mark important sections for review. My favorite way is to watch our DVDs, which show EFT in action in a variety of settings, from a hotel swimming pool (“Dave’s Fear of Water”) to the Veterans Administration Hospital where Vietnam War veterans used EFT to treat their PTSD (“Six Days at the V.A.”), to live seminars in which people with all kinds of problems volunteered to be treated onstage. To help spread the word about EFT, these DVDs are economically priced, and they come with my written permission to make up to 100 copies of each and every disc to give away. The official EFT website, www.emofree.com, offers many resources including my online tutorial, which is a series of instructions, explanations, and exercises that can help you move from the most basic and fundamental EFT techniques to what I call the art of delivery, the combination of skill and talent that comes with experience and imagination. Over 50 books about EFT have been written by practitioners, students, health care professionals, and other experts, providing instructions and all types of examples. Still another way to learn EFT is to attend a workshop or demonstration conducted by an EFT instructor or practitioner. These are held in libraries, adult schools, restaurants, private homes, clinics, conference centers, offices, meeting rooms, and wherever people gather. You will get more out of these workshops if you first watch the DVDs. And there are many opportunities to learn EFT and hone your skills online. My EFT Insights Newsletter is called “The Heartbeat of EFT” because it features breaking news, reports from users on every topic imaginable, tips from our website, and links to practitioners. In addition, dozens of EFT practitioners have their own websites featuring helpful reports, and there are several EFT-related forums and chat groups whose members support each other with questions, answers, recommendations, and suggestions.
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This book is designed to help you learn EFT and immediately take it to a new level. Throughout its chapters, you’ll find explanations, examples, ideas, and scripts you can borrow. Best of all, the reports shared by EFT practitioners and students are actual examples of EFT in action.
Why EFT often works where nothing else will EFT approaches stress, anxiety, fear, pain, trauma, and discomfort in ways that are completely different from conventional medicine, and that is why it frequently provides major relief where prescription drugs or conventional therapies fail. Medical schools train physicians and psychiatrists to look at our bodies as bags of chemicals and body parts with little or no emphasis on their energetic nature. Instead, doctors examine X-rays, blood tests, and brain scans to discover why we have pain or feel anxious or depressed. Albert Einstein told us over 100 years ago that everything, including our bodies, is composed of energy. That is what his famous E=mc2 formula is all about. It has had a profound impact on science over the last century. Nonetheless, Western medical schools basically ignore it and continue to focus on the body’s chemical nature. That is an astonishing oversight. Why did we turn our backs on this most important scientific discovery? Was it because there’s not much money in it? Was it due to the influence of the drug companies? Who knows? Our bodies abound with energy. Subtle amounts of electricity (energy) circulate throughout our bodies and are vital for brain, heart, and organ function. Without this essential energy our bodies would come to an instant halt. Every physician knows this, yet the medical folks merely measure these energies using EEGs, EKGs, and other medical equipment. They don’t use them for healing. While Western medicine has not yet determined how or why acupuncture works, several medical studies conducted in the United States and Europe have shown that it does, and one of the most recent, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on September 24, 2007, proves that even “pretend” acupuncture is effective. In this study, 1,162 patients with low back pain received ten 30-minute sessions of acupuncture administered according to traditional Chinese medicine (387 patients); sham acupuncture, consisting of superficial needling at non-acupuncture points (387 patients); or a conventional combination of drugs, physical therapy, and exercise (388 patients). After six months, the response rates were high for the two acupuncture groups and much lower for the conventional therapy group. In fact, the researchers concluded that the positive effect of both real (47.6 percent) and sham (44.2 percent) acupuncture was almost identical – and both were nearly twice as effective as conventional therapy, which brought relief to only 27.4 percent of the patients who used it. 8
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
These are fascinating results, for they strongly suggest that “pretend” acupuncture removes energy blocks and improves the flow of chi. EFT can be considered a “pretend” acupuncture, too, and in addition to stimulating real acupuncture points, it combines that stimulation with intention or focused thought, which makes the treatment even more effective. Medical schools provide little or no training in understanding or treating the emotional causes or illness, disease, or discomfort. They just make an occasional reference to the fact that stress aggravates certain problems, and that’s as far as they go. Yet our emotions have a profound effect on our physical symptoms. We all know this intuitively. For example, if I threw a live rattlesnake in your lap, wouldn’t you have an instant emotion – such as fear – that would pump major amounts of adrenaline throughout your body? When you are angry, doesn’t your blood pressure go up? Doesn’t your heart pound faster? Don’t the veins in your neck stand out? Doesn’t your face flush? During sexual arousal – an emotion – doesn’t your body change in profound ways? And don’t negative emotions sometimes cause your stomach to tighten or your throat to constrict? These are obvious everyday proofs that our emotions profoundly impact our bodies, yet these clear causes for our various symptoms escape the medical profession. Why aren’t energy and emotions the front-running candidates as causes of pain and disease? Physicians are taught early on in their training that the brain produces a wide array of chemicals that depend on our emotional moods. In fact, our brains are often referred to by the medical folks as “the world’s most prolific pharmacy.” Negative emotions produce buckets of “negative chemicals” that circulate throughout the body causing excess acidity, chemical imbalances, and the like. It doesn’t take a genius to predict the effect on our health of this consistent barrage of chemical insults. It is like putting bad gas in our automobiles. The eventual breakdown is both predictable and inevitable. Positive emotions, on the other hand, generate healing chemicals and serve to produce balance. Have you ever noticed that love, laughter, and joy tend to reduce pain? Perhaps you can now see why, as EFT moves our systems from negative to positive emotions, it often provides powerful healing. With these thoughts in mind, we see that the cause of our physical pains and symptoms must include our negative emotions because, without them, the resulting chemical imbalances would not occur.
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Yet, the medical folks approach this problem AS THOUGH THE UNWANTED CHEMICALS ARE THE PROBLEM. That’s why they offer drugs – additional chemicals – to counteract the effects of the unwanted chemicals. To them, that is the solution. However, these body chemicals are NOT the problem. They are instead SYMPTOMS of the problem, and common sense would suggest that long-term, lasting relief comes from addressing the CAUSE (the negative emotions) and not the SYMPTOMS (the resulting chemicals). That’s what this book is about. I am privileged to count many dedicated physicians as my personal friends. I have endless respect for their many talents and superb training regarding the chemical nature of the body. Many medical discoveries are impressive indeed and my doctor friends have countless wonderments at their disposal. But their approach is limited. It focuses on chemistry and does little or nothing about the energetic and emotional causes of pain and disease. When, for example, was the last time your physician spent any quality time asking you about your anger, fear, trauma, grief, and the like? Doesn’t he or she just prescribe drugs or other conventional treatments instead? That is where EFT comes in. It’s easy to learn, easy to use, versatile, and highly effective in the treatment of PTSD. Whether you are new to EFT or already an experienced “tapper,” and whether you plan to use EFT in your profession or simply for yourself or to help a loved one, it is my pleasure to share this book with you. I know without a doubt that EFT can help just about anyone take control of his or her health and happiness and that the instructions and recommendations given here can completely transform and improve lives and relationships.
Why I Wrote This Book My main reason for writing this book is to give instruction on a method that will help our veterans and others who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in a way that nothing else has. I wrote this book so that mental health professionals and trauma specialists around the world can learn about EFT and some of the research that proves its effectiveness in the treatment of PTSD. I wrote it for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, formerly called the Veterans Administration, because by adopting EFT, V.A. medical centers can alleviate military PTSD in record time.
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I wrote this book for the public. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is much in the news, and almost all of us have at least a few symptoms, major or minor. Knowing how to use EFT to help ourselves and others is a precious gift. I wrote this book so that veterans themselves can use it, and so can police, fire fighters, medical workers, and others whose careers involve stress and trauma, as well as for their spouses and families. Ideally, veterans and others with PTSD will use EFT as homework between sessions with a professional therapist, but if veterans do not want to work with, cannot afford, or do not trust professionals, they can use it on their own. If this is your situation, please study Chapter Thirteen before trying EFT. In 1994, I spent six days with Vietnam War veterans living in a Los Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital. The sessions, which were videotaped, involved patients who could not sleep through the night, whose lives were haunted by vivid intrusive memories, and who suffered from mood swings, tremors, paranoid thoughts, and high anxiety. All of them had undergone conventional psychotherapy, some for as long as 20 or 30 years, but neither the therapy nor the psychoactive prescription drugs they took freed them from the extreme emotional pain that their memories generated. Not only did EFT accomplish that goal, but when the veterans tried it on their own, it worked just as well as when my colleague and I guided their sessions. That was the beginning of my deep appreciation for EFT’s powerful effects on old or stored emotional traumas. More recently, in March of 2008, I worked with five other EFT practitioners and coaches in a research study involving nine veterans and two of their family members, all of whom suffered from PTSD or related issues. This five-day conference, which was filmed for a forthcoming movie and which was documented with psychological tests, produced equally impressive results. Throughout EFT’s short history, we have received numerous reports from practitioners and beginners alike describing how a few sessions of EFT tapping reduced and then eliminated PTSD stemming from war experiences, terrorist attacks, accidents, injuries, emotional abuse, physical violence, and other damaging events. I find it fascinating that an affliction that has disrupted someone’s life for years or even decades can completely disappear in a few EFT sessions, in a single day, or in some cases less than an hour. In recent years, the problems associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder have increasingly been in the news. Everyone is looking for something, anything, that will help those who live with constant stress, fear, and anxiety, including the families and friends of those most affected. It’s true that much of this book focuses on military veterans, because the most obvious and noticed forms of PTSD occur in that population, but I’d like to remind everyone that PTSD is PTSD no matter what the cause – and that EFT works for all types of trauma as well as hundreds of other conditions.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
I invite you to join me on a journey through a technique that is easy to learn, easy to use, and produces remarkable benefits for all whose lives are touched by PostTraumatic Stress Disorder.
A Vital Guide for Reading This Book In a nutshell, EFT is an emotional version of acupuncture, the centuries-old healing art still practiced in Traditional Chinese Medicine, except that we don't use needles. Instead, we stimulate the body’s acupuncture meridians by tapping on them with our fingertips. This often brings forth astonishing results that are likely to be far beyond your expectations. The procedure is easy to learn, easy to use, and easy to share with others. You will learn the basics and more in this book. EFT is good for everything. While this book focuses on EFT’s use for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, I must emphasize that the treatment of trauma represents but a tiny fraction of EFT’s long list of successes. For example, EFT is good for pain and physical symptoms of all kinds and it often works where nothing else will. It is also astonishingly useful for treating emotional issues of every type, and it reduces the typical psychotherapy process from months or years down to minutes or hours. Further, those wishing to improve their performance in sports, business, public speaking, or the bedroom will find EFT a valuable aid. This book is like an encyclopedia. It is so comprehensive that it could easily be considered an “EFT Encyclopedia for PTSD.” Most readers will find it a priceless resource because it contains approaches and concepts that you will not find in other health-related books, magazines, or reports. This book is a how-to guide for counselors and health care practitioners. Those who already work with clients or patients whose lives are affected by PTSD know how time-consuming conventional therapies are and how limited their results can be. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and other experts who have witnessed EFT first-hand are usually stunned at how quickly it works and how effective it is. Although basic EFT is incredibly simple, when we work with complex issues like PTSD, there is much to be said for “the art of delivery,” the shortcuts and sophisticated presentations that distinguish novices from experts. You can learn the basics of EFT in just a few minutes, but it takes time, study, and practice to understand and utilize its nuances. The examples, case reports, and descriptions presented here can help anyone go beyond the basics while incorporating EFT into his or her counseling sessions for improved results. This book is a how-to guide for those who suffer from PTSD. There is much debate among health care practitioners as to what causes Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it should be treated, with many warnings for those who suffer from PTSD against attempting to treat this problem themselves. However, I am convinced that if you follow
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
the step-by-step guidelines described in this book, the problems, complications, or adverse side effects experienced in other treatment methods are unlikely to materialize. Your best approach is to work with a counselor or practitioner who has experience with both PTSD and EFT, but if such support is not available, there is much you can do on your own to safely and effectively address your symptoms and their underlying causes. This book contains creative approaches written by many EFT experts. EFT is an “open source” healing tool that encourages experimentation. This means that we start with an easy-to-learn, simple procedure that works beautifully in the majority of cases. After that, anyone can experiment with the process and develop other refinements. Thus, for your expanded education, we are sprinkling within this book the opinions, experiences, and creative approaches of EFT students and practitioners. Depending on your interest level, previous experience, and individual responses to EFT, there are several ways to read this book. If you are a “Newbie,” or newcomer to EFT, I hope you may wish to start at the beginning and read it all the way through. By the time you reach the end, you will have a thorough understanding of EFT and its beneficial effects on PTSD. If you are interested in the background of EFT and some of the technical, scientific, or engineering explanations that I’m fond of sharing, download our free EFT Manual from the official EFT website, www.emofree.com. This book was designed as a companion to the EFT Manual and you’ll learn something valuable from both. If you’re an experienced EFTer, peruse the Table of Contents and go where your curiosity and interest take you. One of my goals in writing this book is to provide as many interesting examples as possible, so that all of us – including EFT instructors and practitioners – can add to our repertoire of approaches and strategies for making EFT more versatile and effective. If you have PTSD symptoms yourself and would like to use EFT to alleviate them, please follow the guidelines in Chapter Thirteen. Our DVDs are vital to your comprehension of EFT. I would like to emphasize that this book and the EFT Manual do not contain everything there is to know about EFT. There is no substitute for our DVDs, which show EFT in action in seminars conducted throughout the United States. The DVDs offer many live demonstrations of relief from stress and trauma, including war-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. For a complete description of the contents of each DVD, visit www.emofree.com and click on Buying DVDs. Once you understand the basics by watching the first hour of the first DVD in our introductory set, you can simply tap along with an endless number of sessions designed for your use, learning important information while being entertained.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
As I like to remind everyone, there is more human drama, inspiration, and humor in our videotaped seminars than there is in any reality television show!
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Chapter One:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops after exposure to a frightening or terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm took place or was threatened. It occurs in people of any age, including children and adolescents. Family members of victims can develop the condition as well. Depression, other anxiety disorders, and alcohol or drug abuse often accompany PTSD. Definitions of PTSD vary, but most are based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th. Edition, better known as the DSM-IV, which is published by the American Psychiatric Association. An official diagnosis of PTSD usually requires that at least one or more symptoms from each of the following categories be present for at least a month and that symptoms interfere with the patient leading a normal life. The person relives the event through nightmares or flashbacks, or the person has very strong mental and physical reactions when reminded of the event. The person avoids activities, thoughts, feelings, and conversations that remind him or her of the traumatic event or events, is unable to remember details about the event, or feels emotionally numb and detached from the present moment. The person loses interest in important activities, feels alone, is unable to experience normal emotions, or feels there is nothing to look forward to. The person can never relax, has trouble sleeping, feels irritable, overreacts when startled, can’t concentrate, feels angry, and tries to be on guard at all times. However, the definition of PTSD continues to evolve, and I think it’s safe to say that anyone whose thoughts or behavior have been affected by a difficult event or situation is a likely candidate. To me, there is no dividing line between PTSD and trauma. Whether or not someone has been labeled with a PTSD diagnosis, the technique described here can help. Events that trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural disasters, manmade disasters, accidents, and military combat. Those experiencing the most pronounced PTSD symptoms include war veterans; survivors of terrorist attacks; survivors of devastating hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis or tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, and other natural phenomena; plus survivors of accidents, rape, physical and sexual abuse, and other crimes; survivors of political persecution; immigrants fleeing violence
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
or disaster; police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, rescue workers; hospital staff; and anyone who witnesses traumatic events. Physical symptoms such as insomnia, headaches, immune system disorders, chest pain, numbness, gastrointestinal distress, dizziness, fatigue, weight loss, weight gain, and other symptoms that stem from stress and anxiety often accompany PTSD. It isn’t easy living with someone who suffers from PTSD and its complications, which can include alcohol or drug abuse or addiction, chronic anxiety, depression, increased suicide risk, guilt, low self-esteem, panic attacks, fears, phobias, domestic violence, and unemployment, which is why so many spouses, children, parents, other relatives, and close friends of those who have PTSD develop symptoms themselves. PTSD is often accompanied by physical injuries, illnesses, and long hospitalizations. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is believed to be significantly under-reported in the United States, so any statistics we read are guesses at best. In the 1980s, 40 percent of Vietnam War veterans were estimated to have problems with drug abuse and almost half of those veterans had been divorced at least once. Today military researchers estimate that 12 to 20 percent of Iraq war veterans experience the recurring nightmares, heightened anxiety, and emotional numbness that are synonymous with PTSD, and that half of all mental health disability claims involve it. Some military psychiatrists report that the number of U.S. troops requiring treatment for PTSD may exceed 200,000. Others suggest that the military’s PTSD population may be 27 percent of noncommissioned officers serving three or more tours. The conventional treatments for PTSD include group discussions, or talk therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy, in which changes in thought produce changes in behavior; and exposure therapy, in which the person gradually and repeatedly relives or reexperiences a frightening event under controlled conditions. By far the most widely used treatments for PTSD are pharmaceutical, including the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other antidepressants. While conventional approaches to PTSD do help some patients, their overall success rate is low, and even when they work well, progress is slow and involves ongoing treatment sessions. In contrast, EFT can bring almost immediate results. I don’t mean that everyone with PTSD will experience instant relief, but the majority of cases respond to EFT much more quickly than they do to conventional treatments. On March 31, 2005, the Union Tribune in San Diego, California, published a story by staff writer Rick Rogers about how social workers, chaplains, and psychiatrists from
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Naval Medical Center San Diego and Camp Pendleton were learning EFT from instructor Sue Hannibal to help combat veterans alleviate psychological wounds. In the article, Jeannie Ertl, a senior clinical social worker at the medical center, said, "EFT is tremendous for treating anxiety associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." At that time she had tried the method on 15 patients, 12 of whom found it helpful at relieving or eliminating symptoms such as anxiety and stress. Ertl used EFT in conjunction with more conventional therapies. The article then described Seaman Wilbur Hurley, a 20-year-old corpsman who returned to Camp Pendleton the previous October after witnessing a young Marine kill himself while serving in Iraq. “I felt like a black cloud was over my head every day,” Hurley said. “I had vivid dreams of walking through fields of gore. I isolated myself from friends and family.” Soon the nightmares were accompanied by panic attacks that interfered with his driving. Following a friend’s advice, Hurley made an appointment with Hannibal, who introduced him to EFT. “Once I started doing the tapping, an overwhelming calm came over me,” Hurley said. “I had no cares or worries in the world. In fact I left Sue’s office singing. It was pretty much the greatest day of my life.” Hurley later concentrated on the worst cases he had seen while patching up Marines in Ramadi as well as focusing on the suicide to see whether anxiety would trigger another panic attack. “But I felt nothing,” he said. “It wasn’t there anymore.” In my experience, Seaman Hurley’s response to EFT tapping is typical. People with all kinds of traumatic memories have been able to tap their stress and anxiety away so that the memories, even of unimaginably terrible events, no longer haunt them. ~~~~ I’m always interested in looking at PTSD from the perspective of those who suffer from its symptoms. The following is from a combat veteran who learned EFT in May of 2008. His report speaks for itself, as do the comments added by his wife.
A Marine overcomes PTSD by Sgt. Trent Miller I spent 12 years in the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army. I was deployed to the Middle East four times, including to Desert Storm and OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom). I have been home in Alexander, Arkansas, near Little Rock, since June of 2004. When I first got back I was having a lot of trouble readjusting to things at home. I thought that I would be able to shake this set of problems plaguing me, but they kept getting worse. I would suffer from the inability to sleep, relax, attend 17
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
gatherings, or be around any kind of stress. I would forget almost everything. I just wasn't myself anymore. I went to the V.A. for help, which all vets should, but now I know why I had heard so many bad things about the V.A. I was prescribed medicine after medicine, dosage after dosage, but to no avail. My doctor said the next step was admitting myself to the V.A. hospital for electro-shock therapy. There was no way I would subject myself to this. So, after four years of fighting with myself and the V.A., I was awarded a 60-percent disability. I wasn't feeling any better, had thoughts of suicide, and my soul mate, my wife of ten years, was ready to leave me. I don't blame her for those thoughts. I was drinking heavily, mean towards her, and reclusive. While on a trip to Germany, my wife heard of EFT from a friend. Upon her return and with some research, she found a local practitioner, Dr. Steve Manire. She made contact with him and I agreed to meet him. He came to our home and told me about EFT. I wasn't exactly sold on the idea, but he said the results would be wondrous. I agreed to try. After the first two-hour session, I felt different. My body wasn't tired anymore, and I felt like I had taken my first breath of air in four years. My body was alive and tingling. I thanked Dr. Manire for his time and agreed to continue working with him twice a week. I no longer have issues with sleeping or anxiety, and I actually look forward to the next day. I'm a different person. My wife and I are together and a lot stronger now. Dr. Manire has even been helping my wife with some of the issues she has faced since my return. I strongly recommend EFT to any vet. This message is from Trent’s wife, Gisela Miller: How do you help a stubborn ex-Marine who suffers from PTSD? For more than four years I tried to find help for my husband on how to handle life with PTSD but had no success in finding anything except medications that didn’t work. I remember sitting in the big, ugly, uncomfortable waiting room at the V.A., looking around for any kind of brochure or information that would help us understand and cope with PTSD. To my big surprise, there was nothing. We were on our own. I was at the point where I had no energy left, was exhausted, and saw no end in sight. PTSD was destroying our marriage. I felt that I had tried everything, but things kept getting worse. When I mentioned to my best friend that I was going to file for divorce, she suggested giving EFT a try. She had mentioned it before but I kept thinking, "Yeah, right, he's going to laugh at me once I tell him somebody is going to tap on his body to make him feel better."
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
But he did agree to try it, and in his first session he got amazing results. It was unbelievable – his facial features appeared more relaxed, he smiled, and he looked more peaceful. He now sleeps better, stays calm, no longer has anger outbursts, and is much more patient. I cannot thank EFT enough for what it has done for us. It literally saved our marriage. I fell in love with my husband again. He is now the person he used to be, the man I fell in love with when I first met him. Even though it may take a while for him to completely recover, at least I see now that there is a light at the end of the tunnel! If you are married to a veteran who suffers from PTSD, please give EFT a try. Just a month after Trent began his EFT sessions, Dr. Manire reported, “I saw him again tonight, and he was doing so well that we really couldn't come up with anything to tap on! It looks as though Gisela’s light at the end of the tunnel has arrived.” ~~~~
Testing EFT with combat veterans To put EFT to the test under controlled conditions, in March 2008 I brought nine veterans and two of their family members, all of whom were assessed for PTSD and related conditions, to San Francisco for a research study in which they worked with EFT practitioners Carol Look, Lindsay Kenny, Sophia Cayer, Lori Lorenz, Ingrid Dinter, and myself. All group discussions and EFT sessions were conducted on-camera for a documentary movie. I found the participants by posting a notice on our EFT website asking for volunteers. Right away I got 30 or 40 responses, but most of those were from friends or relatives of veterans with PTSD. Only a few vets applied on their own behalf, which is what I expected from a group that is cautious and skeptical by nature. My goal was to include veterans from several different wars, not just recent conflicts, and I especially wanted to work with vets who had serious problems with PTSD. I didn’t want mild PTSD symptoms. My main consideration as I went through the applications and interviewed people by phone was, “How challenging can this case be?” Our observers included a psychiatrist and a psychologist, both of whom work with PTSD and both of whom agreed that my choices were “over the top” in severity. I also wanted to include some family members and women as well as men. The 11 participants ranged in age from 26 to 61. Four were women, two of whom were veterans. One was the mother of a young vet who was also a participant, and she had some severe PTSD issues herself as a result of dealing with her son’s behavior after he returned from Iraq. Another was a participant’s wife, who had terrible migraine
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
headaches and lived in a constant state of fear because whenever her husband became upset, he would run around the house cocking a loaded gun. The veterans had fought in Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Iraq. Their physical disabilities included old injuries, ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gherig’s disease), and osteoarthirits. Two used wheelchairs. When I first met everyone, I could feel and practically see a dark cloud hanging over the room. These people were curious enough to attend but they were extremely cautious, withdrawn, and doubting. None of them expected EFT to work. At the end, they gave us a standing ovation. I figure that if EFT can achieve spectacular success among combat veterans, it can be just as successful with everyone else. The veterans’ study used standard psychological evaluations – the SA-45 (Symptom Assessment 45) and PCL-M (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist - Military) – as well as sleep diaries. Baseline measurements were obtained 30 days prior to treatment, immediately before treatment began, at the conclusion of the five-day study, and 30 days and 90 days after that.. The PCL-M is a self-assessment tool used by the military to score PTSD. It lists 17 items and asks respondents to report how much they were bothered by a problem in the last month using a 1-to-5 scale, with 1 representing “not at all” and 5 representing “extremely.” A sample question is, “In the past month, how much have you been bothered by repeated, disturbing memories, thoughts, or images of a stressful military experience?” The SA-45 is a 45-question assessment of nine psychological symptoms including anxiety, depression, and hostility. Because insomnia and nightmares are common among veterans, participants completed a seven-day sleep diary showing how alert they felt upon waking, how many times they woke during the night, the quality of their function during the day, and how they assessed the quality of their sleep. The subjects worked with EFT for two or three hours per day for five days, after which they were re-evaluated. By that time their test scores for PTSD had dropped so significantly that they were now in the “normal” range, and their self-reported insomnia also decreased. When the subjects were re-tested 30 days later, they retained almost all of the gains they experienced during the study. In the following graph, the first column shows the participants’ PTSD scores prior to treatment, which were then very high, over 60. The middle column shows how after treatment, their PTSD scores fell dramatically, to just over 20. Thirty days after treatment, as shown by the third column, their PTSD scores rose slightly but remained well below their original highs. The green at the bottom of each column shows the lowest possible scores for the tests.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Before Treatment
After Treatment
30 Days After
Time Period Lowest Possible Score
Participant Values
One of the study’s subjects, a man in his late fifties, gave us this report: “I’m a Vietnam veteran and I suffer from PTSD. At the V.A., I was also diagnosed as bipolar or manic depressive. I have nightmares. I spent since 1997 in hospitals and institutions. I take meds for bipolar. It’s hard to get any alternative treatment at the V.A.. My world wasn’t that great. Everything in my life was a major challenge. When I came to the EFT event, I had no clue what I was walking into. I had never been to the west coast or on a plane. I hate flying. “One of my Vietnam War memories involved an enemy attack where I had to pull bodies out of the rubble. I talked about it at the EFT event and the intensity was so bad I had to leave the room because I felt I was going to puke. Now that EFT has been done on it, I can think about the same incident with little or no intensity. It is no longer part of my dreams. That’s a kind of freedom I never thought I would have. Other war memories faded as well. The event was outstanding. “I’ve been doing EFT ever since then. The changes in my life are 100 percent totally different. Once you start EFT it’s a totally different way to handle things. Everything like sleep and nightmares and suicide thoughts all come into a place where a total turnaround happens. I can’t explain it. I want to help other veterans get this stuff. I’ll go on a plane anywhere to help other veterans with EFT.” Additional research is going on as well. In one study, Iraq War veterans undergoing six biweekly hour-long EFT sessions experienced improvements in their depression, anxiety, and PTSD scores. In another, a single hour-long EFT session resulted in large drops in blood cortisol levels, indicating a positive effect on stress biochemistry.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Follow-up studies of most PTSD therapies have shown that improvements can be temporary, with symptoms returning over time. But six months after EFT treatments for phobias and anxiety, subjects continued to show improvement. I expect that the same will be true for those who use EFT to relieve their PTSD symptoms. At the same time, because PTSD can be a complex problem with many layers or aspects, it’s a mistake to think of EFT as a one-time cure-all treatment. Much depends on the skill of the practitioner, rapport between client and practitioner, the ability of the practitioner to help the client focus on specific memories, and the ability of the client to continue to practice EFT on his or her own. But in the vast majority of cases, EFT is a fast, effective way to take the edge off of PTSD symptoms and related emotions and conditions.
Can EFT cure PTSD? From time to time, EFT practitioners use the term "cure" when they describe the results that they or their clients obtained while tapping for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In conventional PTSD circles, “cure” is a no-no word. While the reasons vary, the essence of the resistance is that PTSD is considered incurable by those who have never had true success with it, which includes most conventional practitioners. To use the word "cure" is to, presumably, hold out false hope to the afflicted. It borders on unethical behavior and charlatanism to those who have never cured a single case of PTSD. Frankly, I don't see anything wrong with the word "cure." Seems pretty accurate to me. Besides, what else should we call it when the problem goes away and doesn't come back? If it weren't for the disbelievers, I think "cure" would be right on. But to appease the disbelievers until they have more evidence, how about these acronyms? PSPN = Possible Suspension of the Problem for Now AHS = Apparent Hibernation of the Symptoms Maybe we should just call it Luck or Magic – anything but "cure." Geez! To help us deal with the term, here are some comments from Dr. Eric Robins. Dear Gary, Perhaps my M.D. credentials can add some light to the dialogue you are having regarding the word "cure." In standard medicine, when dealing with the majority of the cancers, if a person is disease-free for five years, this in most cases is considered a cure. I'm not sure why cases of psychological healing are held to a different standard.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
I have personally dealt with four cases of PTSD and numerous cases of longterm abuse. In each case, after one or two EFT sessions, all of the trauma symptoms were gone. In fact, with many of these cases, the patients' physical complaints diminished or disappeared after we cleared the emotional aspects. I have one-year and longer follow-ups on these patients with no recurrence of symptoms, either physical or psychological. I believe that for true psychological change to occur, the change must happen at the unconscious level. For me, I know I am working at the unconscious level by asking people where they feel the trauma or the emotions IN THE BODY. I know that I have cleared the problem at the unconscious level when the person cannot feel the trauma or emotions in the body as they once did. This is a far cry from talk therapy, where most change is made at the conscious level. With conscious changes, the person may try to think or cognize differently, but there is little change in the way clients feel problems in their bodies. EFT is one of very few modalities that cause a true and lasting PHYSIOLOGICAL change in the body. It is a welcome addition to my practice of standard medicine. Sincerely, Eric Robins, MD ~~~~ One of the observers at our veterans’ PTSD event was Stephen S. Nagy, M.D., a psychiatrist who is Board-certified in Adult Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. For the past two and a half years, Dr. Nagy has dealt primarily with patients who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Prior to that, he had extensive experience both in private practice and in community mental health settings. He has worked with severely and chronically psychiatrically ill individuals throughout his career.
Observing Veterans with PTSD being treated with EFT by Stephen S. Nagy, M.D. I first heard about EFT from friends who talked about it as a treatment that is different, simple, and effective. I then met a couple of EFT practitioners and watched some of the instructional DVDs that are available from Gary Craig. I was especially interested in “Dave’s Fear of Water,” an episode in which Gary Craig and Dave, a man who was too afraid to even put his face in the water, stood in a hotel swimming pool while they tapped about his phobia. A few minutes later, while watching Dave relax, laugh, and swim happily in the pool, I thought that that this videotaped session was either totally fraudulent and a hoax, or that EFT was something I needed to take a closer look at. When I learned about the event being planned to treat veterans with PTSD in San Francisco in March 2008, I contacted Gary to ask if I could attend as an
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
observer. He invited me to come My travel, hotel, and other expenses were all paid for by me, and I did not receive compensation of any kind. I wanted to be a completely impartial observer. I spent most of the week sitting with the film crew as the EFT practitioners did their work. I was able to speak with the vets and the practitioners as well as attend the daily meetings to discuss treatment strategies and approaches. I had full access to the whole process from start to finish. When I asked Gary how he chose the participants, he said he looked for the sickest people he could find. I would say that those who attended were representative of people who are severely afflicted with PTSD. It was definitely not a group of the “worried well.” What’s interesting about PTSD in combat veterans is that it often takes about two years from the time they return home to fully develop symptoms. People deal with this type of stress however they can. The traditional approach is to get very, very drunk and stay that way. It’s often more extreme in the military than what you see in civilian settings, but the problem of what to do with powerful emotions that remain active even though they have nothing to do with what’s going on at the present moment is part of the combat veteran’s daily experience. When I arrived in San Francisco, I didn’t assume that anyone would be instantly cured, but I was open to the possibility that at least some of the participants might experience improvement. By then I had reached the conclusion that EFT could probably help relieve PTSD symptoms, but I wondered whether the improvements would be temporary or permanent, and to what degree symptoms would return again or have a risk of returning. I also wondered whether this intense but short period of treatment, such as just a few minutes or maybe an hour or two, could help someone who had been suffering for many years after a painful event. If so, it would be a real breakthrough. The conventional methods of treating PTSD have a limited set of expectations. One hopes that one can improve target symptoms like depression, anxiety, and nightmares, so that life becomes manageable. In the best setting, patients receive a combination of psychopharmacology, talk therapy, individual or one-onone therapy, and some type of group therapy. Symptoms of PTSD are rated using a self-reporting questionnaire, named the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, Military version, in which seventeen symptoms are rated from 1 to 5 by the individual, where the scale is: 1 = Not at all 2 = A little bit 3 = Moderately 4 = Quite a bit 5 = Extremely
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Thus, the highest possible score is an 85 and an asymptomatic person would score a 17. The recognized scoring criteria require a score of 55 to make a diagnosis of military PTSD. A 5- or 10-point change in a PCL-M score is regarded as a significant improvement. But in my experience, improvements occur only for a short time because various triggers can rekindle symptoms that frighten the person who has this diagnosis. If one is honest, one would have to say that PTSD is understood to be a permanent condition, one that waxes and wanes in symptom intensity. Psychiatry views PTSD as a permanent change. Several interventions may lessen symptoms, including individual or group counseling, mindfulness training, and psychotropic medications. But this diagnosis is recognized as a basis for granting an individual permanent disability. I believe that anyone who has worked with individuals with PTSD sees that symptoms can wax and wane, and the goal of all conventional treatment is to reduce symptoms of hyper-arousal, anxiety, and mood swings to the point that the afflicted individual improves. But no conventional treatment views this as a potentially reversible condition. My own personal struggle as I have worked with individuals with PTSD has been to wish for a technique that could take them back to the state of emotional freedom and comfort that they had prior to their traumatizing experiences. It’s as if their involuntary nervous system, which regulates the fight-flight and relaxation responses, got stuck in fight-flight, so that the individual has a very difficult time relaxing. With the most successful conventional treatment, the person’s symptoms might subside to a point where he or she can resume a normal life, but there is always the risk that something will happen, such as an anniversary, a television news story, a newspaper or magazine article, 4th of July fireworks, or some other event that triggers memories that come flooding back, and the symptoms of hyper-arousal, sleeplessness, fearfulness, and mood cycling all come back, too. These symptoms can be quite severe and take time and further treatment to subside. I was Board-certified in Adult Psychiatry in 1982, and in the years since then I have seen many enthusiasms for conventional and alternative therapies come and go. None of them ever had as its expectation the goal that the person would be asymptomatic at the end of treatment. However, in several of the EFT sessions that I observed in San Francisco, this is what happened. Vets who arrived in a great deal of pain saw either a complete resolution of their symptoms or a very sizable reduction. I noticed that those with recent traumas got faster results, but even those who had been wrestling with inner demons for 30 or 40 years got quite good relief. Also, those whose war experiences weren’t layered onto serious traumas from childhood got faster results than those whose war traumas were complicated by aspects from the past. I know that Gary Craig says that all traumas, however complicated, can eventually respond to EFT, especially with perseverance and the help of a skilled practitioner. If this is true, then this
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
treatment offers much more therapeutic efficacy than any other approach that I have ever seen. We started on Sunday night and I was able to sit in with the staff as they reviewed the participants’ histories and the symptoms that were going to be targeted for treatment. I felt it was very important to have some follow-up after one month and again after three months, and the vets completed the PCL-M at these times. The selfreports suggest that folks who got relief from their symptoms have sustained that improvement over time. They were all encouraged to continue tapping on their own after the week was over. It’s of course hard to know exactly what they’re doing and whether they are continuing to do EFT on themselves, but their reports indicate that they are markedly better than they were when they first came to the week of treatment, which was in some cases after years of conventional therapy. When asked whether results like those that I witnessed in San Francisco would be considered a success if they were produced by conventional treatment, I have to say that if conventional treatment produced these same results, it would be considered to be miraculous, unexpected, and amazing. What appeals to me about EFT is that it seems to give people a chance at putting old burdens aside and continuing to move forward in their lives. Many vets with severe PTSD exist indoors and away from human contact, always on guard and on alert, without the ability to enjoy life or find a fulfilling role. What makes this treatment attractive, after one leaps the initial small hurdle of the “oddness” of the tapping, is the effectiveness in reducing symptoms. But I think that what will ultimately sell EFT to vets who are skeptical of medical interventions is that the treatment does not have to be painful, does not involve medications, and can be self-administered. One does not have to re-experience difficult memories in order to alleviate them or take medications to put them away partially. There is a widespread assumption that if you’re going to get better, you’re going to have to pay for it, such as by reliving a painful experience all over again. That is in fact true for some therapies, but it isn’t true for EFT. Several times during the week of PTSD treatment in San Francisco, I saw veterans become so upset that they could not talk about the details of a memory. Without reliving the experience, they did the tapping and at the end of the session calmly said, “Here’s what was bothering me so much.” They then described the event without experiencing any of the emotional intensity that had upset them just a few minutes before. I find it very interesting that EFT can bring about significant physiological changes without the person having to put into words the memories or events that disturbed him or her, or without using medications.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
EFT seems to be effective, substantially permanent, mostly painless, and usable by the individual for his or her own treatment if other aspects of a problem come up in the future. What would make it appealing to a large system faced with a lot of people with PTSD is that there’s no cost for pharmaceuticals, someone can be brought out of a fairly dangerous situation relatively rapidly, the person can experience relief from intense inner pain quite quickly compared to the waiting time that’s necessary for medications, there isn’t any ongoing treatment expense because the treatment doesn’t have to be continued indefinitely, and there aren’t any of the complications that occur when patients become attached to the therapists they see weekly or monthly for years. When administered to new combat veterans, this treatment would give them a chance to go on to have a life after they have served. For vets who have been disabled for years with symptoms, it’s not quite so simply beneficial, as they are out of the work force, dependent upon disability payments from the government, and are concerned that these benefits could be reduced or ended if they were able to work again. If therapists and counselors want to help folks who have problems with anxiety, I think that EFT is something they should learn about. For those with PTSD or other symptoms of stress and anxiety, I think the overwhelming realization is that there is hope. They don’t have to suffer eternally. I know that people who feel hopeless think of death as a final release from suffering, and where PTSD is involved, the suffering is made worse by sleep deprivation, high anxiety, being easily startled, having impaired relations with other people, and being unable to feel love or affection. What I would most like people with PTSD to realize is that things like success, happiness, love, health, and good relationships are not lost forever. Watching this week’s progress left me with the hopeful feeling that it could be possible to treat the painful symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and resolve them, possibly with some ongoing support. It seems that it really is possible to leave all of the anguish behind and go one with one’s life. At the time that I got my training, there was still the choice of going into psychoanalytically oriented training or one of the newer biologically oriented psychiatry training programs. In the psychoanalytically oriented program there were psychosomatic theories about bodily dysfunction originating in emotional reactions to events, situations, or people. The problem with that early theorizing was that there wasn’t anything you could do with it. Nowadays, psychiatry has become a specialty of allopathic medicine, where you search for symptoms that might be amenable to treatment with pharmacologic agents such as antidepressants or antipsychotic drugs. The notion that the heart of what’s going on is still in the individual is not really considered. Gary’s approach is basically a psychosomatic formulation that goes straight to the physiology of the problem, using EFT to knock the props out from under the symptoms.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
People always try to put a new experience into their own life or educational or intellectual context to make sense of it, and it’s very interesting that this whole practice might have been more acceptable to conventional medicine if it had been developed 50 or 60 years ago, when it could have been seen as the therapeutic arm of psychoanalytically oriented psychiatry. I’m sure that the major hurdle that EFT faces is that people just don’t think psychodynamically any more. They don’t look at emotionally upsetting events as the origin or cause of physical symptoms. The great challenge of the human condition is settling internal agitation. Goodness knows, we go through life having conflicts with other people and with a world which simply doesn’t follow our expectations. We seem to have been hardwired to hold resentment, irritations, angers, and grudges, all of which ultimately eat people from the inside out. The great challenge of living is to let go of injuries done to us, accept the lessons from experiences that we go through, and to forgive others for what they may have done or not done. The benefits of doing so are primarily for ourselves, so that we can move forward and no longer have those negative feelings as part of our day-to-day existence. From what I have seen, EFT seems to help this life challenge hugely. The positive effect of EFT in this respect is enormous. One of the legacies of the Middle East wars is traumatic brain injury, or TBI. It’s also known as closed head injury. This type of injury can produce major problems with short-term memory and complex reasoning. The person can experience cognitive dysfunction of many kinds. You can’t be on street patrol in Iraq without experiencing some kind of blast injury, so many if not most veterans returning from Iraq have at least some TBI damage. Conventional medicine has very little to offer TBI patients, but I think EFT holds great promise for treating them. I observed a videotape of a woman who suffered from problems relating to balance, light sensitivity, and short-term memory loss after receiving a concussion in a car accident. Six years after the accident, none of the therapies her physicians prescribed had made much of a difference, and she arrived at one of Gary’s workshops needing a walking stick. Her response to EFT was amazing. After tapping, she dropped the walking stick and danced around the parking lot, exclaiming with joy over the things she could suddenly do, saying she couldn’t wait to show her doctors. EFT could be an important treatment tool for TBI, whatever its origin. ~~~~
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Chapter Two:
EFT’s Basic Recipe To appreciate how easy it is to learn EFT and teach it to those suffering from PTSD or any other disorder, here is a step-by-step description of the basic technique.
Defining the problem EFT sessions usually begin with a measurement of the person’s discomfort using a scale from zero to 10. We call this the Intensity Meter. The discomfort being measured can be physical, such as pain, or it can be an emotion such as fear, anxiety, depression, or anger. Measuring Intensity on the 0-to-10 Scale 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 none / mild discomfort / moderate discomfort / major discomfort / maximum pain To help someone “tune into” his or her physical, emotional, or mental state, ask simple questions. For example, if the person is in pain, ask how much it hurts. Try this on yourself right now. Do you have a headache, is your knee sore, or does your back hurt? If you have to be reminded that you’re in pain, and when you look for it you remember that it’s there but only just a little, you’re in the “mild discomfort” zone and you’ll give it a 1, 2, or 3. If it’s slightly more intense, so that you can still move around but you’re consciously aware of the pain, it’s a 4, 5, or 6. If the pain is a major discomfort, something you can’t forget about and it interferes with your ability to move, it’s a 7, 8, or 9. A pain that’s the maximum you can endure, which is as bad as it gets, is a 10. It’s a good idea to rate every problem before and after you apply EFT so that you can determine how much progress you’re making. Don’t worry if you find it difficult to select a specific number – sometimes Newbies get distracted by this part of the procedure and worry about whether it’s a 5 or a 6, or a 2 or a 3. Using the 10-point scale gets easier with practice. Just give yourself a number to get started and it will soon become automatic. It helps to remind clients that there are no wrong answers here and that if they have trouble coming up with a specific number, a guess will work fine. For reference, jot the number down and add a few notes about where the pain is located, how it interferes with your range of motion, and whether it hurts more when you move to the left or right, stand or sit, and so forth. Another way to indicate the intensity of pain or discomfort is by stretching your arms wide apart for major pain and putting them close together for minor pain. This method
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
works well for children, who find it easier to express “big” and “small” with their hands than with a number scale. Or you might visualize your discomfort on a thermometer, with the red line reaching the top for major pain and falling to the bottom for minor pain. Or you might visualize a meter that looks like an old-fashioned gas gauge, with minor pain at the zero or empty indicator on the left side and major pain on the 100 or full indicator on the right side. The method you choose doesn’t matter as long as it works for you. Keeping track of your pain’s intensity before and after treatment is the easiest way to determine whether and how effectively the treatment is working. The same scale works for feelings. First, focus on an event or memory or problem that has been bothering you. Now ask yourself the same questions you would ask a client or patient. How angry or anxious or depressed or upset are you on a scale from 1 to 10? If it doesn’t bother you at all, you’re at a zero. If you’re at a 10, that’s the maximum you can endure. Get in the habit of starting each tapping session with an intensity measurement and make a note of it. Now, borrowing some pages from the EFT manual, I’d like to introduce you to the Basic Recipe, the formula that is the foundation of this technique.
The Basic Recipe
A recipe has certain ingredients which must be added in a certain order. If you are baking a cake, for example, you must use sugar instead of pepper and you must add the sugar before you put it in the oven. Otherwise....no cake. Basic EFT is like a cake recipe. It has specific ingredients that go together in a specific way. Just as someone who is learning to cook will get best results from following tried and true instructions, someone who is new to EFT will do well to learn the basic recipe. An accomplished chef will take a different approach, and so can you once you master the fundamentals. Although I am going to some length to describe it in detail, the Basic Recipe is very simple and easy to do. Once memorized, each round of it can be performed in about one minute. It will take some practice, of course, but after a few tries the whole process will becomes so familiar that you can bake that emotional freedom cake in your sleep. You will then be well on your way to mastery of EFT and all the rewards it provides. 30
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Let me interject here that various shortcuts are available and described later in this book and in our DVDs. I am describing the full Basic Recipe here because it provides an important foundation to the whole process. Proficient practitioners will want to use the shortcuts and other advanced techniques because they cut the average time involved by at least half and they greatly improve results, but the Basic Recipe is the place to begin. The full Basic Recipe consists of four ingredients, two of which are identical. They are: 1. The Setup
2. The Sequence
3. The 9 Gamut Procedure
4. The Sequence
Ingredient #1 ... The Setup Applying the Basic Recipe is something like going bowling. In bowling, there is a machine that sets up the pins by picking them up and arranging them in perfect order at the end of the alley. Once this "setup" is done, all you need to do is roll the ball down the alley to knock over the pins. In a similar manner, the Basic Recipe has a beginning routine to "set up" your energy system as though it was a set of bowling pins. This routine (called the Setup) is vital to the whole process and prepares the energy system so that the rest of the Basic Recipe (the ball) can do its job. Your energy system, of course, is not really a set of bowling pins. It is a set of subtle electric circuits. I present this bowling analogy only to give you a sense for the purpose of the Setup and the need to...make sure your energy system is properly oriented before attempting to remove its disruptions. Your energy system is subject to a form of electrical interference which can block the balancing effect of these tapping procedures. When present, this interfering blockage must be removed or the Basic Recipe will not work. Removing it is the job of the Setup. Technically speaking, this interfering blockage takes the form of a polarity reversal within your energy system. This is different from the energy disruptions which cause your negative emotions. Another analogy may help us here. Consider a flashlight or any other device that runs on batteries. If the batteries aren’t there, it won’t work. Equally important, the batteries must be installed properly. You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that batteries have + and - marks on them. Those marks indicate their polarity. If you line up those + and - marks according to the instructions, then the electricity flows normally and your flashlight works fine.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
But what happens if you put the batteries in backwards? Try it sometime. The flashlight will not work. It acts as if the batteries have been removed. That's what happens when polarity reversal is present in your energy system. It's like your batteries are in backwards. I don't mean that you stop working altogether....like turn "toes up" and die....but your progress does become arrested in some areas. This polarity reversal has an official name. It is called Psychological Reversal and it represents a fascinating discovery with wide-ranging applications in...all areas of healing and personal performance. It is the reason why some diseases are chronic and respond very poorly to conventional treatments. It is also the reason why some people have such a difficult time losing weight or giving up addictive substances. It is, quite literally, the cause of self sabotage. Psychological Reversal is caused by self-defeating, negative thinking which often occurs subconsciously and thus outside of your awareness. On average, it will be present – and thus hinder EFT – about 40 percent of the time. Some people have very little of it (this is rare) while others are beset by it most of the time (this also is rare). Most people fall somewhere in between these two extremes. Psychological reversal doesn't create any feelings within you so you won't know if it is present or not. Even the most positive people are subject to it....including yours truly. When psychological reversal is present, it will stop any attempt at healing, including EFT, dead in its tracks. Therefore...It must be corrected if the rest of the Basic Recipe is going to work. Being true to the 100-percent overhaul concept, we correct for Psychological Reversal even though it might not be present. It only takes 8 or 10 seconds to do and, if it isn't present, no harm is done. If it is present, however, a major impediment to your success will be out of the way. That being said, here's how the Setup works. There are two parts to it... You repeat an affirmation three times while you rub the "Sore Spot" or, alternatively, tap the "Karate Chop" point. (These will be explained shortly.)
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The Affirmation Since the cause of Psychological Reversal involves negative thinking, it should be no surprise that the correction for it includes a neutralizing affirmation. Such is the case and here it is. Even though I have this _____________, I deeply and completely accept myself. The blank is filled in with a brief description of the problem you want to address. Here are some examples. Even though I have this pain in my lower back, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this fear of public speaking, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this headache, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this anger towards my father, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this war memory, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this stiffness in my neck, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have these nightmares, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this craving for alcohol, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this fear of snakes, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I have this depression, I deeply and completely accept myself. This is only a partial list, of course, because the possible issues that are addressable by EFT are endless. You can also vary the acceptance phrase by saying: "I accept myself even though I have this_________." "Even though I have this ____________, I deeply and profoundly accept myself." "I love and accept myself even though I have this_______________."
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
All of these affirmations are correct because they follow the same general format. That is, they acknowledge the problem and create self acceptance despite the existence of the problem. That is what's necessary for the affirmation to be effective. You can use any of them but I suggest you use the recommended one because it is easy to memorize and has a good track record at getting the job done. Now here are some interesting points about the affirmation... It doesn't matter whether you believe the affirmation or not....just say it. It is better to say it with feeling and emphasis, but saying it routinely will usually do the job. It is best to say it out loud, but if you are in a social situation where you prefer to mutter it under your breath, or do it silently, then go ahead. It will probably be effective. To add to the effectiveness of the affirmation, the Setup also includes the simultaneous rubbing of a "Sore Spot" or tapping on the "Karate Chop" point. They are described next.
The Sore Spot There are two Sore Spots and it doesn't matter which one you use. They are located in the upper left and right portions of the chest and you find them as follows:
Go to the base of the throat about where a man would knot his tie. Poke around in this area and you will find a U shaped notch at the top of your sternum (breastbone). From the top of that notch go down 2 or 3 inches toward your navel and over 2 or 3 inches to your left (or right). You should now be in the upper left (or right) portion of your chest. If
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
you press vigorously in that area (within a 2-inch radius) you will find a "Sore Spot." This is the place you will need to rub while saying the affirmation. This spot is usually sore or tender when you rub it vigorously because lymphatic congestion occurs there. When you rub it, you are dispersing that congestion. Fortunately, after a few episodes the congestion is all dispersed and the soreness goes away. Then you can rub it with no discomfort whatsoever. I don't mean to overplay the soreness you may feel. It's not like you will have massive, intense pain by rubbing this Sore Spot. It is certainly bearable and should cause no undue discomfort. If it does, then lighten up your pressure a little. Also, if you've had some kind of operation in that area of the chest or if there's any medical reason whatsoever why you shouldn't be probing around in that specific area then switch to the other side. Both sides are equally effective. In any case, if there is any doubt, consult your health practitioner before proceeding....or....tap the "Karate Chop" point instead.
The Karate Chop Point
The Karate Chop point (abbreviated KC) is located at the center of the fleshy part of the outside of your hand (either hand) between the top of the wrist and the base of the baby finger or....stated differently....the part of your hand you would use to deliver a karate chop. Instead of rubbing it as you would the Sore Spot, you vigorously tap the Karate Chop point with the fingertips of the index finger and middle finger – or all fingers – of the other hand. While you could use the Karate Chop point of either hand, it is usually most convenient to tap the Karate Chop point of the non-dominant hand with the fingertips of the dominant hand. If you are right-handed, tap the Karate Chop point on the left hand with the fingertips of the right hand. If you are left-handed, tap the Karate Chop point on your right hand with the fingertips of your left hand. If for some reason you are not able to use both hands, tap the Karate Chop point of one hand against any surface – a table, desk, the arm of a chair, or even your thigh. This point will also be effective if someone else taps on it for you.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Should you use the Sore Spot or the Karate Chop point? After years of experience with both methods, it has been determined that rubbing the Sore Spot is a bit more effective than tapping the Karate Chop point. It doesn't have a commanding lead by any means but it is preferred. Because the Setup is so important in clearing the way for the rest of the Basic Recipe to work, I urge you to use the Sore Spot rather than the Karate Chop point. It puts the odds a little more in your favor. However, the Karate Chop point is perfectly useful and will clear out any interfering blockage in the vast majority of cases. So feel free to use it if the Sore Spot is inappropriate for any reason. You will notice that in our videotaped seminars, I often instruct people to tap the Karate Chop point instead of rubbing the Sore Spot. That's because it is easier to teach when I'm onstage. Now that you understand the parts to the Setup, performing it is easy. You create a word or short phrase to fill in the blank in the affirmation and then...simply repeat the affirmation, with emphasis, three times while continuously rubbing the Sore Spot or tapping the Karate Chop point. That's it. After a few practice rounds, you should be able to perform the Setup in 8 seconds or so. Now, with the Setup properly performed, you are ready for the next ingredient in the Basic Recipe....The Sequence.
Ingredient #2 ... The Sequence The Sequence is very simple in concept. It involves tapping on the end points of the major energy meridians in the body and is the method by which the energy block (which I often refer to as a "zzzzzt") in the energy system is balanced out. Before locating these points for you, however, you need a few tips on how to carry out the tapping process. Tapping tips: You can tap with either hand but it is usually more convenient to do so with your dominant hand (your right hand if you are right-handed or your left hand if you are left-handed). Alternatively, you can tap with both hands. Tapping with both hands at the same time is preferred by many practitioners and students. Tap with the fingertips of your index finger and middle finger. This covers a little larger area than just tapping with one fingertip and allows you to cover the tapping points more easily.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Alternatively, you can tap with three fingertips on each hand or even four. Experiment to find out which arrangement feels most comfortable for you. Tap solidly but never so hard as to hurt or bruise yourself. Tap about seven times on each of the tapping points. I say about seven times because you will be repeating a "reminder phrase" (explained later) while tapping and it will be difficult to count at the same time. If you are a little over or a little under seven (five to nine, for example) that will be sufficient. Most of the tapping points exist on either side of the body. It doesn't matter which side you use nor does it matter if you switch sides during The Sequence. For example, you can tap under your right eye and, later in The Sequence, tap under your left arm. The points: Each energy meridian has two end points. For the purposes of the Basic Recipe, you need only tap on one end to balance out any disruptions that may exist in it. These end points are near the surface of the body and are thus more readily accessed than other points along the meridians that may be more deeply buried. What follows are instructions on how to locate the end points of those meridians that are important to the Basic Recipe. Taken together....and done in the order presented....they form The Sequence.
Eyebrow: At the beginning of the eyebrow, just above and to one side of the nose. This point is abbreviated EB for beginning of the EyeBrow. Side of Eye: On the bone bordering the outside corner of the eye. This point is abbreviated SE for Side of the Eye. Under Eye: On the bone under an eye about 1 inch below your pupil. This point is abbreviated UE for Under the Eye. Under Nose: On the small area between the bottom of your nose and the top of your upper lip. This point is abbreviated UN for Under the Nose. Chin: Midway between the point of your chin and the bottom of your lower lip. Although it is not directly on the point of the chin, we call it the chin point because it is descriptive
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
enough for people to understand easily. This point is abbreviated Ch for Chin.
Collarbone: The junction where the sternum (breastbone), collarbone, and first rib meet. Place your forefinger on the U-shaped notch at the top of the breastbone (where a man would knot his tie). Move down toward the navel 1 inch and then go to the left (or right) about 1 inch. This point is abbreviated CB for CollarBone even though it is not on the collarbone (or clavicle) per se. It is at the beginning of the collarbone.
Underarm: On the side of the body, at a point even with the nipple (for men) or in the middle of the bra strap (for women). It is about 4 inches below the armpit. This point is abbreviated UA for Under the Arm.
Below Nipple: For men, one inch below the nipple. For ladies, where the underskin of the breast meets the chest wall. This point is abbreviated BN for Below Nipple.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Thumb: On the outside edge of your thumb at a point even with the base of the thumbnail. This point is abbreviated Th for Thumb.
Index Finger: On the side of your index finger (the side facing your thumb) at a point even with the base of the fingernail. This point is abbreviated IF for Index Finger.
Middle Finger: On the side of your middle finger (the side closest to your thumb) at a point even with the base of the fingernail. This point is abbreviated MF for Middle Finger.
Baby Finger: On the inside of your baby finger (the side closest to your thumb) at a point even with the base of the fingernail. This point is abbreviated BF for Baby Finger.
Karate Chop: The last point is the Karate Chop Point....which has been previously described under the section on the Setup. It is located in the middle of the fleshy part on the outside of the hand between the top of the wrist bone and the base of the baby finger. It is abbreviated KC for Karate Chop.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The abbreviations for these points are summarized below in the same order as given above. EB = Beginning of the EyeBrow SE = Side of the Eye UE = Under the Eye UN = Under the Nose Ch = Chin CB = Beginning of the CollarBone UA = Under the Arm BN = Below the Nipple Th = Thumb IF = Index Finger MF = Middle Finger BF = Baby Finger KC = Karate Chop Please notice that these tapping points proceed down the body. That is, each tapping point is below the one before it. That should make it a snap to memorize. A few trips through it and it should be yours forever. Note that the ring finger is not included in this list because it is considered redundant or unnecessary. However, many EFT practitioners include it for convenience. Also note that the BN point has been added since the making of our introductory DVDs It was originally left out because it was awkward for ladies to tap while in social situations (restaurants, etc.). Even though the EFT results have been superb without it, I include it now for completeness.
Ingredient #3 ... The 9 Gamut Procedure The 9 Gamut Procedure is, perhaps, the most bizarre looking process within EFT. Its purpose is to "fine tune" the brain and it does so via some eye movements and some humming and counting. Through connecting nerves, certain parts of the brain are stimulated when the eyes are moved. Likewise the right side of the brain (the creative side) is engaged when you hum a song and the left side (the digital side) is engaged when you count. The 9 Gamut Procedure is a 10-second process in which nine "brain stimulating" actions are performed while continuously tapping on one of the body's energy points.....the Gamut point. It has been found, after years of experience, that this routine can add efficiency to EFT and hastens your progress towards emotional freedom....especially when sandwiched between 2 trips through The Sequence.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
One way to help memorize the Basic Recipe is to look at it as though it was a ham sandwich. the Setup is the preparation for the ham sandwich and the sandwich itself consists of two slices of bread (The Sequence) with the ham, or middle portion, as the 9 Gamut Procedure. It looks like this...
To do the 9 Gamut Procedure, you must first locate the Gamut point. It is on the back of either hand and is 1/2 inch behind the midpoint between the knuckles at the base of the ring finger and the little finger. If you draw an imaginary line between the knuckles at the base of the ring finger and little finger and consider that line to be the base of an equilateral triangle whose other sides converge to a point (apex) in the direction of the wrist, then the gamut point would be located at the apex of the triangle. Next, you must perform nine different actions while tapping the Gamut point continuously. These 9 Gamut actions are: Close your eyes. Open your eyes. Look down hard right while holding your head steady. Look down hard left while holding your head steady. Roll your eyes in a circle as though your nose is at the center of a clock and you are trying to see all the numbers in order. Hold your head steady. Roll your eyes in a circle in the reverse direction. Hold your head steady. Hum two seconds of a song (I usually suggest “Happy Birthday”). Count rapidly from 1 to 5. Hum two seconds of a song again. Note that these nine actions are presented in a certain order and I suggest that you memorize them in the order given. However, you can mix the order up if you wish so long as you do all nine of them....and....you perform the last three together as a unit.
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
That is, you hum for two seconds, then count, then hum the song again, in that order. Years of experience have proven this to be important. Also, note that for some people humming “Happy Birthday” causes resistance because it brings up memories of unhappy birthdays. In this case, you can either use EFT on those unhappy memories and resolve them…or…you can side-step this issue for now by substituting some other song.
Ingredient #4 ... The Sequence (again) The fourth and last ingredient in the Basic Recipe was explained above. It is an identical trip through The Sequence.
The Reminder Phrase Once memorized, the Basic Recipe becomes a lifetime friend. It can be applied to an almost endless list of emotional and physical problems and provides relief from most of them. However, there's one more concept we need to develop before we can apply the Basic Recipe to a given problem. It's called the Reminder Phrase. When a football quarterback throws a pass, he aims it at a particular receiver. He doesn't just throw the ball in the air and hope someone will catch it. Likewise, the Basic Recipe needs to be aimed at a specific problem. Otherwise, it will bounce around aimlessly with little or no effect. You "aim" the Basic Recipe by applying it while "tuned in" to the problem from which you want relief. This tells your system which problem needs to be the receiver. Remember the discovery statement which states... The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system. Negative emotions come about because you are tuned into certain thoughts or circumstances which, in turn, cause your energy system to disrupt. Otherwise, you function normally. One's fear of heights is not present, for example, while one is reading the comic section of the Sunday newspaper and therefore not tuned in to the problem. Tuning in to a problem can be done by simply thinking about it. In fact, tuning in means thinking about it. Thinking about the problem will bring about the energy disruptions involved, which then....and only then....can be balanced by applying the Basic Recipe. Without tuning in to the problem....thereby creating those energy disruptions....the Basic Recipe does nothing.
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Tuning in is seemingly a very simple process. You merely think about the problem while applying the Basic Recipe. That's it....at least in theory. However, you may find it a bit difficult to consciously think about the problem while you are tapping, humming, counting, etc. That's why I'm introducing a Reminder Phrase that you can repeat continually while you are performing the Basic Recipe. The Reminder Phrase is simply a word or short phrase that describes the problem and that you repeat out loud each time you tap one of the points in The Sequence. In this way you continually "remind" your system about the problem you are working on. The best Reminder Phrase to use is usually identical to what you choose for the affirmation you use in the Setup. For example, if you are working on a fear of public speaking, the Setup affirmation would go like this.... Even though I have this fear of public speaking, I deeply and completely accept myself. Within this affirmation, the underlined words....fear of public speaking....are ideal candidates for use as the Reminder Phrase. I sometimes use a shorter version of this Reminder Phrase when in seminars such as those presented on our DVDs. I might, for example, use "public speaking fear" or just "public speaking" instead of the somewhat longer version shown above. That's just one of the shortcuts we have grown accustomed to after years of experience with these techniques. For your purposes, however, you can simplify your life by just using the identical words for the Reminder Phrase as you use for the affirmation in the Setup. That way you will minimize any possibility for error. Now here's an interesting point that you will most certainly notice on our audios and some of our videos. I don’t always have people repeat a Reminder Phrase. That's because I have discovered over time that simply stating the affirmation during the Setup is usually sufficient to "tune in" to the problem at hand. The subconscious mind usually locks on to the problem throughout the Basic Recipe even though all the tapping, humming, counting, etc. would seem to be distracting. But this is not always true and, with extensive training and experience, one can recognize whether or not using the Reminder Phrase is necessary. As stated, it is not usually necessary but....when it is necessary it is really necessary and must be used. What's beautiful about EFT is that you don't need to have my experience in this regard. You don't have to be able to figure out whether or not the Reminder Phrase is necessary. You can just assume it is always necessary and thereby assure yourself of always being tuned in to the problem by simply repeating the Reminder Phrase as instructed. It does no harm to repeat the Reminder Phrase when it is not necessary, and
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it will serve as an invaluable tool when it is. This is part of the 100-percent overhaul concept mentioned earlier. We do many things in each round of the Basic Recipe that may not be necessary for a given problem. But when a particular part of the Basic Recipe is necessary...it is absolutely critical. It does no harm to include everything...even what may be unnecessary...and it only takes one minute per round. This includes always repeating the Reminder Phrase each time you tap a point during The Sequence. It costs nothing to include it....not even time....because it can be repeated within the same time it takes to tap each energy point seven times. This concept about the Reminder Phrase is an easy one. But just to be complete, I am including a few samples below: headache war memory nightmares fear of snakes
anger towards my father stiffness in my neck craving for alcohol depression
Subsequent round adjustments Let's say you are using the Basic Recipe for some problem (fear, headache, anger, etc.). Sometimes the problem will simply vanish after just one round while, at other times, one round provides only partial relief. When only partial relief is obtained, you will need to do one or more additional rounds. Those subsequent rounds need to be adjusted slightly for best results. Here's why: One of the main reasons why the first round doesn't always completely eliminate a problem is because of the re-emergence of Psychological Reversal...that interfering blockage that the Setup is designed to correct. This time, Psychological Reversal shows up in a somewhat different form. Instead of blocking your progress altogether it now blocks any remaining progress. You have already made some headway but became stopped part way toward complete relief because Psychological Reversal entered in a manner that kept you from getting any better still. Since the subconscious mind tends to be very literal, the subsequent rounds of the Basic Recipe need to address the fact that you are working on the remaining problem. Accordingly, the affirmation contained within the Setup needs to be adjusted as does the Reminder Phrase. Here's the adjusted format for the Setup affirmation:
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Even though I still have some of this __________, I deeply and completely accept myself. Please note the emphasized words (still and some) and how they change the thrust of the affirmation toward the remainder of the problem. It should be easy to make this adjustment and, after a little experience, you will fall into it quite naturally. Study the following affirmations, which reflect adjustments to the Setups shown earlier in this section.
Even though I still have some of this fear of public speaking, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this headache, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this anger towards my father, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this war memory, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this stiffness in my neck, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of these nightmares, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this craving for alcohol, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this fear of snakes, I deeply and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this depression, I deeply and completely accept myself. The Reminder Phrase is also easily adjusted. Just put the word “remaining” before the previously used phrase. For example: remaining headache remaining anger towards my father remaining war memory remaining stiffness in my neck
remaining nightmares remaining craving for alcohol remaining fear of snakes remaining depression
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If your pain or discomfort disappears but then returns, simply repeat EFT’s Basic Recipe and the “remaining pain” reminder phrase described above.
Optional points As EFT spread to those with a knowledge of acupuncture, many students and practitioners began to add tapping points. There are hundreds of acupuncture points on the human body – in fact, it’s just about impossible to tap yourself anywhere without hitting one or more of them – but the most popular optional points in EFT circles are probably the top of the head and points on the wrists and ankles. None of these points are mentioned in the EFT Manual. Feel free to experiment with any of them. Top of Head. Run an imaginary string over your head from the top of one ear to the top of the other. The highest point that the string reaches is the Top of Head point. Wrists. Several meridians run through the inside and outside of the wrist. An easy way to stimulate all of the wrist points is to cross your wrists and tap them together (about where your wristwatch would be), inside wrist against inside wrist, inside wrist against outside wrist, and outside wrist against outside wrist. Ankle Points. Several meridians run through the ankles. These are less widely used because they’re less convenient, but many EFTers include them from time to time. To stimulate these points, simply tap on all sides of either or both ankles. In the reports shared by EFT users in this book or in our online newsletter, you’ll see other points mentioned, including some that are used in combination. I don’t personally use these points or combinations so I won’t elaborate on them here. EFT is so flexible and versatile that I am never surprised when any acupressure tapping combined with focused thought produces good results.
Putting it all together Now that you have met the ingredients of our Basic Recipe, here is how a complete EFT treatment works using the Basic Recipe. For this example, we’ll focus on a physical symptom – a headache – but we will use the same basic procedure to address other aspects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Most people with PTSD feel anxious when they encounter EFT for the first time, and their anxiety produces physical symptoms such as headaches, a feeling of tightness in the stomach, nausea, dizziness, tense shoulder muscles, or an inability to take a deep, relaxed breath. Any of these symptoms can be an excellent “first problem” to treat with EFT. What is the problem? I have a headache. How bad is it? It’s pretty serious. On a scale from 1 to 10, it’s an 8.
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Setup: Tap the Karate Chop point or rub the Sore Spot while saying: Even though I have this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I have this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I have this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. The Sequence: Tap each point while repeating your reminder phrase. EB = SE = UE = UN = Ch = CB = UA = BN = Th = IF = MF = BF = KC =
Beginning of the EyeBrow – This headache Side of the Eye – This headache Under the Eye – This headache Under the Nose – This headache Chin – This headache Beginning of the CollarBone – This headache Under the Arm – This headache Below the Nipple – This headache Thumb – This headache Index Finger – This headache Middle Finger – This headache Baby Finger – This headache Karate Chop – This headache
9 Gamut Procedure: Tap the Gamut Point while doing the following: Close your eyes. Open your eyes. Eyes hard down right while holding the head steady. Eyes hard down left while holding the head steady. Roll your eyes around in a circle in one direction. Roll your eyes in a circle in the reverse direction. Hum two seconds of a song . Count rapidly from 1 to 5. Hum two seconds of a song again. Repeat the Sequence: Tap each point while repeating your reminder phrase. EB = SE = UE = UN = Ch = CB = UA = BN = Th = IF =
Beginning of the EyeBrow – This headache Side of the Eye – This headache Under the Eye – This headache Under the Nose – This headache Chin – This headache Beginning of the CollarBone – This headache Under the Arm – This headache Below the Nipple – This headache Thumb – This headache Index Finger – This headache
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MF = Middle Finger – This headache BF = Baby Finger – This headache KC = Karate Chop – This headache You have now finished a complete round of EFT’s Basic Recipe. The next thing to do is evaluate your progress. How does it feel now? If the headache has completely disappeared, congratulations, you’re done. No further treatment is needed. For the purposes of this example, we’ll say that the pain has gone down to a 3 or 4. It doesn’t hurt as much as it did, but it’s still there. Adjusted Setup: Tap the Karate Chop point or rub the Sore Spot while saying: Even though I still have some of this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I still have some of this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. The Sequence: Tap each point while repeating your reminder phrase. EB = SE = UE = UN = Ch = CB = UA = BN = Th = IF = MF = BF = KC =
Beginning of the EyeBrow – Remaining headache Side of the Eye – Remaining headache Under the Eye – Remaining headache Under the Nose – Remaining headache Chin – Remaining headache Beginning of the CollarBone – Remaining headache Under the Arm – Remaining headache Below the Nipple – Remaining headache Thumb – Remaining headache Index Finger – Remaining headache Middle Finger – Remaining headache Baby Finger – Remaining headache Karate Chop – Remaining headache
9 Gamut Procedure: Tap the Gamut Point while doing the following: Close your eyes. Open your eyes. Eyes hard down right while holding the head steady. Eyes hard down left while holding the head steady. Roll eyes around in one direction.
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Roll eyes in a circle in the reverse direction. Hum two seconds of a song . Count rapidly from 1 to 5. Hum two seconds of a song again. The Sequence: Tap each point while repeating your reminder phrase. EB = SE = UE = UN = Ch = CB = UA = BN = Th = IF = MF = BF = KC =
Beginning of the EyeBrow – Remaining headache Side of the Eye – Remaining headache Under the Eye – Remaining headache Under the Nose – Remaining headache Chin – Remaining headache Beginning of the CollarBone – Remaining headache Under the Arm – Remaining headache Below the Nipple – Remaining headache Thumb – Remaining headache Index Finger – Remaining headache Middle Finger – Remaining headache Baby Finger – Remaining headache Karate Chop – Remaining headache
You have now completed an entire EFT treatment for headache pain. You will use the same procedure to apply EFT’s Basic Recipe to any problem.
The Apex effect As you practice EFT and show others how to use it, you’ll hear all kinds of explanations as to how or why it works. We use the term “Apex affect,” which was coined by Dr. Roger Callahan, to describe these explanations. They all indicate the clients’ propensity to explain away their obvious relief. To some people, it is just not believable that tapping could produce these results, so they attempt to explain the improvements by other means. Clients say that the problem went away because they "can't think about it any more." Upon investigation, however, it is discovered that they can, indeed, recount the formerly traumatic incident in great detail. What they really mean is that they can't think about the problem in the same way as before. Sometimes they say, “All that tapping confused me,” or, “The tapping is a distraction.” Or a client will say, "All those years of previous therapy finally worked for me." They achieve relief immediately after or during tapping but, to them, tapping couldn't have been the true cause of their new freedom. Why? Because it doesn't "compute" or match their belief systems. So they conclude that the results must have come from "real therapy" (talk therapy, etc.) and somehow, as if by magic, all that previous emotional work chose this moment to become effective. This is nonsensical, of course, but some
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people would rather believe such explanations than to give any credit to the tapping. A comedy writer would find great material here. In some cases, the client honesty doesn’t remember how distressed, uncomfortable, anxious, stressed, or in pain he or she was at the beginning of an EFT session. Keeping track of the person’s “before” picture, complete with its rating on the intensity scale, helps keep things in perspective. In the end, though, it doesn’t matter who or what gets the credit. What matters is that the person feels better. That’s what EFT is all about.
The art of delivery Throughout this book, you will read examples and case reports that show EFT in action – and in almost all of these cases, the Basic Recipe was not used at all. I encourage you to learn the Basic Recipe at the beginning of your EFT studies, so its ingredients will always be there when you need them. But through years of experimentation, I have found that some of its ingredients are not always necessary. I haven’t thrown them away, but I have put them on the shelf, and I encourage you to do the same. I believe in streamlining the EFT process at every opportunity, so I focus first on what clears the problem in most cases. That is the Setup followed by the Tapping Sequence – but without using the 9 Gamut Treatment or any of the finger points. You will notice these variations on our DVDs and in some of the descriptions written by EFT practitioners and students for our online newsletter. In addition, I usually elaborate on the Setup, which defines the problem, by including additional information and, wherever possible, statements that describe emotions. One thing I can say with confidence is that It is just about impossible to do EFT incorrectly. People have gotten excellent results when tapping on “wrong” EFT points, by omitting or forgetting some points, by tapping on a single point rather than the entire sequence, by tapping on the points upside down, or by tapping entirely mentally, without touching the points. They have completely changed the Setup so it bears little or no resemblance to the Setup I just taught you. They have turned EFT on its head, and it still worked. I will remind you again that the Basic Recipe is simply a starting place and that, once you understand it , you can experiment with EFT variations to your heart’s content – and with my blessing.
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Chapter Three:
The Acceptance Phrase The first element of every EFT Setup is a statement about the problem. But just as important is the second part, which is the Acceptance Phrase. The combined statement says that even though I have this problem, I accept myself. The Acceptance Phrase is an affirmation, which I consider crucial to the effectiveness of EFT. But for many who try EFT, the Setup is a stumbling block. In a typical workshop of several hundred people, as many as half feel uncomfortable saying, “I fully and completely accept myself.” For some the incongruity is so severe that they literally can’t speak. EFT can help anyone resolve old emotional issues that contribute to low self-esteem or feelings of guilt or shame, but for now, if the Setup is a problem for you or your client, try saying one of the following statements while you tap: Even though I can’t yet fully and completely accept myself, I would like to some day fully and completely accept myself. Even though I can’t quite fully and completely accept myself, I’ll be okay. Even though it’s hard for me to say that I fully and completely accept myself, I can let go of that for now and do this work. Even though I don’t yet accept myself, I can and do acknowledge myself. If the acceptance phrase causes intense emotional pain or discomfort, or if it feels totally untrue, try changing the Setup altogether to something like: Even though I have this __________, I would like to feel better. Even though I have this feeling of sadness, I can enjoy life. Even though I have this tightness in my stomach, I can relax. Even though I have this anger and frustration, it’s going away. Even though I’m worried and don’t know what to expect, I choose peace.
As you experiment with Setups, try different variations. For example, try saying, 51
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Even though I feel _________, I absolutely do accept myself. Even though I feel very upset, I would like to love and forgive myself. Even though I feel guilty about what happened, I forgive myself and anyone and anything that contributed in any way to this feeling. Setups, by the way, can be of any length. While tapping on the Karate Chop point or massaging the Sore Spot, say whatever you like about the problem. You can also talk to the problem. The more detailed, specific, colorful, and interesting your Setup, the more likely you are to experience good results. As you read examples of how people have worked with EFT throughout this book, you’ll begin to appreciate the important role that imagination and intuition play in this process. Be ready to let your own imagination and intuition work on your behalf as you start tapping. Here are some recommendations from EFT practitioner Betty Moore-Hafter for softening the delivery of EFT’s Acceptance Phrase. Her approach is ideal for those who need to tiptoe into their issues, which includes a good percentage of the PTSD population. Try any of these Acceptance Phrases on yourself and on others, and experiment with your own variations. Beginning with the right Setup is part of the “art of delivery,” saving considerable time and discomfort in EFT sessions for complex problems.
Soft language to ease the EFT Acceptance Phrase by Betty Moore-Hafter As I understand it, the EFT Setup paves the way for healing by shifting the hard, locked-up energy of psychological reversal to the softer energy of selfacceptance. I have found that creative wording can be especially helpful toward this end. Here are some of my favorites: 1. ”..with kindness and compassion" or .”..without judgment" These and similar words contribute an extra dimension of support and care, especially when the issue is a sensitive one. Tears often come to people's eyes as we add these simple words. Even though I feel unworthy, I deeply and completely accept myself with kindness and compassion – it’s been hard for me. Even though I'm so afraid of rejection, I deeply accept myself with gentleness and compassion – I've been hurt a lot.
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Even though I feel guilty for that mistake I made, I totally accept myself without judgment. I'm only human. It was my friend and EFT colleague Carolyn Lewis who first suggested some of these expressions to me. We trade sessions and, being on the receiving end, I experienced first-hand how good it felt to hear these kind words – and how much emotion they brought up. For me, they went right to the heart. I highly recommend that fellow EFTers trade sessions. You can learn so much by being guided and sharing ideas. 2. "I want to bring healing to this." Some people balk at the words, "I deeply accept myself" and say, "But I don't accept myself! I hate myself for this." One gentle way to proceed is to say: Even though I don't accept myself, I can accept that this is just where I am right now. And even though I don't accept myself, I want to bring healing to this. I would like to feel better, find more peace, and reach more selfacceptance. Whenever self-acceptance is difficult, just stating the intent for healing breaks the deadlock of self-rejection. Most people do want to heal and feel better. 3. “The truth is....” These words can usher in powerful reframes. And when you reframe a situation while tapping, it does shift the energy and things begin to change. Even though I crave this cigarette, the truth is, cigarettes are making me sick. Even though I still feel guilty, the truth is, I've done nothing wrong. This is false guilt. Even though I still feel responsible for my sister, the truth is, she is an adult. She's responsible for herself now. 4. "I'm willing to see it differently....” Sometimes amazing things happen after adding the words, “I'm willing to see it differently." One of my clients was convinced that she could never have a child because she might abandon that child the way her father abandoned her. As we tapped through her pain from the father issue, I began adding the phrase, "and I'm willing to see it differently." Even though my father really hurt me, I love and accept myself, and I'm willing to see it differently.
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After several rounds of tapping, she seemed calm and said thoughtfully, "You know, I think my father really did love me in his own way. That's all he was capable of." She felt at peace with it for the first time. And, when I heard from her later, she and her husband were talking about having children. She knew she was not her father and would do it differently. She saw it all differently. I often tap the EFT points with alternating reminder phrases, such as: Beginning of eyebrow, "Still feel guilty.” Side of eye, "But the truth is ... “ and so on. 5. "That was then and this is now." When childhood pain is being healed, people often feel great relief when words like these are added. Even though when I was eight years old, I cried alone and no one came. I deeply love and accept my young self. And that was then and this is now. Now I have lots of help and support. Even though I still feel anxious, afraid that something bad will happen. I deeply accept myself. And even though my child self felt anxious all the time, afraid my father would explode, I love and accept that child self. That was then and this is now. Now I'm safe. I don't need this hyper-vigilance anymore. I can relax now. 6. "I'm open to the possibility....” "Choice" statements are of course very empowering when we are ready for them. But sometimes stating a choice is too much of a stretch. Often, the gentlest way to introduce a better choice is to simply bring in the idea of possibility. Even though I'm full of doubt that I can lose weight, I deeply accept myself and I'm open to the possibility that it may be easier than I think. Even though I'm stuck in this anger and don't want to let it go, I'm open to the possibility that it would be nice to feel more peaceful about this. Even though I don't think EFT will work for me, I deeply accept myself and I'm willing to entertain the possibility that maybe EFT will help. I'm ready for some help. I believe that when we open the door of possibility just a crack, it is enough to start the healing process into motion. With all of these phrases, you can keep "I deeply and completely accept myself" and add the extra phrase, or you can substitute the phrase. Experiment and see what works for you! ~~~~
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And there are more variations. Instead of saying, “I completely and fully accept myself,” you can simply say:: I’m okay. I’ll feel better soon.
I’ll be okay. Everything’s improving
Or something similar. This, by the way, is how we use EFT with children. The phrase “I fully and completely accept myself” makes little sense to kids. Instead, a child who’s upset can say something like the following:: Even though I flunked the math test, I’m a cool kid, I’m okay. Even though I lost my backpack and I’m mad at myself, I’m still an awesome kid. The following article by Jo Hainsworth of the U.K. can add benefit in those cases where we seem to be stopped. By adding two simple but powerful statements to the Setup, you can make EFT work faster and more effectively.
Ideas for enhancing the standard EFT Setup by Jo Hainsworth One of the wonderful things about EFT is the Setup, which automatically helps us deal with any resistance we have to healing the issues we are working on. In most cases, the standard Setup is all we need. As Gary shows in the DVDs, sometimes it also helps to really emphasise or even yell the Setup in order to get past resistance. While I’ve found that in most cases this is all that is required, in a few complex cases, other approaches also help. This seems to be particularly so when dealing with depression and auto-immune illnesses. Here are some ideas that I use when working with people who have been tapping on their own or with practitioners and who are finding that their issues are not clearing permanently. If your issues aren’t clearing, try this approach and see what happens. 1. Have the person make the following statement out loud and rate how true it feels emotionally on the scale of zero to 10, with zero not true at all and 10 totally true. We are looking for the immediate emotional response, not a reasoned, logical one. If the logical mind had all the answers, we wouldn’t need EFT! I accept myself as I am. In most cases where the problems haven’t budged, the rating is towards the low end on this scale. Even if the person rates this quite high, you may find that self acceptance depends on something that can be addressed with EFT. 2. The next step is to have the person complete the following sentence, with whatever immediately comes to mind. Again, we are looking for the emotional, gut response, rather than a logical one. In order to accept myself I need to ___________ 55
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
3. Take whatever comes up as a tapping statement, using a modified Setup as follows: Even though I need to ______ in order to accept myself, I accept that this is how I feel right now. The second part of the statement helps prevent the tail enders that might accompany the standard Setup. 4. Proceed to tap on whatever comes up as a result of using this statement. For example, a common response is: In order to accept myself, I need to be perfect. In this case, you would look for early memories of times when the person felt that he or she needed to be perfect in order to be acceptable to someone. 5. Re-rate “I accept myself as I am” periodically to check progress, and when nothing more is forthcoming, re-visit the second statement (“In order to accept myself I need to ____”) until a major shift has been felt. 6. Ask the person if there are any things that cause him or her to feel guilty when thinking about them. Tap until each one is collapsed to zero. I have been amazed to see the results of this sort of tapping. People have uncovered things they have felt guilty about for years and years, beliefs that prevent them from accepting themselves, and once dealt with, these no longer block the use of the standard EFT Setup. This simple idea can really move mountains and enable EFT to work in the powerful way it is designed to. Another block is the belief that many people have that they are not safe in the world. This belief may be one they are consciously aware of, or, as in my own case, might be something they don’t consciously recognize at all until some tapping has been done. I have yet to work with someone with auto-immune challenges who has not had trauma that resulted in feeling unsafe in the world, and I believe this is a key part of resolving their issues. To do this, I use the same process outlined above, but with the following statements: I am safe and protected. In order for me to be safe and protected, I need to ____________. Ask if there were any events in their early life that caused them to feel unsafe or unprotected. If so, they make ideal tapping subjects.
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While these two ideas can seem too simple to be very powerful, they have held the key to a number of cases I’ve worked on recently. Once we start becoming aware of the subconscious beliefs we have around self-acceptance and safety, our subconscious blocks to healing tend to dissolve before our eyes, and we start building a completely new relationship with ourselves. The healing that unfolds is nothing sort of magical. ~~~~
More notes on positive Setups In addition to adding Acceptance Phrases that help the user feel relaxed and confident, you can improve the effectiveness of Setups by adding a phrase or two that reinforces positive results. EFT practitioner Angela Treat Lyon says, “I also use the phrase ‘BECAUSE I love and accept myself,’ which I start as soon as it's apparent that the person has shifted to make new choices. This is very empowering. And lately I've been using ‘because I love and BELIEVE in myself,’ which is also really powerful.” Dr. Phillip Mountrose and Dr. Jane Mountrose use what they call a “Miracle Reframe,” in which they add the phrase “anything is possible and miracles are happening now” to the Setup: Even though I have this ____, I know that anything is possible and miracles are happening now. As they explain, improvements occur rapidly when we align ourselves with “higher vibrations.” Another way to make Setups more positive is to use Dr. Patricia Carrington’s “Choices” phrasing, which she explains in Chapter Eight. With EFT, you can tap a problem out, and with the same basic technique, you can tap a solution in. Nothing is more versatile than that! No matter how you phrase your Setup, tapping on your EFT points will help, but tapping on both “problem” and “solution” phrases will help bring about long-lasting positive changes in record time.
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Chapter Four:
Tapping for PTSD To apply EFT’s Basic Recipe to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, you can begin with any physical symptom or anything the person wants to focus on, but an excellent way to start is with a general statement that does not involve a specific memory or event. Those who have already studied EFT know that this goes against my advice to begin with specific events rather than vague or general statements. However, treating trauma cases can be very different from using EFT to help someone lose weight, fix a sore back, or improve a golf game. Because the events that trigger PTSD can be so intense, tiptoeing up on them, approaching them gently and gradually, and starting with vague, general, or “global” statements, can be an excellent idea. This has the advantage of “taking the edge off” the problem so that deeper work can be done with much less emotional pain. If you are an experienced practitioner already familiar with PTSD, starting with a specific intrusive memory can be the fastest way to clear both the memory and all of the problems associated with it, but this may cause acute discomfort and an increase in PTSD symptoms. Throughout this book, you will find examples of both approaches. I present the “general description” Setup first because I consider it relatively safe as well as effective, and I encourage anyone who is new to EFT or to PTSD to try it first.
Example of the Basic Recipe applied to a general description The following example Setups introduce EFT gently by working around a problem rather than confronting it head-on. Note that it does not describe what happened. This type of Setup is recommended for anyone who does not feel ready to focus on a traumatic event, who seems overcome with emotion, or who is highly skeptical and does not yet feel a sense of rapport with his or her practitioner or instructor. Try starting with one of these Setups, or create something similar. The following examples all end with, “I fully and completely accept myself.” Setup (tap the KC Point or massage the Sore Spot): Even though I feel overwhelmed, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I don’t expect this tapping business to help me at all .... Even though I don’t want to think about what went on over there ....
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Even though I’m afraid to try something new.... Even though I’ve already tried everything and have been disappointed.... Even though I feel discouraged.... Even though nothing has helped me get my old life back.... Say the Setup three times. The Sequence (Tap the EFT points from head to hands): While tapping the EFT points in sequence, say an appropriate reminder phrase, such as: Don’t want to think... Don’t want to think... Don’t want to think... Overwhelmed... Overwhelmed... Overwhelmed... Nothing helps... Nothing helps.... Nothing helps.... 9-Gamut Treatment: While tapping the Gamut Point, close your eyes, open your eyes, look down hard right, look down hard left, roll your eyes in one direction, roll them in the opposite direction, hum a tune, count from 1 to 5, and hum a tune. Repeat the Sequence, saying the reminder phrase. Often after a full round of tapping for a general Setup, the person feels calmer and more comfortable. At this point, you can repeat the entire round of EFT tapping for the same general Setup or you can switch topics or use a different Setup for the same general theme. By starting with a general theme or a nonspecific statement, you introduce EFT gently, giving the person time to get used to the procedure and experience its results before going on to more serious issues. If you suffer from PTSD yourself, general statements are an excellent way to begin because they build a foundation of balanced energy, which prepares you energetically so that when you do address specific memories, you’ll be more prepared, you’ll feel more comfortable, and your results will be more effective. For more detailed do-ityourself instructions, see Chapter Thirteen, pages 251-268.
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Example of the Basic Recipe applied to a specific memory In this next example, the person is haunted by a powerful explosion and feels ready to talk about it. We start by asking the person to measure his or her discomfort on a scale from 0 to 10. Measure Intensity. Measure from 0 to 10 on the Intensity Scale. Setup (tap the KC Point or massage the Sore Spot): Even though I have this recurring flashback to the moment of the explosion, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I have this recurring flashback to the moment of the explosion, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I have this recurring flashback to the moment of the explosion, I fully and completely accept myself. The Sequence (EFT points from head to hands): Explosion. Explosion. Explosion. Explosion... 9-Gamut Treatment: While tapping the Gamut Point, close your eyes, open your eyes, look down hard right, look down hard left, roll your eyes in one direction, roll them in the opposite direction, hum a tune, count from 1 to 5, and hum a tune. Repeat the Sequence: Explosion. Explosion. Explosion. Explosion.... Measure Intensity. If the level has gone down to zero, the person will be able to remember and talk about this event without being distressed. It no longer triggers emotional intensity. If the person feels better but is still a little upset or uncomfortable, start over using this Setup: Even though I still have some of this recurring flashback to the moment of the explosion, I fully and completely accept myself.
And for the tapping sequence use the Reminder Phrase: Recurring remaining explosion... Recurring remaining explosion... Recurring remaining explosion...
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As long as the person continues to feel better, this protocol can be repeated several times. When the person feels emotionally neutral (the discomfort level has fallen to zero), this Setup has served its purpose and you can move on. When thinking about the explosion in a general way no longer generates an emotional response, you can ask the person to describe the event – where it happened, what the person was doing, what day it was, what time it was, what the person saw, heard, smelled, felt, etc. If any of these questions or recollections make the person uncomfortable, go back a step and start tapping with a new Setup for that specific aspect of the event. In fact, it helps to have the person continue to tap the EFT points while talking. The easiest way to do this is to continue tapping yourself and ask the person to mirror your motions while your conversation continues. This tapping does not involve a Setup or any reminder phrases, but it serves an important purpose by releasing energy blocks and maintaining the person’s energy balance throughout the conversation. ~~~~ As I often say, the fastest way to deal with a problem, even a complex one, is to focus on specific events. This is best done with the help of an experienced practitioner, which is how Gena D. first worked with EFT. She was so overcome with emotion that she couldn’t tap or think for herself. Notice how Gena experienced physical sensations or symptoms as EFT unlocked her memories. Not everyone experiences such dramatic sensations, but many people do. I consider symptoms like these to be evidence that the tapping is working, energy is shifting, and meridian blocks are being released.
How EFT helped my PTSD by Gena D. I had vaguely heard about EFT in the last few years and paid no attention to it until the third time someone mentioned it to me. After reading the EFT Manual at www.emofree.com, I became curious about EFT since I already believed in the connection between emotions and energy meridians based on an acupuncture experience I had many years ago. I knew from that experience that energy meridians are as real as I am. I signed up for a local workshop to see what EFT was all about. At one point during the workshop Jerem Egan, the instructor, asked for a volunteer from the group to demonstrate EFT and I volunteered. Jerem asked what I would like to work on. I described a dream that I had had several months ago which was still lingering in my head, and based on the dream content, I knew that it was important. In my dream, there is an adult woman who doesn’t have a right arm. There is second woman in the dream who tells the first woman that the reason she doesn’t have a right arm is because "there is a psychological issue that she’s
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not dealing with!" In the dream, I see that the woman who is missing her right arm looks like a "doll" with an empty right arm socket. In discussing this dream, I shared that my 91-year-old Aunt Alice, who is now quite ill, has been like my right arm throughout my whole life and now she’s dying. I loved her intensely throughout my life, and at the same time I also hated her because she was the person who strongly encouraged me to join the Red Cross and "expand my horizons" by going to Vietnam and living the 23rd year of my life in a war zone. I was very uncomfortable with my unresolved feelings of hatred toward my Aunt, and given her situation, wasn’t sure how much longer she would remain on the planet. Jerem asked me what was I feeling back then when I thought about going to Vietnam. Immediately I said, "Fear." Jerem asked me to identify that fear and without hesitating I said, "Death." When Jerem asked me to feel that fear, I started crying so hard that I couldn’t follow the tapping points with him. In the midst of my crying, Jerem asked if I would give him permission to tap on me. I nodded yes since I was unable to talk. I remember hearing Jerem repeat a phrase which sounded something like: Releasing the terror that I’ve been holding for so many years. He continued tapping while saying this and asked me to repeat other similar phrases, but I was so caught up in the emotion of the moment that in thinking about it later, I can’t recall the phrases. As this was going on, I suddenly felt a very hot wide band of energy/heat which started gently at the base of my spine, slowly traveled up my spine, and stopped at my heart level. This feeling was so strong that I couldn’t help notice this feeling in my body. When we finished this part of the work, Jerem asked me why I had decided to go to Vietnam. Together we explored that there were several reasons: I was afraid of losing my Aunt’s approval; I was afraid of losing her love which, at that time, I treasured above all others; I felt compelled to please her and she excitedly recommended that I do this. In stark contrast, when my own niece turned 23, I broke into tears realizing she was the same age that I was when I went to Vietnam and I realized how it would be impossible for me to even think of suggesting that she go to a war! Who could do this to someone they loved? I saw this part of my Aunt as a monster, yet she claimed to love me so much. She was willing to sacrifice me and the sacrifice of my life almost came true during that year. I was so angry at her and hated her for making this brainless decision which deeply affected my whole life. Jerem worked with me on forgiving her for making this suggestion at a time when I was so young, naive, and vulnerable. Jerem suggested I say, "She was a knucklehead when she said that to me," and, "What was she thinking!!!!" As we worked on forgiveness, suddenly I felt a very different energy in my body. This
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time, there was a band of energy that felt thicker (not hot this time) which started at my heart level and slowly traveled up my spine, over the back of my head and stopped at my forehead. It felt strong, comforting and protective. Again, I was unfamiliar with anything like the feeling of "traveling energy" in my body so I couldn’t help but notice it. It is now a month or so after I did this EFT work and when I think about the decision to go to Vietnam, it’s as though it is just one of many facts about my life. I don’t re-experience the terror about the decision to go there. I also do not feel hatred toward my Aunt for encouraging me. After carrying around these intensely buried feelings for 40 years, the emotional "charge" is no longer attached to these memories. When I speak with my Aunt, who lives 3,000 miles away, I no longer feel conflicted. What a blessing! For 40 years I have been carrying around various traumatic experiences and a few wounded soldiers from the year that I lived in Vietnam – Saigon, Pleiku, Phu Loi, Phan Rang, and DaNang. The interesting thing is that I’ve been in psychological therapy for a number of years, have had truly wonderful and skilled therapists, and experienced much personal growth, but I never felt willing to explore my Vietnam experience. I believed that since they hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t understand. I know that a lot of vets feel this way, that it’s just not something I felt able to share with someone who hadn’t been there/done that. After my first EFT session I knew that I could trust working with Jerem on other traumas I experienced there. I scheduled a one-on-one EFT session specifically to work on some of these traumas. The results are amazing. So far, the four traumas I worked on have lost their "dynamite charge" of emotionality. Now I can review these events in my past as memories without the knee-jerk emotionality they always triggered. While I am aware that there is more for me to do, I know that I have found a method that I can use for personal healing. ~~~~ Dr. Carol Look makes an important point when she observes that most of us, if not all of us, have at least a few traumatic memories and that a key to successfully treating just about any problem or symptom may be to find and neutralize those memories. She also reminds us that PTSD symptoms are often overlooked, ignored, or misdiagnosed.
How Unresolved Trauma Triggers PTSD by Dr. Carol Look Post traumatic Stress Disorder doesn’t have just one single identifying symptom – it has several, and they can seem contradictory. For example, if you have PTSD, you might appear depressed and apathetic, or you might feel anxious and be hyper-vigilant. Your symptoms might be chronic, accumulating over many years of repeated trauma, or they might stem from a single event such as a major car accident. Not everyone experiences flashbacks and dissociation or
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other well-known PTSD symptoms. Because there is so much confusion about PTSD, I believe this prevalent disorder is greatly under-diagnosed. The more I learn about PTSD, the more I am convinced that it is the underlying cause of the majority of physical health challenges and emotional issues we face today. A distressing event is categorized as a “trauma” when we experience two features – both a threat to our survival and extreme helplessness. When you experience a trauma, your system actually “freezes” because the terror is too overwhelming to process in that moment. In essence, what the trauma specialists tell us is that during this “freeze response” we download and encode the traumatic memory into our body, cutting off any conscious awareness of these sensory memories. Symptoms of PTSD are the result of incomplete processing of any event we have perceived as traumatic. The “freeze response” never gets discharged. Two results are inevitable: (1) these sensations – sights, sounds and smells – are stored in our body’s memory and (2) they will resurface at a later time. Because intense terror interferes with normal brain processing, the very nature of experiencing a trauma cuts off our access to the critical emotional and physical process we need to experience in order to discharge the trauma and prevent the later emergence of PTSD. When the unexpressed terror and bodily sensations resurface later in life, it is common to become stuck in an endless cycle of frightening thoughts and memories that mimic the actual event as if you are reliving it. So when you are deprived of an opportunity to discharge the emotional and physical repercussions of the original trauma, the unresolved feelings are expressed through flashbacks, intense arousal, avoidance, or other problematic emotions on a daily basis. Because PTSD symptoms can be difficult to identify, people who turn to therapists for help are often misunderstood. If someone schedules a therapy session to quit smoking, most practitioners focus on cigarette cravings and don’t explore past traumatic events. Working for years with addictions and substance abuse taught me to look for old traumas under every addiction. People who live through traumatic events typically disconnect or dissociate from their emotions as a survival mechanism, but most therapists haven’t been trained to understand this complex mechanism. To be clinically successful, it’s essential to understand that anxiety, apathy, or even alcohol and drug use are forms of self-medication for the purpose of self-protection, a way of dealing with unprocessed emotions. This self-protecting pattern in the face of trauma leads later to the symptom cluster we now refer to as PTSD. In some of the cases I treated after the 9/11 attack, clients caught in downtown New York were able to describe the route they took to escape, what they had been wearing, and what they saw, but it wasn’t until after using EFT on their incomplete memories and bodily sensations that the full story unfolded. One
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woman said to me, “I can’t believe it, I can hear it now!” Her recollection of the events had been silent until the EFT allowed her to reintegrate all of her senses. The same lack of integration can happen as a result of a car accident. The victims can remember and recite everything they saw with vivid accuracy. But until they use EFT on the pieces of memory they have from the accident, they might not be able to recall the screeching brakes or the smell of burning rubber. Remember, a major feature of trauma is the distortion of memory that occurs as a safety mechanism to protect us from being overwhelmed. Once you and the client have tapped and successfully discharged the “freeze response” from the trauma, the client can see the entire picture and is therefore no longer haunted by fears about his or her current safety. When the client can tell the story from start to finish without interruption, feeling completely calm and neutral, you know the session has been a success and the traumatic memory has been neutralized with EFT. You can verify that the results are permanent by checking with the client at a later date. For example, the woman who could suddenly hear the sounds of the World Trade Center collapsing and her colleagues screaming, stopped having nightmares and flashbacks. These are results I have come to expect with EFT. Insomnia is a very common problem with Post Traumatic Stress. When clients contact a health care practitioner complaining that they’re sleep-deprived or having trouble falling or staying asleep, taking a complete history is vital. While each case of insomnia is different, it is useful to check to see if it is as a result of PTSD or early childhood trauma. Again, using EFT for the available pieces of traumatic memories will reintegrate the memories, discharge the freeze response, and remove any “need” for PTSD symptoms such as hyper-vigilance or the startle response, both of which interfere with normal sleeping habits. For some individuals, getting a divorce or getting fired might be as traumatic as an event such as 9/11 is to others. Counselors never know what registers as “traumatic” to each individual. PTSD is always in the back of my mind when I work with new clients, and the question I routinely ask when someone begins to describe a symptom or problem is, “When did it start?” I’ll also ask clients openended questions about their habitual thoughts. I’ll often ask questions about their responses to environmental cues such as, “Are you sensitive to loud noises or bright lights?” There is frequently a lag time between the occurrence of a traumatic event and the resulting physical or emotional symptoms. I’ve heard people say, “The accident was six months before my symptoms started, so there can’t be a connection.” In truth, the accident could have taken place a year before the symptoms started, or even decades before the onset of an illness, and still be its cause.
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At the veterans’ conference in San Francisco, I worked with two men whose physical symptoms had gotten worse as a result of PTSD. Carlin, then 26, had inherited a family condition, a tremor in his hand, that intensified when he returned home from Iraq. When he tried EFT, the tremor dramatically decreased and he has since enjoyed periods of remission. He later taught EFT to his sister, who also inherited this symptom, and her tremor decreased as well. Art, who served in Vietnam, had tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, that would vary greatly in volume throughout the day. He soon realized that this symptom was a kind of barometer that reflected his emotional state. When he focused on a positive feeling or memory, the ringing subsided, and when he focused on a stressful memory, it became more annoying, even insistent. Like most combat veterans, these two men felt compelled to be “machines” out on the battlefield. If you have been trained to take orders and act like a machine, you have no choice but to ignore your gut instincts and your emotions. These men were trained to take and give orders in a robotic fashion, which required that they disconnect themselves from their feelings. It’s not that they weren’t afraid or horrified, it’s that the new commands overrode these instincts to run, hide, or protect themselves. This is an alarmingly fast way to create Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because when you are disconnected from your emotions, you become desensitized to your body’s intelligence and your mind’s intuition. The thinking brain goes off-line and you adapt by developing an unnatural ability to go on auto-pilot, ready to shoot anything that moves. Every situation becomes life or death, and you have no time to do anything but react. Imagine what a tightrope these veterans walk when they try to resume civilian life. In addition, many veterans suffer from shame and guilt over what they did during the wars. They might experience chronic pain or other physical symptoms as a result of an unconscious conviction that they don’t deserve to be happy and joyful. One veteran said to me that he had made other families miserable by killing people, so he certainly didn’t deserve success in his own life. People who are consumed with guilt on a psychological level find unconscious ways and reasons to punish themselves. EFT practitioners need to look past the punishing behavior and assess the origins of the guilt. Even though guilt and shame may not fall neatly into the category of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they are chronic feelings that some PTSD victims suffer from that naturally lead to self sabotage and limitations. The repeated traumatic memories that Carlin and Art tried but failed to control responded extremely well to EFT. Art suffered from survivor’s guilt because numerous explosions that were meant for him killed his fellow officers instead. His guilt ate away at him for decades. When he wasn’t feeling overwhelmed with guilt, he was overreacting to every day incidents in a state of panic. He had spent 30 years screaming orders at his wife
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like “Take out the garbage!” as though it was a matter of life or death. To him, at those times, it seemed to be. Art’s wife suffered from PTSD as a result of living with an angry, over-reactive man suffering from extreme and untreated PTSD. She too was enrolled in the veterans’ study and made significant emotional and physical improvement. Art continued to make steady improvement during the retreat. He began walking better, enjoyed sleeping more and noticed feeling optimistic for the first time in decades. After two couples sessions, instead of being isolated, angry, and threatened by each other, Art and his wife were thrilled that they were actually talking again. Carlin had numerous memories about the most gruesome events I had ever heard. By the time he was 22, he had already completed two tours of duty in Iraq. He felt he could never relax and thought he needed to sleep with one eye open. Chronic danger affected his entire system, leaving him anxious, nervous, and desperate to escape through alcohol and cigarettes. These feelings and symptoms naturally interfered with his sleep and gave him horrific nightmares. To stop the nightmares and prevent him from waking in the middle of the night, he drank excessive amounts of alcohol. Carlin experienced profound emotional improvement the very first day of the veterans’ retreat after we collapsed two of his most threatening and haunting war memories, which included sights, smells, and sounds. In one experience, a small child with a bomb strapped to his chest exploded ten feet in front of Carlin. This was something Carlin thought he would be condemned to live with forever. With EFT, we neutralized all the pieces of this memory until telling the entire story no longer triggered any emotional charge in his body and mind. His stunned reaction was, “Huh…That’s weird...” At first he had trouble believing the change. We tested whether EFT had worked thoroughly by asking Carlin to repeat the title he gave to this “movie” or specific event, “The Child Blows Up and It’s All Over Me.” He walked through the details of the story out loud. He was able to repeat each gruesome detail of the event in a completely neutral tone of voice because it no longer had any emotional impact for him. While it was obviously something he would rather not have experienced, it no longer haunted him on a daily basis. His mind and body didn’t need to relive the terrible details as though it was happening repeatedly in the present moment, because EFT had allowed him to process the terror and discharge the “frozen” pieces of the trauma. The second movie title Carlin chose to represent a traumatic memory from his tour in Iraq was “Iraqis in the Grass.” He and some fellow officers were moving through a field of tall grass thinking they were safe from enemy fire. After stepping over a hill, Carlin was suddenly looking down the barrel of an enemy gun, and the panic he felt completely flooded his system. Someone behind him saved his life by shooting the enemy soldier, but the fear, life threatening panic
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and trauma of the moment stayed with him for over four years until the veterans’ retreat. We again collapsed each aspect of this specific event using Gary Craig’s Movie Technique, until Carlin was able to say, “Iraqis in the Grass…That one doesn’t bother me anymore either.” In an hour and a half, this young man went from being totally withdrawn with a stone-faced stare to an open, friendly young guy able to relate and talk to everyone at the retreat. That first night Carlin only had one drink and one cigarette with his friends, and then he slept through the night without any nightmares – an incredible improvement for him. In the days ahead we kept working on his war memories with EFT, and he continued to improve emotionally and physically. When he returned home, he had a short-term relapse and started drinking again in response to unresolved feelings around his friendships and his father. These challenges had nothing to do with the war or the war memories we had neutralized. The war memories no longer haunted him, in spite of all the tragedy he witnessed. Carlin continues to use EFT and has been enthusiastically introducing EFT to other veterans in his area as well as to family members. How is it that EFT can be so effective so quickly? And how can its results last so long? I believe that with EFT we are rewiring or re-integrating the person’s sensory memories and traumas so they are no longer compartmentalized into small fragments that haunt and threaten the person. EFT allows us to discharge the original and once useful and protective “freeze response” so that pieces of the trauma no longer take up valuable emotional energy. Once the memories and sensations from the trauma are integrated fully into consciousness by using EFT, the client no longer needs to be hyper vigilant to protect from the next possible attack. The trauma has been processed fully, on all levels, leaving room for normal every day thoughts and activities. The counselor’s primary job is to help the PTSD client feel safe. Unfortunately, well meaning counselors often frighten them by charging in with EFT prematurely. I recommend that practitioners working with PTSD clients introduce EFT with setup statements that focus on physical symptoms or a general feeling of stress or anxiety rather than specific events or traumatic memories. This will help the client get a feel for the EFT process while experiencing some of its benefits, all as part of laying the foundation for the later deeper work. Once you have gained some rapport with the client (which is often difficult with PTSD clients) and he or she has become accustomed to tapping and talking, I recommend identifying specific events and using the Tell The Story Technique or the Movie Technique as much as possible. A simple question such as, “Can you tell me about the memory that won’t go away?” is also very effective. If the client is unable or reluctant to identify a specific trigger or memory, it can be useful to remain more emotionally distant with Setup Phrases such as:
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Even though I can’t go there yet, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though something terrifying happened, I deeply and completely accept myself. Working with PTSD clients requires intense attention from the counselor. While clients are recounting one of their stories, instruct them to tap for the intensity the instant you see facial expressions change, notice muscles become tense, or hear their voice crack or stop altogether. Timing is everything, and we don’t want to inadvertently re-traumatize someone who’s contacted us for help. After using EFT on several aspects of a traumatic memory, it is critical that you “test” your work to make sure the EFT was effective. Ask the client to tell the story again from start to finish. Does the client feel and act emotionally neutral throughout every part of the story? Can he or she look at any detail or sub-plot without feeling stressed or uncomfortable? Has the emotional intensity from that entire experience disappeared? If so, you have successfully erased some of the originating causes of the person’s PTSD and the healing journey can begin. If a symptom does return, it is almost always the result of an incomplete treatment of an original trauma or memory. As Gary taught us, it is likely that another “aspect” of the event has surfaced or been triggered by the person’s environment. The new aspects are often easy to identify and target with EFT. Final thoughts –- tread gently, listen deeply, and use compassion liberally. Watch for miniscule signs of distress while working with these clients, and once you have developed rapport, neutralize any and all emotional and physical signs of hidden trauma with EFT. Whatever problem or challenge your client presents to you, the odds are incredibly high that it contains links and echoes to events in the past. Luckily for all of us, EFT is an incredibly efficient tool to neutralize original childhood traumas as well as current symptoms of PTSD. ~~~~ Here is a detailed and comprehensive report by Maggie Adkins for addressing specific traumas with EFT. It contains many useful details.
An EFT formula for specific trauma by Maggie Adkins A trauma, such as a car accident or an act of betrayal by a friend or lover, can have impacts that reach deep into our subconscious, sometimes causing behaviors or fears many years later. Those behaviors or fears may at first seem unrelated to the old trauma that is actually driving them; however, when we look for core issues to current behavior, those old traumas can show themselves as being huge saboteurs in our lives. 69
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EFT surpasses anything else I know for releasing the negative emotions and resultant behaviors from a specific trauma. In my experience, the biggest obstacle to success in resolving traumas with EFT is the person’s lack of specificity about the details or aspects of that trauma. Sometimes, we just don’t know the specifics. If that’s true, we use EFT by working with what we do know, even if that information is very general. When we start off with general issues, sometimes that wonderful EFT journey will include remembering more specifics and sometimes it will not. We just work with what we have. When we do know specific details, it is best to do EFT on those details. What follows is a formula for working with a specific trauma or event when you DO know specifics. This article does not cover situations wherein the client is overwhelmed at the beginning. If my client is overwhelmed, I start off with very general phrases. The formula I share with you here is for those times when the trauma is still a major thread in our life, but we are not incapacitated by it. Central in using the technique is remembering to work with only one trauma at a time and not move around from one trauma to another. It is useful to incorporate different aspects of a trauma in a single round of EFT; however, be careful not to switch to another trauma. I often address more than one aspect of a trauma in a single round of EFT when using the free-flowing language method. The freeflowing language method is found on many of Gary Craig’s DVDs and consists of rounds where the phraseology includes more than one aspect. If there are multiple traumas, the first questions may be: Which is the most intense trauma? Which one happened first? That is, which trauma from the past may be overloading the more recent trauma? If there is more than one trauma, I find it helpful to write them down. Then choose the one that you feel is the most pivotal in your healing at this time. Making an aspect list Once a trauma is chosen, I like to make a list of all the aspects of that trauma in as much detail as possible. The aspects are what make up the whole, collective trauma. My favorite analogy of how EFT works is Gary Craig’s image of a table top being the issue and the legs being the aspects that hold it up. Knock out enough aspects and the legs collapse, leaving a memory but no more trauma. You don’t have to knock out all the aspects for the issue to collapse, just as you don’t have to get rid of all the legs of a table in order for the top to collapse. What follows are two examples of traumas and what might be the various aspects to work on with EFT. The first example relates to betrayal, the second relates to a car accident.
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Sample aspects of a betrayal trauma could include: He lied about me; he said I cheated her. I feel like such a fool. I trusted him — how can I ever trust anyone again? I chose him as my friend/lover/whatever. I can’t trust myself to choose again. I can’t believe he actually did _________ . I can’t believe he actually said __________ . When I tried to counter the allegation, he lied about me again. When I told Mom about it, she just said, “Get a life!” No support there. They will think I’m a liar, a cheat. This keeps happening to me — there must be something wrong with me. I feel so lonely — there’s no one to share this with. I don’t know what to do. I’m embarrassed to face the others again. I must be unlovable or people wouldn’t keep doing this to me. Sample aspects of a car accident trauma could include: I saw that truck coming toward me and knew it was going to hit me. I woke up and smelled gasoline and couldn’t open my door. The car could have burst into flames any minute and I would have died. Had to wait a long time smelling gas before anyone got there to help me. What would my five-year-old son have done without his mother if I had died? I WAS going too fast — it was all my fault. The police didn’t even test the other driver’s breath for alcohol and I’m sure he was drunk
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This issue may remind you of something in your past The aspects may all be for a trauma that happened recently and you may automatically do EFT on that trauma. However, it is a very good thing to ask the core-issue question, “What does that remind me of?” If a similar trauma happened long ago, the first experience that has not healed may be stockpiling onto the more current trauma and we may have to heal the first trauma before we can get great results with the more recent one. If there are multiple similar traumas, I get the best results by doing EFT with whichever trauma has the most intensity. Most often, the first incident has more intensity. The Movie Once I have decided what I want to work on and the aspects are written down, I ask the client to give the event a name, as though it is a movie, and then replay the entire event as though watching the movie. Doing this may bring up additional aspects to record. You can also do EFT on the movie’s name, such as “That Betrayal” or “The Car Accident.” However, faster healing normally occurs when you work with one of the most intense aspects rather than the entire trauma. Which aspect is most intense? If my client feels overwhelmed or extremely emotional, I don’t go immediately into the most intense aspect. However, if my client is calm and reasonably comfortable, I work with the most intense aspect first, doing several rounds on that aspect, always checking to see whether the intensity is going down. If it does not go down, it is probably because there is a larger core issue that must be addressed first. If this happens, I keep asking questions and probing to discover the appropriate core issue. If the intensity does go down with the first aspect, keep with that aspect as long as you’re getting improvement. I like to get issues down to a zero, but often we have to work with more than one aspect before any of them completely disappear. Because all aspects are interconnected, like pieces of a puzzle, they may not release until more than one aspect is released. After working with the most intense aspect first and bringing that intensity down, I then ask which of the remaining aspects is the most intense and do EFT with that aspect as long as I continued to get improvement. Has an emotion come up? After working with one or two aspects, several rounds each, I like to check in with my client and ask if an emotion has come up. I ask this even if my client is not showing any signs of an emotion. If an emotion has come up within the context of working with the specific trauma, it is a part of that trauma. At this point,
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combining the emotion with the trauma can be more powerful than doing EFT on one or the other separately. An example is, Even though I have this car accident sadness, I deeply and profoundly accept myself. This example combines sadness and the car accident — two aspects of an issue in one round of tapping. The emotions that present themselves most often are sadness, guilt, grief, anger, rage, and shame. If the client feels overwhelmed at any time, I do continual tapping — no words — starting with the Karate Chop point, then going through all the other tapping points and beginning again at the Karate Chop point and continuing through all the points until the emotion subsides. This protocol also includes keeping the eyes open until the emotion is gently released or has subsided. After an emotion has been tapped on, I ask what Intensity level the person is now experiencing on the original issue in order to see whether it has shifted. Continue with original aspects/emotions or ask if a body sensation has appeared What is the most appropriate aspect to work on next with EFT? We can either go back to the aspect list and ask which is most intense now, or, if any new aspects have come up, we can ask if any other emotions have come up, or we can ask whether any new physical sensations have arisen. If a body sensation has come up when we are doing EFT on a specific trauma, I consider that body sensation as being part of the trauma. It becomes another aspect of that trauma that we want to release. I might tap on something like, Even though I have this car accident nausea in my gut, I deeply and profoundly accept myself. Even though I have this betrayal tightness stuck in my throat, I deeply and profoundly accept myself. Sometimes the body sensation moves, and then there is a choice as to whether to chase it through the body or go back to the aspect list to see which is most intense now. If the body sensation gets down to a 2 or 3, I have found it most helpful to go back to the aspect list and see if other aspects are higher than that. If you’ve worked on an emotion or body sensation If you have tapped on an emotion or body sensation, go back to some of the original aspects you tapped on and check their intensity level. Sometimes aspects will shift after the release of an emotion or sensation.
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Continue until you are satisfied with your results This formula reminds me of a dance – moving back and forth between aspects already known, emotions, body sensations, and any new aspects that arise, until the trauma is no more than a distant memory. List all the aspects you can think of The best way to make sure you’re getting all the aspects is to make a written list, as shown below. My husband told me not to go out on such a cold and wet night for the treat I promised our son. I went out anyway. I was driving a little too fast for the slippery road. A child ran onto the road and when I slammed on my brakes, my car slid into a ditch. When I woke I smelled gasoline and couldn’t open the car door to get out. I was trapped – the car could have exploded with me in it. No one was around to help and I started to scream and beep the horn. When a man came to help, he took one look at me and said, “Oh no.” I could have died — what would my son have done without his mother? All for a stupid treat that I forgot. My husband is furious that I went out against his wishes. I feel foolish and ashamed that I had the accident for such stupid reasons. It’s just like all the other stupid things I’ve done — I’m just so dumb and worthless at so many things. Ask which aspect is the most intense Ask which of the listed aspects is the worst . For this demonstration, we’ll say that “I could have died - what would my son have done without his mother?” is the most intense and it is a solid 10. At the Karate Chop point say, Even though I could have died – what would my son have done without his mother? I deeply and profoundly accept myself.
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At the rest of the tapping points, say your reminder phrase, Could have died – what would my son have done without his mother? Do this for several rounds, or until the intensity comes down to a 4 or less. This is merely a guideline – if you are stuck at 5 or 6, stop and go to the next most intense aspect or emotion or body sensation. I like to bring the intensity down to a zero; however, with so many aspects, we may have to do EFT on several of the aspects before it all collapses to a zero. If an emotion or body sensation has arisen, shift to that now If no emotion or body sensation has arisen, go to the next aspect. If an emotion has arisen, incorporate that with the aspect you were working on. For instance, if sadness has arisen, you would say something like, Even though I am so sad I could have died – what would my son have done without his mother – I deeply and profoundly accept myself. When you combine the emotion and the aspect you were working on when it arose, that combination can often create more release from both the emotion and the original trauma. Do rounds on this until the emotion subsides. If a body sensation has arisen, incorporate that into the aspect you were working on when it arose. For instance, if shoulder tightness arose, you could use wording similar to: “Even though I have this I-could-have-died tightness in my shoulders – what would my son have done without his mother – I deeply and profoundly accept myself.” Do rounds on this until the body sensation subsides. Which aspect is NOW the most intense? Choose the aspect that is now the most intense. We’ll say that the fact that I was going a little too fast and I could have hit a child is the most intense now. That is a 10 on the Intensity Meter also, but it wasn’t as big as the first aspect we worked on. Tap on the Karate Chop point with the following Setup: Even though I was going too fast and could have hit that child – never would have forgiven myself – I deeply and profoundly accept myself. At the rest of the tapping points, use your reminder phrase: Was going too fast – really stupid – I could have hit that child.
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Please note I have added “really stupid” in the reminder phrase as an example of how you can change the wording a bit and include another aspect. Feeling really stupid is another aspect and it may or may not need specific rounds of its own. Do several rounds on this until the intensity comes down to a 4 or less. This is just a guideline – if it is a 5 or 6 and you feel stuck, go to the next aspect. Has an emotion or body sensation arisen? If either of these has arisen, proceed as described above for emotion or body sensation. Which aspect is NOW the most intense? Choose the aspect that is now the most intense. Let’s say the next most intense aspect is, “My husband told me not to go out on such a cold and wet night.” Let’s say this aspect has an intensity of 7 — it may have already gone down because of the work we have done on other aspects that were stronger. Do the Setup at the Karate Chop point: Even though my husband told me not to go out, he’s still angry with me, and I’m angry at me too, I deeply and profoundly accept myself. At the rest of the tapping points, use your reminder phrase: He told me not to go out – I’m furious at myself that I was so bullheaded and he is too. I have again changed the reminder phrase a bit to encompass a bit more and show how flexible EFT is. Continue the dance Continue to ask yourself if there is a most intense aspect left. Has an emotion arisen? Has a body sensation arisen? Work with whatever is present. When you have worked with three to five aspects, emotions, or body sensations, go back to the first aspect you worked on and see if the intensity has decreased. Check each aspect and see if any have gone to zero. Continue with this process until the intensity has reached zero for all aspects, or you’re feeling enough relief to stop. When you are satisfied with your results, I suggest a round of positive affirmation tapping such as, “I am deeply grateful for these healings in my body, mind and spirit and I give thanks.”
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Summary The preceding formula is meant to be a guide. I have witnessed the effectiveness of this formula many times. If you do not have success with this or if you are not comfortable working with a complex trauma on your own, be sure to choose a competent EFT practitioner and allow yourself the freedom that releasing a trauma can bring to your life. Choose the EFT practitioner who is right for you rather than the one who might be closest geographically. A good way to find a practitioner is through short telephone interviews, where you can ask questions that relate to your situation. You will be able to tell from their responses who among them has a perspective that meshes well with yours. Perspective, simpatico – whatever you want to call it – is far more important than where a practitioner is located. For example, approximately 95 percent of my client work is now done via phone consultations. Choose your practitioner as carefully as you would choose a physician, a friend, or a teacher in a discipline you care about. Be sure to measure the intensity of all of the aspects mentioned below. This is an important benchmark that helps you to determine what to do next. Tap on one or two of the most intense aspects, doing several rounds for each. Ask if an emotion has arisen. Ask if a body sensation has arisen. Tap on emotion or body sensation or, if neither has arisen, keep tapping on the most intense aspect. Continue to go through this list until you have great improvement. And remember to be as specific as possible. When you are satisfied with your results, I suggest a round of positive affirmation tapping such as I am deeply grateful for these healings in my body, mind, and spirit and I give thanks. ~~~~
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Chapter Five:
EFT for Combat Veterans As mentioned earlier, I have been fascinated with EFT’s profound effects on PostTraumatic Stress Disorder since my colleague Adrienne Fowlie and I visited a Los Angeles Veterans Administration hospital in August of 1994. Our DVD titled “Six Days at the V.A.” shows several veterans being treated on camera. In each case, we combined the Tell a Story technique with the Tearless Trauma Technique. That is, we invited each veteran to choose an intrusive memory, give it a title, and rate it on the 0-to-10 intensity scale. We would tap until the person felt comfortable enough to start telling the story, and whenever his emotional intensity increased, we would stop the story and tap until the intensity level came back down. Only then would we ask him to resume the story. In most cases the whole procedure took less than five or ten minutes, at the end of which the story teller could recite what happened from beginning to end, often with new details and observations, without any emotional intensity whatsoever. Those who watch the DVD may notice that Adrienne and I used a slightly different tapping sequence from the one described here and in the EFT Manual. This is because in those days we were using a precursor of EFT. The EFT tapping sequence is more streamlined, easier to remember, and just as effective.
Six Days at the V.A. Our “Six Days at the V.A.” video begins with Rich, who had over 100 specific intrusive memories that he rated at a 10 on the 1-to-10 intensity scale. In addition, he had a serious height phobia. He had it before he joined the military, and more than 50 parachute jumps made it worse. Because of his fear of falling, he could not use an elevator, go out on a fire escape, or even look over the second-floor railing at a shopping mall. After a few minutes of EFT tapping, a relaxed and comfortable Rich leaned over the railing of a third-floor fire escape and waved to his friends far below. His height anxiety had gone from a 10 to a zero and stayed there. Rich then recounted three memories from Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge (the country’s ruling party from 1975 to 1979) killed over a million villagers. Rich’s most difficult memory involved coming into a village in April 1975 and finding 20 decapitated bodies. They wore black uniforms, their heads were in one pile, their bodies were in another, there was blood all over, the bodies were swollen in the heat, and the stench was overwhelming. Rich re-experienced all of these sights, sounds, and smells whenever he remembered the scene, which was every day.
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We tapped with Rich and soon his discomfort fell to a zero. Another memory that bothered Rich was an eerie scene created by heavy rains. Coming into a village just before sunrise, through the early morning mist and fog, he was horrified to see bodies rising up from a mass grave. The rain had filled the grave and literally lifted the bodies from the ground, like a scene from a science fiction movie. Rich tapped this memory from a 10 to a zero as well. Altogether, we worked with Rich on three specific memories and he worked by himself on another three, so when we next met with him, he had removed the emotional intensity of six different troublesome memories. The test was in the story telling, so we asked him to recount these six events again while trying to recapture their previous emotional intensity. All of these terrifying events, which had dominated his waking thoughts and appeared in his nightmares, were now emotionally neutral. When I asked Rich which of his other 100 intrusive memories he wanted to work on, it was hard for him to find any at all. This is an example of what we call the Generalization Effect. Memories that are linked or connected in any way often collapse together. When the emotional intensity of one of them goes down or disappears, so does the emotional intensity of the others. I checked with Rich two months after our session, and he reported that his height phobia had permanently disappeared, he had no intrusive memories from the war in Cambodia, and instead of sleeping only four hours per night he now slept seven and felt well rested, relaxed, and comfortable. Our next volunteer was Ralph, who worked with Adrienne for his memories of going over a cliff in a Jeep that almost landed on him. He was on maneuvers with a 106 Recoilless Rifle Platoon, and the rifle was mounted on a platform on the Jeep. The problem was that the Jeep had no brakes, which Ralph reported to his commanding officer. The officer ordered him to drive it anyway because they had to get back to the beach. There was a 90-degree turn in the road, and as the top-heavy Jeep began to slide, Ralph knew they were in trouble. At this point in his story, Ralph’s anxiety rose to a 7. Adrienne had him stop and tap until he felt relaxed, at a zero, and then he resumed his story. When the Jeep went off the cilff, Ralph flew through the air and landed so hard that everyone assumed his back was broken. Fortunately, it wasn’t, but he was hospitalized for his injuries. Ralph said that whenever he thought about the Jeep accident, his stomach felt tight and his left shoulder hurt. He couldn’t get over how comfortable he felt thinking about the accident and even talking about it after tapping. “I normally don’t ever talk about it,” he said, “because it’s
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too painful.” He laughed, marveling over his new situation – being able to think about and even describe out loud those long-ago events that had been excruciatingly painful but which no longer triggered any discomfort. Ralph’s desire to quit smoking gave us an opportunity to show him how EFT can stop a craving in its tracks. Many veterans turn to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or compulsive behaviors as a form of self-medication, and EFT can help break dependencies and addictions. Ralph started with a very strong craving, and I had him hold the unlit cigarette under his nose and really smell it, take a dry drag from it, and hold it in his hand. He really wanted it! But after tapping for a minute or two, the craving grew weak and then disappeared. As Ralph observed, “Now I have a choice. I can have a cigarette or I can tap and let the craving go away.” Anthony, our next veteran, was an out-patient who came to the V.A. hospital for treatment for his fear of crowds and crowded places (hyper-vigilance). He described his anxiety as an “ultra-awareness of harm,” developed in Vietnam, which left him always looking over his shoulder and thinking of himself as a target. Anthony avoided restaurants, but he told us that if he were ever to enter one, he would go straight to the table that would give him the best view of all the entrances and exits, and he would sit with his back to the wall, keeping an eye on everyone, especially those who were coming or going. Even though Anthony was highly skeptical about EFT, he tapped with us. Totally amazed by his resulting lack of anxiety, he walked with us to a nearby restaurant. Everything was fine until I opened the door and invited him to walk in. His anxiety level rose to a 10 and he stopped in his tracks. This happened because Anthony was tuning in to a new or different aspect of his problem. It’s not unusual for problems to have many aspects, and as soon as one materializes, we tap it away and go on from there. In Anthony’s case, the thoughts that came to his mind at the restaurant door had nothing to do with lunch or the threat posed by crowds of strangers but rather the grief he felt over the death of his brother. “I couldn’t even talk about it before,” he said. Now he not only talked about it, he tapped about it, and soon the emotional sting disappeared. He also tapped for the pain he felt over the loss of close friends in Vietnam. “I remember the scenes,” he said, “I remember what happened, but it feels different. Something is missing, and I realize that it’s grief. The grief is what’s missing. There isn’t any pain. I can’t believe I’m not upset. I don’t feel the shock, the sword through my heart, that I’ve been getting therapy for since 1978.” At the restaurant, Anthony realized that he felt fine, and he walked through the door. To really give EFT a test, he sat in the middle of the room with his back to the entrance and most of the customers. “My awareness was still there,” he said, “but in a good way. I no longer saw myself as a target. I really enjoyed myself.”
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Our next veteran was Robert, who had been in therapy for 30 years for PostTraumatic Stress Disorder. His most intrusive, intense memory, which he replayed constantly in his mind, was a short mental movie that he called “The Kid.” We started by addressing this memory in a general way, with no specific details. In a few rounds of tapping, Robert’s anxiety about “The Kid” fell in stages from a 10 to a zero. Then I asked him to tell the story, starting right before the main action began and stopping whenever he felt his emotions became intense. We would tap until his stress level fell to a zero and then continue. Robert said he drove into a village in Vietnam with a driver who wanted to stop at a bar. Robert had misgivings about stopping in the village, but he agreed to stay with the truck. Soon a small child, a boy five or six years of age, started walking around the truck. Robert figured the boy was curious, so he wasn’t concerned. After a while, the boy disappeared behind a building, and when he came back, Robert realized that he held a grenade in his hand and that he had pulled the pin. At this point in his story, Robert’s intensity level rose so we stopped and tapped about how “I accept myself even though I have some of this kid emotion.” When he resumed the story, Robert said that the kid kept walking toward him. He told him to go back, get away, but he kept coming. Robert took his rifle and fired a couple of rounds at the boy’s feet. This memory made him uncomfortable, so we stopped and tapped again. Robert said that finally he had no choice, it would be him and the truck or the kid, so he shot the boy. “I didn’t want to, but I had to,” he said. We had Robert tap while saying, “I accept myself even though I shot the kid.” Soon Robert’s intensity level fell to zero. “I can see the kid, see him lying there,” he said. “I can’t believe it. It’s always a 10 and now it’s a zero. It feels so strange.” I asked Robert to tell us the whole story from the beginning, which he did with no emotional discomfort whatsoever. In the retelling, Robert remembered additional details, such as how when the boy got to within 60 or 70 feet of the truck, Robert could see that his fist was clenched. He assumed the boy was holding a rock and that even if he threw it at Robert he wouldn’t do much damage. Then, when the boy was 40 feet away, he could see it was a grenade. He told the boy to leave and then heard the ping that told him the grenade was live and fully armed. He fired at the boy’s feet, but he kept coming as though in a trance. Robert shot him in the shoulder, but he still kept coming, walking like a zombie toward the truck. He knew he had to stop him before he reached the truck, so he shot him in the head. The boy fell, the grenade dropped behind him and exploded, and soon people were running out of nearby buildings, yelling and demanding to know why he had shot the child. These memories normally caused an intense emotional reaction in Robert, but now, he said, “It’s like I’m watching a movie.” His intensity level remained at a zero. He said he
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didn’t blame the people who accused him because they didn’t know what had happened. And he stopped blaming himself as well. Later, Robert talked about another memory that normally caused him distress, where a whole village was wiped out, but now he yawned. When I asked him how he felt about these old memories, he said he felt bored. He also reported getting his best night’s sleep in over five years. Philip, our next veteran, suffered from severe anxiety headaches. When we started working with him, his headache was at an 8, but it soon fell to a zero and completely disappeared. He said it was like a little miracle. Philip suffered from a height phobia and the thought of climbing a ladder made him feel jittery, at an 8 or 9 on the intensity scale, and he felt odd sensations in his hands and feet. With five quick rounds of tapping, all of those symptoms disappeared and he was comfortable with heights. He also suffered from insomnia, even when medicated with sleeping pills. Philip told us that the previous night, he tapped before bed, fell asleep, slept well, and slept through the night without waking up – all without taking any medication. Gary, our last on-camera veteran, suffered from anxiety and the headaches it produced. Inspired by our group demonstration, he worked on his own to treat a severe headache over his right eye. It moved from his eye to the back of his head, then to the center of his head. Pain moving from one location to another is a common reaction to tapping, and we call it “chasing the pain.” When he tapped for the pain in the center of his head, the headache disappeared. Gary also tapped for the numbness he felt in his fingers, and when that disappeared, he said that he felt so good, he could only describe it as “an exceptional day for me.” We then asked Gary to describe his most intense war memory, which was always at an 8 or 10 because of the guilt he felt over what happened. One night, he and his fellow soldiers shot at enemy troops, but when dawn came, they discovered that the people they had killed were civilians carrying personal possessions, not weapons. The soldiers were instructed to dig a trench and bury the bodies. Gary relived these painful events on an almost daily basis for decades. Now, suddenly, he felt no guilt at all. He could look back, see what happened, and feel completely detached. He could tell the story without being upset. He couldn’t get over how different he felt. Altogether, Adrienne and I worked with veterans, many of them off-camera, to bring over 20 debilitating, traumatic, intrusive memories from a 10 down to zero. None of the sessions lasted longer than 15 minutes. In our follow-up interviews, 80 percent considered the improvements permanent. Their symptoms did not return. For those who did experience a recurrence of symptoms, we recommended a few more rounds of tapping.
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In these examples, we went straight for specific traumatic memories and treated them with EFT. This is the same direct approach that I recommend throughout the EFT manual. If the person had several traumatic memories, we started with one, tapped it down to a zero, then moved to the next. Typically, just as we saw with Rich, after a few of these memories have been neutralized, a "generalization effect" collapses the remaining memories so they don’t have to be treated individually. Not every PTSD case responds in this textbook fashion, of course, but many do. With the proper application of EFT, these formerly intense memories can evaporate in moments.
The Generalization Effect Donnie is a local plumber whom I called to repair some faulty plumbing under my kitchen sink. He spent about 40 minutes making the repair and then, out of curiosity, asked me what I was doing on my computer. The conversation went like this.... Donnie: What keeps you so occupied on that computer? Gary: Oh, I'm just working on my website. I founded a procedure that helps people get over unwanted emotional issues. Donnie: Such as....? Gary: Well, just about anything...including grief, fear, depression, and traumatized people like war veterans, rape victims and the like. Donnie: You mean like PTSD? [Until recently, the only people familiar with that term were therapists and those who either had PTSD or knew someone who does. Thus I suspected that I was talking to a PTSD sufferer.] Gary: Yes. Do you have PTSD? Donnie: Yes, my therapist diagnosed me as having it. I used to be a police officer and witnessed more than my share of disasters. I've worked on it a lot with my therapist over the last 10 years and I've pretty much taken care of it. [I never believe new clients when they say this. I honor that they think they have "taken care it," but I have yet to see a PTSD case addressed by conventional techniques (like talk therapy) that does anything more than help the client "sweep it under the rug" so that it is out of sight. However, out of sight doesn't mean gone. The issue is still there and will remain until it is properly resolved.]
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Gary [as a test]: What was your worst memory? Donnie [with obvious teary emotion]: Sorry, this is embarrassing. I'm too emotional to tell you. Gary: okay, sorry for the question. Let me offer you a brief experience with this new process. It might help and I don't even have to know what happened. Donnie [gratefully]: Sure. [At this point I gave him a 2 minute run down of the theory behind the process and described it as an "emotional version of acupuncture, except that we tap certain release points with our fingertips rather than use needles."] Gary [using the Movie Technique]: If that worst memory was a movie how long would it last? Donnie: About 20 minutes. Gary: Was there more than one crescendo or peak moment within that 20 minutes? Donnie: There were five or six. Gary: okay. Just isolate the worse crescendo of those five or six and tell me how long that movie lasts [I am purposely forcing him to pick one very specific crescendo. Otherwise he may shift from crescendo to crescendo (aspect to aspect) within our session]. Donnie: About 30 seconds. Gary: And what would be a title for that movie? Donnie [with emotion]: Abuse. [I sensed this was a very tense memory and electing to use the Tearless Trauma Technique] To make this as painless as possible, just guess for me what you think the intensity would be, on a 0-10 scale, if you were to vividly imagine it. Donnie: An 8.
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Gary: okay, just follow along with me and tap in the same places on your body that I tap on mine. Repeat my words too, whether or not you believe them. [ From here I just did straight EFT on that memory--"Even though I have this abuse memory...."] Donnie: okay. Gary [after 2 minutes of EFT]: Now guess at what you think the 0-10 intensity would be if you were to vividly imagine it. Donnie: 1 or 2....or maybe 0. Gary: Alright. Now close your eyes and vividly imagine that 30 second movie and tell me what intensity you get to. Donnie: I think it is a zero. I really can't tell for sure because the movie is breaking up. I can't seem to focus on it. [This is a classic response when a memory has been successfully neutralized with EFT] Gary: Is that unusual for you? Donnie: Very unusual. Gary: Now run the entire 20 minute movie and see what 0-10 intensity is there for the other crescendos. If you get intense along the way, please stop. Donnie: That's strange. They are all breaking up except for one and that one is maybe a 4. I just can't seem to find the movie except for this one piece. [Final note: Success. In this case we selected the most intense of his crescendos and, once neutralized, it generalized over the rest, except for one. This is a textbook case where collapsing one table leg under the client's emotional table serves to wobble and essentially collapse the whole structure. We spent one more round of EFT on that remaining crescendo and it, too, went by the wayside. Total time taken was less than 10 minutes, including the up-front explanation. There are more difficult PTSD cases, of course, but why get too advanced when a simple approach may do the job? ~~~~
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Sometimes it takes great skill just to get someone to try EFT. This can be doubly difficult when the client is a "macho veteran" whose Self Image resists help of any kind – let alone something as different as EFT. Dr. Patricia Carrington steps us through an important case involving a war flashback that was easily handled BUT ONLY after she got through her macho client's substantial resistance to being helped. This is a real lesson in the art of delivery. It blends language, authority and personal congruence (what one says lines up with what one believes) as convincers for the client.
Delivering EFT to a macho war veteran by Dr. Patricia Carrington I recently used the Tearless Trauma Technique to help a Viet Nam veteran, Tommy, accept EFT although the standard EFT protocol might well have caused reactions in him which would have run counter to his Self Image. In that event he would likely have refused to participate in the treatment. Although Tommy was able to pull out of a severe battle flashback through the use of EFT, I am almost certain he would not have responded to this treatment had I not structured the session so that his “macho” Self Image remained intact. Tommy, is an immensely engaging, friendly, and helpful man whom just about everyone likes. He weighs over 300 pounds and has a host of physical problems, some of them remnants of war wounds that leave him handicapped to quite an extent. On his good days, though, he can lift a metal office desk onto a truck as easily as most of us can pick up a bag of groceries. He works successfully at every imaginable sort of handyman job and, because of his enormous strength, has worked on and off as a bouncer in a night club. He is a self-appointed defender of the weak, and last year he saved a woman from being raped when he heard her screams as he was walking through a lowincome housing development. Tommy ran to the site of the attack, grabbed the assailant by the scruff of the neck, and tossed him over an eight foot fence. The attacker broke both his legs as he landed on the concrete and, by some twist of the law, Tommy ended up having to defend himself in court against charges by this serial rapist of assault and battery. Tommy won his own case when the rapist was shown to have had multiple arrests for this same crime. Nonetheless, Trouble sometimes seems to be Tommy’s middle name. Tommy’s Self Image is clearly that of being strong and invincible, although in actual fact this huge man is also a wonderful surrogate parent to his nieces and nephews, whom he supports, cooks for, and acts as the father they never had. (He has never been married himself.) He is also the person who stays up through the night caring for his widowed mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and a near fatal heart condition. Further, he is the one who plays Santa Claus for the children in the leukemia wards in Trenton and whom they beg for and call “our Uncle Tommy.” He is the strong one and the salvation of all.
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Tommy has done handyman work around my house for years and in many ways it is as though he is part of my family. I absolutely rely on him to fix anything and everything cheerfully and immediately. I have thus had plenty of opportunity to observe him pooh-pooh needed medical treatment until it became absolutely necessary to accept. He claims to be able to recover almost miraculously from injury, and in fact does possess an amazing immune system. But he will also tell you he is “feelin’ just fine!” even when he can barely move. His Self Image of being invincible keeps him in good cheer, however, amidst difficulties that would keep a soap opera running for years. Because I knew so well Tommy’s pride in being able to cope with anything and everything that happens to him, I was deeply concerned when I heard his voice on the phone about a year ago telling me that he was leaving town forever. He just had to “get out” and never come back. There was a tremendous urgency in his tone and he was talking in non-stop fashion, almost incoherently in fact. It turned out that during a winter snow storm the night before, a fatal accident had occurred on his property. A car skidded off the road and smashed headlong into one of his trees. Tommy managed to pry open the car door and lift the driver out, but he was dying and did, in fact, die in Tommy’s arms – just as some of Tommy’s war buddies had done many years before. When he phoned me the next morning, Tommy told me he was “seeing” his whole backyard aflame with bombs bursting, just as they had on the battlefields during the war. “I don’t know what’s happening!” he kept repeating “But I’ve gotta get out of this place. I’m gettin’ out of here!” I knew Tommy had called because he respected the fact that I’m a psychologist and because he trusts me. Clearly he wanted my help, otherwise he would have simply skipped town as he was threatening to do. I realized I would have to overcome his resistance to accepting medical or psychological help of any kind before I could really help him – his “I’m fine! I can do it myself!” Self Image could get seriously in the way of any treatment. Since there was no point in trying to convince him over the phone about the value of EFT, I simply said, “Tommy, you get over here, NOW! We can fix this. I have something that can help you.” I was absolutely determined to make EFT work for him no matter what, but the trick would be to get Tommy to remain doing the treatment until it took, restlessness is a strong characteristic of his even under ordinary circumstances. When Tommy entered my home I saw this huge man trembling noticeably, and his face appeared ashen. I had him sit down immediately. No introductions to EFT, there was no time for that. Just the briefest description-- “I’m going to use a
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new method that can take away the kind of experiences you’re having. It’s based on acupuncture, but they’re no needles or anything like that involved. It’s being used with Viet Nam veterans who have the same problems you do now, with a lot of success.” [My comment: Impressive! In a few words Pat used her congruence and her authority to quickly link EFT with its use for other Viet Nam veterans. Sometimes a few well chosen words, said with emphasis, can convey more than several pages of rhetoric.] Obviously I said this because I wanted Tommy to believe that the technique would work – and I didn’t have the luxury of the caution we use in experimental work where we’re careful never to influence or “suggest” to a subject positive results. I needed all the help I could get, and confidence in a technique on the part of the person using it can be a great help. One thing I was certain of was that Tommy’s “macho” image could not permit him to break down and express the real emotions that were underlying his intense reactions – they would be forbidden in his view of himself. For this reason I did not want to use an approach which might take him into an abreaction (a re-living) of last night’s experiences or of his war experiences. I could not use a technique which would cause him to express what would be for him deeply humiliating emotion. Were I to do this, I knew I would simply “lose” him — he would be out the door in a flash. So I chose to use the Tearless Trauma Technique and quickly set that in place to protect Tommy from running headlong into the restrictions of his own Self Image. I told him that he was not even to THINK about the accident or (later) about the battle scenes, but merely to “guess” what his intensity rating on the 1-to-10 scale would be, IF he were to think about these things. Although Tommy’s initial rating was a “10 Plus,” he managed to repeat the Setup – “Even though this man was killed on my property …” – and did a round of tapping on that. Notice that I purposely did not have Tommy describe his own emotional reaction to the event, but helped him construct his reminder phrase to reflect the facts alone, which in themselves would obviously evoke a great deal of emotion. Tommy was able to follow these instructions without thinking in detail about the accident. He just repeated the Reminder Phrase description of it. After tapping a complete round this way, he was obviously experiencing some relief. His breathing was easier, his eyes more focused, and he described himself as “a little better.” After tapping another round, Tommy felt better yet. Then, on an intuition, I suggested that we go directly to the memories of the war. I asked him if he had seen men die like this in the war.
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“Yeah. Sometimes they died in my arms just like this.” he said. I then asked him to say, “Even though they died in my arms in the war..,” reminding him not to IMAGINE the war experiences, but only to SAY them in the Reminder Phrase. He did as I suggested. In all, Tommy did eight to ten rounds of the tapping and I watched in amazement as his intensity rating came down, in just 12 minutes, to a zero. He had stopped trembling, looked entirely different, and could only keep repeating, “This stuff is something else! This stuff is SOMETHING ELSE!," over and over again. Tommy’s EFT treatment was remarkably successful. He was able to go back to work that day with no difficulty, and did not “flee the state.” I have been keeping close tabs on him for over a year since this incident, and his flashback never occurred again. Nor has the fatal accident on his property bothered him. In my experience with EFT, this lasting effect can be expected to occur very often if the original treatment was successful. In this case, I am convinced that we could not have obtained such excellent results were it not for the use of the Tearless Trauma Technique. Because the pain was held to a minimum through this technique, his extremely disturbing emotions became manageable. Tommy did not have to suffer the humiliation of “losing it” in front of another person, and in front of himself. It may be because of this that he was able to accept that the treatment was effective and not have to deny this fact through the Apex (denial) effect. Can it be that the Apex effect only comes when a person’s Self Image is in danger of being violated if they recognize the success of the treatment? Interestingly, however, Tommy refuses to use EFT for any other problems that have occurred since this incident – even though he admits its great usefulness. He will not, for example, use it for the severe pain he can sometimes experience with his disabilities. Nor will he use it for his distress at some urgent family problems. But again, to do this would be to violate his image of vulnerability — too much, it would seem, for him to take. In all, Tommy’s experience has convinced me once again of the great value of the Tearless Trauma Technique. An important point to remember is that this method need not be applied only to a major trauma. It is a wonderfully humane way to handle many serious problems which clients face. I cannot urge you strongly enough to try it! ~~~~~
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At the March 2008 PTSD study in San Francisco, EFT practitioner Sophia Cayer worked with several combat veterans using the same approach that she took with the Gulf War veteran described below. As you read her report, pay particular attention to the gentle and indirect way in which she introduces EFT, defuses intense emotions generated by the Setup, and helps her client find and neutralize core issues.
Layers of trauma by Sophia Cayer A gentleman I will refer to as John is a Gulf War Veteran in his late thirties, married, with small children. He managed to cope with the side effects of his war experience fairly well until the September 11 event in New York City, which threw him into full-blown PTSD. At that point everything began falling apart. Situations such as this are far more common than most realize. Delayed reactions are important considerations for anyone working with veterans and their families. Many times veterans arrive home and initially exhibit only minimal or no side effects resulting from their war experiences. Others manage to successfully mask or ignore related emotions. They put up a valiant front, doing their best to resume life as they used to know it. Therefore family and friends think everything is almost back to normal. Then without warning and for seemingly no reason, things start falling apart. As time goes by even subtle events can spark flashbacks that trigger PTSD symptoms. I have seen veterans triggered while driving because the tire treads on a truck in front of them reminded them of the tires on military vehicles. Video games and newsreels are things they quickly learn to avoid. Major events such as 9/11 or any event they perceive as a threat can trigger flashbacks, intense emotions, physical symptoms, a constant sense of hyper-vigilance, anxiety, sudden unexplainable bursts of anger, nightmares, insomnia, and other PTSD symptoms. Friends and family members can be equally traumatized since they don’t understand what is happening. They too need care. John had been prescribed every available medication believed to help with PTSD symptoms, to no avail. He and his wife had flown all over the country trying various treatments in their search for answers. Less than two months before I met with him, John completed an eight-week PTSD treatment program offered by the V.A. He told me that being among his comrades in itself had offered comfort and he felt a little better while he was at the facility. However, the instant he went home and back into “the real world,” his challenges returned. Even with all the medications, he was depressed and lethargic. He spent most of his day slumped in a recliner and couldn’t find the motivation to attempt the mental or physical exercises that had been suggested to help his condition. He was exploding at the drop of the hat and found himself constantly arguing with his wife and children.
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John was consumed by sadness as well as fear and anger, and he told me that the only reason suicide wasn’t an option was that he was too concerned about the pain it would cause his family. He was guilt-ridden about the state of affairs with his family and felt like a failure when it came to military service. I always make it a point to inquire about the level of anxiety the person feels about even attempting EFT. Most of the time it is a last-ditch effort after a number of disappointing avenues have been explored. Most veterans are not only anxious, they are frightened and uneasy. I tap first on whatever they are feeling, whatever misgivings are there before we go any further. In my experience, this approach opens the door to achieving more profound results in a shorter period of time. It is also a great way to demonstrate how quickly the technique can help them achieve results, which also helps gain their trust and confidence. When I asked John how he felt about doing this work, he said he was worried, didn’t know what to expect, and was disappointed that his wife couldn’t be there with him. “She’s been here with me most of the time,” he said, and I could see emotions and tears beginning to well up. He said the worst was part was not knowing what to expect. His discomfort level was already at an 8 and he was feeling it in his stomach. He described it as a knot, a tightening up or tension. Since he was brand new to EFT, I said, “Let me show you how silly it is. Let’s just take a crack at it and see how it lands for you and how quickly it can work. If it begins to feel too intense, just let me know. You don’t have to tell anything, just focus the on the tightening up.” KC (Karate Chop) – Even though I have this anxiety in my stomach, I love and respect myself. He couldn’t say the words “I love and respect myself” and broke into tears. I assured him he didn’t have to say the words and that together we would get through it. We began again with different words: KC (Karate Chop) – Even though I have all this anxiety in my stomach, I choose peace. TH (Top of Head) – All this anxiety. EB (Eye Brow) – All this anxiety. SE (Side of Eye) – All this anxiety. UE (Under Eye) – It is sitting in my stomach. UN (Under Nose) – I don’t know what to expect. Ch (Chin) – I have been through enough.
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CB (Collar Bone) – I just want to feel better. UA (Under Arm) – All this anxiety. TH (Top of Head) – All this fear and anticipation. EB (Eye Brow) – I choose peace. SE (Side of Eye) – This anxiety. UE (Under Eye) – All tension in my stomach. UN (Under Nose) – This anxiety in my stomach. Ch (Chin) – I choose peace. Sensing a major change in his demeanor and voice, I asked him to relax, breathe, and let me know how his stomach was feeling. He seemed a little surprised when he announced, “Better – I am probably at a 3 or 4. That is pretty neat! “ I encouraged him by reminding him that with this wonderful self-empowerment tool, he could soon feel comfortable working on his own, dealing with things as they came up. I also reminded him that he could tap preemptively. The realization that he could be in charge and in control of his emotions as he worked through issues on his own was an empowering thought, one that encouraged the healing process. KC – Even though I still have some of this anticipation in my stomach, I choose peace. Even though I still have some anticipation in stomach, I am not sure what to expect, I choose peace anyway. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE –
This remaining tightness in my stomach. This remaining tightness. This anticipation in my stomach. I don’t know what to expect. This anticipation. Something else to try. I don’t know what to expect, But I choose peace anyway. This anticipation. I choose to feel better, I choose to let go of all this anticipation And to have peace within.
At this point he reported his stomach felt better and he felt he was probably down to 1 or zero. “Just a tiny little bit” remained.
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TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB –
This tiny little bit That is still sitting in my stomach. I choose peace. I choose peace. This tiny little bit. Still sitting in my stomach. I choose to believe in me.
At this point the stomach tightness was gone and he felt ready to proceed. As we continued to work on the more intense and complex issues together, he began to see how EFT might help him get through the days more easily. It is important to encourage persistence when people will be working on their own, so that they realize there is no need to feel discouraged if they happen to experience intensities going up and down or find themselves switching from one aspect of the problem to another. Now that John was feeling more relaxed and comfortable knowing what to expect, it was time to move forward. Based on John’s vacant expression when he arrived, which is typical of those severely affected by PTSD, and his rapid shifts from no apparent emotion to high emotion, I knew it was particularly important to be mindful and cautious as we moved forward. I realized that he could experience difficulty in getting to core issues because they were blocked, or he could find that some memories were easily triggered. These are important considerations if you are new to dealing with PTSD. When I inquired as to what he felt was his most pressing issue, he said it was his depression and anger, but he could offer little else. With a little gentle probing on my part he recalled that the onset occurred in 2000 or 2001, but he still couldn’t connect it with anything specific. Knowing there had been issues with being in and out of the service, I asked John where things stood with his military career. He told me that he wasn’t connected any longer with the military. He had left in 1998 and the doctors believed that his PTSD was set off by the events of September 11, 2001. He attempted to re-enter the military following 9/11 and was denied due to his physical condition. I could hear the emotion in his voice so I immediately interrupted to ask what he was feeling as he relayed the story. His one word answer: “Anger.” In an attempt to be more specific, I asked, “Anger with the government or anger about them not letting you re-enlist?” John replied, “Both. Anger at 9/11 and anger that I couldn’t do anything about it.”
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I could feel and sense a lot more than anger and quickly received John’s confirmation of deep sadness. We tapped for: KC – Even though I am filled with all this anger and sadness – there was nothing I could do, they wouldn’t even let me try – I am okay anyway. Even though I am filled with all this sadness and anger, I wanted to help and there was nothing I could do. I choose peace anyway. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH –
All this anger and sadness. I am absolutely furious. They wouldn’t let me help. They wouldn’t let me help. All this grief and sadness. I am absolutely furious! Why did this have to happen? It just wasn’t right. I am angry with the government. They stopped me. I am really furious. I wanted to help. And they wouldn’t let me. They told me no. All this anger and sadness. All this grief and sadness. This grief and sadness.
We had taken the edge off, but it was obvious that related issues and aspects were bubbling up. Since he was having difficulty voicing anything, I asked, “Did you lose someone close to you in 9/11”? John said, “No, but I dealt with a lot of dead in the first Gulf war.” I could feel a myriad of emotions emanating and knew his mind was racing from event to event and feeling to feeling. We managed to determine that the most predominant feelings were related to rejection by the military. To help find a core issue, an important underlying event or memory that would bring John’s attention from the vague and general to the specific and detailed, I began asking questions related to when and how he learned that he could not rejoin the military. Was it over the phone, in person, or in a letter? “It was done by computer,” he said. “They opened a site taking back prior enlisted. I filled out the paperwork and got rejected. They told me too I had many problems and wasn’t medically able, even though I did 8½ years with a screwedup back that got injured in service.”
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When I asked, “Does that make you angry?” his voice rose through a swell of emotion and tears until he was almost screaming, “I’m not really angry at the government – I love my government. I would fight and die for my country. I don’t know who I am angry at.” I said, “It doesn’t matter…. You don’t have to know….” It was impossible and unnecessary to attempt to sort anything out, so we simply began tapping: KC – Even though I am angry and sad at the same time and I am not even sure what this is all about, I am okay. Even though I am angry and sad that they rejected me, I am okay. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – CB – UA –
That news that comes through the compute., They rejected me. I really wanted to go. I wanted to do my duty. I wanted to be there. They told me no. All these emotions. All this anger and sadness They told me no. They wouldn’t take me even after all I had done. They wouldn’t take me. All this rejection. All this sadness and anger that I really don’t understand. This sadness and anger. They said no. This sadness and anger. I saw it in the computer. They said no. All this anger and sadness. This deep anger and sadness. All this frustration. Deep sadness and anger. All this deep sadness.
John felt the intensity had dropped from a 10 to a 5. It is important to note that many major shifts in intensity are quite common in this situation. Frequently this happens because it is impossible for PTSD victims to remain focused on one aspect of an issue, or even one issue. I asked, “Which feels more intense, the anger or the sadness?” He replied, “Both feel about the same.”
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He now felt he might be able to remain focused on receiving the news. Disappointment and despair were intensifying. KC – Even though I’m still at a 5, I’ve still got this anger and disappointment and all this deep sadness, I choose peace. Even though I have all this deep sadness and all this anger because they said no, I am okay anyway. I choose peace. Even though I have all this deep sadness and all this anger because they said no, I am okay anyway. I choose peace. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UN – Ch –
All this remaining anger and sadness. This feeling of despair. They wouldn’t take me back. All this anger and despair This deep sadness. I couldn’t believe that news. I didn’t want to hear that news. All this anger and sadness . I am still carrying it. This anger and sadness. They said no. This remaining anger and sadness. Remaining anger sadness.
I stopped at this point because I could sense a marked improvement. John reported feeling “Relaxed…and I’d say I am at a zero.” It was time to test. I asked him to picture himself in front of the computer getting news and see how it felt. John said he could see himself there with his brother, and as he began to tell me about reading it on the screen, I could sense his emotions on the rise. I asked, “What does it feel like now? “ He replied, “It is just the rejection that hurts.” He felt it was at a 3 or 4, and he was feeling it in his chest and stomach. KC – Even though I still have this sense of rejection in my chest and stomach, I choose peace. I choose to believe in me. Even though I feel this rejection in my chest and stomach, I choose peace, I choose to believe me. TH – This rejection. EB – I couldn’t believe that letter. SE – That terrible letter.
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UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – IW – OW – 9G – IW – OW –
That rejection.. Those rejection words. It still hurts. It still hurts. All that rejection. All that rejection. They rejected me. They rejected me. All this rejection. I choose to believe in me.
Note that in the tapping sequence above, I included two optional tapping points, the Inside Wrist (IW) and Outside Wrist (OW), plus the 9 Gamut treatment (9G). John returned to the computer screen in his mind’s eye to read his rejection letter again. This time he reported it was just another screen. He was quite pleased that EFT was working and said that now he had “calmed down big time…” He felt better equipped to begin dealing with some of traumatic events, so we attempted to gently approach the most haunting ones. It is important to remember that even when someone begins to experience relief, his or her enthusiasm may lead both of you to believe it is time to forge full speed ahead. Please continue to approach things in a gentle and subtle manner. That euphoria and the return of the “I can handle it!” feeling may prove to be short lived, and in a matter of minutes other events will evoke new rivers of emotion. While it is best if you can “sneak up” on events, these events may continually replay in the person’s mind. John reported that many of the scenes came to him like a movie screen that started in the morning and ran all day long. “If something happens in the house,” he said, “I explode for no reason at all. I am already fired up. They’ve got me on all of this crap [medications] that’s supposed to help, but nothing works…” I reminded him that he had a new ‘secret weapon’ and that it was possible for him to have more than temporary relief. At this point I thought we would set to work on the non-stop movies. Well, that’s not the way it went. We started down that path, but as we worked it led us in different directions. Remember that these are complex cases and it is important to follow and not lead, letting the person work through events and memories as they present themselves. The following will clearly demonstrate how winding the trail can become and how essential it is to let things unfold on their own. Out of concern about triggering those reading this book, I am offering limited details but the general drift of the tuning-into-events conversation started when
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John said, “ I dealt with something in the Gulf War. It was the scariest thing I ever did in my life, something we never practiced before…” Again a myriad of emotions were before us, but the most intense was his sense of guilt, the feeling that he had failed to complete his mission according to the rules. KC – Even though I am feeling guilty – I feel like a failure as a _______. (He couldn’t say the words and tears and emotions intensified. Realizing that ‘failure’ was the trigger and knowing he was more than tuned in, I eliminated the word. No need to further traumatize in order for EFT to get the job done.) Even though I am filled with guilt, I am ok. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE –
All this guilt, all this guilt. I still see that image. I should have __________________. All this guilt, all this guilt. I can’t let it go… why didn’t I _____________? All this guilt, all this guilt. All this guilt – why didn’t I ________? I should have _________. All this guilt. All this guilt. This guilt.
John said he felt better, so we did a little probing to see how intense the pictures were as well as his feeling of guilt. That brief tapping brought him down to a 3. KC – Even though I have this remaining guilt, I choose peace. Even though I have this remaining guilt, I choose peace. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB –
Remaining guilt. I should have ____________. I can’t forgive myself. All this guilt. Remaining guilt. Remaining guilt. All this remaining guilt.
I felt a shift and when I checked in with John, he reported feeling “neutral” about an event he had been carrying since 1991, or for 17 years. He was a little stunned that this could really be the case, but he was beginning to be impressed with his EFT experience. He then shared with me that normally, after being triggered to the extent he was as we talked and worked together, his anger would have remained with him for hours.
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He told me that using the “failure” was very triggering, even though I was using his words. I asked how true that still felt and why it still seemed to feel true. He told me that he had been involved since elementary school in some form of military association. In one way or another, the military had always been part of his identity. He was convinced that getting out of the service was a big mistake, and he simply couldn’t put it behind him. As we talked it became apparent that he was afraid he would lose memories that he treasured because the service to him was family during the times in his life when he had no family. This is something to consider when you are working with those new to EFT. They need to understand that EFT is not going to erase positive memories. I assured him that he could put the bad behind him without losing the positive. “This isn’t going to make you forget, but it will help you neutralize the emotions. Events will be things that happened but they won’t continue to steal your life from you.” He said, “That’s what they are doing – stealing my whole life.” Emotions were rapidly rising as he spoke about almost losing his wife because of arguments. In the moment, he was caught up in what he saw as his big mistake, leaving the service: KC – Even though it was all a big mistake I can’t take back… I choose peace anyway. Even though there was too much going on and I didn’t know how to handle it. I did the best I knew how – but I want to be happy with the way things turned out – I forgive myself. There is just too much. It is all too painful. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB –
How could I ever let this go? It is too painful. It is too big. But maybe if I take it one piece at a time. I can create peace for myself. Even though I feel like my past has stolen the present. I choose to be in the present. It is too much, it is too big, I can’t change it. Or maybe I can. Maybe I can embrace the present and enjoy the now. Letting go of all this deep sadness. Letting go of all this pain from the past. Letting go and choosing peace. Letting go. Choosing the present.
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John’s intensity was greatly reduced, but I knew we had a way to go. In an effort to reassess, I asked him to repeat a statement about his sense of feeling lost now that he wasn’t in the service any longer. He simply couldn’t do it and broke into tears as he said, “I hate not being there.” Even though I hate not being there, it was my life, I feel lost without it, I choose peace. Even though I hate not being there - it was my life for so many years, I love and forgive myself. I choose peace. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – IW – OW – TH –
It was my life, from the time I was seven – it was like my family. It was all I could really count on. I miss it, It was all I knew From the time I was seven. I miss it. I’m lost without it. I am angry and filled with despair. I miss it. I am lost without it. Nothing feels the same.
The emotional ups and downs were constant, making it apparent that he was roaming through various issues and aspects. So we took a breather for a moment and I attempted to zero in on a more specific and intense aspect. Many family circumstances made John feel that he needed to leave the service. However, 30 days later he found himself filled with regret and headed to a recruitment office for re-enlistment. They would take him back, but he would lose rank and end up taking a pay cut. He would be outranked by the very soldiers he was in charge of a month earlier. He couldn’t bring himself to accept it, so he walked away. There was anger about the fact that they wouldn’t check his records to see that he had already given them many years of service and was due to pick up a new rank when he left. However, as he shared this with me, additional aspects, issues, and events were making themselves known. I allowed him the opportunity to download, since in the middle of all this, he had shared with me that he was revealing things to me that he had never shared with anyone. And of course, it ended up bringing us to exactly where we needed to be, in the middle of an emotion-packed image from his daily movies. KC – Even though I still have this incredibly vivid image, and it still has me feeling angry and guilty – I didn’t perform the way I should have, I forgive myself. Even though I can’t get this image out of mind, it is incredibly vivid – still filled with guilt and anger. I should have done it diff – I forgive myself.
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TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA –
This image. This vivid image. I see it everyday. See it all the time . It really bothers me. I am angry with myself. Disappointed in me, I failed. I still see that image. Vivid image. That image. It’s with me all the time. I see it everyday. That image. That vivid image. Still angry with myself. That image, I didn’t do what they taught me to do.
At this point John was doing his best to stifle a yawn. I told him to just let it happen, knowing that it was simply him processing the many changes he was experiencing. IW – OW – 9G – IW – OW – 9G – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH –
Vivid image. That vivid image. Didn’t do what they taught me to do. I keep flashing back there. That vivid image. I see it everyday. I see it all the time. I see it now. That image. I am still angry with myself. Why didn’t I do what they taught me to do. I can’t let this go. I won’t let this go. Its my anger and you can’t have it. It is serving me well. I can’t let this go. I won’t let this go. This vivid image. I can’t forgive myself. This image. This vivid image. All this anger with myself. All this anger with myself.
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John was feeling much better, so we did some testing. He reran it in his mind and then detailed the image, as best he could. There was no emotional charge and he shared with me that the image in his mind was now of his family, and his feelings were that of hope. However, in a matter of seconds, he said, “It doesn’t feel bad – for now.“ When I asked about “for now.” an obvious tail-ender, he told me he was sure it would pop up again later and get him fired up. Sure, it is possible that some remnants remained to cleared, or that new aspects including but not limited to smells or sounds might surface. But I reminded him that if that if that were the case, with a little persistent tapping he could experience the same sense of relief and hope he had today. Concerned about his doubts and the obvious tail-ender, we went to work. Here’s a sample of the language. KC – Even though a part of me may think this is too good to be true, and those awful feelings are bound to come back – how could I be rid of it so easily? I am willing to trust and believe in me. TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch – CB – UA – TH – EB – SE – UE – UN – Ch –
I think I like feeling better I might even be able to love and forgive self This is too weird How could this possibly be true after all these years All these meds All things tried Nothings made a difference How could it be so simple Where were you when I needed you? Maybe I can believe in this Even though it seems unbelievable Too good to be true I choose to be persistent Because I know I can overcome
We both knew that work remained to be done, but for the first time in years he was hopeful. He asked, “Why aren’t they using this stuff at the VA?” That’s a good question. I am working on it, but in the mean time we all need to be giving our all to spreading the word and getting it to as many as humanly possible, most especially to the veterans and their families. ~~~~
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In the next report, Crystal Hawk expertly applies EFT to a soldier for his flashbacks and nightmares, two common symptoms of PTSD among combat veterans.
War trauma – no more nightmares by Crystal Hawk Kevin was brought to me by his Canadian live-in girl friend. He was a Peace Keeper in the U.K. Army for 18 months in Bosnia. For the last five years, he suffered from flashbacks, nightmares, and deep anxiety. He saw a psychiatrist and a therapist for various problems, but he had never dealt with these issues. Kevin was born into a military family. With both parents serving as officers in various armies, one in the U.K. and one in Canada, he was raised by his loving maternal grandmother in the U.K. His early life was happy. To help him defend himself against his two younger but much larger brothers, he was taught Judo at an early age and knew that he had the power to kill, but he never used this “skill.” He attended the finest Military Academy in England and upon graduation he enlisted in the NATO peace-keeping force in Bosnia with his two best friends, Jim and Joe. His worst recurring nightmare was seeing Jim being demolished by a land mine. Other nightmares involved horrendous atrocities that he witnessed. I taught Kevin how to tap and his anxiety level quickly came down from a 10 to 7 to 1. At that point he could tell me about Jim’s death without any emotional charge and he could describe other horrendous scenes as well. I realized the moment he left my office that now that he was free of this overwhelming memory and anxiety, he probably would get in touch with his own feelings of guilt for some of the horrendous actions he took while in Bosnia. And that is exactly what happened. He says we don’t realize that Peace Keepers are often in hand-to-hand combat. In later session he dealt with his feelings of guilt over actions he took to protect his men and his own life. He also dealt with some personal family guilt and brought his anxiety level down easily. By our third session, he was sleeping wonderfully with no nightmares and when he woke he knew exactly where he was and what was going on. He was definitely in the present. He felt much more creative and more focused with no distractions in his head and could get on with his life. Canada Day has just taken place on July 1st and for the first time he could watch and listen to the fireworks with enjoyment and without thinking it was possible artillery. Several months later, Kevin wrote to say, "I want to thank you for the peace I feel every night when I close my eyes knowing that the memories of the terrible things I've seen and done in my tour in Bosnia will not bother me. Thank you for my peace of mind." ~~~~ 103
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Wayne Clayton-Robb from the U.K. gives us an interesting experience to study. He also mentions the “Apex effect,” which is explained on page 49.
Trauma relief for a prisoner of war by Wayne Clayton-Robb In one of my cases, I worked with an elderly man who had been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. As a result of his experiences, he became very distressed whenever the weather turned windy. This took him straight back into memories of howling winds blowing down the POW huts, which he and his colleagues were forced to re-erect after spending 12 hours toiling on the Burma railway with very sparse nourishment. He came to my house on a WINDY day with his wife and he was clearly afraid. We worked in the garden and within half an hour of tapping, he went from 9 to zero on this issue. This case introduced me to the Apex effect, when my client, having recorded a zero and being unable to reproduce his fear despite the strong wind and my equally strong suggestions, decided that he could not register anything because he was "CONFUSED." I'm pleased to say that in contacting him one week, one month, and three months later, he remained "CONFUSED" and has not been troubled by the terrible thoughts and memories that plagued him over 50 years. ~~~~ Gene Douglas works with prisoners, many of whom are beset with Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has his challenges doing so, of course, because gaining rapport is sometimes difficult with this population. Some of my own experiences with prisoners and rapport are given on our web site in my articles entitled “Rapport in the Prison System” and “Jewels in the Junkyard.” Gene also demonstrates a creative method for backing off and then sneaking up on an intense PTSD issue. I think you will find his message important.
EFT for a prisoner who is also a veteran by Gene Joseph I get so used to "miraculous" cures from EFT that I almost forget to mention them, but they are well worth noting. I am especially excited to have cured a number of cases of PTSD in single sessions. One early case was a woman who was riding in a taxi in Washington, DC, when a bullet struck the window of the cab. Had the bullet not been defective and nearly spent, it would have hit her in the neck.
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She had been experiencing symptoms of PTSD for months, and we removed them in a few minutes. Since then, a number of PTSD cases have come and gone, many quickly successful. At the prison where I work, there is a veteran who is getting out in about a month. I consider him a great American, someone we owe a lot to, though for now he is considered "nothing but a convict." About a year ago, I saw him for a symptom of some kind, probably insomnia. At the time, I didn't know his history. I treated him for regret at getting himself into prison. Somebody had threatened to kill him, had driven a truck up into his driveway, and was walking toward his door. He killed the person and learned that that in the eyes of the law, he had not acted in self-defense. I also treated him for some feelings in regard to a traffic accident in Vietnam. I didn't hear from him for about a year, but he recently came back with more symptoms, including insomnia and recurring nightmares. He had that druggedout PTSD look that patients get when the doctors load them up on tranquilizers to mask their feelings. We tried EFT, but his feelings were so strong that he could not think about the events, including being a prisoner of war and being tortured. He showed me some pretty bad scars, including a stab wound in his abdomen from torture. I backed up and addressed his being drafted at age 19. No strong feelings. Training, just excitement and anticipation. Further trainings and eventually Ranger training, more excitement and anticipation. Leaving for Vietnam, the same. Arriving in Vietnam, excitement and fear, a 10 for each. We tapped and the fear went to zero while the excitement remained a 10. He told me some stories, and the session ended. A week later, he was having nightmares, but not so many. I treated his getting on a helicopter for the first time, 10 to zero. Arriving at the battle scene, 10 to zero. Beginning the first battle, 10 to zero. End of the battle, a zero. Living with a small group in the bush for six months, and evading detection, zero, while the previous week it had been way up there. Being captured, zero. Being tortured, zero. His explanation was that it had been so long, it didn't matter any more. [My comment: This is a classic example of the Apex effect.] I thought he was just suppressing his emotions and expected to see strong feeling again, as he had shown before. In those two sessions, I also noticed him miming my hand gestures without his noticing that he was doing that.
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A week later, he said the nightmares were gone, he was sleeping better, and he said the thought of those scenes didn't bother him because it was so long ago. For the first time, I could see emotion in his face and hear it in his voice, and the flat, dead affect was gone. That, together with the absent nightmares, seemed to be my best evidence of improvement. A week later we met again, and it was the same. He was scheduled to see the psychiatrist after that, and I hope his medications will be reduced. I expect to see him as much as possible simply because he will be getting out soon, and the treatment he receives out there may not be as effective as what he seems to be getting now. PTSD used to be considered incurable, and when I was using the techniques I used prior to EFT, feelings would shoot through the roof and the client would quit. However, in this case, I "sneaked up on it" by addressing the least stressful aspect first, gradually approaching the more stressful aspects after some treatment was already done. That gradual strategy was successful. ~~~~ In November 2003, a car bomb rocked the Italian military police headquarters in southern Iraq, killing 17 Italians: 11 Carabinieri paramilitary police, four army soldiers, an Italian civilian working at the base, and an Italian documentary filmmaker. Eight Iraqis were also killed, and an additional 15 were wounded. The attack caused the largest death toll suffered by non-American coalition forces since the occupation began the previous April, and it was the first such attack in Nassiriya, a quiet Shia Muslim city. One of the survivors attended an EFT workshop taught by Andrea Fredi in Italy.
EFT clears PTSD from bombing in Iraq by Andrea Fredi Franco is a Carabiniere (special forces) soldier who survived the Nassirya bombing in Iraq. I had the pleasure of meeting Franco during an EFT class recently. When I demonstrated the Tell a Story technique and asked for a volunteer from the audience, he came forward. His event was the bombing. When he began to speak, it was good that I was tapping on myself because that helped me remain centered as I guided him. What he was narrating was really strong. Several of those surrounding us were tapping as well to cope with the emotional impact of the his story. As Franco described the event and the details became more graphic and intense, his emotions manifested as muscular tension, heat, sweat, and tears. I suggested Setup phrases in order to clear all the scenes he was narrating, proceeding slowly to be sure all the aspects were brought down to a zero on the intensity scale. 106
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We dealt with many visual, auditory and kinesthetic details, tapping on these scenes until they got cleared. As Franco explained, “Once the fire was extinguished, I looked around and saw charred bodies, many in pieces, lying around. We couldn’t recognize some of them. We put all the human remains into plastic bags, and I remember especially one colleague who was crying and asking me help him recognize a head that he had inside a plastic bag. “In the afternoon, we continued looking for bodies as well as documents that some Iraqis were trying to steal. In the evening, exhausted, we went to rest but I couldn't sleep because the scenes of the tragedy kept coming into my mind. The next morning, we went back to the half-destroyed base, still looking for human remains, and we brought them to the local hospital. In the late afternoon came the order to go back to Italy. By that evening we were home.” A very important aspect, which is common to people who live through tragedies like this, is to feel survivor’s guilt. Survivors wonder why they should be alive when their colleagues or comrades are dead. A few rounds of EFT cleared that destructive sentiment: Even though I had to save them... Even though I had to know in advance that they were attacking... Even though I'm Superman, I wasn't able to save them anyway... After 45 minutes, including a well-done 9-Gamut procedure, Franco felt lighter and much more comfortable. We arranged a follow-up appointment two months later, this time outside the public environment, to finish the work. When this happened, to Franco's big surprise, the part of the story that we treated at the workshop remained at a zero or close to it. However, as he continued exploring the explosion’s memory, other emotions and aspects came out and gave us things to tap for. We worked together for nearly an hour on the remaining parts of the story, releasing anger, grief, blame, and sadness for those who died. We also used some reframing to transform the “coldness” he said he showed during the event, which he judged in a negative way, into “a sound ability to act and do things that others weren't able to do." For example, thanks to his presence of mind, he and other colleagues had been able to open a breach for the Iraqi Firemen, avoiding a tremendous blast in the ammunition depot. This limited the already high number of victims. Towards the end we worked on remaining tensions in his neck and shoulders and on the linked emotions.
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It was an extraordinary experience, and I wish it could become of inspiration for those who carry similar weights. I am grateful to Franco for sharing his experience. ~~~~ Here's a quality use of EFT by Kim Eisen on behalf of a badly traumatized Vietnam War veteran. Note how her diligence takes the charge out of a major traumatic incident. Note also that, despite the obvious improvement, the client dismisses the "tapping stuff" and disavows it being responsible for the impressive result.
Vietnam vet with severe PTSD sleeps through the night for the first time in 39 years By Kim Eisen I met George by chance one day. One day later, we were visiting and George started to cry uncontrollably and tell me how horrible the war was. He said that he had not slept more than 2 to 3 hours a night in 39 years because of flashbacks which also occurred randomly during the day. I could see it was very deep and he was in great despair, so I mentioned that I worked with PTSD. George responded that he had been to all the therapies and he was as good as he was going to get and so he just managed it. I let it go. The next morning while visiting he mentioned it again and I felt I had earned his trust the day before, so I just said “Wanna play?” (meaning with my technique) He agreed, saying it couldn't hurt. I described EFT and tapped on George to show him where to tap, and the pressure we would be using. First, I had him tell me the flashback story from the beginning to the end. Whenever he was unable to speak, I tapped on him until he could continue. His intensity level was clearly more than 10 on a 10-point scale. His unit was getting bombed and a radio cable needed repair when another man, Henry, came to help George. George was going to run one end of a cable to another location, and Henry told George that he should stay there and start repairing things and he would run the cable to the other location. They switched positions on this thick huge cable and were only about 5 feet apart. As soon as they changed positions, right then, in front of George's eyes, Henry got hit – gut not just hit, he exploded like a human cantaloupe, and Henry was gone. There are obviously many things coming into play here, including tremendous grief, survivor’s guilt, feelings of unworthiness, trauma, , incomprehension that this could happen, it should have been me, etc. After we got through the first round of the story, I had him start and then stop again whenever his intensity rose. He started his story and the intensity came 108
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fairly quickly. There were many long pauses because of the intensity of the truth of each sentence, and I physically tapped the points on him when he was unable to because of the tears. Even though he switched places with me and got hit, I'm going to try to love and accept myself anyway. Reminder phrase: He switched places with me …he got hit. Even though it should have been me, I'm going to try to forgive myself anyway. Reminder phrase: It should have been me. Even though he was just trying to help me, I'm going to try to accept myself. Reminder phrase: He was just trying to help me …and looked what happened. Even though I saw him explode in front of me, I'm going to try to accept myself. Reminder phrase: He exploded in front of me … like a cantaloupe. Even though nobody should have ever had to see something like this happen, I love and accept myself. George didn’t feel comfortable saying he loved himself, but he was okay as long as we said he was going to try to love himself. As soon as I mentioned “love” without “trying,” he got angry and said he couldn't love himself. He had also mentioned that he didn't want to forget the tragedy as if doing so would be some kind of dishonor to Henry. I had responded that it was not my intention to have him forget, but to help him reduce the flashbacks. We continued tapping: Even though it's hard to love myself when I feel so responsible, I'm going to try. Even though I should never have had to see this… Even though it was other people bombing us, I still feel responsible and it's all my fault. At this point he decidedly told me it was not all his fault – good changes already. Even though Henry will never see his family again…
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This was a big one – it brought on extreme despair – and I had to tap on him for several minutes while he cried until I felt a softening, heard a huge sigh, and his facial expression changed so that I knew we had hit home. This took about 45 minutes, which is a long time for EFT, but it was needed in this situation. I asked him how he felt and he said, “I think it's working and I feel better.” Then I had him start the movie over again and the intensity rose again at the “he got hit'” part. We tapped some more. Even though Henry was hit and I wasn't, I deeply and completely love, accept and forgive myself, because I didn't know it was going to happen. This was a big one too, as it was from acceptance of the truth that he couldn't have known it was going to happen that there was a huge release of responsibility for him … I could feel and see the energy release from George. George continued tapping himself this time and just started saying, "Thank you, thank you," over and over again through the tears while we continued tapping the points until he felt complete. He was exhausted and grateful and we were complete for that session, which lasted about an hour altogether. That night, for the first time in 39 years, George slept eight hours straight. Two weeks later, he told me that he had slept for 12 hours a few nights before, and he felt great. He also stated that he wasn't ready to give me credit for it, but what I did couldn't have hurt. I laughed and said, "That’s okay, I don't need the credit. As long as you're feeling good, that's all that matters.” I spoke to George again two months later and in general conversation he started telling me all the things he was doing. He had lived in a house for four years and had never unpacked the boxes, but he was unpacking everything now, getting organized, and feeling as if he had a home. He's also making plans to repair a boat he's had in the water for years – in fact, he was on it when I called. I asked him how he felt and he replied that he felt good. I asked him how the flashbacks were and he said he had everything under control but it was probably because he's come to accept everything that happened and didn't really think it was that weird tapping stuff I did to him. I just smiled. Then I asked him if he's sleeping through the night, and he said he gets up once during the night to get something to eat because he's used to doing that, but all in all, everything's great. ~~~~
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Chapter Six:
Exploring Underlying Issues Every once in a while, someone tries the basic EFT formula and gets immediate, lasting results. The problem disappears in a single session and never comes back. We call these success stories “one-minute wonders,” and they can and do happen, even with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But in many cases, at some point after EFT’s Basic Recipe reduces or eliminates the problem or trauma, it comes back. If this happens, don’t assume that EFT didn’t work. EFT worked fine on the problem you treated, but now a new aspect has presented itself, and that aspect needs attention, too.
Introducing Aspects Some issues have many pieces – or aspects – to them. These are actually separate issues. However, clients don't usually make this distinction unless you point it out to them. Suppose, for example, a client wants help with frightful memories regarding an automobile accident. You can apply EFT, of course, to "this accident" and you are likely to make good progress. If you don't, however, you can ask for more specifics – that is, more aspects – with a question like... What about the accident bothers you the most? Let's suppose the client says, "Oh, the headlights, the headlights, I can still see them coming at me!" You can then tap on "the headlights" or "my fear of the headlights" or any other verbiage that seems to fit. After the client's reaction to the headlights has been EFT'd to zero, you can then ask... What else about the accident bothers you? At this point the client may bring up other aspects such as, "The screams in the car" or "My anger at the other driver" or "My anger at the doctors," etc. The list can be quite long. Usually, though, it contains only one or two aspects. Tap on these other aspects until the client can no longer find anything bothersome about the accident. As a test, ask the person to mentally "run the movie" of the accident in vivid detail. This will bring up any trailing aspects for tapping. Eventually, the client should have no emotional charge from the accident. It will just be an unfortunate event in his or her life, and that's all.
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One mistake that is often made along the way, however, is to tap on "the headlights" and then ask a much-too-global, vague, or general question such as, "How do you feel about the accident now?" That question doesn't ask for any new aspects. It just asks for an overall feeling. If there are any other aspects (such as "the screams in the car") the client will report "no progress" because the intensity is still there. Remember, clients don’t distinguish between aspects. To them, it's all one big problem. You have to make the distinction by first recognizing that aspects exist and second, asking the right questions to bring them to the surface. Aspects can exist with almost any emotional issue. For example, A war trauma can have aspects such as the sight of blood, the look in a comrade's eyes before he dies, the sound of a hand grenade, etc. A rape experience can have aspects such as the smell of the assailant's breath, the impact of a fist, the penetration, etc. A fear of public speaking can have aspects such as the sight of a microphone, the onlooking eyes of the audience, a memory of being ridiculed as a child, etc. Another thing to recognize is that an aspect can also be an emotion. Thus, some clients report that the anger they had regarding a given event has shifted to sadness. Pick up on these clues. These different emotional aspects are taking you deeper into the problem. They are opportunities for greater healing and present you with great possibilities for mastering your craft. Our DVD sets are loaded with live examples of aspects. I don't think you will find better examples anywhere of how to address this important subject. Pay particular attention to Dave and his fear of water in The EFT Course. This hour-long, very thorough session is a classic example of aspects and how to address them. Aspects are important in EFT. Each aspect qualifies as a separate problem even when they all relate to the same larger problem. Some problems have so many pieces or aspects that the difficulty will not be completely resolved until several are addressed. Experienced EFTers often compare this procedure to peeling an onion. You get rid of one layer only to discover another. When a problem has many layers or aspects, neutralizing them with EFT can seem like a daunting project. But considering how quickly those layers can be dealt with and how beneficial the results are, the project is more exciting than intimidating. And the rewards are priceless. Two points about this idea deserve special attention: 1. There can be dozens or hundreds of specific events underlying a larger issue and thus, theoretically, addressing all of them can be a tedious process. Fortunately, you do not have to address every specific event to collapse the larger issue. You can usually do the job by collapsing somewhere between five and twenty of 112
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its table legs. This is because there is usually a commonality or "general theme" among those specific events. After EFT appropriately collapses a few of the table legs, a "Generalization Effect" occurs that serves to collapse the rest. The Generalization Effect is a fascinating feature of EFT. I call it that because after you address a few related problems with EFT, the process starts to generalize over all of them. For example, someone who has a hundred traumatic memories of being abused usually finds that after using EFT on only five or ten of them, they all vanish. This is startling to some people because they have so many traumas in their life, they assume they are in for unending sessions with these techniques. Not so – at least, not usually. EFT often clears out a whole forest after cutting down just a few trees. You’ll see an excellent example of this Generalization Effect in our DVD’s session with Rich, the first veteran on the “Six Days at the V.A.” video in the EFT Course DVD set. 2. Sometimes the specific event is too long and has so many pieces to it that it should be treated as a separate table top. There is an art to identifying which issues are table tops and which are legs, but that comes with experience and practice. When in doubt, go for the smallest pieces. Your success rates will improve when you do. I've seen entire issues collapse by just addressing a small but important piece such as "the hateful look in my father's eye." Sometimes the entire issue can be reduced to a two-second specific event and collapsed in moments with EFT.
Discovering “Core Issues” Core issues are the major events or problems that underlie our symptoms. When it comes to PTSD, core issues are the gold nuggets that, if we can only find and treat them with EFT, provide rapid relief. The problem with core issues is that they’re not always easy to find. We hide them from ourselves. They’re painful. Our subconscious minds don’t want us to go there. Our conscious minds are usually clueless – they have no idea what events or memories are lurking beneath the surface or how those events and memories might be causing pain. This aspect of EFT never ceases to amaze me. Again and again I’ve worked with people while they dealt with incredibly painful memories, memories that controlled their lives and dictated where they would live, what career they would follow, what friends they would have, and everything else. Suddenly, after a few rounds of EFT tapping, they are completely transformed and no longer frightened, anxious, or afraid of old events. Instead, they’re able to describe them as easily as if they were talking about the weather. As soon as old events and old memories lose their emotional charge, they lose their place of power in the subconscious mind.
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The Personal Peace Procedure In my online tutorial, I describe the Personal Peace Procedure, which is an easy exercise that can be worked on whenever you practice EFT. Try it now. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll experience true personal peace. 1. Make a list. On a blank sheet of paper, make a list of every bothersome specific event you can remember. If you don't find at least 50, you are either going at this half-heartedly or you have been living on some other planet. Many people will find hundreds. 2. List everything. While making your list you may find that some events don't seem to cause you any current discomfort. That's okay. List them anyway. The mere fact that you remember them suggests a need for resolution. 3. Give each event a title as though it is a mini-movie. Examples: Dad hit me in the kitchen-- I stole Suzie's sandwich-- I almost slipped and fell into the Grand Canyon-- My third grade class ridiculed me when I gave that speech-- Mom locked me in a closet for two days-- Mrs. Adams told me I was stupid. 4. Tap for the big ones. When the list is complete, pick out the biggest redwoods in your negative forest and apply EFT to each one of them until you either laugh about it or just can’t think about it any more. Be sure to notice any aspects that may come up and consider them separate trees in your negative forest. Apply EFT to them accordingly. Be sure to keep after each event until it is resolved. After the biggest redwoods are removed, look for the next-biggest, etc. 5. Work on at least one event movie per day – preferably three – for three months. It takes only minutes per day. At this rate you will have resolved 90 to 270 specific events in three months. Then notice how your body feels better. Note, too, how your threshold for getting upset is much lower. Note how your relationships are better and how many of your therapy type issues just don't seem to be there any more. Revisit some of those specific events and notice how those previously intense incidents have faded into nothingness. Note any improvements in your blood pressure, pulse, and breathing ability, and of course note the improvements in your back pain and range of motion. I ask you to consciously notice these things because, unless you do, the quality healing you will have undergone may be so subtle that you don’t notice it. You may even dismiss it by saying, "Oh well, it was never much of a problem anyway." This happens repeatedly with EFT and thus I bring it to your awareness.
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6. If necessary, see your physician. If you are taking prescription medications, you may feel the need to discontinue them. Please do so ONLY under the supervision of a qualified physician. It is my hope that the Personal Peace Procedure will become a worldwide routine. A few minutes per day will make a monumental difference in school performance, relationships, health, and our quality of life. But these are meaningless words unless you put the idea into practice. As my good friend Howard Wight writes, "If you are ultimately going to do something important that will make a real difference...do it now."
The Watch a Movie and Tell a Story Techniques In our search for core issues, we often use the Movie and Story Techniques. In both methods, you review a past event while tapping to reduce its emotional charge. The difference between the two is that in the Movie Technique, you watch events unfold in your mind, as though you’re watching a movie, while in the Story Technique, you describe the events aloud. The “plot” of the movie or story is usually very short. The key event lasted only a few seconds or a minute at most. However, if jumping straight to the key event is too painful, the movie or story can begin a few minutes before the key event. The event may have hurt, but its retelling doesn’t have to. Unlike psychotherapy techniques that require clients to relive unpleasant past events in excruciating detail, EFT’s approach is gentle and flexible. You watch the movie or tell the story until you reach a point that feels uncomfortable. Instead of forcing yourself to push on, step back and tap until the emotional intensity fades. When you feel comfortable again, resume the movie or story. When feelings rise up again, take a step back and tap. In this simple two-steps-forward and one-step-back process, you can revisit any trauma and neutralize its emotional impact in minutes. Our bodies store traumas, and our mental movies are keys that unlock emotions that are stored with those traumas. Because EFT tapping reduces the emotional charge attached to past events, it transforms the traumas, memories, energy blocks, targeted body parts, and emotions that were previously locked together. With the emotional charge gone, the traumas become normal memories, the connections disappear, and the pain once associated with them vanishes as well.
The Tearless Trauma Technique The Movie and Story Techniques are powerful and effective, but in some situations, as gentle as they are, they can be too intense, overwhelming, frightening, or unnerving.
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I always remind people that in EFT, you don’t have to feel worse in order to feel better. If the memory of a traumatic past event is simply too painful to think about, the Tearless Trauma Technique can help. Since I first introduced this technique, it has been used with great success by many. However, the term "tearless" does not mean that no one has ever shed tears or experienced discomfort while using it. Indeed, some people respond with tears or other forms of distress at the mere mention of their issue. Please consider The Tearless Trauma Technique as a method for eliminating distress with a minimum of discomfort. In most of our EFT work, we recreate specific memories and tap to neutralize their emotional charge. But in the Tearless Trauma Technique, we don’t recreate anything. We just think about the event from a distance, in the most general way, while tapping. I know that procedures that avoid or minimize emotional pain are criticized by some members of the healing community who believe that traumatic experiences must be thoroughly re-experienced before they can be completely relieved. I personally don't see why pain is at all necessary for healing to take place, although I would welcome debate on this. I feel confident saying this because I have taken care of a mountain of traumatic incidents (some of them VERY severe) and, after their healing, the clients have no interest at all in exploring insights or analyzing the "why" of their past experiences. More importantly, they are for the first time in their lives free from incapacitating emotional pain, and the results last. The pain never returns. As soon as their energy shifts, there is a visible and obvious cognition change in the way these clients talk about once-troublesome incidents. They seem done with their issues because the resolution that is so highly valued by more intense techniques seems to take place within the EFT session with minimal pain. To me, this is so profound that it tempts me to rename the process "Peace without Pain." The Tearless Trauma Technique works well in groups, in one-on-one sessions, and even for those working alone. 1. Start by identifying a specific traumatic incident from your past. Choose something that is at least three years old to minimize any complications from the dynamics of a current event. An example might be "the time my father punched me when I was 12." In contrast, "my father abused me" would be too broad because, chances are, the abuse took place over many incidents. Throughout this exercise, remind yourself to stay on your original issue because it’s easy to shift to other issues as you tap. 2. Now GUESS at what your emotional intensity would be (on the 0-10 scale) IF you were to vividly imagine the incident. DO NOT actually imagine it (although many close their eyes and do this anyway). This GUESS is a surprisingly useful
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estimate ... and it serves to minimize emotional pain. Write your GUESS down. This guess represents your memory’s emotional intensity. 3. Next, develop a phrase to use for the EFT process, such as "this fatherpunch emotion," and then proceed with a round of tapping. 4. After this round of tapping, take another GUESS as to what your emotional intensity about the subject is now and write it down. 5. If your emotional intensity is still strong, perform more rounds of EFT using the same phrase. In my experience, a total of three or four rounds will bring just about everyone down to GUESSES of 0 to 3. 6. Perform another round of tapping once you come down to acceptably low GUESSES. After this round, try to vividly imagine and actually relive the incident. Notice that this is the first time you are being asked to do this. All previous times have been relatively painless GUESSES. In my experience, just about everyone goes straight to zero and the rest are at very low numbers. I urge everyone who works with trauma to try this. Try it on groups. Try it on individuals. Try it on war veterans, rape victims, and torture victims. Try it wherever trauma is involved, especially with those who are afraid of the intensity they usually feel when discussing or "getting into" their incident. The energy based therapies have been very impressive in their ability to handle negative emotions. That is indelibly clear to practitioners using these procedures. I think the above technique, properly mastered, adds a useful component to the "art of delivery."
Surrogate or proxy tapping In surrogate or proxy tapping, you tap on something else – usually yourself or a photo – in place of the person you hope to help. EFT practitioners do proxy tapping all the time when they tap in person or by phone with clients for their clients’ problems. Students attending EFT workshops do it whenever they tap along with someone whose problem is being treated onstage. Anyone who taps along with our instructional DVDs does it, too. You will automatically do surrogate or proxy tapping whenever you work with a tapping buddy or with an EFT group. Surrogate tapping can be used from any distance, from a few inches to thousands of miles. It can be done at any time, whenever you think of the person. You can tap on yourself for your own emotional responses at the same time, especially for emotions like worry, frustration, impatience, guilt, anger, fear, grief, or depression.
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You can also do surrogate tapping to help animals, including family pets, animals in zoos or on farms, and wild animals. There are three basic ways to proceed. You can: Tap as though you are the person or animal you want to help, Tap as though you are talking to the person or animal you want to help, or Tap as though you are describing the person or animal you want to help. For example, your friend Tom hurt his back playing baseball. If you’re tapping with him in person, simply tap on yourself while saying his setups along with him as both of you tap together: Even though I hurt my back sliding into second base, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I took a chance and it didn’t pay off, I got tagged out and now my back is throbbing, I forgive and accept myself. Even though it was dumb to try stealing bases at my age, I did what I did and now I choose to release all this pain in my back.... If you’re by yourself and thinking about Tom, you can tap on yourself while using the same first-person setup, above, or you can use a second-person setup, as though you are talking to Tom: Tom, even though you hurt your back sliding into second, I fully and completely accept you. Even though you took a chance that didn’t pay off, you got tagged out and now your back is throbbing, you can forgive and accept yourself. Even though you’re getting a little old to be stealing bases, the game is over, and now you can release all the pain in your back.... Or you can use a third-person setup, as though you’re talking about Tom: Even though Tom hurt his back sliding into second, I fully and completely accept him. Even though he took a chance that didn’t pay off, he got tagged out and now his back is throbbing, he can forgive and accept himself. Even though he’s getting a little old to be stealing bases, the game is over, and now he can release all the pain in his back...
Borrowing Benefits Did you know that tapping on behalf of others can help clear your own problems? This is one of the more unusual aspects of EFT, and it’s one of the most exciting. Talk about a win-win situation. Every time you help someone else, you help yourself. 118
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You can borrow benefits by tapping as you study this book, sending your energy to the people whose stories you’re reading. You can borrow benefits by tapping as you watch our EFT seminars on DVD, or watch the news on television, or watch commercials or anything else. You can tap on behalf of characters in books, plays, movies, magazines, and online reports. You can tap on behalf of your boss, co-workers, customers, friends, neighbors, children, spouse, parents, other relatives, and people you’ve never met. Whenever you practice sending balanced energy their way, you’ll feel better yourself. And if they’re real people with real problems, your energy will make a difference in their lives as well. You can do this tapping in person, such as while showing your brother-in-law how to relieve his sciatica, or from a distance, or by phone. The Borrowing Benefits phenomenon is so powerful and fascinating that I conducted an entire seminar on this theme, and it’s available on DVD. At the beginning of each section, I remind those watching to select a personal problem, focus on it for a moment, and then set it aside. While your conscious mind is busy tapping along with the seminar audience, your subconscious mind will include your own situation in every tapping session. The benefits you receive, or “borrow,” don’t have to be related in any way to the situations you tap for. If your back is hurting, just focus for a moment on how it hurts, then give your undivided attention to the person you want to help. You can tap with a golfer to improve his swing, tap with a student to improve her grades, tap with a dieter about losing weight, or even tap for the family dog to help her indigestion – and all the while, your back will feel better. After introducing the "Borrowing Benefits" feature of EFT, I received many enthusiastic responses. For many, it represents a big step toward speed and efficiency in the delivery of these procedures. The process also provides an additional measure of emotional safety. As you know, EFT is normally quite gentle but a few people tune in to some pretty intense stuff and it takes awhile to bring them down. With the Borrowing Benefits feature, however, clients merely identify their issues and then tap along with someone else on an issue that is seemingly quite different. Thus a sort of detachment is injected into the process while the original issues are being addressed "in the background." In this way it’s like the Tearless Trauma Technique (see page 115). This way of defining and approaching problems, in my experience, helps to minimize any unwanted intensity while still getting the job done. The process may or may not give complete resolution to an issue but, properly done, it is likely to at least take the edge off, and probably much more. Very efficient. Very useful. Very humane.
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Borrowing Benefits can also be a superb way to conveniently get at core issues so that truly deep work can be done. An easy way to tap along with creative EFT sessions is to pick certain from our EFT training videos, which are filled with actual sessions, many of which are quite involved. You can identify your own issue and then tap along with the video while in your living room. Here is a suggestion for Borrowing Benefits while watching television or movies from Dr. Carol Look. She writes, “I ask clients who watch a great deal of television or frequent movie theatres to tap for the characters' distress: ‘Even though she feels insecure around that man....’ ‘Even though she won't admit the failure is her fault....’ ‘Even though he's afraid to confront the situation....’ The clients do not have to identify their own issues first, just tap for the distress that their own system can't help but tune into as a result of witnessing someone else's discomfort on the big screen.” This is a clever way of helping the subconscious mind neutralize some of the emotional charge connected to past events, making it easier to recognize, deal with, or simply release old problems. Tapping on behalf of fictional characters or real people you’ve never met brings you as many benefits as tapping on behalf of your best friend. Isn’t that fascinating?
Additional tapping procedures You may not often use the Constricted Breathing Technique, the Floor-to-Ceiling Eye Roll, the Collarbone Breathing Exercise, or the 9 Gamut Treatment, but take a minute to become familiar with them so that you’ll have them in your repertoire of EFT procedures. These techniques are both subtle and powerful, and they can trigger a breakthrough when blocked energy refuses to move.
Touch and Breathe (TAB) method Not everyone enjoys or can do the vigorous, lively tapping that most EFTers employ, and in some situations – such as during a business meeting or when dining in public – tapping just doesn’t feel comfortable for most people. An effective alternative is the Touch and Breathe, or TAB, method developed by John Diepold, PhD. Instead of tapping on each acupoint, simply hold it with a fingertip while breathing in and breathing out. Start by holding your Sore Spot or Karate Chop point, or hold your hands together with Karate Chop points touching, while saying your Setup Phrase out loud or to yourself. Then touch and hold each of the EFT acupoints while taking a full breath in and out. The Sequence takes longer this way, but it can be more comfortable and relaxing, and it works. Some EFTers gently massage the acupoints, which is something many of us do
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instinctively while thinking or concentrating. We rub or press the upper lip, hold the Under Arm points while hugging ourselves, stroke the collarbone, or scratch the head. To stimulate the hand points, hold each finger between the thumb and forefinger of the “tapping” hand while breathing in and breathing out, or place your fingertips together (index fingers touching, thumbs touching, etc.) and breathe. To activate the wrist points, simply circle your wrist with the opposite hand and hold it while breathing, or cross your wrists so they touch each other. To access the ankle points, reach down and touch the ankles while breathing, or simply cross your ankles so that they touch each other.
The Constricted Breathing Technique This useful technique was first demonstrated in our DVD set “EFT-Beyond the Basics” (formerly “Steps Toward Becoming the Ultimate Therapist”) and it has the following advantages. It can help you find important emotional issues. This is because emotional issues often curtail our ability to breathe deeply. It can also demonstrate to a skeptic or a new audience the validity of EFT. This is because most people have constricted breathing and it is eye opening for them to experience it improving with EFT. Start by inhaling twice or three times with maximum deep breaths. Take your time and don't hyperventilate. This stretches out your lungs so that any EFT improvement in your breathing cannot be attributed to a normal "stretching effect" of your lungs. Once you have stretched your lungs as far as they will go, take another deep breath. This time assess the deepness of your breath on a 0-10 scale where 10 is your estimate of your maximum capacity. Numbers typically vary from 3 to 9 on this. The occasional people who rate their breath at a 10 (they are usually wrong) usually find that after EFT tapping, they go to a 12 or 15. Then do several rounds of EFT with Setups such as Even though I have constricted breathing.... Even though I can only fill my lungs halfway ... and so on. In between each round, ask the client to take another deep breath and assess the 0-10 deepness. In the vast majority of cases it will keep improving. During the process ask probing questions such as: "What does your constricted breath remind you of?,” "When in your past did you feel constricted or smothered?,” "If there was an emotional reason for your constricted breath, what might it be?" Often, the answers to these questions will give a big clue as to an important emotional issue.
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The Floor-to-Ceiling Eye Roll This is a useful shortcut when you have brought the intensity of the problem down to a low level, such as a 1 or 2 on the zero-to-10 scale. It takes only six seconds to perform and, when successful, it will take you to zero without having to do another round of The basic recipe. To perform it, simply repeat your reminder phrase while you tap the Gamut point continuously (hold your head steady) and take six seconds to slowly move your eyes from hard down to the floor to hard up to the ceiling. Remember that this is an eye exercise, and your eyes are more likely to roll smoothly if they have something to follow. To achieve this result, hold both arms straight down in front of you. Keeping your head straight, lower your gaze to the floor. Begin tapping with one hand on the Gamut point of the other, and slowly raise both hands (keep your elbows straight) until they are straight out in front of you, then continue moving up until they are pointing straight at the ceiling. At the beginning of this eye exercise, while you face straight ahead, you won’t be able to see either hand. As you slowly swing your hands up, the fingertips of the tapped-on hand will move into view. Keep your eyes on the fingertips while your hand continues all the way up to the ceiling, at which point they will disappear again. Reverse the direction and slowly bring your hands back down, tapping on the Gamut point all the while. At the end of this exercise, check your progress. In many cases, people feel much better very quickly.
Collarbone Breathing In a few cases, perhaps five percent, a unique form of energy disorganization occurs within the body that impedes the progress of EFT. Its details are well beyond the scope of this book but I can show you how to correct the problem. I call it the Collarbone Breathing Problem not because there is something wrong with anyone's collarbones or one's breathing. Rather, it is named for its correction, the Collarbone Breathing Exercise. This correction was developed by Dr. Roger Callahan and need only be "thrown in" in cases where persistence with basic EFT is not showing results. It takes about two minutes to perform, and it may clear the way for the normal operation of otherwise impeded EFT procedures. While you can start with either hand, I'm going to assume you are starting with the right hand. Keep your elbows and arms away from your body so that the only things touching it are your fingertips and knuckles. Most people to drop their elbows, so remind yourself throughout to keep your elbows up, parallel to the floor, not touching the torso.
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Place two fingers of your right hand on your right collarbone point. With two fingers of your left hand (keep your right elbow up), tap the right hand’s Gamut point continuously while you perform the following five breathing exercises: Breathe half way in and hold it for seven taps. Breathe all the way in and hold it for seven taps. Breathe half way out and hold it for seven taps. Breathe all the way out and hold it for seven taps. Breathe normally for seven taps. Place the two fingers of your right hand on your left collarbone point and, while continuously tapping the Gamut point, do the five breathing exercises. Next, bend the fingers of your right hand so that the second joint or "knuckles" are prominent. Place these knuckles on your right collarbone point and tap the right hand’s Gamut point continuously while doing the five breathing exercises. Repeat this by placing the right knuckles on the left collarbone point. You are now half way done. To complete the Collarbone Breathing, repeat the entire procedure using the fingertips and knuckles of the left hand. You will be tapping the left Gamut point with the fingertips of the right hand. If you have used EFT persistently and your results are either slow or non-existent, start each round of basic EFT with Collarbone Breathing. You may find that it "clears the way" and allows dramatic relief. ~~~~ Although I seldom use the 9 Gamut Treatment any more, it has its uses. It can be especially helpful in the treatment of PTSD, such as when a person is stuck, reaches a plateau, has trouble focusing on an issue, or can’t seem to make progress. Here are some insights from Mair Llewellyn-Edwards, an EFT practitioner/instructor in the U.K.
Advantages of the 9 Gamut Procedure by Mair Llewellyn Edwards Most practitioners (myself included) don't use this procedure much because the shortcut version of the Basic Recipe usually does the job. There are times when it can be quite useful. However, the procedure has four disadvantages. 1. The first relates to time. We are all becoming more time-conscious. We want that quick fix or magic potion. Our time constraints make the EFT shortcut methods more attractive. Using the full Basic Recipe takes longer for each round, and during a day full of tapping, this adds up to extra time.
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2. On the face of it, EFT is pretty weird and the 9 Gamut Procedure does not dispel its New Age image. The 9 Gamut Procedure was one of the major reasons I at first resisted introducing EFT to my clients. If clients feel as I did then, introducing the 9 Gamut Procedure could break rapport. 3. If a therapist feels uncomfortable introducing the EFT Basic Recipe, which includes the 9 Gamut routine, this could be unconsciously transmitted to clients. This feeling could also affect the benefits of EFT. Why use this point at all? It appears as if EFT works perfectly effectively without the Gamut point, anyway. 4. When using the whole of the Basic Recipe - which includes the 9 Gamut Procedure, there is more to master. Clients often say, "I'll never remember all of that.” For reasons of simplicity and ease of learning, it is better to keep the 9 Gamut Procedure on the shelf. But here are its four advantages. 1. Introducing the 9 Gamut Procedure to clients can make the EFT process more believable. On the face of it this statement is a contradiction of my earlier observations, so let me explain why I say this. Many clients who come to me have an understanding of the function of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Lay people know that one side is creative and the other side more logical and rational. This knowledge can often be a very effective bridge to explain how EFT and particularly the 9 Gamut Procedure works. Describing the humming in terms of being processed by the creative side of the brain and the counting by the logical side links in well with why we go from one to the other. Switching from one function to another makes sense in tuning into information stored in specific hemispheres of the brain. I'm excited about it, so I guess the way I introduce it is pretty persuasive too. The 9 Gamut Procedure meshes well with other energy balancing techniques that the client may have heard of or tried. Analytical clients like to know how the 9 Gamut Procedure accesses information in the brain. For these clients I give examples of how the EEG machine lights up in various parts of the brain when memories are revisited. The "ah ha" of awareness enhances knowledge of how fragments of memory held in different parts of our brains can be tuned into and tapped upon. Connection to sensory experiences such as taste, smell, imagery, and auditory aspects ensures that clean and lasting interventions are more likely to happen. An example of this happened while I was working with a client with a severe needle phobia. We tapped upon what we thought were all the aspects of this problem. When testing it in the real world we found that when his doctor was
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ready to give him the injection, it was the sensory feeling of the liquid going into his body that triggered his fear. As soon as we tapped for that, he was fine. 2. Using the Gamut point can frequently give the therapist and client additional feedback. While the client thinks of the problem rather than verbalizes it, previously unknown unconscious memories can be more readily available. 3. The 9 Gamut Procedure gives clients time to go inside. These moments of silence while tapping without dialogue provide a pause for facilitating selfawareness, one that allows the client to become re-orientated. Often this time offers insight and the chance for magical cognitive shifts. 4. Finally, it is especially helpful and unobtrusive for the therapist to apply gentle pressure to this point when there is pain or emotional trauma. It can be introduced as an easily accessible pressure point to stimulate by itself, without doing the full procedure. This is profoundly helpful in the arena of public speaking or sports. Many clients who experience anxiety or panic attacks tell me they use this point with great results. The two-point method In addition, I often use the Gamut point and Karate Chop point in combination. This is easily done by exerting gentle pressure with the thumb (on the Gamut point) and index finger (on the KC point) on the client's hand. For some time this has seemed an intuitively right thing to do. I use this two point combination when the face, collarbone, or underarm points would be too invasive to use, such as when a client is in severe physical or emotional pain. I have also noticed that in situations where it is appropriate to do so, it is especially comforting to hold a client's hand with one hand while with the other apply gentle pressure or massage on these two points simultaneously. ~~~~
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Chapter Seven:
Improving EFT’s Effectiveness Those who are new to EFT often ask when and how frequently they should practice tapping. The answer is: As often as you like – or, better yet, as often as possible. EFT is very flexible and forgiving. The more often you practice, the sooner EFT becomes a familiar tool that you can use without effort. The more you use it, the better it works. The more you use it, the more likely you are to remember to use it when you really need it. I usually recommend that you start by tapping as soon as you wake up in the morning, before every meal, and before falling asleep at night. That’s five times a day right there. Tap whenever you use the bathroom or take a shower and you’ll add a few more. Some EFTers tap whenever they come to a stop sign or red light. Quite a few tap while they walk. You don’t have to do the entire Basic Recipe – just a few quick taps as time permits will help keep your energy balanced – and as soon as you have enough time, follow up with the complete sequence. Many EFTers tap before, during, or after they pray or meditate. EFT tapping can improve any project or activity. When you’re in a hurry, try tapping on a single point, such as the Karate Chop point, while you focus on your pain or problem. If you watch our DVDs, you’ll see a workshop in which the tapping worked perfectly, and it wasn’t until we saw the video that anyone noticed that I had completely forgotten to include the EFT tapping points. All we did was tap on the Karate Chop point while reciting a Setup, with excellent results. In addition, if you get in the habit of tapping on the EFT acupoints without reciting a Setup or focusing your thoughts on anything specific, that alone will help keep your energy balanced and help you live a happier life. Try tapping to music. This is a popular activity in some EFT workshops – it keeps the group focused and energetic, and it’s an easy way to avoid an energy slump in the afternoon. Teaching children to tap to music is a great way to introduce them to EFT. Tap at whatever rhythm feels right. Experiment with classical music, rock, ballads, rap, opera, marches, movie soundtracks, or whatever you most enjoy. Tap while you read your email or work at the computer. Tap while you watch TV. Tap while you talk on the phone. Tap while you study – that’s an easy way to improve your reading comprehension and recall. Tap right now as you read this page.
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If you tap while you describe things that you’ve seen or experienced, your recollections are more likely to be accurate. In fact, EFT would probably significantly improve the accuracy of eye-witness testimony. In EFT, we use the “Tell a Story,” “Watch a Movie,” and Tearless Trauma Techniques (see pages 115-119) to help people describe difficult events without feeling emotionally overwhelmed. With their emotions under control, they are able to think, remember, and process information more efficiently. Several EFT practitioners have reported on tapping’s incredible calming effect when applied immediately after an accident, tragedy, or disaster. Here’s a great tip from EFT practitioner Rick Wilkes, which appeared in our online newsletter. I think it has special application for those experiencing PTSD because it deals with underlying issues easily and automatically, without conscious effort. Many have found that their way of looking at a situation changes as a result of following Rick’s simple instructions.
The tap-while-you-gripe technique by Rick Wilkes Have you ever called a friend just to gripe about everything that’s gone wrong in your day? The truth is that when things go wrong, we need to feel that we're not alone. So we turn to trusted friends and family to let off steam and be comforted. It’s a natural part of being human. Most of us have been expressing our pain this way since we were very young children. What I call “griping” is just a way to retell a story with emotional intensity. And there is scientific proof that this can help us. Recent brain studies show that there's an opportunity when we relive an experience to have the stored emotions of that experience heal… or become even more intense. As we recall the story and feel the emotions in our body, our brain is making a decision — one that can go either way! Here’s how it works, Let's say the story that we're telling is one in which we feel alone and unsupported. If we tell that story to a friend who is loving, present, kind, and comforting, chances are that our primitive emotional brain will no longer feel alone and unsupported, right? In the process of telling the story, we heal the emotional intensity. That is the ideal outcome. Yet, how often has it happened to you that in the process of telling and retelling an intense story, explaining about how you were “done wrong” by someone else, you find that after the second or third or fourth retelling that the pain is now more intense than it was right after it happened? That's the risk of sharing our painful experiences with others, whether they are talk professionals or not – unless you are using a technique that consistently allows you to eliminate and then harmonize the emotional intensity. And EFT is just such a technique.
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That is why I suggest that you always tap while you gripe. Tap while you complain. Tap every time you tell a story that has negative emotional intensity. Pretty soon, you’ll probably notice you have a lot less in your life to gripe about! Here's how you can get started: You've had a bad day. You want to feel that there's someone out there that understands you, that cares about you, that takes your side. So you pick up the phone, and you call your best friend. Start tapping… and tap continuously while you talk to her! (Karate Chop) Ring…. Ring… Hello? (Top of Head) Oh I’m so glad I reached you (Inside Eyebrow) I have had such a terrible day! (Side of Eye) I really need someone to talk to (Under Eye) Do you have a few minutes? (Under Nose) First off, this *&^+$ boss of mine… (then Chin, Collarbone, Under Arm, Karate Chop, and back to Top of Head, etc.) The order of the points doesn’t matter. The number of taps at each point doesn’t matter. You can tap one point that feels good the whole call if you want. You can use the finger points. Just tap continuously while you talk. Don’t stop! Why would we do this? We talk to others to feel better, don’t we? But there are two approaches to griping and complaining. The first is, alas, the more common. It is to gather people to our side in the upcoming war. We tell a story to make us “right” and the other party “wrong.” With this plan, we must build intensity in ourselves and in others while we plan revenge (or a lawsuit, divorce, or other dramatic action designed so we WIN and the other LOSES). The other approach is to want to heal from an emotional pain, and we’re mature enough to know that intensifying the fear by making us the “Victims” and others into the “Powerful Forces of True Evil” just creates war inside us, not peace. We can make our healing far more likely if we just tap the acupoints while we express our hurt and our anger and our sadness and our feelings of being out of control. We use what has been human nature since cave folks sat around the fire — the need to tell our story to tribe members to gain their supportive energy — and we use that supportive energy in a new way that is far more likely to result in a sense of peace for all of us. What I find is that tapping while I gripe and complain shifts my entire perspective. As the noise of the emotional disruption settles down, I am far more likely to hear my intuition guide me to steps that resolve the situation in the best possible way.
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Try it for yourself. Tap the acupoints while you are on the phone. No one needs to know that you are tapping. And just notice whether you see a change that helps you feel both more peaceful and more empowered. I am confident you will. In fact, you may find this so effective that you pick up your phone and tap while you gripe without even calling your friend. Once you get it all out of your system, then you dial… and perhaps have a very different kind of conversation. ~~~~
Can you do EFT incorrectly? This is an interesting question. EFT is so forgiving and versatile that finding ways in which it doesn’t work can be a challenge. In fact, many EFTers respond that the only way to do it wrong is to not use it. You can do an incomplete EFT treatment (which will make more sense as we explore advanced concepts), but if you combine focused thought and intention with tapping, your efforts will probably work no matter what Setup or Tapping Sequence you use. For example, you can omit the words “Even though” and simply state the problem: My back hurts. I can’t sleep through the night. I’m upset. And you don’t have to tap on the EFT acupoints in any specific order. I recommend the Sequence described in the Basic Recipe because it’s easy to remember, but you can tap the points in any order, on either side or on both sides, upside down or right side up and you’ll still get great results. And the list goes on. I believe that if your intention is to treat a specific issue, like the pain in your lower back, and you combine that intention with any type of acupoint stimulation, you can expect good results. When I created EFT, I streamlined more complicated meridian therapies that involved separate algorithms or tapping patterns for different conditions or symptoms. Each had its own tapping pattern. An algorithm for chronic pain, for example, started at the Inside Eyebrow point and went to Side of Eye, Under Eye, Under Nose, Collarbone, Under Arm, Little Finger, Collarbone, Index Finger, and Collarbone, then ended with 50 taps on the Gamut point. An algorithm for anger, bitterness, and resentment moved from Inside Eyebrow to Little Finger to Collarbone. An algorithm for emotional trauma went from the Inside Eyebrow to Side of Eye, Under Eye, Under Arm, Collarbone, Thumb, Under Arm, Collarbone, Little Finger, Collarbone, and Index Finger.
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I realized that these algorithms, which are difficult to remember, especially in emergencies, could be replaced with a single tapping pattern. By the time you complete three or more rounds of tapping on the EFT acupoints, you’ve tapped on all of the points in a variety of combinations. The beauty of meridian therapies is that when you stimulate points that you don’t need, you don’t hurt yourself or cause complications – and when you tap on points that you do need, the process works. At first I replaced algorithms with a single tapping sequence and created EFT’s Basic Recipe. Then I put the 9 Gamut treatment on the shelf, for use only when I’m stuck. I did the same with the finger points. These tools are worth learning because they can be very helpful, but if you get good results without them, why use them? Save them for when you need them. I now encourage people to find their own “personal” EFT acupoint and try it first. Most of us, if we pay attention, realize that we’re drawn to a certain point, or we notice that every time our energy shifts, it’s when we’re tapping on the same point. For some it’s the Under Eye; for many, it’s the Under Arm or Karate Chop point. For me, it’s the Collarbone point. If you set out to relieve your back pain and you tap on a single acupoint and the pain goes away, you’re done. What could be simpler?
Tapping on a single “personal” point by Jerem Egan One of the things I love about EFT is how user-friendly it is and how Gary encourages people to bring their own nuances and styles to the technique. This invitation exemplifies the beautiful intention underlying EFT to empower the user. Here is a simple technique that I've been using the past year which I would love to pass on. After a few rounds of the Basic Recipe in which the client has a pretty good orientation to the tapping points and we have made some progress on reducing the intensity of the issue, I begin the next round by asking the person to: 1) Begin tapping on any point that he or she feels drawn to, and I will tap along with them and give them phrasing to say with each point.. 2) Repeat this procedure about six or seven times, choosing points that the person feels drawn to, in no particular sequence. I feel that this invitation to access their own intuition, or divine guidance, is in alignment with the intention to empower clients in their self-healing process. I've come to use it for at least one round for just about every issue that clients are dealing with. This approach seems to propel them into tapping more on their own as they are less worried about doing the EFT "by the book."
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In the hundreds of times I've used this technique with clients, it has been effective in reducing intensity levels almost 100 percent of the time! Some clients were also drawn to points which were not in the Basic Recipe and got the same positive results. Some clients are ready to add their own phrasing to the tapping, which is another important step in the self-empowerment. Once in a great while, when I feel that the phrasing is not on target, I offer a gentle tweak as a way of getting the person back on track. I believe that the more people explore EFT’s many variations and the more they create their own Setups, Reminder Phrases, and tapping points, the sooner they are likely to experience good results. ~~~~
Conditions that interfere Now let’s consider some of the conditions that can interfere with your ability to neutralize traumatic memories and reduce or eliminate the symptoms of PTSD, all of which can be addressed with EFT.
Psychological reversal The first obstacle that can interfere is your energy flow. If your energy is flowing in the right direction, without obstacles or blockages, you’re on your way. If your energy is blocked or reversed, the problem we call psychological reversal or polarity reversal interferes. As described in the Basic Recipe, tapping on the Karate Chop point or massaging the Sore Spot corrects this problem and gets the energy flowing as it should. It’s possible to test for psychological reversal with kinesiology (muscle testing), but we save time by assuming that we might be psychologically reversed – it’s a state that we all move in and out of several times a day – and simply correct the reversal before we start tapping. Thus, your Setup performs two vital functions: it focuses your mind on the problem you want to address, and it corrects psychological reversal if it happens to be in effect.
Self-talk and the “writings on your walls” The second potential stumbling block is your subconscious mind and its programming, which is reflected by your self-talk, the thoughts and statements that rattle around in your head at all hours of the day and night that have anything to do with you. I call your self-talk’s programming the writings on your walls. This writing contains all of the “rules” you grew up with or absorbed through life experiences – statements you heard as a child, which reflect your family or cultural conditioning, or ideas or attitudes, especially about yourself, that you’ve absorbed throughout your life.
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Life is dangerous. You can’t be too careful. Everyone has a hidden agenda. It’s all my fault. I don’t deserve to be happy. It’s important to never show weakness. I’m just not good in relationships.
Tail-enders Closely related to the writings on our walls are the tail-enders they inspire. Tail-enders are the “yes, but” statements that pop up when we try to set new goals or write new affirmations. The most obvious tail-enders are the words we hear in our minds when we try out a new idea. These words often have a sarcastic ring to them: Yeah, right. When pigs fly. I’ll believe that when I see it. You must be kidding. Forget it. No way. Impossible. They are the nemesis of affirmations. A standard piece of advice in metaphysical circles is to turn negative self-talk around by stating the opposite. For example, if you hear yourself saying, “This is going to be a terrible day,” try switching that to, “This is going to be a wonderful day.” If your conscious and subconscious minds accept the affirmation, it probably will be a wonderful day – but what if they don’t? That’s when tail-enders create mischief. Tail-enders can show up at the end of a “Choices” statement, where you describe your goal, such as in this example: Even though I feel angry all the time, I choose to stay calm and relaxed, no matter who is trying to get me upset... ... but I know that’s never going to happen. ... but I’ve always been this way and it’s too hard to change. ... but I can’t let people take advantage of me. ... but there are some things I just can’t let go of. ... but it’s too dangerous to let my guard down. Whenever you notice a tail-ender, see it for what it is, an important clue that is pointing to core issues. Where did that idea come from? Can you hear someone’s voice in your head, like the voice of your mother, father, teacher, neighbor, or friend? What events from long ago come to mind? Every memory or event can be put to good use as a Setup that combines tail-enders with the writings on your walls.
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When demonstrating EFT in workshops or when working with clients, EFT practitioners often create “fill in the blank” statements and wait for the person to complete the sentence. For example, When I think about how important it is not to let people take advantage of me, I remember ______. When I relax and let my mind drift back to my childhood, I can hear my dad’s voice saying, “_______________.” Even though I can never forgive ____ for _____.... As soon as a specific memory appears, you can turn it into a Setup: Even though my dad always said I was an out-of-control hothead, I fully and completely accept myself .... Even though I got in a fight with Eddie Jackson in high school, and my folks said they were giving up on me .... Continue revising the Setup so that it focuses on the person’s emotions: Even though my dad did nothing but criticize and scowl at me, and it really hurt because I could never get his approval no matter how hard I tried, and it made me really mad, in fact it still does, and just the sight of him standing there would turn my stomach, I would like to let go of that unhappy time....
Saying goodbye to the past Another way to release core issues that contribute to self-sabotage is to tap while saying: Even though ______ happened, it doesn’t have to bother me any more. Even though _____ happened and I can’t change the past, I can change my emotional connection to the past. Even though _____ happened, it doesn’t have to affect me any more, I can relax about it and let it go, I can function in the present moment.. As soon as you start building on the Basic Recipe by experimenting, trying new approaches, and exploring new ways of presenting and using EFT, you will achieve faster and more remarkable results.
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How to tell whether EFT is working Did your tapping make a difference? When the problem is pain, the test is simple – either the pain goes away or it doesn’t. If it does, it’s probably because EFT successfully removed energy blocks while neutralizing emotional issues that were the pain’s underlying cause. But pain relief isn’t the only indication of EFT’s effectiveness. Here are some common signs of EFT at work in any tapping session. The person sighs. This often happens after a round of tapping and it reflects an energy shift away from stress toward relaxation. The person yawns. The yawn might or might not be accompanied by fatigue. Some people have fallen asleep in the middle of their EFT sessions, but even well-rested people yawn during and after tapping. Yawning has been associated with sleepiness, boredom, and (incorrectly) low blood oxygen levels. Behaviorists consider yawning a calming signal, a non-threatening bit of body language designed to help the person and those nearby relax and feel safe. Recent research suggests that yawning is a way to cool the brain. Whatever its purpose, yawning in an EFT session is an important clue that energy is moving and the tapping is working. The person’s breathing changes. Most of us breathe shallowly, especially when we’re under stress. Longer, slower, deeper breaths are almost always a signal that EFT is working. The more balanced your energy, the smoother and more relaxed your breathing. The person’s voice changes. During an EFT session it’s not uncommon for someone’s voice to crack, for stress or tension to make the voice actually squeak, or for the person to have trouble talking. Then, after EFT brings the person’s energy into balance, his or her voice sounds deeper, rounder, fuller, more confident, stronger, and more vibrant. Speech patterns change, too, going from stumbling and inarticulate to clear, coherent, fluid, and eloquent. The person’s posture and body language change. People who are depressed, anxious, frightened, or in pain sit, stand, and walk very differently from the way they do when they’re comfortable, confident, relaxed, happy, and healthy. In successful EFT sessions, postural changes are often obvious. Instead of sitting hunched, with the head down and a curved spine, most people straighten up, lift their heads, and look at the world around them. Some practitioners describe their clients as blossoming like flowers as their energy clears. The person cries. The Tearless Trauma Technique (see page 115) is at the heart of EFT, and it really is possible to work through serious problems without weeping. But in many cases people do cry. Tears are often a sign of release or relief. Even if the tears are a symptom of discomfort, in which case the Tearless 134
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Trauma Technique is used to reduce the discomfort level, the emotional change indicates that EFT is working. Sinuses drain. Congested sinuses that suddenly to drain reflect an energy shift. Facial muscles relax. Actually, muscles all over the body soften, but changes in facial expression, such as from tense and stressed to relaxed and comfortable, are obvious clues. EFT can make such a difference in facial expression that some practitioners call it an instant face-lift. A few rounds of effective tapping can help you look years younger as well as happier. Blood pressure and pulse change. Often people begin an EFT session with an elevated pulse rate or high blood pressure. In those cases, successful EFT tapping – even if it’s for something unrelated to physical symptoms – brings both pulse and blood pressure back to normal. The person feels hot or cold. A temperature change, such as feeling suddenly hot or cold, is another indication that EFT is working. A small or large area of back pain may feel intensely warm or hot, and the pain may pulse or vibrate. Someone who feels suddenly hot may blush or turn red. Another person might break out in a cold sweat and suddenly feel chilled. All of these physiological changes indicate that EFT is working. The person feels vibrating energy. Do enough tapping and your fingers will begin to tingle. When that happens, move your open hands toward each other, moving them closer, further apart, and closer again. If you sense a vibrating energy field or a feeling of resistance that grows stronger as your hands move closer, something is happening energetically. A cognitive shift occurs. One minute you’re angry and the next you’re laughing. One minute the person you’re mad at can’t do anything right and the next you’re making excuses for him. One minute you’re convinced that there is only one way, one “right” and “true” way, to look at the situation and the next you realize there are many. As soon as you stop replaying a situation in the same old way and notice something new or different, and as soon as “the principle of the thing” no longer matters the way it did, it’s obvious that EFT has done its job. The pain moves. In EFT session that involve physical pain, this happens so often that we use the phrase “chasing the pain” to describe the appropriate EFT response. The pain might move a short distance, such as an inch or two, but it’s often a longer distance, such as from the left eye to the right side of the forehead or from the right shoulder blade to the center of the spine. In some cases pain jumps all over the body. For example, you might be tapping for pain in the small of your back and suddenly realize that your back pain has disappeared but now your right ankle is throbbing. Moving pain is a definite indication that EFT is working.
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The pain gets worse. Ironically, this can be a sign that EFT is working. It often indicates that buried emotional issues are getting close to the surface. By continuing to tap and by approaching the pain and its aspects from a different perspective, your results will probably improve. It’s very unusual for pain to get worse and stay worse when you’re using EFT, especially when you incorporate the many shortcuts and advanced techniques explained in this book. The person is suddenly open to new options. This is an excellent sign because it shows that the person is no longer stuck in his or her old way of thinking and feeling. Balanced energy leads to clear thinking. The overall test is whether any kind of change is taking place. The more things change, the more energy is moving and the more EFT is working. Even if you haven’t yet achieved the results you hope for, all this moving energy is a very good sign. It’s only when nothing happens – the pain stays exactly where it was, the person’s attitude doesn’t shift at all, and the whole situation stays stuck – that we are tempted to conclude that EFT was not effective. Even when that happens, it’s worth trying again. So much depends on the art of delivery, the search for core issues, and the examination of different aspects that a sudden breakthrough can turn an unresponsive situation into an EFT success story. I’ve seen this so many times that I never conclude that EFT “didn’t work.” Rather, I adopt the belief that EFT always works but that sometimes we have to keep searching for the problem’s true emotional cause.
When EFT loses its effectiveness by Gene Monterastelli Can EFT lose its effectiveness? Do we build up a resistance to EFT? Why does it seem to stop working after a while? EFT is a wonderful and powerful tool, but just because we know how to do it doesn't mean we are going to heal. In the same way, just because we know how to do sit-ups doesn't mean we are going to have washboard abs. EFT, like any other tool, only works when we take the time to use it. I recently realized that one reason people become discouraged is that they feel disappointed if every tapping session isn’t a "One Minute Miracle" I still get great joy whenever someone trying EFT for the first time experiences relief for something that has gripped them for years. Often it is something they tried everything under the sun for with no relief. At first they can’t believe it worked so well. Then, as they try EFT "on everything," they start to understand the breadth of EFT’s power. Quickly they 136
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find relief on both the physical and emotional levels. But then they hit a wall. They find some pain or emotion that won't go away in one round of tapping. They decide that since EFT didn't work in 60 seconds, it must not be worth the trouble to keep on trying. In these cases, I simply talk them through their own experience. In many cases they invested months or years in their attempts to get relief. Sure, in this case the EFT didn’t fix it in 60 seconds, but it might be worth their time to give it 15 or 20 minutes, or to use it daily with this issue for a while Usually that’s all it takes. Then there’s the client who works on an issue for three or four sessions and then feels overwhelmed by the amount of work that remains. It is similar to cleaning a bedroom. We look under the bed and find all sorts of dirt and dust we had no idea was there. This can be discouraging and even a bit alarming, and it certainly requires more work on our part. When this happens with EFT I remind my clients that right now they are taking the short view and are forgetting all that they have already accomplished. We start to tap, often using Choices phrasing in our Setups: Even though right now I am overwhelmed with how much work is left, I deeply and completely accept myself…. I choose to let it be easy. Even though everywhere I turn there is another issue or aspect, I like the idea of the relief I’ll have when I clear them all up. Even though It is just like an onion, every time I peal a layer off there is another waiting, I choose to be fascinated by the process.. Even though this seems like it is never going to end, I’m curious about what is coming next. Even though I’ve still got more to do, I choose to remember how much progress I have made with these issues. Even though there seems to be so much work to do, I know I am healthier now than when I started. Even though there’s so much it’s discouraging, I know that with EFT I have a wonderful tool to continue this work. Even though this seems endless, I know how the progress I have made in the past has improved my life. Even though this process is taking a lot of time, I know more progress is ahead.
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Even though this feels discouraging, I know that all I have to do it take a little time each day to tap. Even though it seems like I’m not moving, I am making baby steps. Even though it might not feel like I am moving forward, I choose to know I really am. Focusing directly on your frustration at not getting results rapidly and “magically” enough can get EFT working fully and effectively for you once again. ~~~~ The next chapter will help you develop the EFT skills that bring outstanding results for yourself and everyone you’d like to help, including friends, relatives, total strangers, and even family pets. In fact, people have reported using EFT to improve the health of their house plants and the performance of their cars, computers, and household appliances. I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, I told them to try it on everything! And you can, too.
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Chapter Eight:
Choices, Solutions, and Tapping Tips Dr. Patricia Carrington’s “Choices” Method Patricia Carrington, Ph.D., Associate Clinical Professor at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, was one of the first clinical psychologists to incorporate EFT into her professional practice. She not only became a leading practitioner of Emotional Freedom Techniques, she made an important contribution to its Setup. Basic or mechanical EFT focuses entirely on problems. It starts with statements like, “Even though I have this pain in my back..” or, “Even though my shoulder is in agony...” and ends with the phrase, “I deeply and completely accept myself.” The treatment then proceeds with the repetition of a “problem” reminder phrase such as the phrase, “This pain.” There’s no doubt that by using this type of Setup, you can tap a problem out. But Dr. Carrington took a different approach and showed that you can also tap a solution in. She did this by adding “I choose” to the last portion of the Setup, making it possible for the person to define or describe a specific desired outcome by inserting an affirmation or positive statement after the words “I choose.” As she explains: When I was using EFT with my own clients in psychotherapy, I soon discovered that I could get even better results if I allowed them to insert their own positive affirmations into the EFT statement. This way the Setup became perfectly suited to the problems they were addressing. For example, if a person's hand was throbbing, I would suggest an EFT statement such as, “Even though my hand is throbbing, I choose to have my hand be comfortable and pain free.” This immediately makes perfect sense to the injured person; it expresses precisely what they want to bring about – the cessation of pain and the healing of their hand. It was through experimenting with my own clients that the EFT Choices Method was born. In it, the person applying the method identifies the outcome that they would truly like to have for the problem at hand, and then puts this desired outcome into a phrase which they use at the end of the Setup. Instead of “I
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deeply and completely accept myself,” this phrase commences with the words “I choose.” It’s important to note that “I choose” is not used in the format of a traditional affirmation. The latter is a statement that is intentionally contrary to fact, as, for example when a person living in a dingy basement apartment says, "I live in a beautiful sunny home.” This statement is intentionally contrary to fact. According to the rules of traditional affirmations it will result in subconscious programming that attracts the “beautiful sunny” home of the person’s dreams. All too often, however, traditional affirmations result in doubt and skepticism on the part of those who repeat them, particularly if the affirmation is in too sharp a contrast to their current state of affairs. When people tell themselves that they live in a beautiful sunny home when in fact that is obviously not true, the traditional affirmation is apt to create what EFT refers to as a “Tail-ender.” A little doubting self-statement in the back of our minds says, "Oh yeah? I know that's absurd!” or "I’ll NEVER have that! “ or "I feel like a fool for saying this." Such self-doubts are stilled, however, when you place the words “I choose” at the beginning of your affirmation statement. For example, if the person described above were to say, "Even though I live in a dingy basement apartment, I choose to live in a lovely sunny home,” the statement would be immediately believable because anyone has the right to make a “choice” and this doesn’t contradict the situation they are in. This method of injecting “Choices” into EFT soon developed into a definite protocol which I found to be extremely effective, not only for my own clients and workshop participants, but for many others as well. I then formalized the Choices Method and began training other people to use it. It was almost immediately greeted with enthusiasm in the EFT community, and today many thousands of people are using EFT Choices statements. In particular, psychotherapists, counselors, and personal performance coaches are using the Choices Method because it so precisely targets their clients’ problems. ~~~~ Dr. Carrington’s six rules for phrasing Choices statements are sensible and effective: 1. Be specific. 2. Create pulling Choices . 3. Go for the best possible outcome 4. State your Choices in the positive 5. Make Choices that apply to you 6. Make Choices that are easy to pronounce
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“Pulling Choices” use words that draw you in and make you feel involved. They are the opposite of dull and boring statements. Dr. Carrington begins with the example, "I choose to express myself in a way that gets my points across to Susan," which is a perfectly accurate statement as far as it goes. But, she says, an even more appealing version might be, "I choose to find a creative way to get my points across to Susan." As she explains, the word creative gives the statement some excitement and suspense. You wonder what would be a creative way to get your points across. As she says, “Curiosity is a powerful motivator. “ Surprise is another word that can draw us in, so another effective statement could be, "I choose to surprise myself by finding easy and enjoyable ways to get my points across to Susan.” Easy and enjoyable are pulling words, too, and they help make this a compelling statement. Here’s an example of a Setup that falls short of the six recommendations: Even though my back hurts, I choose to have it not hurt. Following Dr. Carrington’s suggestions, we can add specific details about the pain, insert some interesting or compelling ideas, describe what we’d rather have, replace negative words (no, not, can’t, won’t, etc.) with positive words, and create a personally rewarding Choices Phrase. For example: Even though I have this sharp, red, throbbing, angry, hard, pyramid-shaped pain stabbing the small of my back just to the left of my spine, I choose to be delighted by how easy it is to enjoy a relaxed, pain-free game of golf tomorrow, with full range of motion, perfect coordination, and my best score yet. Even though my back has me groaning in pain, and I can’t believe that this tapping business is going to make any difference at all, I choose to have this whole situation work to my advantage. I choose to have fun doing these EFT exercises in the most ingenious way, with the enthusiastic cooperation of my brilliant subconscious mind, so that the whole process is easy, comfortable, and effortless, and my back feels completely well. While tapping on the EFT acupoints, try alternating between “problem” and “solution” reminder phrases. For example, in the first round of tapping, use “problem” reminders: Top of Head: Inside Eyebrow: Side of Eye: Under Eye:
stabbing pain so frustrating terrible pain can’t move
and so on, through all the tapping points
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Or use the same complete “problem” sentence on all of the acupoints, such as: Top of Head Inside Eyebrow: Side of Eye:
I’m upset because my back is in agony. I’m upset because my back is in agony. I’m upset because my back is in agony.
and so on, through all the tapping points. Then, in the second round of tapping, use only positive “solution” phrases, such as: Top of Head: Inside Eyebrow: Side of Eye: Under Eye:
better already pain-free complete range of motion everything’s easy
and so on, through all the tapping points Or use the same complete “solution” sentence on all of the acupoints, such as: Top of Head: Inside Eyebrow: Side of Eye:
I choose to feel completely well in every way. I choose to feel completely well in every way. I choose to feel completely well in every way.
and so on, through all the tapping points. In the third and final round of tapping, alternate between “problem” and “solution” phrases, such as: Top of Head: Inside Eyebrow: Side of Eye: Under Eye: Under Nose:
stabbing pain I feel wonderful sharp spasms full range of motion so frustrating
and so on, through all the tapping points, always ending on a “solution” phrase. Or alternate between the two complete sentences used above: Top of Head: Inside Eyebrow: Side of Eye: Under Eye:
I’m upset because my back is in agony. I choose to feel completely well in every way. I’m upset because my back is in agony. I choose to feel completely well in every way.
and so on, through all the tapping points. To be sure your final phrase is positive (you should always end on a positive note), finish by tapping on the Inside Eyebrow point while saying a positive reminder phrase.
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Some practitioners start with problem reminder phrases in the first round of tapping, alternate between problem and solution reminder phrases in the second, and devote the third round entirely to solution statements. Some begin with the basic EFT Setup (“Even though ___, I fully and completely accept myself,” or something similar) for their first two Setups and switch to Choices phrasing for the third setup. Some use only one Setup and incorporate everything in it before they start tapping the acupoints. Like EFT itself, the Choices Method is flexible, and there is no single “right” way to use it. The Choices Method is brilliant because it helps people figure out not only what they don’t want but what they do want, it installs affirmations and positive statements, and it helps speed results. Patricia Carrington is truly an EFT pioneer, and I applaud her discoveries. ~~~~ Dr. Carol Look offers ten innovative tapping tips that can help experts and novices alike improve their results. All of these can help take your EFT skills to the next level.
Top ten tapping tips by Dr. Carol Look I have compiled a list of my favorite tapping tips that have had a dramatic influence on my work and results with clients. Use any that work for you, but I highly recommend trying them all before you dismiss them, especially the ultra simple ones. 1. Opposite Hand Tapping: When tapping on yourself, use your non-dominant hand for a full day, then switch to your dominant hand on the following day, and back again the next day. You could also alternate hands from round to round of EFT. In my opinion, alternating in this way helps because it allows you to more fully integrate the emotional material that you are working on. Of course, we usually favor one side, tending to be right-handed or left-handed, so making use of the "other" hand while tapping through emotional conflicts helps to more fully neutralize the issues. For those who do telephone sessions as either client or practitioner, switch the phone from side to side regularly as well, so alternating ears are "hearing." Here is another variation...Cross Over Tapping: Cross your hands over each other when you tap – so your right hand is tapping on your left side of your face and body, and your left hand is tapping on the right...at the same time. Also, consider tapping while in different positions. Aren't you always sitting down while tapping? Try standing up when using EFT, try lying down, and tap while you are 143
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rolled over on your side. Notice if any new material surfaces. Our bodies are brilliant, and they have stored so much information for us. 2. Argument Tapping I love using this process with clients in a group setting because most people find it surprising and amusing and seem to get something of value out of it. When you are tapping, voice both sides of an argument with another person around an issue of self-esteem or conflict about yourself. For instance, let's say your mother or father said you "wouldn't amount to anything” or that "people like you can't get wealthy” or that "people like you are never satisfied,” etc. Take both sides and argue the points while you tap, alternating the sides with each consecutive point. For instance, start with the Karate Chop Point, and say, Even though he said I was no good and wouldn't amount to anything, I choose to accept myself now anyway... Then move to the regular sequence of points and tap as if you are arguing with another person as follows: Eyebrow: You won't amount to anything... Side of Eye: Yes, I will... Under Eye: No you won't... Under Nose: Yes I will... Chin: Don't be ridiculous... Collarbone: I'm smart enough... Under Arm: Who are you kidding? Top of Head: I know I can do it... Be sure to follow how the argument is "looping" in your memory, and vigorously argue both sides. This will help chop down a lot of "trees in your forest." Proceed with other similar arguments. The Argument Tapping technique is wonderful for the brain, for the emotional release, and I expect that the absurdity of it all will surface for many of you and feel quite relieving. This is also useful for getting the tail-enders into your tapping. The next variation of Argument Tapping is to argue with yourself while tapping. When you are tapping and saying something positive, for instance, I know I have what it takes to be successful...you might 'hear" a tail-ender that says "No I don't!" Use whatever tail-enders that come up for you in your current round of EFT. So again, you are arguing, but this time with yourself. It would sound like this:
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Eyebrow: I have what it takes to be successful... Side of Eye: No I don't... Under Eye: I am smart enough to figure this out... Under Nose: No I'm not! Chin: Yes I am! Collarbone: No I'm not... Under Arm: I accept my feelings... Top of Head: I appreciate who I am... 3. Refusal Tapping When you are using EFT, do one full round of Refusal Tapping to get over the issue you have selected. We have all been told what to do, controlled on a regular basis, influenced by others and manipulated all our lives, and when trying to change, it is very natural to experience an enormous amount of emotional resistance. Part of us believes the change is threatening to our survival. Try giving this part of you a voice for a change, and feel the relief of saying “No!” Don't be surprised when this technique speeds up the change you were intending. Refusal Tapping is very helpful with chronic illnesses. Your round from the eyebrow point to the top of the head would proceed as follows: Eyebrow: I refuse to give this up... Side of Eye: Don't even try to make me... Under Eye: I am so happy I don't have to get rid of this... Under Nose: I refuse to change... Chin: You can't make me... Collarbone: Ha ha, I'm keeping this problem... Under the Arm: You can't make me get over this... Top of the Head: I REFUSE TO LET GO OF THIS ISSUE.
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4. Look in the Mirror While tapping several rounds in a row, look into the mirror. This will help you in several areas. This extra boost encourages you to absorb the positive affirmation of the setup more fully (I deeply and completely love and accept myself). It helps when you need to use visualization instead of regular tapping if you are in a public place and don't feel free to tap on your face and body. You will now have a picture and corresponding memory of what you look like when you tap. This technique allows you to see subtle changes that occur in muscle tone, color, and energy in your face and body as you tap. Definitely make use of these clues. Look into a mirror as you tap for your deepest emotional conflicts. This works especially well for chronic low self-esteem issues. Sometimes my clients who are calling for a phone session from their office look at their reflection in their computer screen to enhance the emotional release during the session. In the same way that affirmations will automatically bring up a “tail-ender,” looking in the mirror when you say “I deeply and completely accept myself” will trigger discomfort that is then exposed and addressed during the treatment. 5. Singing Affirmations (while you tap) You may either sing the entire round from negative to positive, or just use singing on the second round when you are "installing" the positive statements. As usual, I do the first round focusing on the "problem" and often switch during a second round (before doing setups again) to more positive statements (such as Pat Carrington's CHOICES), goals, and intentions. So during this second round, sing your affirmations instead of speaking them. This helps activate the right brain (which is why we use humming in the 9-gamut procedure) and any time we are doing something to promote balance between our two hemispheres of the brain, we are moving towards emotional and physical health. 6. Thank-You Tapping Do at least three rounds in a row while tapping on your "Thank You List." For example: Eyebrow: Thank you God (Spirit, Universe, Higher Power, Source, Universal Intelligence) for such an abundance of loving friends in my life. Side of Eye: Thank you God for bringing me the perfect clients for my business. Under the Eye: Thank you God for resolving that disagreement so quickly.
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Under the Nose: Thank you God for bringing that wonderful miracle through me to my client who was in pain. Chin: Thank you God for my vibrant health and energy. Collarbone: Thank you God for all the blessings I have in my life today. Under Arm: Thank you God for bringing me such peace in my life. Top of the Head: Thank you God for continued guidance and clarity on my path. 7. Guest Tapping When you are tapping at home alone, wouldn't you like some extra help? Choose your favorite EFT practitioner, someone you want to give a test run, or Gary Craig, and pretend he or she is tapping for and with you. Picture it, feel it, hear the person’s voice (you might have this in your head from a class or some of the videos). This will help those of you who don't think you're good enough at tapping (even though you are...) and it opens up your treatment options tremendously. Allow your intuition to choose someone. And don't be surprised when the "guest tapper" comes up with profoundly brilliant ideas! 8. Photo Tapping Take out old family photos and identify feelings, themes, incidents and thoughts that were going on when the pictures were taken. You might even take out your high school year book (since High School seems to be so fraught with conflicted feelings for many people...) and tap a few rounds while you are looking at yourself. You may be shocked at how effective this is for bringing up emotions you thought had been "handled." Here are some options: Look at yourself in the selected photo objectively, and use words as if you are treating someone else... Even though he was feeling so vulnerable back then, he has a good heart and meant well...Even though he was so scared back then, he's a great person and has really matured. Use the first person singular... Even though I was miserable during this time because of that incident, I deeply and completely love and accept myself...Even though I was feeling so sad because of the rejection...Even though I was confused...Even though I didn't realize I was such a geek.. Do the same for family members when you see them in the photos: Even though he was angry and said that hurtful thing to me...I deeply and completely love and accept myself...Even though he was drunk in that photo and I remember the fight we had, I choose to release the pain of it now and accept both of us.
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9. Past Tense Tapping After completing two or three rounds on whatever issue you have chosen, do a final round in the past tense, feeling what it would feel like if you had completely gotten over the problem (even if you haven't yet). Communicating to yourself this way is very effective. Really FEEL the relief now that it is over!! This is critical. Eyebrow: I am so grateful I got over this problem... Side of Eye: I'm so relieved this is over... Under Eye: I am so happy I am free of this conflict... Under Nose: It's about time I got over that! Chin: Finally, it is in my past where it belongs... Collarbone: At last, relief and peace on this issue... Under Arm: I so appreciate all the progress I have made... Top of Head: Finally, I feel peace from that problem. 10. "You" Tapping While tapping on one of your own issues, use the "second person singular" over and over. For example, Setups at the Karate Chop Point would be: Even though you made a mistake, you were trying to do it right and are allowed not to be perfect...Even though you didn't mean to hurt her, consider accepting all of you and your feelings...Even though you don't want to forgive yourself, try accepting your feelings anyway. Then tap the points using "you" as the subject: Eyebrow: You made a mistake... Side of Eye: So what? Under Eye: You meant well... Under the Nose: You are human... Chin: You don't need to be perfect... Collarbone: You are lovable anyway... Under Arm: You are such a good person... Top of head: You are totally lovable and worthy anyway.
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11. Kiss and Tap Here’s a bonus tapping tip. Kiss someone you love on all the face points and say I love you. Great for kids! Great for lovers! Also, kiss yourself on the finger points of both hands, the Karate Chop Point on both sides, the gamut spot, and any other spots you can reach. Do this very tenderly. ~~~~
When EFT doesn’t work EFT can work in the most extreme conditions, when many factors could be expected to interfere with its success, so there are no hard and fast rules about when and where it will work and where it won’t. But from time to time conditions do interfere. The following are common problems that are easily corrected. If you find that EFT isn’t working – that is, you or the person you’re working with experience no change and the situation seems stuck – try these remedies. 1. There may be a problem with energy in the room, or you may be exposed to an energy toxin. Try going outside or into another room. There are many possible sources of electromagnetic interference, including fluorescent lighting. An easy way to help clear your mind and body is to go outdoors and stand for several minutes with your bare feet on bare ground, grass, sand, concrete, or rocks. The earth supplies a constant supply of free electrons, which are anti-inflammatory and help balance energy. Wearing shoes, being indoors, and riding in cars insulates us from those free electrons. Our modern lifestyles also deprive us of full-spectrum natural light, which our endocrine systems need in order to function well. To remedy that problem, spend as much time as possible outdoors, on a screened porch, or near an open window or doorway – without wearing sunglasses, reading glasses, or contact lenses, all of which prevent the transmission of full-spectrum light. A shady location is fine so long as your eyes have access to natural light. In addition, being outdoors (assuming the air quality is reasonable) provides fresh air and oxygen. Take several deep breaths, really filling your lungs. Then try your Setup and tapping sequence again. 2. Maybe it’s something you ate. A few years ago I worked with a woman who had suffered major bouts of depression since age nine. When I first met her, Louella was suicidal. Tears came easily and "hopeless" seemed to be her favorite word. EFT tapping helped, but whenever her depression lifted a little, it came right back – and this continued after we found and treated several core issues, relieving her back pain and asthma along the way.
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During our sixth partially successful session, she felt better until she ate an apple. Within minutes she was on the brink of a panic attack, her depression shot back to a 10, she acted as though she had taken a drug, and she fell asleep for several hours. We invented a “detective diet” to establish what other foods might be causing her problem. She agreed to eat only organic foods (the apple that put her to sleep was not organically grown), eat one food at a time, and wait one hour between foods. From the moment Louella started this detective diet, her depression began to lift, and within 24 hours it completely disappeared. She slept normally, went on long hikes with friends, enjoyed dancing again, and vacationed in Spain. She learned to avoid wheat, which was the only organic food that triggered an adverse reaction. As long as she stayed away from wheat and commercially grown fruits and vegetables, she felt terrific. Louella’s food sensitivities are not unusual. Many holistic physicians routinely recommend that their patients stop eating common allergens, like wheat and dairy products, and in many cases their health improves right away. Many EFTers notice that when they eat certain foods, they soon feel tired, their memory declines, simple projects seem suddenly complicated, and even the simplest EFT tapping requires exhausting effort. In fact, many forget all about EFT. Responses to food are individual, but many experience this kind of fatigue soon after they eat sweets and simple carbohydrates. Those familiar with Applied Kinesiology can use muscle testing to check for food sensitivities. There are also blood tests that diagnose sensitivities to specific foods. But one of the easiest ways to discover which foods and substances have an adverse effect on your health, disrupt your energy, and interfere with the effectiveness of EFT is to take your pulse before and after eating. Arthur Coca, MD, founder of the Journal of Immunology, was a highly regarded research scientist in New York in the 1950s. He worked on the cutting edge of medical technology, but the discovery that brought him the most satisfaction was the least complicated. He observed that if you eat a food that agrees with you, your pulse will remain stable. If you eat one that doesn't, your pulse will increase. In his medical practice and through The Pulse Test, his book on the subject, Dr. Coca trained thousands to monitor their diets and avoid their personal allergens. With this simple technique, he not only treated but cured all types of health problems, including serious diseases. 3. Try varying the Setup. Try switching from the Karate Chop point to the Sore Spot for your set-up phrase, or vice versa. Also, your set-up phrase may be too general, too global. Make it more specific. Focus on a single incident or a single upsetting detail in an incident. By alternating between the Sore Spot and Karate Chop point and by focusing on the details of upsetting past
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events, you’ll make rapid progress. If the Acceptance Phrase is a stumbling block, use the suggestions in Chapter Three (pages 54-61) to change it. 4. You may not know what to tap for. This is not unusual, especially for beginners. It’s hard to know what issue to choose, which detail to select, or how to address an issue once you find it. Your subconscious mind can be your ally here. Try using a Setup that invites the subconscious mind to communicate, such as: “Even though I don’t know how to use EFT for this problem, I know that my imagination will come up with an appropriate phrase.” “Even though I don’t know how to define this problem, the right words will come to me without effort.” “Even though I can’t think right now, I know that deep within me my clever, intelligent mind understands exactly what I hope to accomplish, and it is organizing my thoughts in the best possible way for a good outcome.” 5. You may need to do more repetitions. I often say that the secrets to success with EFT are focus and perseverance. As long as you experience at least some improvement, you are moving in the right direction. EFT practitioners and students often report that when they felt stuck, going nowhere, but continued to tap and tap and tap – suddenly everything shifted. 6. You may be avoiding unhappy memories. Some people feel uncomfortable saying negative Setups. They’re afraid that thinking about a problem will make it worse. This fear is actually a wonderful tapping subject. By focusing on their fear of tapping, many EFT novices have jumped straight to core issues with excellent results. Example: I don’t want to tap on my weight problem. There’s your opportunity! Start tapping on: Even though I don’t want to tap on my weight problem, it makes me uncomfortable, I’d rather not even think about it, I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to think about _____________, and I definitely don’t want to remember ___________. Let your mind fill in the blanks. Unhappy memories are what make EFT work. Welcome those unhappy memories and start tapping. EFT is not designed to be a painful procedure. Just tap and think about an unhappy event from a distance, then move a little closer. If it begins to feel painful, back up and tap until the feeling subsides. Then continue. Thanks to EFT tapping, you won’t have to relive the experience. You can observe it from a distance without being emotionally involved. This step-by-step procedure, which we call the Tearless Trauma Technique, has freed EFTers of all ages from the shackles of painful memories while neutralizing core issues that created their pain and discomfort.
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7. Try tapping more often. Try to tap at least five times a day – and more often when you think of it. Set a tapping goal, such as tapping every hour on the hour or at a certain time of day. Tap while you read this book. Find a tapping buddy, someone who can tap with you in person or on the phone, and tap with that person at every opportunity. Recruit friends or family members to form a tapping group. Tap while you watch TV. Tap while you walk the dog. Tap before every meal, whenever you use the bathroom, and whenever you take a bath or shower. Serious EFTers are ingenious about creating time to tap throughout the day. 8. Look for new perspectives. Always try to find a new way of looking at an old, stuck issue. Approach your problem from new directions. Involve your imagination. Think of the problem as a play or movie and put your favorite actors in the cast. Think of it as a computer game and visualize its special effects. Go back to the Personal Peace Procedure (see page 118) and work through a dozen different issues. 9. Watch yourself in a mirror as you tap. As Carol Look notes on page 150, mirror tapping is an excellent way to discover phrases and statements that make you feel uncomfortable. For example, some are able to say “I fully and completely accept and love myself” if they’re looking at a wall, but not if they’re looking at themselves in a mirror. Once EFT neutralizes negative emotions and you install positive emotions and affirmations in their place, mirror tapping can strengthen those positive results, making them a more powerful part of you. 10. Shout it out! If the set-up phrase isn’t getting through, you may not be saying it loudly enough. In many of my seminars, I’ve had people SHOUT their set-up phrases. Some people do this in their cars with the radio volume turned up. Others do it in the shower. To involve your entire being in this exercise, use emphatic gestures or jump up and down. 11. Get some vigorous exercise. There’s a definite connection between the lymph system and the body’s energy system. When you’re sedentary, lymph doesn’t circulate, so the body’s waste removal slows down, and that interferes with not only EFT but your overall health and thought processes. Some exciting EFT results have been achieved immediately after a vigorous physical workout. Try jogging, going for a hike, swimming as fast as you can, bouncing on a rebounder (miniature trampoline), or riding a bike immediately before your next tapping session. 12. Clear your energy. Donna Eden, author of the best seller Energy Medicine and coauthor (with David Feinstein and me) of The Promise of Energy Psychology, has taught thousands how to clear their energy and keep it balanced with tapping and other exercises. See any of Donna’s books or videos for instructions. Try all of these techniques and keep track of your results so you’ll know which strategies work best for you.. ~~~~
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EFT instructor Barbara Smith wrote the following for our email newsletter. She makes several helpful observations.
Improving EFT results at home by Barbara Smith Have you ever thought, “I tried that EFT and it didn’t work,” or, “How is it that I am tapping all this time and getting so nowhere?” If you have temporarily faltered in your EFT journey, these tips are for you. 1. The one-minute wonder Sometimes, when we first learn EFT, we are fortunate enough to experience or watch one of those amazing demonstrations that result in profound, and seemingly instant, change. We refer to these as a one-minute wonders. They are so exciting and satisfying. They seem so easy and so effective. No wonder people talk about EFT as the best thing since sliced bread. This kind of transforming success can build our expectation that every session will be like that. When we try it out at home on our own and the problem does not instantly resolve, we feel disappointed and discouraged. We may wonder if there is something the matter with us. Sometimes we lose heart and give up. The one-minute wonders that you see in demonstrations do happen, but not all the time. Trainers who work with groups are usually very experienced and able to employ a range of sophisticated EFT techniques. Good trainers make intuitive judgments about which issue to address, the language to use, and the best technique for the situation. You as a Newbie are still learning the basics. Keep tapping until the process becomes second nature. 2. When EFT hasn’t worked YET It would be easy to head this paragraph “EFT doesn’t work for me.” This is what disappointed clients say. But when I reframe it as “EFT hasn’t worked YET,” I shift our focus away from failure and we can hold the “yet” as a positive intention. The metaphor that guides me here and the one I use most frequently is the image of water dripping on a stone. It might take a while to see the effect, but every time EFT “doesn’t work,” we learn another lesson about ourselves and about what works and what doesn’t work for each situation. 3. Do EFT for EFT When someone tells me that he or she forgot to use EFT at home, or decided not to use it, we might discuss the reasons, and the client may promise to “try harder.” At that point, I suggest that tapping now would be useful, and that we will do EFT for EFT. Even though this tapping stuff isn’t working, I fully and completely accept myself....
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Even though I forget to do EFT when it would be really useful .... Even though I have messed it up … Even though I give up on EFT before I’m fully over the problem .… When we have lowered our discomfort, frustration, or anxiety about the EFT not working, we will be free to address the next layer of presenting issues. We may even find some specific events involving our own beliefs about success, and we would tap for those. This meta-level of tapping can be very useful. 4. The “felt” experience One of the ways we know that EFT is really working for us is through “felt” experience. Most adults do not notice the changes in skin temperature, the constant shifts of muscle tension, and the tightness or lack of muscle tone at any moment. When the EFT seems not to be working, you have probably forgotten to notice what is happening in your body. Stop and notice exactly what has changed. Has the tension gone out of your chest, are your shoulders tense or relaxed, or has the mental picture changed? Does your body feel lighter, your breath easier? Has the thought changed? Teach yourself to notice these changes using all of your senses. Later, you can refer back to the specific experience to find what you might be overlooking or to recapture the feeling of success that you previously discovered. 5. EFT will never work for me In some situations, beginners give up or feel hopeless. Many factors might stop you from reaching instant success. One reason is psychological reversal. When we first learn EFT, we begin to work on ourselves using the basic skills. We don’t have enough experience and confidence to treat some deeper issues. This is the time to work one-to-one, in person, by phone, or in a group, with an experienced practitioner who is familiar with the more sophisticated applications of EFT and who will help you recognize and address core experiences and hidden beliefs that may block you from change. 6. What words were you using? When people tell me that the EFT didn’t work, I ask for specific information about the issue, its aspects, and the phrases the client was saying. This is the way to get specific about what happened or where the protocol might be improved. Write down the issue, the reminder phrase you are using, and the intensity level of your distress in relation to this issue. This is especially important if you are working on your own. Note every change in aspect, and/or intensity after each round. In this way, you will be able to look back and remind yourself of your progress and previous successes. If you are helping someone else with EFT, this record will ensure you can quickly identify any issues that may have been overlooked.
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7. Too much too fast? Because EFT is not working at home does not mean that EFT will not work. It just means it has not worked – yet. Sometime the reason is that we have tried to address one of our truly big issues, one whose distress level is overwhelming. Try some practice sessions on less intense issues, or choose a less arousing aspect of your problem before going back to the BIG ONE. 8. The EFT Skeptics’ Society Most of us have had years of experience of using the thinking-talking-trying harder process of therapeutic change, and in the beginning we may find ourselves drifting back to a talk model, because we find it very difficult to believe that something as strange as EFT will really work. Those of us who are health professionals know that many of our colleagues are still skeptical about EFT. I remember that it took me some time before I routinely used EFT on myself. I chose a few colleagues with whom to share what I was learning, and gradually I became more confident about presenting EFT to others. Now I use it on everything and cannot imagine how I ever lived without EFT. Find a friend, colleague or professional who knows and uses EFT. If you don’t know any EFT person near you, arrange some telephone coaching, subscribe to an EFT newsletter, and read accounts from others about their success with EFT. Keep up to date with innovations through internet newsletters. Support may be the very thing that makes the difference. Once you have achieved a high rate of success with EFT in your own life, other people’s skepticism really does not matter. You can change your response to others with a little tapping: Even though I really hate the way she rolls her eyes when I mention EFT.... 9. Testing, testing, testing Are you testing at home? What are you testing? In my practice this is the thing that new clients find the most difficult to do consistently at home. Is it possible that you wandered off target? Before you decide that EFT is not working for you, write down your distress level and the problem’s aspects for every round. Some issues take several rounds before they completely clear. I suggest to my clients that if they think there is no change, they should be prepared to do up to five rounds at any one level of intensity before they move to a new aspect or topic. If you carefully record your intensity rate and are clear about the aspect you’re treating, you will probably find yourself making progress. 10. Back to basics with ”The EFT Course” The EFT Course is presented in Gary Craig’s EFT Manual and introductory DVDs. The EFT manual remains the definitive source of EFT theory and practice. Experienced therapists have been integrating EFT with many other psychological 155
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and physiological forms of healing, while others have been creating variations that we sometimes call EFT’’s “cousins.” If EFT is not working for you, check to be sure that you are following all of the EFT basics in your sessions at home. Then, in the words of family therapist Virginia Satir, ”Try it on everything and swallow only what fits.” ~~~~ Sometimes adding a single phrase to the EFT Setup statement can make a difference. Here’s an idea from Deborah Lindsey
Tapping for being “able, willing, and worthy” by Deborah Lindsey I just wanted to tell of a tapping phrase that works wonders for people who seem to be stuck when using EFT. With all of the amazing stories that you hear, it’s easy to forget that every once in a while you run into a person who seems to be doing everything right but doesn’t get much in the way of results. When that happens, I have a simple little tapping phrase that I use to blast through it and get people moving again. The gist of it is that if people don’t believe they are able to heal or if they aren’t willing to heal (usually because of secondary gains) or they think they aren’t worthy of healing, the EFT process will be more challenging because they will subconsciously sabotage their own success. In many cases, these beliefs are subconscious (the person might even deny it consciously) but if you muscle test, you will often find that one or more of these issues is at hand. Now if you don’t know how to muscle test, no worry. Just tap on the following sentence for a few rounds and see if it makes a difference. Even though I’m not able, willing, or worthy of being healed, I love and accept myself and forgive myself. You can also tap on each part separately if you want. Even though I’m not able to heal… Even though I’m not willing to heal… Even though I’m not worthy of being healed… You might be amazed that even the most stubborn cases begin to show results. ~~~~
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Chapter Nine:
Terrorist Attacks and Other Nightmares Civilian populations are often affected by natural and man-made disasters even more than military populations are. Unlike military personnel, police, and rescue workers, most people haven’t received any training or experience that would help them anticipate or cope with the aftermath of terrible events. Fortunately, EFT tapping can fill that void. Here is how some EFT practitioners helped themselves and others deal with the unexpected. One week after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Dr. Carol Look, whose office is two miles away, shared the following suggestions for traumatized therapists and details about the escape of a traumatized client. Throughout her report you will find helpful insights and language for use with yourself and others.
EFT and the aftermath of 9/11 by Dr. Carol Look Many of the survivors who worked until last week in the World Trade Center have been experiencing the classic cluster of symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, including auditory and visual flashbacks, an exaggerated startle response, nightmares, profound restlessness and a heightened state of agitation. I would like to address the population of people experiencing a milder, scaled down version of PTSD. While their symptoms are less severe than those of people who barely escaped with their lives, they are still unbearable and deserve and require competent treatment. Some of those New Yorkers who did not lose direct family members are experiencing deep grief as a result of being glued to the news accounts of the tragedy and from seeing hundreds of photograph posters of the missing that make the loss of complete strangers all the more personal. They are also grieving the symbol of downtown, the buildings that represented the commerce of the country. They can’t get away from the constant sound of sirens, day and night, the smell of smoke and destruction, and the look of terror on neighbors’ faces. Friends and clients are unsettled in the present, afraid of the future and “unhinged” by last week’s attack. The most prevalent emotional symptoms for people suffering in this second tier of PTSD include feelings of guilt, helplessness and anxiety. In addition, I have observed signs of distraction (people staring at you but not hearing what you are
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saying), emotional numbness (shock), mild disorientation (getting into the shower with socks or glasses on), irritability (picking fights with loved ones), losing orientation to time and space (missing important meetings/ bumping into things), and being dissociated from feelings and events. Strong feelings of “survivor’s guilt” are preventing individuals from validating or expressing their feelings, and a strong sense of feeling unsafe is preventing people from making wise, centered decisions in their daily lives. These emotional states and their oppressive consequences can be efficiently handled with EFT. Suggestions for a Traumatized Therapist It is not just weekly clients who feel disoriented, exhausted, frustrated and traumatized. Therapists are, of course, among those New Yorkers who need help. Hundreds of mental health workers have lost patients and loved ones or witnessed the devastation directly, yet they expect themselves to be ready and emotionally available to comfort others. Numerous colleagues have been telling me that they feel as if they went back to work too early. Many described feeling stunned and unprepared for hearing the horror stories and fears of their clients, one after another, all day long. One social worker said she was overwhelmed by her patients’ actual experiences. Several of her clients had waited until feeling surrounded by the safety of their therapist’s office to tell every last detail of the catastrophe. Still other colleagues said they were under the impression that they were coping well and processing what had happened until stories of unprecedented devastation were recounted in their offices. Colleagues are telling me they are going to work without their appointment books, double booking their sessions, making poor logistical decisions, failing to carry out routine chores, and feeling empty, lonely, helpless and afraid. One therapist told me she felt useless as a professional and was “leaking” her own emotions all over the place. As mental health professionals, we must be able to take care of ourselves in order to offer comfort and care to others. When I volunteered at the Armory for the families who were directed there to report missing loved ones, numerous mental health workers appeared nearly as traumatized and disoriented as the family members. Some social workers were so eager to “help” that they were emotionally intrusive and missed important clues from the distressed families. Some of the most effective EFT practitioners I know “forgot” to seek help or treat themselves and only compounded their feelings of distress by volunteering too long or going back to work too soon. A seasoned clinician told me he feared he had added to the emotional damage of his clients by being too distraught himself to be present. Here are some useful Setup phrases for overwhelmed therapists:
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Even though I don’t want to hear about it anymore… Even though my clients’ fears scare me…and I feel overwhelmed… Even though I shouldn’t want to protect myself from the stories… Even though I should be doing more…helping more (I am enough…I do enough…”) Even though I resent their neediness when I have my own needs… Even though I’m mad at her for telling me the gruesome details… (I wish I hadn’t heard that story…) Even though I want to be taken care of instead of taking care of them… Even though I feel guilty…I should be able to handle this… Even though I’m afraid of the hatred I’m hearing about…I choose love… Even though I wasn’t afraid of the future until they reminded me to be… Even though I feel helpless and powerless…I want to feel safe… Even though I can’t stop seeing the images in my head…
Treatment for a Client Who Escaped I wanted to share a portion of the treatment process I used with a client who felt guilty and unsafe as a result of last week’s devastation: This morning I worked with Jen who had been attending a meeting in a building directly across the street from the World Trade Center when the attack occurred. She escaped through a southern entrance of the building, was covered in soot, and crawled under a fence with other employees to safety at the tip of the island. Jen has a sketchy memory of the morning, and she told me she was in “survivor mode” all day, blocking her feelings of fear and vulnerability. It was quite evident she had been traumatized. First we tapped for…. Even though I still feel jittery, and scared of the future… Even though I don’t feel safe in New York anymore… and Even though I can’t believe I went through that incident…
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Even though I feel threatened…I can and do take care of myself… At various treatment spots I alternated “I feel safe now” with “I’m not safe” until Jen calmed down. (Please note that using the Tell a Story technique is also very helpful. The clients are already tuned in and just narrate what happened (“and then…and then…and then…”) while they tap on themselves or you tap on them). We then turned to Jen’s feelings of guilt. She described herself as “fine” and not nearly as traumatized as other people who lost their loved ones. She felt guilty about receiving attention and help. She said she felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem, even aware that I, her therapist, must be going through trauma. Jen also felt wracked with guilt because she had burst into hysterical giggles and laughter Friday evening. She felt totally out of balance, although she enjoyed and needed the release. With EFT, Jen was able to reframe her outburst as a natural release of intense emotion, rather than humor that she feared offended others. Even though I shouldn’t have been laughing… Even though I feel guilty for being upset…when I wasn’t hurt as much as others… Even though I shouldn’t get the attention…others deserve it more than I… Even though I feel guilty getting on with my life…I choose to take care of my needs… Even though I feel guilty for not doing more…for wanting to change the subject… These rounds produced a deeper awareness of guilt and physical feelings in her chest and throat which needed attention. Even though I have this heaviness in my chest…the dust and the screams… Even though I have this anxiety in my throat…I’m afraid to stay in New York… Even though the future is so uncertain…and I’m afraid of what is going to happen… Even though I’m afraid I’m in denial… (People kept telling her she was in denial and would fall apart in the near future) Jen described feeling deeply conflicted between two sets of experiences and feelings:
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1) feelings of shock and terror when in her downtown home where she compulsively watched the news around the clock, and 2) feelings of relief she felt when working uptown in Manhattan where she found people seemingly oblivious to it all—with an absence of reminders such as candlelight vigils or hospitals teaming with families and people in crisis. She wasn’t sure which emotional state was “right” or appropriate. Even though I don’t know where I fit in…nothing feels stable any more… Even though I feel guilty for wanting to run away… Even though I don’t want to burden other people with my fears… Even though I don’t know how to react…I choose to love and accept myself anyway. Even though I need a break from it all…I accept all of me… We kept tapping until Jen regained the confidence in her own ability to handle what she had experienced. ~~~~ Dr. Patricia Carrington had the difficult experience of not knowing for 30 hours whether her sister-in-law, Wendy, had survived the attacks. On September 12, she wrote me to say, ”We finally heard this afternoon that Wendy is safe. and I am deeply grateful. But like all things, it had its strange gift to NOT know for 30 hours – it helped me realize the deep distress of people who are unable to locate their loved ones amidst the rubble or in the hospitals or wherever – and it will help me to help them accordingly. I have written the following piece, which is an urgent communication giving recommendations for using EFT Choices in this time of crisis."
EFT “Choices” for recent New York City trauma victims by Dr. Patricia Carrington I am writing this report on the use of EFT Choices, a form of affirmation which substitutes the phrase “I choose…” for the standard declarative phrase “I have” or “I am” used in traditional affirmations to address traumas, because we are all affected so deeply by the shocking events of yesterday [9/11/2001]. Now, if ever, is the time for us to make choices which can help us meet what may be a turning point in our collective awareness. Accordingly, I have put together a few suggestions for EFT Choices that can help heal in this time of trouble. They are not the only Choices which can be made for this purpose by any means, but if they serve to spark your own inner wisdom as 161
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to how you can use this crisis to bring about a deep and enduring change in our consciousness, then this effort will be worthwhile. When using Choices with EFT, you proceed exactly as in standard EFT — by identifying the problem to be addressed and then casting it in words that speak to the person. Some suggested set-up phrases that pertain to the tragic event of this Tuesday are: Even though I am stunned and bewildered by this terrible happening Even though I am deeply frightened …..etc. Even though I am outraged…..etc. Even though I feel helpless about…etc. Even though I see no solution for…:etc. Even though I am hopeless about….etc. Even though I’m deeply hurt and saddened by….etc. Even though I don’t understand the meaning of…..etc. Even though this terrible thing happened…..etc. You may well think of other negative phrases that can address this crisis. Use whatever speaks to you or others. The Choices suggested here can be used at the end of an EFT set-up phrase, as a reminder phrase for a whole round of EFT, or simply all alone as an affirmation. Simple Healing Choices The first step in using healing Choices often needs to be an intensely personal one because it must serve to neutralize the shock and pain which the person may be feeling. For this, the simplest relevant Choice may be the most effective. Here are some suggested Choices for set-up and reminder phrases. Some of these require certain spiritual belief systems to be of use and you must judge this on an individual basis. ...I choose to feel a deep peace within me. ...I choose to feel gentle comfort within me. ...I choose to know that I am surrounded by love (or by God’s or my Angel’s love).
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...I choose to feel safe in God’s arms. ...I choose to radiate love and healing to myself and others. ...I choose to feel calm and confident that I can handle this. Positive Choices Specifically for Those with a Spiritual Frame of Reference The following Choices are based on my own personal sense of the meaning of this event for all of us— what I consider its higher meaning. If my thoughts don’t resonate with your own, feel free to delete them and adopt today whatever means of understanding works best to move you to your own powerful place of healing in this time of radical change. Notice that most of the following Choices give a “reframe” of this shockingly painful event, and that I don’t use the word “tragedy” (just “tragic,” which is different) in any of these suggested Choices. This is not because this event isn’t one of deep sadness and suffering —but because the word “tragedy” technically refers to a play or story with an inevitably tragic ENDING. I do not think that this is a concept that can best serve us when what we need to make room for is the energy of healing and of change. With these concepts in mind, I suggest the following Choices and urge you to create your own as well and to help others to do so. One word of caution in doing this however, I would urge you to avoid platitudes and generalities wherever possible. While many of these may ultimately be true, they will tend to fall flat and not be heard. A specific suggestion which relates directly to the person’s life will be attended to with interest. After the “Even though…” phrase, or by themselves, the following are Choices which address the deeper significance of this event and some ways in which people may find a positive resolution for the distress they feel. ....I choose to feel at peace within myself and radiate this to others. ....I choose to learn something absolutely essential for my own life from this event. This statement about the “learning” inherent in suffering can be extremely meaningful in the face of a tragic occurrence. When I used it for myself in the past to deal with the painful death of a close relative, I learned something which profoundly changed my life as a result. ...I choose to have this dreadful event open my heart. ...I choose to allow something surprisingly good to come from this sad event.
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...I choose to know (or I choose to be guided as to) exactly what I can do best to help. ...I choose to see this widespread suffering as a gift which will change human understanding and cooperation from now on. ...I choose to be open to an unseen good in this. ...I choose to sense the Divine intent for a greater good in all this. ...I choose to preserve the gift of our immense caring for each other at this time. ...I choose to radiate understanding and peace from my heart to a pained world. ...I choose to be a still point amidst the chaos.. ...I choose to be still and allow God (or love) to enter my heart. and so on, and on. Surrogate Tapping for Others We can make healing Choices for others by using any of the above phrases (or other ones) while tapping on ourselves FOR those others, sending them profound healing. If one’s belief system permits it, this surrogate tapping can also include, as one highly intuitive person suggested this week, tapping for the bewildered spirits of the departed beings who gave their lives so shockingly in order that we might learn from this event. This intuitive person saw an array of spirits of those who had abruptly lost their lives in the incident which included people from every walk of life and many different nationalities, including Arabs, all of whom were in need of our understanding and support so that they could realize why they had been chosen (or had chosen) to make this sacrifice. If such a concept is too far out for you, please just discard it, but I am sure it will have meaning for some. This is just a sampling of what can be done here using EFT. We will learn more about the healing Choices necessary at this time in history when we go out into our communities to work with groups that have been traumatized by this event, using EFT and other Energy therapies to bring them comfort and help. ~~~~ This next article is about an in-depth treatment of the trauma resulting from a terrorist attack on the island of Bali in 2002. Dr. David Lake, an Australian EFT practitioner, applied EFT in expert fashion to help his daughter, Tanya, a professional photographer
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who was visiting Bali on assignment and was caught in the attack. While she suffered no physical damage there was, of course, emotional trauma that needed to be addressed. I make two comments within the report that might help some with applying EFT to these circumstances.
Using EFT after a terrorist attack by David Lake My daughter Tanya was at the epicenter of the Bali bombing on October 12, 2002. With her permission I am posting details of her treatment for the trauma of that night. My hope is that many others affected by this kind of disaster will come to use EFT — personally or professionally — as a straightforward and effective antidote to the implicit horror of these events. The technique is relatively simple. The keys to the good result, in my opinion, are focus and persistence. Focus means using EFT’s Tell a Story technique. Persistence means making sure that many EFT sequences are delivered during the treatment session. At times the tapping was constant. Prelude First there is the 4 a.m. call. “Only slight injuries.” But she is in shock, and far away. I start tapping from that point on through the next day while organizing a flight home, reading the details on the Internet news, and contacting family. The confirmed death toll rises from 3 to 183 in 36 hours. The anxiety is far more intense than anything I have experienced before, even though we know she is alive. The next morning, we wait at the airport with hundreds of highly worried people the next morning. Reality Tanya appears and looks very well for someone who has slept little in days. She is upbeat about being alive but she has seen terrible things. We share our tears. Then on the way home we hear the awful story of the blast. But for two trivial circumstances she would have been killed. At this point I wish that we could stop and use EFT for everybody immediately but it isn’t the right time. At home I find that she is soon going to be interviewed twice, and friends are coming over. I don’t want her to repeat her story without EFT first. My colleague Steve Wells is in the house and offers to do EFT for her if I don’t feel up to it — but I do. It is reassuring to have him around.
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She and her boyfriend James agree to a treatment session together. He has been so concerned about her. He too had a telephone call. I ask him to tap along with everything Tanya says and feels and get the benefits that way, and I will check in with him at the end of the session. He is a very quick learner, and Tanya already knows EFT basics. Treatment She is okay about going into the story of the event — there is no fear of that, or any block to doing it. [My comment: Unlike Tanya, many people get very intense at the mere thought of telling the story. In such cases I use EFT to "take the edge off" the intensity with Set up phrases like... Even though I don’t want to tell this story... Even though this story still scares me... Even though I feel uncomfortable right now... I keep tapping until they are down to 0-2 on the 0-10 intensity scale. This serves to avoid unnecessary emotional pain and often collapses most of the issue before we even start.] David continues: The first thing that happens when we start with the tale is that she connects with the feeling of an extraordinary evil “touching my heart like a spider.” We divert to treating this feeling in her chest, and then the stomach (its location shifted) until it lessens. We go through the moments of the incident using EFT for any intensity during the recollection. While all of the memories have very intense thoughts, the feeling reactions become more neutral as we go on. [My comment: Tapping on the physical symptoms is often a great way to neutralize the issue without emotional pain. The physical symptoms tend to shift around the body as EFT is applied. I call this "chasing the pain" and find that, after the physical symptoms have been relieved, the corresponding emotional intensities have subsided as well.] David continues: When Tanya is distressed, and engaged by that, I use the extended EFT sequence (on two occasions); otherwise I use the shortcut sevenpoint sequence exclusively. Sometimes I use one set-up statement for several rounds of tapping. I concentrate as usual on the negative (reported) aspects of what has happened, but here I am sensitive to the fact that the worst is represented fully in the body at one level anyway — EFT in trauma work is a multilevel treatment and often works best in the body without clever words. Hence excessive tapping.
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I don’t take any ratings for intensity but gauge the effect of EFT by the degree of relaxation, hesitations, voice tone and sighing. We are all completely attuned. I am tapping as actively as anyone during the whole session to help and protect myself. In the process it becomes clear that she kept it together on the night of the bombing and didn’t panic. There was carnage and chaos. Despite being blown over she was able to join with others to give and receive help. There was more danger in her mind during the phase of getting away when she was nearly run over by many speeding motorbikes. Having escaped to the beach she had to deal with people looking at her black face and body and the owner of her hotel refusing to let her settle her bill and wash herself. There were the surreal aspects of life continuing uninterrupted half a mile away from the carnage, especially the next day. In Tanya’s words: “I was tapping the whole time I walked away from the club. As the motorbikes came at me, I was tapping. I don't know if it was a short or long while (I'm thinking about 30-45 minutes to get to the beach) but all that stuff was in my head. Later at the beach talking with people, I was imagining I was tapping. I kept thinking ‘I'm doing the best I can’...” I help her finish all of the tapping for the “story” and double check the result by having her go through it again. The event has a more neutral feeling about it now. The story has a second component where she returned to the site the following day and took pictures of the debris and bodies for her newspaper. The full impact of the horror was clear. Then we see if she has residual body tensions — and we tap on those too. This is enough for one session. Following the session she does her interviews, tells her story to friends, and watches the TV news with appropriate sadness and feeling. Of course EFT will not eliminate the legitimate upset and grief associated with such an event—only the dysfunctional and excessive part. She is coping. James is relaxed. Follow-up She and James sleep deeply that night. The next day they both feel “fine” and go swimming. They talk together the whole day. Tanya has no flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, or nightmares. She is celebrating being alive — and I love to see it! In the evening we have another session lasting two hours to check on the treatment and see what else might be worth treating. Some of the chest emotion has returned. It turns out that now there are more philosophical concerns about what the whole evil effort of terrorism might mean. We discuss this while doing a lot of “continual” tapping, and we also talk about life and death and war and injury
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but in a neutral to positive way. James recalls an incident where his life was in danger and we tap on the memory of that. Tanya says it is the love and affection of family and friends that has helped most. I think she has had good treatment for all the aspects of the event that we could discover. I will keep an eye on her. In the media Australia begins mourning the loss of life of its young people. We have lost proportionately more lives than the USA did on September 11. A personal note Tanya was in Paddy’s Irish Bar when the first bomb went off inside and 40 people were killed instantly. She had moved to a corner away from the explosion to get away from the loud music of Britney Spears. (I find myself warming to that singer in a brand new way.) And a friend refilled her drink then so that, out of politeness, she didn’t leave, but lingered behind the concrete wall that saved her life from the huge car bomb outside a minute later. These are the random unpredictabilities of survival I find hard to credit and thus, so disturbing. I was more upset about what happened than I realized initially. EFT calmed me significantly. When I saw the photograph of the charred remnants of Paddy’s Irish Bar, I had to do a lot of tapping. Likewise when I watched on TV reports of the great efforts of ordinary people to provide care to the injured in impossible circumstances. I still can’t think of Tanya nearly dying as a real event. Conclusions EFT does work to help heal severe trauma. Not all this trauma fits the strict criteria for “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” but it still hurts very much. Tanya used EFT as “first aid” on the night the attack occurred — this is ideal timing for self-help. The earlier you can treat, the better. I also think that the more EFT you do in a treatment session, the better the result. Simple techniques can treat thoroughly. Take your time using EFT and be optimistic that every sequence of EFT promotes the real healing. Media reports are traumatizing for onlookers, too. Use EFT when watching or reading the news. ~~~~
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Hurricane Katrina, which flooded Louisiana and adjacent states at the end of August 2005 was one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. One year later, Harvard researchers released the results of a survey of disaster survivors. Their report estimated that 30 percent of survivors were suffering from mental illnesses such as depression and PTSD. More than half the survivors had nightmares and reported being more angry and irritable than they were prior to the disaster. In this next report, Rebecca Marina offers this first-hand account of a successful EFT treatment for the trauma experienced by one survivor.
EFT for a Hurricane Katrina survivor by Rebecca Marina It is important to pre-frame this story by telling you that Paulette is a very gifted intuitive healer and medium. She knew something was coming to New Orleans but she refused to "see." She felt devastated that she was no longer in a position to help others because of her own extreme emotional trauma. Paulette lived only five blocks from the Mighty Mississippi in downtown New Orleans. She heard Katrina was coming and, like so many others, fled reluctantly. She took only the bare minimum thinking she would be back in two or three days. Here is her story. At the beginning of our phone session, Paulette was almost hysterical and exhausted from her ordeal. She felt hopeless, abandoned, betrayed, and very angry at people for criticizing the officials in New Orleans. Worse, she doubted that she could ever do her work again. She felt as if she had absolutely nothing left in this world. I asked Paulette to tell me a little of her story so we could address her most pressing emotions first. Paulette could hardly talk. She rated her level of anxiety and confusion at a 10 and reported feeling foggy, numb, hopeless, disconnected, displaced, and angry. We began by addressing her feelings of being displaced, confused, and foggy headed. Even though I feel so confused, my life is upside down, and I don't know what to do.... Even though I don't understand why this had to happen to ME.... Even though I don't understand why this sneaked up on me- I refused to "see" this coming.... I release this fear that has gotten hold of me.... 169
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I've always been the strong one, it's hard for me to ask for help.... I can't help anyone else now and I don't know what to do. ... I am afraid I won't be able to help anyone and I won't be able to do my work.... When we re-checked Paulette’s intensity on "confusion," she felt it was a 6. I should have asked how she knew it was a 6 because Paulette became distracted and started talking about how angry she felt that the media was criticizing the mayor of New Orleans so much. She started to get very emotional and I had Paulette tap on herself while telling me the story. Tell a Story is a wonderful technique for dissolving emotions. Just tap while talking about the situation or event that bothers you. When Paulette was a bit calmer, I told her we would "harness the power" of her anger. I explained that anger, used properly, can help transform negative to positive in very short order. I asked Paulette to give me some details of why she felt angry and we had some great set up phrases in: Even though I feel so angry at the media for criticizing the mayor – at least he didn't leave – I love and accept myself. Even though I feel so angry at the Red Cross and the Salvation army for selling clothes, buy one get one free, I love and accept myself. Even though I feel so angry I could just scream [and she did scream a few choice words] I deeply love and accept myself. We then stopped and Paulette said she now felt great! I asked her to re-check the original emotion of confusion and it was down to none at all. We then tapped in some positive choices using Dr Carrington’s Choices phrasing and Paulette became more calm, centered, and ready to pick up the pieces and move forward. The difference was just incredible. ~~~~
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Sometimes we have to sit back in Gratitudinal Awe at the dedication some people have for bettering the lives of others. Such is the case with Deepak Mostert and his efforts at Trauma Relief. In this 2006 report he details his efforts and methods for helping the victims of a 6.3 earthquake in Yogykarta.
Using EFT for Trauma Relief after a major earthquake in Indonesia By Deepak Mostert On 27 May 2006, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit the Yogykarta area in Indonesia. Since then, there have been hundreds of minor earthquakes in the area, and the nearby volcano, Merapi, is very active. The details are that; 5,722 people died, 50,000 were injured, 350,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, and one and a half million people are homeless. The non-governmental organizations Yayasan Bahari Indonesia and Pak Cahyo Alkantana were my hosts. When I arrived at Camp Bawuran, there was already an ongoing program in place for the schools. The school program supports the teachers and children by organizing creative activities and Disaster Awareness training. This training provides instruction in how to act in a practical way in case of new disasters and is supplemented by social studies information on earthquakes and tsunamis. EFT Trauma Relief Training was added and integrated into the school program. In the EFT Trauma Relief Training, our main concerns were the many children, parents, and teachers who were traumatized by the recent earthquake and the many earthquakes that have followed. Reports from volunteers documented the earthquakes’ impact in loss of lives, bodily harm, and material damage. For the younger children, age 5 to 8 years, I would first teach them EFT Trauma Relief as a game. Firstly, I would ask them how many children were afraid of a new earthquake. The response was nearly 100 percent. I would then ask how many children were afraid to go to sleep at night. The response was 80 percent. I would then tell them that I could teach them a game to play when they felt this fear. My experience was that every child was able to learn this technique. Some would have a bit of trouble finding the Eyebrow and Side of Eye points in the beginning and needed assistance. The Collarbone point was too difficult for them to tap, so I taught them to use the whole hand. I used the Karate Point instead of the Sore Spot in the Setup.
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The children found the Underarm point hilarious, and I used it as a build up in the game of tapping the EFT points. After practicing this game a few times, we tapped on both “fear of a new earthquake” and “fear of going to sleep.” The children’s parents would participate as well. After introducing EFT in this way, I would talk to the parents and teachers and explain how to measure intensity on the zero-to-10 scale, the background of EFT and how it works, how to use EFT on their children, and some of the other uses that EFT has. There were many people who were troubled by physical problems like headaches and other tension-related symptoms. Then, together with the children, we would do two more rounds on “fear of earthquake” and “fear of sleeping.” This was sufficient training for the children, teachers, and parents to be able to work with EFT. Although I never mentioned it during the training, the initial aim was to get the fear levels down during the training by using EFT and Borrowing Benefits. I received feedback from parents and teachers that the program was very effective and that they had noticed the difference in the behavior of the children and themselves. I was overwhelmed by the response to this program and the feedback. There was a large acceptance towards EFT, partly because in addition to relying on Western medicine, the people of Indonesia have kept in touch with their traditional healing methods. In addition, the Chinese part of the population has lived in Java for centuries, and their acupuncture has been integrated into the society. The largely Muslim community also accepted the EFT program. During a 17-day period, the team’s volunteers trained over 600 people in EFT Trauma Relief. I trained 12 volunteers in the basics of EFT and gave advanced training to three volunteers to teach EFT Trauma Relief to children, teachers, and parents. In addition to the teachers we trained during our school visits, we trained 21 teachers from a Teachers’ Association. We managed to give two evening trainings in separate villages to an additional 180 people. The First Response phase is over, foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have left, and local NGOs, private initiatives, and local government agencies are faced with an immense task. The majority of the people in this area live in temporary shacks and tents. The housing situation is a major concern because it is not adequate for the monsoon season due in four to six weeks. Due to poor hygiene and a lack of facilities, the outbreak of diseases during the monsoon season is a concern. There is a shortage of orthopedic surgeons for follow-up medical treatment of the injured victims.
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There is to my knowledge no ongoing trauma relief work. In spite all the knowledge we have about trauma and trauma healing techniques, there is insufficient awareness about the impact of trauma on personal lives and communities that lasts for several generations. In the Yogyakarta area, there is a great need for trauma work and a good start has been made. A continuation of this program is necessary for the thousands of people who were not reached and who are in great need of support. I recommend the founding of an independent organization for Trauma Support in Indonesia, in NGO form, that can structurally organize Trauma Relief Training in the disaster area, provide training for the workers of the many organizations that are involved with the rebuilding of this large area, develop information folders about the effects and working of trauma in the Indonesian and Javanese languages, develop visual aid material to support the trainings, work in cooperation with local and national governments, and prepare First Response teams for eventual new disasters in Indonesia ~~~~ The reports in this chapter provide excellent EFT strategies for dealing with natural and manmade disasters. Now here’s some advice for those who are in the path of a disaster that hasn’t arrived yet. EFT practitioner Gwenn Bonnell lives in Florida, where hurricanes are an all too familiar phenomenon. Gwen’s versatile EFT Setups for weathering hurricane stress, which she sent to subscribers of her online newsletter in September 2004, can be easily adapted for use during tornado warnings, earthquake aftershocks, approaching floods, forest fires, or any other emergency. As Gwenn wrote in her introduction to this piece, “You may not be in a hurricane-prone area, but you can easily adapt this same process to your own private ‘hurricane,’ whether it’s a tornado, earthquake, or job loss. The same process works for ANY kind of stormy weather, especially when stress causes overeating.” Notice how Gwenn incorporates stress-related physical symptoms and metaphors to make the Setups more comprehensive and personal. Keep this report handy for anyone who worries about circumstances beyond his or her control.
How to weather hurricane stress with EFT by Gwenn Bonnell We’ve been affected by so many hurricanes that I can’t even keep count. By now, all of us in hurricane country are experiencing more and more stress as a result of waiting and preparing, going through the storms, living without electricity and water, and cleaning up afterwards, only to have the threat hit us again.
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This is the perfect opportunity to understand how you react to stress. Where do you hold most of your stress? By now, the stress has probably traveled through your mind, affected your emotions, and settled somewhere in your physical body. Here are some Setups you can use with EFT to relieve the hurricane stress. Even though I have all these fears about the worst happening, no matter what I do to prepare it’s not enough, I accept myself anyway and know that I always do the best I can. Even though I’m overwhelmed with preparing yet again for another hurricane, we’ve been through this time and time again, I’m fed up with all of this, why do we have to keep dealing with this, I love and accept myself, and choose to remain calm and sane throughout this process. Even though I have all this anxiety about going through another hurricane, thoughts about what can happen keep going around and around in my head, I accept myself and I choose to release all these fears and focus on how I’ve survived everything in my life. Even though my nerves are shot and I can’t take going through this again, I accept myself anyway and just love feeling calm and peaceful. Even though I’m too stressed to control my emotions anymore, I don’t now how to get through this, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to breathe deeply and release all my stressful emotions. Even though it’s emotionally draining to go through another hurricane, we haven’t even recovered from the last one yet, and it seems like I fly off the handle at any little thing, I choose to remember that I’m okay, l lived through the last hurricane and I’m okay, my family is okay, and I will live through this one also. Notice where in your body you are holding this hurricane stress. There’s that helpless feeling, the stress of not being able to control the situation, which you might experience in your back. For me, it’s in my jaw ... grinding my teeth at night and waking up with a toothache in the morning. For my mother-in-law, it’s in her shoulder, especially after repeatedly moving furniture and plants in and out of the house. I’ve heard others say they are just “wiped out” or “blown away” by all this. And of course, especially when the electricity fails, we’re all just “sweating it out.” Use these metaphors, or whatever metaphor applies to you personally, when using EFT.
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Even though I’m holding all this hurricane stress in my back, I feel like I have to support everyone and everything around me, I love and approve of myself, and I trust that my family and I will remain safe. Even though all this hurricane stress is grinding me down and I’m holding it all in my jaw, I love and accept myself and choose to release all this stress from my jaw because for now I am safe. Even though It’s a burden facing these hurricanes again and again, and I’m carrying this burden in my shoulders, I accept myself, love myself, and forgive myself, and I choose to find joy every day in the little things of life. Even though I feel wiped out having to go through all this hurricane stress over and over again, and I’m afraid that a hurricane will wipe us out, I accept myself and choose to stay in my power and know that even if the worst happens, I will survive and be okay. Or: Even though Hurricane ____ wiped us out, it’s over, I survived, I’m okay, and I choose to focus on recovering and feeling grateful for and focusing on what and who I have in my life right now. Even though I feel blown away by all these hurricanes, I choose to stay connected with the earth at all times and remember to be thankful for the people who do love and support me. Even though I keep sweating it out and it seems like there’s no end to it, I accept the situation and choose to accept what I can’t change and look for the positive at all times. I know this all may seem too overwhelming, especially in the middle of a disaster, but remember that EFT works best when you are specific and persistent. So find what metaphor works best for your situation and get tapping. Over and over again. Especially first thin g in the morning, before going to bed at night, and whenever the intensity of your mental, emotional, or physical feeling rises. Just keep tapping. EFT has helped many people get through traumatic situations, and it will help you, too. Just getting your energies balanced will help you cope with the stress of living through yet another hurricane. Don’t forget your children. They may feel even more powerless than you, especially because it’s difficult for them to understand why their routine is being interrupted. Get them tapping, too! Also, keep yourself safe. No amount of tapping can take the place of common sense, but EFT can help you make better decisions when you are tired and weary. Keep yourself and your loved ones safe. ~~~~
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Chapter Ten: Advanced Work with Veterans Lindsay Kenny is an experienced EFT practitioner who participated in our March 2008 event in San Francisco. Here, for the benefit of counselors and practitioners, she describes a simple EFT approach that is highly effective for complex and challenging PTSD cases – and, as she notes, it can also help those who want to try EFT on their own.
Tapping for Collections of Traumas by Lindsay Kenny During the week of working with combat veterans In San Francisco, I was struck by childhood issues that the veterans shared. I worked with nine of the eleven participants and I don’t think there was a single one who didn’t have significant baggage from childhood. It occurred to me that they were attracted to military service because it gave structure to their lives. A lot of them had repressive, domineering, dictatorial, judgmental, critical parents, which is interesting when you consider the behavior of most drill sergeants and commanding officers. In my work with veterans and others who have PTSD, I’ve observed that once you are traumatized, the effects of future traumas can become much more pronounced as a result. For example, if as a child your house burns down or you lose one or both of your parents or you’re the victim of verbal, physical, or sexual abuse, then later on in life whenever anything similar happens, you’re so sensitized that the current event feels magnified. As a result, you can over-react when a boss criticizes you or something unexpected happens. This answers for me the question of why some vets are okay when they come home and others develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Two soldiers can be in the same battalion and witness the same events, but one of them suffers for 30 years and other goes on with his life. My hunch is that the one who bounces back didn’t have an unhappy childhood and therefore deals with trauma differently from the one who did. The veterans who have the most difficult time, I think, are those who experience terrible things all their lives, in childhood, during the war, and after they come home. Unhappy events get layered on top of each other until the person reaches a breaking point. I call this “piling on.” When someone goes on a shooting spree or has a total breakdown, it’s never because of a single event. It’s one thing after 176
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another until it’s like the straw that breaks the camel’s back and the person just snaps. There has never been a tool like EFT before, a tool so powerful that people can alleviate all of their pre-war traumas, war traumas, and post-war traumas without much effort. Deep inside, everyone has the desire to feel better, and we use whatever resources we have in order to at least try to reach that goal. Now we have an important message to get out to the world, that there is an effective method of dealing with PTSD that doesn’t involve prescription medication, illegal drugs, alcohol, or beating your wife or kids. I think it’s important to focus on our veterans right now. It’s been thirty or forty years since Vietnam, and then we had the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan and Iraq. Those conflicts affected thousands of soldiers who are still picking up the pieces. It’s vital to share with them a tool that works. But it’s just as important to educate the public about EFT because severe trauma isn’t limited to those in the military. EFT can help police, fire fighters, schoolteachers and others who live in war zones, and people everywhere who survived accidents, abuse, sexual trauma, natural disasters, economic catastrophes, personal tragedies, assaults, and crushing disappointments. Wherever they are, EFT can change their lives and reestablish emotional health. In the first session with each of the nine veterans I worked with in San Francisco, I started with the long-ago past. Each of the participants had completed a personal history and in preparation for the EFT sessions, we read about events in their lives that were shocking. Rather than focusing on recent events, I started each session by asking the person about things that happened in childhood, the first traumas that he or she experienced. This was an effective way to introduce EFT, and it also established rapport. The participants could see that EFT worked, that it could help them get over some serious issues painlessly and that they could trust us. It was also a sensible place to start because a lot of them weren’t ready to talk about their war experiences. It was a way of establishing a foundation or background, which is what I do whenever I’m teaching EFT. Start with your childhood, start with the very old traumas, and then you can sneak up on current problems. The veterans dealt with their most serious traumas in different ways. Some just stated what happened, like “I had to watch my best friend get blown up and then I had to pick up his arms and legs and put them in a body bag” as if they were reading a phone number. In those cases I started right in on the event’s different aspects and their intensity, the sights, smells, and sounds, and finally the actual events themselves. Once the remembered sights, smells, and sounds generated less intensity, that’s when I dealt with their emotions: the grief, anger, betrayal, frustration, and that sort of thing.
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In PTSD counseling, if the person can talk about a trauma and name it, that’s an effective way to proceed. That’s very different from the approach you have to take with people who don’t want to talk about what happened. They may say, “I’m afraid to bring it up, I’ve got it buried, I don’t want to think about it.” In EFT we have gentle ways of sneaking up on problems, like the Tearless Trauma Technique. You don’t have to describe the details of a specific problem to get good results. You can give it a title like “That Summer Night” or “The Afternoon in Baghdad,” and that’s all you have to say. You can tap to defuse the emotion and gradually peel away the layers before you ever get to the specifics. For most of the veterans, the problem wasn’t one single event, it was a series of events, several different things. I like to collect these before we begin by bundling together a series of negative repetitive events that are similar or related, which in this case include things like bombs going off, sounds of gunfire, people disappearing, watching people die, seeing collections of body parts, and other horrific things. I would say, “Just imagine, without thinking of any specific events, all those times that you were traumatized during the war, hearing gunfire at night, hearing bombs go off, and having friends not come back. Put all of those events together without focusing on any one of them, just put them in a bundle and give the bundle a name, like ‘Horrific War Trauma’ or ‘My Nightmare in Afghanistan.’ Now, if you allowed yourself to get upset, but don’t go there, what do you guess your level of intensity would be on a scale from zero to 10?” It was always a 10, or some would say it’s a 20. Then we would tap that whole collective bundle of trauma down to a low number, at which point the person would often say something like, “You know, what really bothers me is the time I found my friend’s finger with his college ring on it,” or some specific memory that really bothered him or her. We would then move from the general to the specific while the person remained relaxed and comfortable. One huge thing that stood out to me, which they all experienced in the service, was a horrific sense of betrayal. They all felt betrayed by a superior officer, by their branch of the service, by their country, or by someone or some thing. This got layered onto whatever other betrayals they had already experienced in life. The anger that they held onto often kept a trauma alive. They wanted to keep that anger and that sense of betrayal in order to keep alive thoughts about punishing whoever or whatever they were mad at. That’s like drinking poison and hoping the person you’re mad at gets sick or dies. But it was very hard for them to imagine any other way of responding until we tapped on the issue. Then, in most cases, the sense of betrayal and all the emotional intensity that went with it disappeared in a single session.
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Each session was an hour and 15 minutes long, and often we would deal with more than one issue during a session. Everyone had problems with stress, anxiety, insomnia, night sweats, night terrors, TMJ (Temporo-Mandibular Joint problems) from clenching the jaw, or tinnitus, which is a ringing in the ears. Not all of them had seen actual combat. One participant got PTSD just from being in the service but not in a war, complete with anxiety, night sweats, paranoia, insomnia, TMJ, and pain. Others had PTSD from having family members in the service. Every morning we reviewed the participants’ progress by going over the list of what we had worked with the day before or in previous sessions, asking general questions like, “How are you doing with insomnia? Were you able to sleep last night?” The usual reply was, “I got a great night’s sleep, the best sleep I’ve had in 30 years.” Then we’d go to the next item on the list, like TMJ or tension in the neck, checking on each physical symptom and making note of its improvement. Of the nine vets I worked with in San Francisco using this method, all experienced significant improvement. They went through tremendous changes in their attitudes, their outlook on life, and how they felt about themselves. I worked with one woman who was the mother of one of the vets. She came in with symptoms that were very similar to her son’s, and was able to quickly collapse all of them. After the first day, when she went from a 10 to a zero on 15 to 20 separate issues, we really didn’t have anything for her to do. She was in a very happy mode. It was absolutely astonishing to see someone cringing and walking with short, uncomfortable steps while struggling down the hall with a tense scowl on his face and anger permeating out of every cell, avoiding eye contact with everyone, then seeing the same person two or three days later striding confidently with a smile on his face, joking with the other participants, happy, walking upright, and looking people in the eye. When these guys first arrived, they were tense with each other and with themselves, and their attitude toward us was so hostile that we were a little afraid. By the end of the week, they all went out to dinner together and were laughing, joking, and having such a great time that they were asked to tone it down. You would never have known that this was the same group of traumatized people who had been tense, isolated, and miserable just a few days before. To keep track of their progress, in addition to noting their test scores, I kept in email contact with everyone I worked with for several weeks. I made sure they were doing okay and reminded them of things they planned to work on. A lot of them had projects they wanted to start, jobs they wanted to get, and in other ways move their lives in a new direction. Their physical symptoms were better,
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too, everything from TMJ and tinnitus to insomnia and arthritis pain or headaches. In fact, the symptoms weren’t just better, they were gone. Some of these people had to go back into situations that were difficult, such as with their families or their jobs, so they still had to deal with stress or anxiety, but after relieving themselves of substantial pain, trauma, and negativity, they reentered those situations with a clean slate. They weren’t reacting the way they did in the past. They dealt with current problems at a much different level. They were calmer, more focused, had more clarity of thought and more confidence. Most importantly, they did it without spending months, years, or even decades in therapy or on medications. One of the vets was a woman who was taking care of two parents with Alzheimer’s. They were abusive and demanding of her time, and when she came in, she was very stressed – plus, in the service, she had been abused, molested, and raped twice. Her situation was really difficult. Yet now, after the tapping, the situation with her parents is much easier to deal with. It’s not getting to her the way it used to. She’s handling it more calmly and with confidence, and she uses EFT to dispel problems as they come up. For those who are working on their own in an effort to treat their own PTSD, I would recommend using the same technique of starting with general collections of past events, giving them a title, and focusing on that title rather than on any specific incidents as a way to get started. By beginning with a collection of events from the long-ago past, you can tap a whole group of unhappy memories down to a more comfortable level of intensity. Once that happens, you can tap for any specific memory that demands attention, and you’ll have a head start on treating it as well. When dealing with any highly charged issue, past or chronic events or issues, I believe it’s important to eliminate subconscious resistance to change, which I call a Reversal. It’s done simply by tapping on the Karate Chop point while saying three times Even though I don’t want to let go of these problems [naming the collective name or individual issue], I want to love and accept who I am. By addressing and neutralizing that subconscious resistance head-on, the EFT process go much more easily and quickly. After doing the reversal neutralization you just go into normal EFT. Then you can move from the distant past to the more recent past, and then move to the present. In each of these time frames, think of a general theme and all the events or memories that are connected to it and give it a name. Tap on that general theme until the intensity level falls to a more comfortable level. Then
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collect all the emotions you feel about those events and tap in a general way on those. I believe, based on my experience, that it’s safer to deal with events first and then emotions. In review, the sequence is: 1. Gather a collection of events from childhood that share a general theme. Give it a name and tap its intensity down. 2. Once the collection’s intensity level comes down, tap on any specific childhood event that comes to mind. 3. Once the events no longer generate a reaction, repeat this procedure using the emotions that these events used to generate or still generate. Give the collection a name and tap its intensity down. 4. Once the intensity level of the emotions comes down, tap on any specific emotion that comes to mind. 5. Repeat steps 1 – 4 while focusing on a more recent time frame. 6. Repeat steps 1 – 4 while focusing on the present. Many people feel overwhelmed by a sense of having everything go wrong in life – they’re in pain or don’t feel well physically, they’re in the middle of a divorce, they’re facing a layoff at work, they’re behind on the mortgage, and wherever they look, they see problems. When stressful events mount up, I have people write everything down so that all those problems are on a single piece of paper. When I ask them to give it a name, they’ll say something like “My Hellish Life” or “This Nightmare” or “Being Overwhelmed.” We tap on the list’s title using a Setup such as: Even though I have this nightmare life and I’m feeling overwhelmed, I love and accept myself. Then we tap the EFT points using the title as the reminder phrase: My nightmare life, my nightmare life, my nightmare life... If the person starts at a 10, the first round of tapping may bring the intensity level down to a 7 or 8, or maybe lower. We do another round and another until it gets down toward a 1. Usually when we reach a lower number, other things start coming up. There’s always plenty to tap on. I think it’s very difficult for most people to deal with complex issues like PTSD on their own even if they are experienced with EFT. It’s a lot easier with the help of a trained, skilled professional who can guide them through it. That being said, there
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are people who will want to try EFT on their own, either by preference or necessity, and when they do, I believe it will help them to take this collective approach, to start by focusing not on individual events but on a collection of related events and to give the collection a name and tap on it until its intensity level drops. This is the opposite of what we normally do with EFT, but for the treatment of PTSD and other complex issues, this is a safe approach, and it works. ~~~~
EFT coach Ingrid Dinter spends considerable time working with veterans, and her gentle expertise provides an excellent model for counselors and practitioners who use EFT to help not only military personnel but police, emergency medical technicians, hospital staff, fire fighters, and all who have been trained to keep their feelings from interfering with their professional responsibilities. Ingrid combines general rather than specific Setups with constantly changing Reminder Phrases, all of which help clients relax, feel comfortable, and eventually reveal core issues. In this comprehensive report, she takes us step by step through the EFT counseling process. Ingrid used these same techniques at our 2008 PTSD conference with excellent results.
Trust and integrity with combat veterans by Ingrid Dinter “Veterans are the light at the tip of the candle, illuminating the way for the whole nation. If veterans can achieve awareness, transformation, understanding, and peace, they can share with the rest of society the realities of war. And they can teach us how to make peace with ourselves and each other, so we never have to use violence to resolve conflicts again.” – Thich Nhat Hanh I have a dream…that someday soldiers and their families, those who understand what war truly means, will be able to go out into the world and teach When I was a child in the 1960s and ‘70s in Germany, World War II was still very present and a frequent guest at our dinner table, dominating the conversations without ever allowing us children to ask questions. My father had been a prisoner of war, barely surviving three years in a Russian work camp. My grandfather served in both World Wars, and my mother grew up in the extreme poverty that all refugees experience. I remember the many ruins that remained between newly erected homes and the field trips to concentration camps that our school organized. As president of a non-government organization, I spent five years collecting humanitarian aid for the victims of the war in the former Yugoslavia. During 182
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frequent trips into war zones, I experienced bombardment and human suffering first hand. That is the story I share with the veterans who come to me, hoping but doubting that EFT can help heal their insomnia, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks. I encourage them to ask any questions they have about the person they are about to go back into war with. If a soldier doesn’t trust me, there is no point in getting started with our healing work. Trust in the integrity of the practitioner is of the essence. A flashback feels no different from being back in the war zone. Talking about traumatic events always holds the risk of bringing war experiences back up. The soldier needs to be certain that I am reliable and will do whatever I can to get him or her out of this trauma, even if it means going the extra mile that standard treatment hasn’t foreseen. When teaching other healing practitioners how to help veterans using EFT, I share with them that in war soldiers never go alone into a danger zone. They are advised to always go with at least one buddy, better in groups. This allows them to show up as a force, and they trust each other with their lives. The bond that is formed between soldiers is stronger than anything most civilians ever experience. It can even exceed the bond that returning soldiers feel toward their families, a situation that can cause great conflict at home. The death of a brother in war is traumatic beyond belief. This trauma often follows surviving veterans for the rest of their lives. It haunts them in their dreams, shows up unannounced during the day as flashbacks, and changes everything. The grief and guilt never leave. Talking about this with fellow veterans can bring comfort and acceptance, but it never heals. As practitioners, it helps to understand that when we are accepted to help, we become a buddy for the soldiers. We are the ones they have to rely on to keep them safe and get them out of danger. Explaining why they are suffering usually does not take the symptoms away. Talking about what happened often increases acceptance, but it doesn’t decrease the pain. As EFT practitioners, we can help in a profoundly different way. I have seen that the specifics of war trauma can require healing practitioners to be more flexible in their approach, to accommodate the special needs of veterans. It might be that scheduling longer or more frequent sessions in the beginning helps the client feel safe, as can the skillful reframing of past events in positive rather than negative terms, and creative use of the Choices technique. I am at the beginning of a study to find out what works and how to find new paradigms for sessions that support soldiers with severe trauma.
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Rapport One powerful way to gain rapport with veterans is by sharing our own story, which explains why it is so important for us to do this work. All practitioners have reasons for wanting to help veterans heal, and I believe that as preparation for this work, it makes sense to do some soul searching. Not everybody grew up with a military background or is married to a soldier. But I have heard people say that visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., reading a spouse’s blog on the Internet, or seeing a news report about a person in their community who was changed through the experience of war made it clear for them that they wanted to help. Each story is similarly relevant, as it comes from the heart and resonates with the passion to help and heal. Once we can explain to ourselves why we want to help, we can communicate it to soldiers. It is important to them to know who we are before we can ask them to go back into a war zone in their minds and take us with them. Trauma rewrites our beliefs about life, safety, self-worth, and peace. After tapping on their trauma, veterans often tell me that they feel comfortable socializing now. Crowds are not threatening to them anymore. One of my Vietnam vets emailed me that he had just signed up for dancing lessons with his granddaughter, and he was laughing in disbelief about how much he had changed. Another was haunted by the memory of almost losing his life in a completely meaningless situation. He was alone in an office building that came under massive attack. It was an empty building, so he didn’t have orders to protect it. There was nothing for him to do but hide in a corner and wait to die while mortars flew around him. He realized that he could lose his life at any moment for reasons that had nothing to do with an important cause. He created the belief that he was a coward for curling up and crying. This experience changed his life at the core. While gently tapping on the incident’s different aspects, he released this belief along with his feelings of anger, betrayal, and never being safe. He just relaxed about it, realizing that this happened only once in his life, a very long time ago, and it would be appropriate and fitting to move on now without the fear and selfjudgment. PTSD and the soul The veterans and family members I have worked with feel that PTSD is not a mental illness but rather a symptom of the soul. They describe losing their soul, something breaking inside, or a disconnect from the world and from their own true selves. Every veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD has confirmed this in some form as his reality: The soul seems to be gone, broken away at the moment of terror, when survival of the self was a moment’s decision that often
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caused harm and pain to others. After this break happened, things were never the same again. It is easy to talk to a soldier about his or her soul, asking, “When was the time you last felt connected? What happened before you felt your soul was leaving?” All of the severely traumatized soldiers I have worked with had a surprisingly clear answer to that question, and it is usually one of the core issues we will work with. They know that something is missing in them that they can’t access anymore. They don’t know how to get back to who they were, and they feel lost and hopeless. During times of war, they protected their soul for as long as they could and have since been suffering from their inability to reconnect. The same thing can happen when soldiers return home and realize that they are not respected and accepted by society, or they begin to doubt the righteousness of their own role in war. When soldiers feel that something they saw, endured, or did cannot be forgiven, when they have great ethical doubts about what happened during or after deployment, symptoms of PTSD often begin to show. Getting used to this state of being is hard, and often comes at a high cost: Relationships outside of the veterans’ community become complicated and are often undesirable. Families break apart. Job relationships can’t be maintained. The veterans tumble through life, not knowing how to rest, not finding peace in anything they do. What used to be enjoyable has lost its meaning and there seems to be no hope that this will ever change. Nightmares and intrusive thoughts, hyper-vigilance, anger, and fear of connecting with and confronting others are all symptoms of a disconnect from the soul. Life has become a meaningless struggle for many of these men and women in ways that people in the outside world might not recognize or understand. When we can’t feel our soul in anything, nothing has meaning anymore. In the following, I want to give examples for Setup statements that might help a veteran heal. This is only “A” way, not “THE” way, as each practitioner and every client is unique and special. We are at our best when we work with our uniqueness from a point of compassion and love. So please take what resonates, and change or leave out what doesn’t. Ultimately, only the connection with the soldier can tell us what work needs to be done. Clearing our own blocks to doing this work When taking a moment to become clear about why we are doing what we are doing, we might realize that we have beliefs and thought patterns about veterans that could be released. Some veterans have told me that they are hurt when they feel that people perceive them as being “messed up.” They don’t like to be defined by PTSD, and they don’t want to be an interesting case study. For the soldiers, this work is very personal, and they want to be taken seriously. Their experiences often don’t allow them to believe that anybody truly can and wants to
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help, and the fear of having to trust somebody and then be let down can be overwhelming. PTSD is a symptom of the soul after horrific trauma, and offering healing techniques, no matter how powerful and effective, can at first feel inappropriate, even disrespectful, from the soldier’s perspective. There can also be a sense of not deserving help or forgiveness. I have experienced many times that a soldier who was suffering from many symptoms insisted that I should work with someone who was more in need. I have heard soldiers say that anyone who suggests that healing is possible simply doesn’t understand what he or she is talking about. This mindset, a selfprotection mechanism, might be the first hurdle we have to take if we want to help a veteran heal. It often takes time and commitment to assist a soldier in taking that first step, and it is worth the wait. Finding forgiveness I often find that soldiers give me only a part of the story, the part that has created the way they feel or believe. But there is usually more to it than the soldier realizes or finds important enough to mention. Using EFT on the context of what happened often allows for the soldier to open up to receive forgiveness and peace in ways that didn’t seem possible before. Whenever veterans have the courage and trust to bring up traumatic events that they blame themselves for, I notice the discrepancy between the civilians they were and the soldiers they became. I often hear, “I don’t know what happened. I can’t believe what I did in war. This is not me. I was never like that growing up.” This is a very big conflict, and many veterans are scared of themselves at the core and believe that they don’t deserve forgiveness. They went through a transformation from civilian to warrior to soldier, and each of these roles has different rules. Back home, soldiers often struggle with the rules of the civilian world, and they can’t come to terms with what war did to them and what they did in war. They are often unprepared for coming home. Many of the nightmares and intrusive thoughts that we work with involve these traumatic events that have haunted the soldiers ever since, even in their sleep. So where can we go with this? When helping a veteran heal, I don’t look for excuses for what happened. It is important to not change the facts or minimize them, as this would be inappropriate and disrespectful to the situation. But I find it important to see the facts in context. There are reasons for why things happened, reasons that veterans who suffer from guilt and safe-blame often don’t see or acknowledge. Together, we explore the difference between finding an excuse and finding the reason for what happened.
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One of my vets blamed himself for being the leader of an outing that turned very violent. After almost 40 years, he still couldn’t find peace with it. There is no excuse for going out and hurting people, and trying to find one would be unfair to the victims. But there was a reason: His unit had been under huge pressure for many, many days. They were on food rationing and had all lost 40 pounds or more. They were fed up because they had constantly been tortured by war and thoughts of the people they had lost. They couldn’t take it anymore, got drunk, and started a fight. Even though there is no excuse or justification for what happened and what they did, there is a place from which someone can ask for and receive forgiveness. Tapping on that with a soldier can change everything for him. By healing their guilt about what happened, not through excuses, but through forgiveness, many soldiers now feel free to see lessons of war and peace that they can teach to others. What better teachers could we have? Getting started Since I don’t want new clients to get unnecessarily upset, I try not to ask too many war-related questions before I introduce EFT. Instead, we tap a few rounds on general issues, which helps the person relax. It is usually easier to explain EFT after the client has tried it and seen results. When appropriate, I do, however, ask what the person’s goals are for the session and how he or she would like to feel. At peace? okay? Relaxed? Many veterans have never asked themselves this question, as the emotional load of their trauma didn’t allow them to even consider getting well and having a good life. Tapping on the positive helps establish a sense of healing and acceptance, even if we have a way to go to get there. Because veterans are often apprehensive when they encounter EFT for the first time, I use Setups that are as universal as they are meaningful for the individual involved. They are general enough to be easily adapted for anyone who suffers from trauma. Naturally, all of these tapping statements can only be suggestions, as there are many ways of doing EFT successfully. I am not claiming that these words, repeated one by one, will always bring profound results. More than giving solutions to specific issues that might come up, it is my intention to help the practitioner and client resonate with them from the heart, the center of healing. When speaking out loud, with an open mind and an open heart, we can find and unfold our own potential and the most powerful statements naturally come up perfectly.
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Feeling overwhelmed I like to start with a round of tapping on feeling overwhelmed, as this is usually appropriate and shows respect for the client and his or her emotions. It can also help to take the edge off in a safe and comfortable way and set the stage for more tapping. Even though I feel very overwhelmed right now, I allow myself to be surprisingly okay with that. This set up statement usually startles people, as it feels appropriate. They usually feel more relaxed, less apprehensive, and often even experience physical relief – and we were not specific, and it didn’t hurt. The word “surprisingly” opens us up to receiving new solutions and new feelings, even if we are not aware of them yet. Being open to positive surprises can fill us with expectations and curiosity, allowing us to consider new ways of dealing with our past, ways that we didn’t even know were possible before. Being in control After the first round of tapping, most people already sense changes. They feel more relaxed, tightness in their body might be gone, or a specific feeling or issue might come up. They also realize that they were in control during the tapping, and if something doesn’t work for them, they are encouraged to change it. This experience usually increases their trust and willingness to work together with the practitioner. Feeling misunderstood Another statement that I use a lot is: Even though I have been through more than you will ever understand, I choose to be surprisingly at peace with that Any way of phrasing this basic statement is appropriate, such as: Even though I have been through more than anyone knows or can understand, I choose to be surprisingly okay with that After each round of tapping, in which I encourage the client to change any phrasing so it works better, the result can be greater trust and more relaxation. The client now sees that he or she is in control. With each round of EFT, I fill in the explanations and information the soldier needs to understand how and why we are so successful releasing trauma in a gentle, fast and non-traumatizing way.
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Here are some more situations and beliefs that often have to be dealt with before we can begin to work on specific traumatic memories. Resistance to EFT Even though I don’t want to make a fool of myself by tapping on my head and body, I choose to allow myself to relax about it. Even though I could quite easily get very emotional here and I don’t want that, I choose to feel surprisingly safe and in control. Even though I don’t know yet if this is going to work out, I realize that I can be open and at ease with this either way. Even though I don’t feel safe enough to even consider that I can heal, and I don’t feel that healing is possible for me, I choose to take it one step at a time and appreciate my courage to never give up. Resistance to healing Some veterans believe that no therapy can be successful unless the practitioner has experience with the realities of war . While it is true that many EFT practitioners who are offering help have not been in combat, I found a way to tap on this that often works very well anyway: It is the simple phrase, “In a way that works for me.” These words, added to the end of the Setup, allow the soldier to find his or her own way and resonate with what seems fitting, even without sharing it with the practitioner. The power and effectiveness of the Setup statements often increase dramatically. Here are some examples: Even though I have been through more than anybody will ever understand, I choose to allow myself to heal in a way that works for me. Even though I am overwhelmed by all that I have been through, and the mere thought of it is scary, I choose to feel confident that I can take it one step at a time, in a way that works for me. If the veteran feels angry about the offer to help, which can be a side effect of PTSD, trust issues, or not completely establishing rapport, but wants to give it just one shot: Even though I resent the thought of even considering peace, healing or forgiveness, and only veterans can understand why I am saying this and you just don’t know what you are talking about, I allow myself to feel respected for all that I have been through, and I consider the possibility that I can find and accept healing in a way that works for me.
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Other positive endings Even though .... …I allow myself to consider the possibility that I can feel safe enough to relax about it. …I consider being as relaxed as I was when I was when I was 15. …I choose to find it surprisingly appropriate to find peace anyway. A longer, more carefully “testing the waters” version could be: …I allow myself to consider that there is a way that allows me to be at peace with this in a way that works for me and everybody else involved. And finally: …I choose to claim my power back in a way that feels safe and appropriate The importance of language When a veteran decides to trust enough to give EFT a chance, I am careful to let him or her set the tone and choose the words we use, so that we speak as much as possible in the person’s own language. Words have meaning and power, and being specific and on target can make all the difference in a successful session. Very often, this leads to using quite a bit of really strong language. While this is not everybody’s thing, we have to be authentic to be successful, and using strong language, calling it what it is, can be very powerful for the purpose of being specific. In the military, soldiers are exposed to very minimal language. They use a short and straightforward style that the soldiers adapt to. This no-frills use of language can make it hard to emotionally connect with things that happen. However, strong language can be an outlet that allows for otherwise suppressed feelings to be expressed. It is astounding to see in how many different ways the F-word can be used – as a verb, noun, adjective, adverb, and exclamation. For the purpose of being specific, it might be appropriate for the practitioner to chime right in. Of course, the authenticity of the practitioner remains essential above all. If someone has great resistance to using language this way, those words won’t come across as authentic. In that case, it’s probably better to do what works for the practitioner. For me personally, since I grew up in Germany, I don’t have any “writings on my wall” about American slang, as it was not part of my upbringing.
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Common issues and feelings and “the wall” In my experience, veterans often don’t like to talk and bring up memories that we could work on. They have a wall around themselves that keeps them safe and required some huge effort to build. As an EFT practitioner, I find it important to recognize and accept the wall for as long as the soldier needs it, as it gives a feeling of control and safety. At the same time, there are feelings and mindsets that many soldiers share. Those may include feelings of being overwhelmed, misunderstood, or cheated. Life isn’t fair. I am angry all the time. My life is like never waking up from a bad dream People see me as a monster. I feel like a failure. I’m not able to keep my family or others safe. I am not safe for others to be around. My marriage is in trouble. My buddy got killed and I couldn’t help him. My physical health is deteriorating. I have pain where there shouldn’t be pain. I am injured and they told me that I will never recover. I hate authority. I am always on guard and never feel safe. I don’t trust anyone. I suffer from insomnia. I have intrusive thoughts. And the list goes on. If it is safe and appropriate, it can be very healing to ask for a specific event that caused any of these feelings, beliefs or physical symptoms, and let the soldier choose which one he wants to tap on. Here are some examples: Betrayal Most of the veterans I have worked with felt betrayed in many ways. This can be a good starting point, as it can be linked to anger, resentment, frustration, and trust issues, and it might contain specific events that can be released with EFT. Before getting to specific events, or if a soldier doesn’t want to share what happened, I find the following Setups useful: Even though I am mad as hell that they betrayed me, I choose to feel surprisingly at peace with that. Even if they betrayed me and it’s not fair, I allow myself to live my life in a powerful and positive way, that truly works for me.
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Even though my body and mind are not the same any more, I feel very betrayed, I allow myself to claim my power back and heal in surprising ways. Even though you betrayed me and I am deeply hurt, I allow you and me to take the time we need to heal from what happened to us, in a way that truly works for us. Naturally, these short statements won’t change everything, but they can open doors that allow veterans to work through specific feelings and memories that need to be resolved. They are a start. It is also useful to add the specific feelings such as anger, resentment, etc, that the betrayal has caused. Guilt and the passage of time In war, it is often hard to find anything positive in all the horror that happened. Doing so would at the very least feel inappropriate, and unacceptable to the veteran as much as to the practitioner. There is nothing good about a dear person dying or almost getting killed while hanging from a parachute. At the same time, the vet has probably struggled with this for a long time and is looking at the practitioner with hope and despair. Tapping on negative or problem statements might not be enough, as it doesn’t give a perspective into the future. In this case, I find it helpful to bring up how much time has passed since the event occurred. Going back and forth between the traumatic past, the possible future outcome, and the reality that the person has been safe for many years, even though it might not have felt this way, can be an eye-opener that allows for the veteran to finally feel safe in the here and now. The Setup can include the time that has elapsed since the traumatic event, which might be 40 years ago, last year, last month, or even yesterday, but clearly not now. Depending on the client, I might prefer to start more generally by suggesting phrases like “what I experienced,” “what I did,” or “what I suffered,” as they carry meaning for the soldier without having to tune in and share specifics before the person is ready to do so. Then we turn to the realization that NOW, after all this time, the trauma still feels real, even though it is truly in the past. For example: Even though I have never felt safe since I returned from Vietnam, I choose to open up to the possibility that I have been safe for 40 years now, whether I felt it or not. Even though I keep reliving these events, I realize now that after all this time it is okay to heal from what happened long ago Even though this happened a long time ago, it feels like yesterday, and I am still dreaming about it as if it just happened, and my life was more
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difficult than what I ever thought I could survive, I allow myself to realize that I made it anyway. I must be a survivor/I must have it in me. Even though, 40 years ago, I went through more, saw more, and did more than anybody will ever understand, I choose to already allow myself to feel the peace that I will have once we are done tapping. Even though I have been hurt in the past, I allow myself to realize that what this happened a long time ago, and I can feel safe to consider releasing it and letting it go so that I won’t get hurt again even if I find peace with it after all this time. Guilt As I mentioned before, I find it important to be honest and not find excuses for the things that happened. In my experience, when a veteran has suffered for so long from guilt, shame and self blame, an excuse, no matter how well intentioned, will be hard to accept. It may even increase the person’s negative self-talk, that what happened was so bad that there is indeed no way to ever receive forgiveness unless we make something up. Instead, It can help to listen calmly and respectfully for the soldier’s version of the situation. Tapping on each component of it, using the Movie Technique and Tearless Trauma Technique, can release excess feelings about what happened. I often see that there was more to the story that what the soldier remembered or found important, and in those details we often find the true reason for what happened and why. War has rules and a life of its own. Once a soldier becomes a part of war, he may be exposed to situations that force him to make decisions that he later regrets. Here are some setups that might help bring relief: Even though war sucks, and so did my role in it, I can’t believe what it made me do, and I feel guilty and responsible for the things that happened, I choose to allow myself to find peace with that in an appropriate way that truly works for me, the victims, and everybody else involved. Even though it hurts to see what war has made of me and my dreams and values, and I feel ashamed about the whole thing, I choose to allow myself to find peace and forgiveness in surprising and appropriate ways. Even though I wish this had never happened, and I can’t forgive myself for what I have done, I choose to allow myself to heal from what war has
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made of me and find a better way to honor and support those who had to suffer through what happened. Even though I can’t imagine my life will ever be what it was before I left, I choose to open up to the possibility that there are ways to live a powerful, meaningful life in a way that truly works for me and those I care for. Finding meaning Many vets feel that they have a lesson to teach but suffer too much or don’t feel comfortable enough to share their story or even consider being heard. Opening up that possibility can help them find power in their past: Even though I believe that the guilt that I have felt for all these years will never be enough to make up for what happened or for what I did, I open up to the possibility that there might be a more powerful way of taking responsibility for what happened and transforming it into a powerful lesson of peace. Even though I am sorry for what I did, and I could never express it, I allow myself now to realize that my plea for forgiveness might be heard, even by myself. Then we do a round of tapping using Reminder Phrases like “I’m sorry for what happened” and, “I ask for forgiveness and I allow myself to receive it.” Grieving and survivors guilt Since veterans have often developed powerful bonds with their fellow soldiers, their brothers in war, if one of them dies, the grief and survivors guilt can be so overwhelming that they may never get over it. They often make an inner vow to honor their fallen brother’s or sister’s memory forever with their grief. The challenge for the practitioner is to help the soldier find a better way to handle the grief. EFT’s Tearless Trauma Technique, Movie Technique, and strategies for sneaking up on the problem are essential for this work. I’d like to suggest some Setups that can take this a bit further. Please be aware that mentioning the word “brother” or “grieving my brother” can bring up huge emotions that the soldier might not be prepared for. It can be either healing or re-traumatizing, and excellent rapport and trust are essential to start the healing process. I am very careful with the use of “brother” or “sister” when referring to fellow soldiers, unless the veteran brings it up himself or herself. Intuitive tapping can sometimes start a dialogue between the diseased person and the survivor that can be very healing. Here is a suggestion. It might help to read this out aloud.
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KC (Karate Chop) or SS (Sore Spot) – Even though, on a very deep level, I might have decided or [made a vow that I will can or should never let go of this grief and guilt, I choose to allow myself to heal in an appropriate way that truly honors what happened and what it meant to me and to everyone involved. Even though I can’t even imagine ever letting go of this grief, I choose to open up to the possibility that I can find new ways of honoring my brother and all that he and his death stood for, in a powerful and meaningful ways. Even though I suffer from all that happened, all that I did [didn’t] do back then, I allow myself, now, 40 years later, to find peace in a surprisingly appropriate way. TH (Top of Head) – I am still overwhelmed with grief over what happened. EB (Eye Brow) – Nobody will ever understand. SE (Side of Eye) – I will never get over this. UE (Under Eye) – My way of honoring him and all that he meant to me and others UN (Under Nose) – I am overwhelmed with grief. Ch (Chin) – My way of honoring him. CB (Collar Bone) – I will never forget. UA (Under Arm) – And I will never forgive myself or anyone else involved. TH – Even if it costs me! EB – I could allow myself to wonder why that would be a good thing. SE – I could wonder who would benefit from me feeling this way. UE – And I could wonder, if I was on the other side. UN – And I looked at my brother who made it home. Ch – If I wouldn’t like to call on him and say. CB – Hey, brother, it’s okay now. UA – I am all right now. TH – I am at peace here. EB – You being sad doesn’t serve me. SE – It hurts me to see you in such grief. UE – I wonder if I was on the other side. UN – If I wouldn’t like to say, Relax! Ch – You have your whole life to live and I’m glad for you. CB – Please let go of this need to grieve. UA – You did the best you could and it was not your fault.
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TH – Maybe you can now do something wonderful and powerful with your life or with our experience or all that we learned and know. EB – Maybe you can find meaning in helping those who feel like you. SE –You can give yourself permission to move on without grief. UE – I am not upset, and you are not letting me down. UN – I am glad and proud that you decided to claim your power back. Ch – And I know that If you were here and I was still living. CB – You would tell me just the same. UA – I love you brother, and I am proud and happy for you. Thank you for your loyalty. TH – But you are needed out there, and it is okay to find peace. EB – I choose to accept myself and all that I have learned. SE – I am grateful now that I can see a mission in life. UE – And I choose to do amazingly powerful things with it. UN – Thank you, [name of grieving soldier], for your willingness to sacrifice your life and happiness for the memory of your brother. Ch – I allow myself now to find an even more appropriate way to honor you. CB – In a way that allows me to find peace. UA – Peace to you, and peace to me. TH – Thank You! Childhood Veterans have childhood issues, just like everybody else. Addressing those with EFT can be a very important part of the healing, as they set the foundation for beliefs about self and the safety of their surroundings. So, even when a veteran has war-related trauma, I always ask if there were specific, traumatic events in childhood. The power that we set free by releasing those can often speed up the healing process. The outside world Returning home is often not as easy as expected. Friends and family have moved on with their lives, and after a long deployment, things have often changed in subtle ways that are very disturbing and difficult to understand. While overseas, certain things were accepted, and certain rules were enforced that don’t exist in the outside world. Many soldiers have great conflicts with this, and they pull back from their lives and families. They separate themselves, trusting and communicating only with other veterans, and they don’t talk about their experiences while deployed. Even though I am overwhelmed by how different things are from what I expected them to be, I choose to allow myself to find a way back into my life one step at a time, in a way that truly works for me.
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Even though I feel lonely and misunderstood by most people, I choose to allow myself the realization that the outside world is not as dangerous as the war zone was. Finding core issues After taking the time we need to gain rapport and trust, I ask, “If there was something you feel cannot be forgiven, could you come up with something?” This question might lead us to a fundamental core issue that the soldier might or might not be ready to release. I am always surprised at how precise and specific the answers can be. Being very comfortable using the gentle EFT techniques will make all the difference in how a soldier experiences the release of his or her past. It might take a bit of tapping to take the edge off first. If possible, I like to tap on the story in tiny increments. This allows me to keep my client safe, and the veteran has control over what we are working on, without fearing that we are addressing the “big one” before its time has come. Even though this might take a while, releasing a lifelong traumatic event in an hour or less is a wonderful healing experience. Calling the soul back At some point, it makes sense to address the separation of the soul. In my experience, soldiers have a very powerful, often unspoken way of relating to their souls. Some say that PTSD happens when the soul separates from the body. When I work with a soldier, I gently throw in a question like, “If there had been a time when you felt like something broke inside, as if your soul had disappeared, when would that be? Can you come up with something?” Depending on the person’s religious background and feelings about the word “soul,” I encourage him or her to substitute other words as needed so that the following Setups feel comfortable and authentic. Even though I remember how lost I felt when I was pushed beyond the breaking point over and over again, I allow myself to realize that this was a long time ago, and I can truly feel safe and protected now. After tapping on the above Setup, I ask whether this statement is true, and they usually confirm it. This is when I begin to introduce Setups like the following: Even though I felt like my soul had left me and my life was never going to be the same again, I allow myself now to consider the possibility that my soul might not have left but rather moved itself to a safe place where it has been waiting for me to get ready for its return. Even though after all that happened, I never felt safe enough to call my soul back, and I didn’t even know if I deserved it, I choose to consider the
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possibility that I have been safe for a long time and I might as well enjoy it in a way that works for me. The sequence of EFT points is then tapped on, using reminder phrases from the above Setups. The specific event or events that brought the soldier beyond the breaking point usually need to be cleaned out. I use the gentle techniques for that. Some of these events may have occurred in pre-military times or even in childhood. I simply honor everything that the soldier brings up and tap on it until the issue is resolved. Then we can call the soul back: KC (Karate Chop) or SS (Sore Spot) – Even though I never thought that my soul could come back to me, I choose to feel safe enough to consider that my soul has been waiting for me to call it back. Even though I felt so out of control when I realized that something was broken and it left me devastated, I allow myself to heal in surprising ways. Even though I didn’t believe that there was any way out of this trouble and pain, I choose to see that if there is a way in, there is a way out. TH (Top of Head) – I choose to realize that my soul might be in a safe place. EB (Eye Brow) – I allow myself to heal.. SE (Side of Eye) – I can call my soul back now UE (Under Eye) –As I am ready and prepared for its return. UN (Under Nose) – I am already enjoying the feeling of being connected and whole. Ch (Chin) – I am my soul, so there is nothing to disconnect. CB (Collar Bone) – I love how comfortable and safe that feels. UA (Under Arm) – I choose to do wonderful things with the lessons I have learned. TH – I choose to find meaning and purpose for myself and others. EB – That allows us to heal now. SE – I am asking my soul to come back to me. UE – I realize we were never separated. UN – Even though it felt that way. Ch – I am allowing myself to realize that I have been safe for a long time. CB – I am amazed at how obvious that has always been, UA – Even thought I didn’t see it. TH – I am calling my soul back to me with love and appreciation. EB – I am ready and I have deserved it for a long time. SE – I choose to find peace in surprising ways
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UE – In an appropriate way that truly works for me. UN – I allow myself to release my fear now. Ch – I am deeply grateful that I have the power to reconnect. CB – I already enjoy how the loneliness is leaving me. UA – I welcome my soul back with gratitude, and I thank you! Recent cases Since participating in Gary Craig’s veterans PTSD study in San Francisco in March 2008, I have been working with many veterans, mostly by phone, and documenting their progress with the same standardized tests used in the study. Here are some recent examples. Don is 61 and has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. We worked together for a total of six treatment hours. In our first session he said his thoughts were like bumper cars, bouncing all over, but the tapping helped him relax and release the tension in his mind. It also stopped the tremors and shaking that are a symptom of Parkinson’s Disease. In our second session he worked through the traumatic memory of having shot someone’s arm off two weeks before he returned home from Vietnam. The third session dealt with a very traumatic event – his best friend, who was walking in Don’s place, had been shot and Don couldn’t rescue him. Next, Don had a dream relating to the death of his father, who killed himself while driving drunk, so we worked through his childhood trauma. In our fifth tapping session, Don talked a lot about the improvements in his sleep and overall well-being, then we tapped for the stress and feelings of lack of control resulting from the construction of his new home and people not doing what they were supposed to do. No more war memories came up for him! Reviewing his progress two weeks later, Don said, "I still think about Vietnam but it doesn't seem to bother me.” In our last session, another war memory came up where he had to identify dead bodies days after they had been killed. After tapping on all the aspects of what he saw and realized, he stated that now the bad spirits are gone. He had felt as if these dead men had always been with him, and now he reported that a huge weight is lifted of him, and he can breathe and think clearly. His voice has a very different sound now. It is clearer, lighter, and faster. There is less roughness and he laughs more. It is truly nice to hear the hope and confidence in his voice. His sleep has improved from getting four or five hours per night in a ten-hour time period, interrupted by an average of two nightmares, to getting an average of seven or eight hours with no nightmares. Between the first session and his 60-day follow up, his SA-45 score dropped gradually from 122 to 77 and his PCL-M dropped from 65 to 34 and remained
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there for the following two months. He continues to tap on his Parkinson’s symptoms to keep the shaking under control. That same week I worked with Joanna, a non-combat veteran with severe PTSD who has been on disability since 1993. In addition to her PTSD, Joanna suffered from severe MST (Military Sexual Trauma) and childhood sexual trauma. When Joanna agreed to try EFT, she did so out of a sense of desperation. As she explained, “I had already tried group counseling; PTSD awareness training; Veterans Administration individual counseling for many years; Transcendental Meditation; metaphysical training (including candle magic, crystal and gemstone magic, and numerology); herbal remedies; Vial Handwriting by Vial Rogers; astrology; Native American healing beliefs; prescribed pharmaceuticals; Western medicine; chiropractic care; New Age healing techniques such as pendulum dousing and chakra cleansing; University of New Mexico PTSD Sleep Study and Nightmare Reduction; Veteran’s Administration Group therapy many times; nutritional education; self-help books; and most any suggestion by any health care worker. “I still couldn’t fall asleep. I couldn’t remain asleep without waking up repeatedly during the night. And I was plagued by repeated traumatic nightmares every night. Sleep was my enemy and I fought it every night, waking up exhausted and tired. I obsessed about sleep because I was always in sleep deficit. I would get very distressed if I stayed up late, yet couldn’t seem to go to bed until late because I dreaded the nightmares. I wouldn’t take naps during the day because it would make getting to sleep more difficult at night. The things that I tried helped very little. “I gave EFT a chance and I was thrilled with the results. Within two sessions, I felt myself release all the associated trauma, emotions, and obsessions that interfered with my sleep. Sleep became an easy and gentle activity free from worry and fretting. No longer am I afraid of going to sleep or of even how much sleep I receive. Today I let my body tell me when to sleep instead of rigorously following a clock. Sleep today is a joy that refreshes my body and rejuvenates my soul. I wake up earlier than I used to and I need less sleep than before. Sometimes the associated old beliefs about sleep come up but now I utilize EFT to release them. Quick. Easy. Gentle. No more nightmares. No more fighting sleep.” This next veteran, Jack, is a 43-year-old who served in Iraq and is also a fire fighter and ambulance driver. He frequently witnesses horrific events. Jack’s sessions were different because we worked in person instead of exclusively over the phone. Also, he very much wanted his wife to participate in some of the sessions. First we did three hours of couples counseling, then Jack and I did a 2½ -hour single session and a 40-minute phone session. The last session was again with both of them in person.
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On May 28, before the first EFT session, Jack’s SA-45 score was 138 points and his PCL-M score was 72. Twelve days after his introduction to EFT, his SA-45 score was 77 and his PCL-M score was 44. These are impressive results by any criteria. Today, 75 days after Jack’s first EFT session, his SA-45 score is 90 and his PCL-M score is 38. Jack’s wife experienced similar improvements in her SA45 scores, which went from 121 points to 84 after the first couples session. Now, 75 days later, it is still at that level. Michael is a Vietnam vet who was diagnosed with PTSD. In addition, he suffered from shaking hands, depression, lots of stress at home, and many issues stemming from childhood as well as being deployed in Vietnam and Iraq multiple times. In six sessions, approximately nine hours total, I helped him release some of his traumatic memories with EFT. Michael’s SA-45 score fell from 133 points to 104, and his PCL-M score fell from 59 points to 39. He has spread the word and is getting his support group and counselor involved with EFT. We might have a ways to go before EFT is officially adopted by the military or by the medical profession, but that’s a start! ~~~~
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Chapter Eleven:
PTSD Complications There are many theories about the causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its complications. For example, if terrible things happen in childhood, these events are said to produce dissociation and brain changes that make the adult personality more likely to suffer from acute PTSD and require special treatment. I don’t doubt that childhood traumas contribute to PTSD, but this theory is simply a way to explain a condition that I explain differently. When we deal with combat veterans and others who have gone through significant traumas, I believe we are dealing with two basic levels of experience. First, there is the level that involves what happened during the war, and this level includes the traumatic events themselves plus all the intrusive memories, nightmares, things they can’t let go of, and other symptoms that occur thereafter. The same is true for traumatic events that disrupt civilian life. The second level is one in which newer memories build upon older memories, including those from childhood. I describe the older memories as foundational because they create a supporting structure on which newer memories are layered. To give you an example, in my work with serious diseases, I dealt with a veteran named John. When I first talked with John on the phone, he could not say my name. This is because a soldier named Gary was killed after John sent him with radio equipment to the front lines in battle. John felt so massively guilty about this that he couldn’t talk about it, couldn’t think about it, and couldn’t mention the fellow’s name, even when it belonged to someone entirely different, like myself. We could deal with this memory quite logically by discussing how he had to send someone to deliver the equipment because if he didn’t, the whole battalion could go down. And we could have tapped on different aspects of this situation, such as Gary being his friend, the shock he felt when Gary died, and so forth. But what we found once we got into the session was that when John was growing up, his father embedded in him this immense feeling of being responsible for everything. So, years later, he sent someone to his death, and he felt responsible. It was his feeling of responsibility that was the real issue. Where did that feeling come from? It came from his father’s repeated statements, reminders, and lectures. This is what I call “the 202
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writings on your walls” (see page 135 rather than dissociation, a disturbance of mental function, temporal lobe damage, or anything else. When you get back to what happened in the past that created the writings on your walls, you begin unraveling the situation at its most basic level. Yes, you have to clear the trauma from the war incident, but you’re going to do a more thorough job, assuming you are an accomplished EFTer who is skilled in asking the right questions, by going back to the underlying issues, the original or core issues, that created the problem in the first place. I agree with those who consider PTSD to be a complex condition, because in many cases it is. But what I find interesting is that we have so many one-minute wonders and one-session wonders when using EFT for war trauma, even among combat veterans who have multiple problems and multiple traumas, not to mention years of psychotherapy and other conventional treatments. These are people whose entire traumatic memory and all of its aspects and results disappear in a few minutes, never to return. You’ll see examples of this in our “Six Days at the V.A.” DVD, and I saw many more in San Francisco at our PTSD study. Combat veterans often have multiple issues, so as soon as the person feels comfortable describing the past, I take it one specific event at a time. That remains my favorite way of tackling any condition, not just PTSD. At the same time, I have to pay close attention to the person’s comfort level. EFT is not a treatment that requires anyone to suffer, to climb back into an unhappy past event and relive it. You don’t have to do that. This is why we often spend time skirting around or “sneaking up on” big issues, and we get close to them only when the person feels comfortable. The Tearless Trauma Technique is described on page 115, and it’s the procedure I recommend for all trauma cases. In my approach to PTSD, you start with the general and, as soon as the person feels comfortable, you move to the specific. As soon as the person feels uncomfortable telling the story or even thinking about a specific thing that happened, you step back from the event and tap until the feeling of emotional intensity falls to a zero. Only then do you continue with the story or approach it in the first place. In our San Francisco group, I worked with Bob, who had one horrific memory which he described as “behind a wall,” and he said that no one was ever going to see it. I started by spending five to eight minutes treating this memory globally, that is, in a very general and non-specific way, just to take the edges off, with statements like: Even though I’ve had all these experiences, I fully and completely accept myself. That’s all it took for Bob to decide to tell his story. I was startled because I had planned to spend the better part of an hour sneaking up on the issue. I said, “Wait a minute, you’re telling the story already,” to which he replied, “Yes, I am, and don’t stop me.”
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So I sat back and listened as he talked. When he finished, he was ashen-faced and felt nauseated, and he had to leave for a few minutes. When he came back he still looked pale and queasy. We then did 10 to 15 minutes of EFT tapping using the descriptions he had just given me, creating Setups like Even though I kept pulling body parts out of the rubble, like two feet that had been blown off... We kept tapping on it and tapping on it until he was able to tell the story with no emotional intensity whatsoever. The next day I tapped with him while we tested the different aspects of the story and collapsed the whole thing. By collapse, I mean that we completely neutralized every aspect of the entire episode so that there wasn’t a single thought, memory, reminder, or part of the event that triggered any emotional intensity, even when Bob concentrated hard on the worst images. To my knowledge, Bob did not have any foundational events, such as things that happened in childhood, that contributed to his battle-related PTSD. If he had, I could have taken any one specific event or scene and tapped on it while keeping his attention on it until it was neutralized. The secret here is tapping on one event at a time, without shifting to other scenes or events, until the emotional charge is gone. In our San Francisco study, quite a few of the participants had foundational issues, problems that were built on problems going back years or decades, and these problems manifested in different ways, including alcohol abuse and difficult living conditions. It wasn’t possible in those five days to take care of everything for everyone, but the progress we made was startling. I don’t have statistical studies to back this up, but it’s been my observation that with 80 to 90 percent of these traumatic memories – and I don’t care how horrible they are – if you just keep tapping and focusing on one specific event and all its pieces and stay on that event, you will likely collapse it, even by yourself. If someone is not able to focus on an event that occurred in adulthood, the chances are that it’s bouncing off of a childhood issue. Someone working by himself or herself might not be able to discern that, which is why EFT works best for PTSD if you are working with an experienced practitioner who can help you stay on topic. But even if you don’t have access to an experienced EFT practitioner, I’m convinced that EFT can help you if you use common sense, start with general statements that set the stage and help you relax, then tap on the smallest and least scary memory or event that bothers you in any way, really focus on that one event, and keep tapping. I call this the “divide and conquer” approach. Our subconscious minds lump all kinds of memories together. What we want to do is separate these memories into specific events, preferably small or inconsequential ones first, so that we get used to collapsing
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our emotional connection to past events. This not only helps us anticipate the positive changes that tapping will bring to other issues but it actually strengthens us by balancing our energy and keeping it balanced. Remember that every negative emotion and most of our physical symptoms stem from an imbalance in the body’s energy system. When our energy is out of balance, we are far more likely to expect the worst, but when our energy is balanced, we are far more likely to expect the best and act accordingly. By starting with smaller, less important traumas, we set the stage for success with larger, more important issues. However, I recommend that you consult a professional if matters become intense. EFT is a remarkable do-it-yourself tool, but it must be used with common sense.
Abreactions and dissociation In World War I and other wars of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the terms “shell shock” and “combat fatigue” described soldiers whose lives were permanently altered by traumatic memories. The same terms were applied to Prisoners of War and survivors of natural disasters and other traumas. Sigmund Freud created the term “abreaction” to describe the way severely traumatized people relive their most frightening experiences. By World War II, psychologists were experimenting with therapies that encouraged combat veterans and others to relive past events in a safe and controlled environment. Abreactions – or the reliving of those past events – became an important part of the treatment. In fact, in some cases, reliving the past in intense detail was the only treatment. Even today, several therapeutic approaches to PTSD consider abreactions a critical element in the healing process. But abreactions are painful. They generate flashbacks that are psychologically difficult and physically painful. In some clinics, patients were tied down or physically restrained prior to treatment so that they wouldn’t injure themselves or staff members when they re-experienced the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations that haunted them. Abreactions are not the goal of EFT. If they do occur, EFT is a fist-aid treatment that often brings the person back to the present moment as quickly and comfortably as possible. I often teach EFT workshops for hundreds of people at a time, and at those events members of the audience tap along with me and whoever is on stage with me for whatever issues or problems that person is dealing with. From time to time, while they are tapping for the on-stage person’s physical symptoms or psychological trauma, members of the audience experience their own overwhelming emotions. They may freeze, become agitated, begin to cry, or in other ways display emotional distress. Please note that tapping does not appear to cause this. Rather, the audience members
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bring these issues with them and they appear to “show up” as natural memories during the therapeutic process. We always have skilled EFT practitioners standing by, keeping an eye on things. As soon as someone needs help, it’s there. Our support staff takes the affected person to a quiet location and taps with them until they recover from whatever memories sent them over the edge. Whenever someone is experiencing emotional trauma, the best treatment, I’m convinced, is EFT tapping in an emergency. Calming Reminder Phrases delivered in a soothing, supporting tone of voice help bring the person back to the present moment while reducing stress and anxiety. EFT practitioner Rue Haas writes: I teach people strategies for calming themselves when they are in the grip of a strong reaction or memory. One of the best strategies is to tap rapidly up and down the EFT points, constantly, talking nonstop to yourself about what happened and how you are feeling, not bothering for the moment with the standard Setup or Reminder phrases. I have used this strategy myself many times when I am feeling overwhelmed in some way. I saw Gary Craig use this technique in a workshop of 400 people. In the midst of his session with a volunteer on stage who was tapping about abuse issues in her past, a woman in the audience fell into a strong abreaction. Gary left the stage, came all the way back to where the woman was sitting, and gently, confidently, reassuringly tapped on her face and upper body up and down, up and down, talking with her in a calming voice, until the woman had returned enough to the present moment that an emotional assistant could go out of the room with her and help her to deal with what had come up. One of the complications that can accompany PTSD is what psychologists call “dissociation.” Dissociation is usually defined as a state of acute mental decompensation in which thoughts, emotions, sensations, and memories are compartmentalized so that there is a lack of connection between things that are usually associated with each other. This produces gaps or discontinuities in conscious awareness. Certain past events and the person’s emotional response to those events are simply not integrated into the person’s awareness. The symptoms of dissociation include depersonalization, in which the person feels detached from or “not in” his or her body; derealization, in which the world does not seem real but rather phony, far away, or as though it’s a movie; dissociative amnesia, in which the person cannot recall important personal information; and identity confusion or identity alteration, in which the person shifts into an alternative personality. Someone experiencing dissociation can know that he or she went through a terrible ordeal but act as though it was nothing special or unusual, suppressing all of the emotions that would normally accompany the experience.
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Just as with PTSD, there are many theories about dissociation, its causes, and how best to treat it. Unlike those in the mental health field, I’m not concerned with labels and diagnoses. When people present the symptoms associated with a psychological condition, I use the same EFT procedures that I do for any other physical or psychological condition. In other words, there is no such thing as one EFT protocol for dissociation and a separate EFT protocol for abreactions or for any other symptom, aspect, or part of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Here is how Jerem Egan dealt with the emotional disconnectedness that dissociation produced in one of his clients.
EFT for severe dissociative disorder by Jerem Egan I had a phone call requesting an EFT session for someone who said she had a severe dissociative disorder. As I had not dealt with any severe cases involving that issue, I asked my wife Nell, who is both an EFT practitioner and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 28 years experience, for help. She was quite familiar with the condition. When Jane arrived for her session, she told us about her very painful, violent family of origin history and how she has been plagued with intense flashbacks for several years. When they occurred, she would leave the present moment, space out, not respond to things going on around her, and assume a younger identity. These episodes forced her to leave her job as a nurse. Jane was been unable to work because the debilitating flashbacks would come on a regular basis. She had tried various treatments including talk therapy with no success. Nell began the session by giving Jane information on how to keep herself grounded when these fugues occurred, by reminding herself to focus on the present moment and that she is here now and that she is okay. We then began tapping. Jane was slow to enter the tapping process and get specific about memories because it felt difficult to deal with such painful material. Our first Setup phrase was: Even though I'm really afraid that Mommy is going to hit me because I did something bad when I was two years old, I deeply and completely accept myself..." Within 20 or 30 seconds, Jane regressed into being a two-year-old terrified of receiving a violent beating from her mom, which was a regular occurrence. With Jane’s permission, I tapped directly on her. She had invited a close male friend to support her in the process. He sat in front of Jane and maintained soft 207
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eye contact while holding her hand. As I tapped on Jane and addressed the various aspects, including different incidents and emotions which were unfolding, Nell was coaching her to help her stay in the present moment and separate herself from the incidents she was recalling (the Watch a Movie technique) while we tapped to neutralize the intensity those past events generated. When her intensity level rose, Jane’s eyes would glaze over and she would cower or shake. When we prompted her with Setup phrases like "I love myself," she would say things like, "Mommy will beat me if I love myself.” At one point, she went into a terrified state saying ,"Oh boy...oh boy, I'm gonna get it now," while protecting her head. From that point on, Jane was in and out of the flashbacks and the entire hour was a continuous stream of nonstop tapping in which Nell and I fed Jane phrases. Whenever Jane would respond to one of the tapping sequences in some way, we would integrate the material into the next portion of the flow. Nell was an incredible anchor, always gently pulling Jane back into the present and telling her how well she was doing with the tapping and staying with it. It was somewhat of an altered state for all four of us – we tapped continuously for about an hour. When it was time to finish, a profound sense peace permeated the room. I felt a deep gratitude for EFT, this amazing tool, which was addressing an agonizing situation which has been in place for years and which nothing else had been able to touch. In a follow up call a couple of days ago, Jane reported that she was tapping every morning on other emotions that were coming up, such as intense anger, and having excellent results bringing the intensity levels way down. She was also studying the EFT videos and enjoying Borrowing Benefits, and she plans to do more EFT work with her friend. Nell said that Jane was the most intense case of dissociative disorder she had ever encountered. From the experience of being in that vessel, we both are feeling pulled to working with trauma as our primary focus. We spoke with Jane again one week after the session, and she said that "little Janie" had only been there once the entire week and that she was feeling happy! ~~~ I would like to emphasize that I do not encourage EFT students to set themselves up as PTSD experts. “Don’t go where you don’t belong” is one of my mottos. EFT practitioners and coaches should comply with state and local regulations and conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times. That said, I do believe that EFT is the perfect treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in all of its guises and that anyone who masters the basics of EFT and then
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goes on to master its more advanced techniques should be able to help just about anyone recover from PTSD. To further address the risk of abreactions, here is a letter I wrote to Joaquin Andrade, MD, from Uruguay, in reply to his experience with this adverse side effect. Dear Joaquin, Upon reading of the abreactions that you and others reported after using tapping techniques, I became concerned. This was especially so because, after doing this for 11 years and applying it a few thousand times myself, I have never seen an abreaction. "Was I that out to lunch on this issue?" I wondered. So I called several EFT practitioners, both licensed and unlicensed, to explore their experiences in this regard. Altogether, these practitioners have used tapping procedures on over 5,000 people and have taught EFT to over 500 other practitioners, both licensed and unlicensed. NONE of them has ever experienced an abreaction and NONE of them has ever had a trainee call them with a reported abreaction. [Note: I defined abreaction in these explorations to EXCLUDE tears of other forms of distress that normally occur in a healing session (and that subside with further tapping or the mere passage of time). I INCLUDED in the definition such things as uncontrollable panic attacks, incoherency, inability to perform their occupation for a few days, or hospitalization.] In addition, I noted that Dr. John Diepold and Dr. Phil Friedman reported to you that they have been applying tapping procedures consistently over a combined 14 years and, between them, they reported only one abreaction. If you will permit my engineer's left brain to speak for a moment, this paucity of abreactions easily qualifies as a statistical non-event. It would be an unrealistic stretch to conclude that tapping causes abreactions when only one such abreaction is reported out of thousands upon thousands of applications spanning a period of over 10 years. Rather, this informal finding clearly falls into the "random event" category. This is not to negate your experience. On the contrary, if someone of your stature and dedication finds abreactions and other "horror stories" (your term) while using tapping procedures, I think we are obligated to investigate why. I consider myself qualified to assess the statistical lack of proof mentioned above but do not consider myself an authority on the "whys and wherefores" of abreactions. This is because (1) I have no formal training in this field, (2) I possess no conventional credentials or licensing, and (3) I have never even seen an abreaction. That being said, I would like to offer some thoughts along these lines for you and other learned readers to consider. The most obvious thought is that the population you deal with appears to contain an above average concentration of
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severely emotionally disadvantaged people. We are talking about Dissociative Identity Disorder, BiPolar disorders, Schizophrenia, and the like. These patients, in my understanding, abreact with great frequency and, at least in the United States, can often be found in psychiatric hospitals BECAUSE they abreact so often and so intensely. In many cases, members of this client population abreact while seeing something disagreeable in a movie or on TV. At other times they have "out of the blue" intrusive thoughts or flashbacks with no obvious trigger. Basically, they can, and do, abreact whether or not they are undergoing a tapping session. Now, I don't walk in your shoes and have never been in a psychiatric hospital in my life (except for the V.A. hospital in Los Angeles, where we videotaped our “Six Days at the V.A.” DVD). Nor am I face to face with your patients when all this is happening. Thus any thoughts I may have on this matter must be speculative. However, it appears logical to me that many members of your client population would abreact under almost ANY form of therapeutic intervention. After all, these interventions, by their very nature, serve to tune the patient in to their troublesome issues. Further, you have administered tapping procedures to nearly 30,000 patients and, if I understand correctly, approximately 30 have exhibited these intense abreactions. Percentage-wise, that is only 1/10 of 1 percent out of a population that is much more prone to abreactions than the clients of most practitioners who are troubled by "garden variety" traumas, fears, etc. Even if you have witnessed 10 times as many abreactions, that is still a mere 1 percent out of a population that commonly abreacts. Unless there is something I'm not seeing, which is very possible, this is still statistically insignificant for this population. The above are speculations of mine and I offer them as food for dialogue. Some questions that might arise here are... 1. Could this low percentage of abreactions be caused by something other than tapping (for example, a random flashback that happens to occur while tapping, a reaction to a practitioner, a smell in the room, a phrase that triggers a memory, and so on)? 2. What percentage of abreactions do you observe with other therapeutic interventions and how does that compare with the percentage that occurs during a tapping session? Could it be that other interventions trigger as many, or even more, abreactions? 3. If these abreactions occur while tapping (and thus tapping appears as the "obvious trigger"), why doesn't 75 percent or more of this abreaction-prone population exhibit these intense behaviors? Why is it such a tiny percentage? What else may be happening? If, indeed, tapping causes abreactions, shouldn't
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abreactions show up most of the time while tapping an abreaction prone population? I continue to look for connections between EFT tapping and abreactions and continue to find so few cases that I consider EFT to be one of the safest techniques to apply in any clinical setting to patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. ~~~~
In the following report, Lori Lorenz, who worked with combat veterans at our EFT study in San Francisco last March, gives us the details of an intense case of trauma where "only the pros should tread" (my term). Experienced healing practitioners have all had cases where clients protect themselves by repressing or "not remembering" childhood events that involve torture, maiming, murder, sexual abuse, and other unspeakable atrocities. Sometimes these clients appear to lead a normal life until, eventually, these memories show up and cause severe disorientation. Lori's sessions with Trish should be very helpful – especially for the pros who deal with this category of clients. Please note her use of the Tearless Trauma Technique. Also note that a difficult case like this, with many complicating aspects, does not lend itself to being a "one-minute wonder.” There is much to unravel here that multiple sessions are typically necessary, sometimes spanning months. Lori refers in passing to a “forest” of problems. This is a reference to one of my favorite analogies, in which I describe how with EFT, you can cut down a few trees in a forest of traumatic memories, and long before you address them all individually, the whole forest collapses. For privacy reasons, the actual atrocities are not described and, as with most of the reports in this book, the client’s name has been changed.
Where only the pros should tread by Lori Lorenz Trish was referred to me by a caring family member because, despite her outwardly beautiful, active, loving family life, she seemed to be falling apart. Within the past few weeks, terrifying dreams and intrusive waking images from her childhood began appearing out of "nowhere.” Even though she knew her childhood was not pleasant and that her family was pretty dysfunctional, these "memories" were outside the realm of anything she thought could actually occur in ANY family, least of all hers. She was terrified of both the "memories" (if they were true) and the possibility that she was "going insane" (if they weren't). 211
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When Trish entered my office, she was barely holding herself together. Within minutes she was relating the extreme content of these new "memories" and entering into gripping states of flashback and immobilizing terror, eyes glazed and unfocused, body shaking. Even with an established relationship and familiarity with the client’s history, most practitioners find such a situation to be pretty unnerving. In the "old days," there was little one could do during this ordeal but provide comfort, keep the person oriented, and introduce some countering thoughts. However, with our EFT tools, we have much more with which to help. Using a strong voice, I kept reminding Trish where she was and asking her to keep looking into my eyes to help her orient herself. It seemed that a strong and directive voice was needed to help her focus as she moved in and out of being present. I briefly explained EFT as this "weird stuff" of tapping on the meridians to process the emotions and, despite her strong skepticism, she was willing to try, even though she was quite sure nothing could help her. I often use the TAB (Touch and Breathe) method for EFT, which can be very soothing and introspective. Instead of tapping, you simply hold each acupoint while breathing in and breathing out. But in this case, strong tapping seemed the best way to get her body sensations going in order to counter the body memories and the feeling of being disconnected from her body that seemed to be overwhelming her. So we started tapping on "this emotion," "this terror," and "this overwhelm.” At times I had to tap and speak for her when she was immobilized, which I did with her permission. After several rounds of EFT tapping, she was able to achieve some orientation and a sense of calm. I'll never forget the look of disbelief on her face when she sat back, looked at me with clearly present eyes, and said she couldn't believe it but, whatever this stuff was, it was working. As Trish calmed somewhat, she expressed her greater fear that she was going crazy, that these memories couldn't be true, and that people just didn't do these things to children. I let her know that unfortunately people do, but we didn't have to decide anything about the truth of her images at that point, we just wanted her out of this terror and sense of feeling overwhelmed. So we started Gary's Tearless Trauma Technique by simply referring to "these memories,” "these images,” "this terror,” and "this confusion” while I frequently reminded her not to go into the memories in detail. She was to intentionally distance herself from them, without dissociating, and just guess at what she might feel if she were to touch into them. I kept reminding her that our intent was not to go into the experience yet, and this helped her discover that she had some control over the intrusiveness of the thoughts as well as the feeling of being overwhelmed.
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Once Trish had a sense that she could use EFT to counter the intensity of the memories, she began to describe them. We worked carefully with the details and tapped often whenever the intensity rose. There was little hope of coming down to a zero on any of these far-reaching, many-aspected events, and there was little time to keep track of these zero-to-10 measurements anyway. Nonetheless, we did some general monitoring of the intensity and her sense of whether or not she could handle it. For Trish, at least at that moment, having a place to describe these horrific events seemed more important for her sense of sanity than trying to neutralize a "forest" of unknown extent in a single two-hour session. By the end of our first session, Trish was absolutely convinced of the efficacy of EFT. She was determined to use it as much as was needed to take back her ability to live her own life while working through whatever was needed to discover the truth and heal it. By our meeting the next day she had used the EFT extensively for the memories and nightmares with impressive relief. In the past eight months, Trish has discovered the truth of these memories, received several validations from external sources, and has courageously faced layer after layer of experience which would not be believed by most people – even in a horror film or documentary. Her experience of calculated abuse over more than a decade ranks among the most intense I've encountered or read about. And that's saying a lot because my work has included the type of intense trauma that has resulted in Multiple Personality Disorder and severely repressed memories. Through this healing, in which her primary tool has been EFT, Trish has grown and deepened in her capacity to love, experience joy, and connect with her husband and children in ways that amaze her and bring tears to her eyes. The fact that she has reached this point in only eight months is almost unheard of, even for less extensive mind-controlling abuse than she suffered. At one point in our work, Trish considered having a local therapist work with her in person. I travel to her city only every four to six weeks, and we work by phone between trips. Trish interviewed five or six professionals who specialize in abuse, each of whom either gave a dismal prognosis and predicted years of painful, traumatizing work to get through the experiences she outlined or simply declined to work with her. Wisely, Trish opted to stay with EFT. She occasionally schedules a session or two when some new aspect or layer of experience surfaces. The rest she handles with EFT using her (by now) excellent skills, and those issues are getting easier to clear, with faster results. ~~~~
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In the following report, Jayne Morgan-Kidd gives us the history of her traumatized client and then describes the client's extreme reaction at the beginning of her EFT session. People sometimes enter into such sessions with intense buried memories. Thus it should be no surprise that this intensity shows up during the session. It is vitally important to recognize this and I make a comment about it within the article. Note how Jayne "stayed with it" and brought peace to the process.
An extreme trauma with a severe abreaction and what to do about it by Jayne Morgan-Kidd Jenny grew up in a violent home in which her father physically abused her mother. When Jenny was a young child, her mother tried to leave her father. During her attempt to leave, Jenny’s father killed her mother, and Jenny witnessed this event. Jenny told me she knew that this happened but had no memories about it. She talked about the murder of her mother in a matter-of-fact manner. No one in her family ever talked about her mother or her father or the death. Jenny’s grandmother just “became Mommy after it happened” and that was that. All of this was told to me with absolutely no emotion. Jenny married and had children with a man who was physically and psychologically abusive in order to control her behaviors, beliefs, freedom, independence, and self-esteem. When she decided to divorce him, she developed fears about leaving and being killed by her husband as her mother had been. As the divorce date approached, she became more and more emotionally unstable and was eventually hospitalized. She was treated and released but her husband gained custody of the children and was making it impossible for her to spend time with them unless he was present as well. He was using the children as a means of persuading her to return to the relationship against her will. She continued to be afraid of him but would play by his rules so she could see her children. I taught Jenny how to do EFT and we tapped on some simple body discomforts and some general feelings of anxiety. She was impressed with this simple technique. A few weeks later, we decided to begin work on the trauma. I told her that we would be using the Tearless Trauma Technique to minimize emotional pain, and I described how it works. I told her we would approach the event in a general way to take the edge off the intensity and move toward it slowly and carefully. I told her everything except what was actually going to happen… I asked her if she had any nervousness or other concerns about the topic we were going to address. I asked for any physical or emotional symptoms that were present at this time but she had none. I thought it would be good to begin with a general statement so I said something like 214
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Even though life has been hard for me ever since I was little… and we didn’t even get off the Karate Chop Point. She started to cry and covered her face with her hands. I told her I was going to tap for her. I began to tap on her head, as it was one of the few points that I could reach. When I tap for clients, I often hold one of their hands with one of mine as I tap on them with the other. I took her hand and was continuing to tap on the points I could get to, including some of the finger points. Then I began to feel her hand getting heavier and heavier in mine. Her whole body was coming forward as she continued crying. She started saying things like, “I remember it, I can see it, I see what he’s doing ….” By this time she was on her knees on the floor and I was beside her, tapping her head and along her spinal column, saying things like ‘I’m safe now, it’s not happening now, this was a long time ago, nothing is happening now…” I could hear her making hard swallowing sounds, as though she might vomit. I continued tapping and saying any calming phrase that came to me, and after what seemed much longer than the five minutes it probably was, the abreaction subsided. There were no more tears or crying and she looked calm. She told me her throat was sore. She said she felt she had purged a lot and having a sore throat seemed reasonable to her. I told her we could tap on that sensation but she did not want to tap on it. It was almost as if she was proud that she had been through this “purging.” We ended the session by doing some tapping with some affirmations on self-acceptance and love. I called the next day to see how she was doing. She told me her sore throat was gone when she woke up and that she continued to feel calm and relaxed. More sessions were required to resolve all the aspects of this trauma. But we had a start, albeit a bumpy one! Did that first round of tapping bring on the abreaction? I would say yes it did. I don’t think that if I had simply suggested that “life has always been pretty hard for her” that she would have had the same reaction. [My comment: It's important to recognize that EFT doesn't cause the memories that are behind this sort of abreaction. Why? Because the memories are already there. It is difficult to say whether they are brought out because the client is in a therapeutic environment or because EFT "loosened things up." Either way, I find it useful to have these real issues on the table so they can be dealt with. Otherwise, they stay hidden and seethe under the surface.] I’ve learned something else from this experience that I’d like to share with others who do this kind of work. In the future, when I have a client with such an extremely traumatic history, I will include one other set of phrasing even if they
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say they have no physical sensations or emotions present as we begin. I will tap for them anyway. I think I would use some phrases like: Even though I’m not feeling anything right now about this experience that I had when I was little… Even though I might have all kinds of feelings about this experience that I may have hidden from myself… And I would probably do several minutes of this approach before going on to anything closer to the event itself. This experience also reminds me that it’s important to let the client know that extreme reactions are possible with EFT even when we are using techniques to minimize pain. And it’s also important that you feel confident that you can stay with someone throughout an extreme reaction until it clears. ~~~~
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Chapter Twelve:
EFT for PTSD’s Many Causes Far from the battlefield, anyone can experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Although it often follows accidents, illness, physical assaults, and other traumatic events, PTSD’s underlying causes can include verbal abuse, acute disappointments, embarrassment, heartache, and even causes that are never discovered. The same Setup phrases and strategies that work well for military PTSD can be adapted for any kind of trauma, stress, or anxiety. EFT works for people of all ages, including children.
Dealing with anger When it comes to recovering from just about any setback that life has to offer, the emotion that can interfere the most and cause the most damage is anger. Yet even when we understand that, it can be difficult to forgive, forget, and let go. As Dr. Nagy observed, anger is one of our hard-wired emotions. It’s easy to get upset, direct anger toward a particular person or institution, or even toward God or Mother Nature, and then stay mad. It’s also easy to justify our anger. We may see how destructive anger is when we see it in other people, but our own anger is different. We may even go out of our way to feed anger and keep it alive, believing that to let our guard down and let go of anger or unforgiveness puts us in a vulnerable position, lets the enemy win, or means that we approve of or condone what happened. In my experience, letting go of anger always pays more dividends than holding onto it. In fact, I consider anger a major impediment to physical and emotional healing. At the same time, I appreciate how tenacious this emotion can be. Intellectually deciding to release anger and actually doing so are two different things. Yet, in many cases, anger that has lasted for years, even dozens of years, has evaporated in just a few minutes with the help of EFT. The key is correcting the energy disruption that prevents the person from seeing the situation any differently from the way he or she has been seeing it all along. EFT tapping removes the energy blocks that contribute to anger, and as soon as that happens, the person’s perspective changes and old grudges don’t seem important any more. Total forgiveness can seem like an impossible homework assignment. Fortunately, the simple strategy of giving up a little anger can go a long way toward releasing the rest.
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Some ways to do this are to project your release of anger far into the future or to make the whole project indefinite. ...I choose to know that I can some day release this anger... ...I might someday, perhaps, forgive him a little.... This all sounds very vague, but it replaces a flat “it’s never going to happen” with the possibility of a future transformation. Steve Wells demonstrates how easily intense anger can be defused. While the setting here is in the corporate workplace, the same result can be applied in marriages and other interpersonal relationships. The bottom line is that EFT can be used effectively to generate personal peace where none existed before. Isn't that our ultimate goal?
Employee overcomes anger at supervisor by Steve Wells In applying EFT in the corporate field, I am continually impressed at how easily conflict can be resolved, harmony can be restored, and productivity can be improved in the workplace using these techniques. The case below is just one example of many. In one group I worked with, I asked the employees to list situations at work that provoked them emotionally. One worker described a recent misunderstanding between himself and his supervisor. As he spoke, his face became red and he described how he wanted to “kill the guy.” He planned to confront the supervisor, who had changed his roster without consultation, and it was clear that this confrontation would become physical. Rather than having this man tap on his anger – which was substantial – I made a distinction with him that I credit to Dr Larry Nims. That is that anger typically covers an underlying fear, sadness, or hurt. When I discussed this with the man, he acknowledged that he was feeling hurt and upset by the supervisor’s actions and agreed to try tapping on “this supervisor hurt.” After just one round his face became softer and he said “Well I don’t feel so much like I have to sort him out now.” After just one more round he was able to see the event in perspective and “from the other side.” He then said that he realized the supervisor probably hadn’t meant any malice towards him and probably didn’t even realize he was upset by the decision that had been made. Several weeks later in another program, this employee was able to relate that he had spoken to the supervisor and explained his position “without getting angry at all – I was able to calmly state my case.” The supervisor had listened, taken his ideas on board, made the changes, and they were now enjoying an excellent working relationship. I wondered aloud what would have happened if we hadn’t used EFT and he assured me the results “would not have been pretty.” He was
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still incredulous that EFT had so effectively dealt with his anger and hurt, as he recalled how intense he had been at the time. How many situations like this are happening every day that could be resolved if every worker were empowered to use EFT? What could this do for the morale and productivity of the average workplace? I believe there are significant advantages available for those businesses that are early adopters of new change technologies such as EFT, which are even more significant than the mechanistic advances being touted as the future for business. As John Naisbett recognized two decades ago in his book Megatrends, advances in technology (high tech) bring a corresponding need for the human connection (high touch). These needs are everywhere you look in the average workplace. They cry out for skilled practitioners to get in there and help people to iron out the hurts. And their adoption creates positive shifts in productivity and morale for those businesses that embrace these technologies and use them to build their people. ~~~~
Here is an important report from Dr. Patricia Carrington, who calls her elegant application of incremental EFT the “one-percent solution.” That’s a great name for a highly effective technique.
Using EFT for forgiveness: the one-percent solution by Dr. Patricia Carrington I can’t tell you how often people have told me that they simply cannot conceive of forgiving some other person for destructive acts that person has done – even if they use EFT for this problem. They feel that to do this would be paying mere lip service to the concept of “forgiveness.” It would not come from their heart. I agree that the act of “forgiveness” is all too often a pretense entered into by a person who feels obliged to “forgive” someone (or fate), perhaps for religious or ethical reasons. To truly forgive, especially when one feels resentment, fear, or anger about a “wrong” that has been done to self or others, is one of the most difficult and "unintuitive" things that we can do. The reason for this may be the fact that the act of forgiving is not an act at all in any real sense. When it happens it does so by default, as we let go of resentment against the other party along with the desire to punish. Webster's New International Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language both define the verb to forgive as "to give up resentment against or the 219
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desire to punish; to stop being angry with; to pardon.” It is quite clear that their definitions of forgiveness refer to the result of letting go of anger or resentment or desire for revenge. Forgiveness, then, is basically an absence of these negative emotions. This makes for difficulty, however, when we attempt to use EFT to create forgiveness because it is much more difficult for people or animals to let go of something than it is for them to hold on to it. Ask someone, for example, to place a book on a table, and more than likely (if they have no particular reason for not doing so) they will find it easy to comply with your request for they are being asked to do a direct and simple act. However, ask that same person to “let go” of a book they might already be holding and they may well resist that request, or at least hesitate to carry it out until they give considerable thought to the consequences. They will probably consider possible outcomes that come to their mind and will try to decide whether it is safe and advantageous for them to let go of the book. Perhaps it will fall upon the floor and get damaged. Maybe the person will be “pushed around” or otherwise manipulated by you if he or she complies with this request. The result is that this person may be reluctant to let go of the book. I am reminded of the way newborn infants show such a powerful grasp reflex. They can hold on with enormous strength to a finger or object within reach and not let go of it for a long time –– sometimes their fingers have to be pried loose from the object. This grasp reflex may well be due to some inherited instinct that helped newborn humans to survive when we were tree-dwelling primates. It is likely that newborns had to be able to grasp onto their mothers or onto a tree branch to protect against a disastrous fall. Whatever the reason, the fact is that it is usually easier for us to hold on to something that it is to let go of that same thing, and because of our use of language, we have a strong tendency to hold on to remembered wrongs and seemingly cannot pry ourselves loose from thoughts about “justice” and “punishment” for such wrongs. We cling to such thoughts tenaciously for long periods of time, sometimes for a lifetime, and it is not surprising that we hear stories of vendettas that carry on from generation to generation in certain cultures, where a revenge motive actually controls the lives of the people caught in it. How then can we bring about “forgiveness,” which basically involves a letting go of resentment and giving up of the wish for revenge, even with the use of EFT? Because forgiveness is actually something that happens automatically when resentment, anger, revenge and a desire to punish have been relinquished, I am going to suggest a way in which EFT can be used to lessen or eliminate resentment and the punishment motive, thereby creating the natural state of forgiveness which is, in fact, an absence of the need for revenge.
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Since there is much reluctance in people to let go of resentment and the need for retribution, I have found it is far more productive to approach this matter in an indirect manner, little by little. One way I have found extremely effective is to break up the revenge motive into tiny manageable pieces. I call this the "Divide and Conquer" tactic. Here’s how it works. Suppose that one person has been deeply hurt another person in the past. If you ask Person A to “forgive” Person B, it seems impossible at first. Even if you ask her or him to “let go” of any resentment they have toward the other person, it still tends to feel impossible. How, they reason, can someone just let go of resentment if they’ve been deeply hurt? A way to get around this trap, one which I find to be extraordinarily effective, is to BREAK UP the “letting go” process into tiny chunks, so that you prove to yourself that your conviction that it’s impossible to let go of your resentment isn’t true, that resentment can be let go of in little pieces –– which of course paves the way for a much greater letting go to come. When you formulate your EFT statement, end the statement by a Choice to “let go of only one-percent" of your resentment. You can even add the phrase, "And keep all the rest of it" if you wish. Here is how this statement might look in practice. Even though I’m outraged at what he did, I choose to let go of one percent of my anger against him. Even though I’m furious about what she did, I choose to release one percent of the rage I feel toward her. If you use this “one-percent” solution, you will probably have no trouble letting go of such a ridiculously small portion of your resentment. After all, it is not much to ask of yourself to give up one percent of it, and you are still allowed to retain most of your righteous anger! However –– and here is the secret in this approach –– if you are able truly to let go of one percent of your resentment, anger, or desire to punish, then you will be in a very different state of mind than you were before. Something that seemed impossible will suddenly become possible, even if on a very small scale, and by letting it happen at all, you have actually opened a door to letting go of your resentments totally. A little release is always a big release. You will now have abandoned a deeply entrenched belief, a certainty that you cannot under any circumstances let go of your resentment! I have many times seen this simple strategy result in a person's ability to entertain the possibility of letting go of all of their resentment. Once relinquishing
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a desire for revenge is seen as possible, the road has been cleared for you to release your entire resentment/punishment motive. When you let go of your tenacious hold on the conviction that “justice must be done at any cost,” and punishment must be meted out for you to be at rest, you finally will be at rest. You will have lifted a tremendous emotional burden from yourself, and you’ll be able to move ahead constructively with your life. You may decide that you don’t want to see that person again or put yourself in that kind of situation again, or you may decide to do so, according to rational decision. Either way, you are now free to choose what is really best for you. This is because the emotional charge has been removed from the situation. Now you will have “forgiven” that person in the true sense of that word. The revenge motive will have evaporated, and because unforgiveness depends on that motive, it too will have melted away. You will have forgiven this person or circumstance or fate in the true sense of the word, and can go on from there to build a new relationship or other better relationships or whatever you desire. I strongly recommend the “one-percent solution” when the need to forgive is resistant to any other approach. ~~~~
Guilt is another destructive emotion, and it’s often magnified in cases of PTSD. Stewart Robertson from the UK gives us four "reframing Setups" for addressing guilt and its close relatives, shame and sorrow. These reframes are very effective because they help the client to see the issues differently. He says, "The four Setups and reframes below are tailored to those who have been infected by the not-good-enough virus, or those stuck in sorrow or guilt."
Reframes (seeing things differently) for guilt, shame, and sorrow by Stewart Robertson Feelings of shame, guilt, and unworthiness are among the lowest energies we can sustain as human beings. Releasing them will have obvious benefits on our day to day energy, healing responses, and the universal abundance showing up in our lives. The four Setups and reframes below are tailored to those who have been infected by the not-good-enough virus, or those stuck in sorrow or guilt. I usually begin on the Karate Chop point and continue round the usual points while continuing my ramblings of such perspectives. Substitute your client’s situation and emotions – or your own – into the Setup and customize as far as possible.
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Even though I feel ashamed, sorry, or guilty, this issue doesn’t represent everything about me, it's not my entire person, it's not the last word on me, it doesn't represent me as a person, it doesn't describe all of me, there is much more to me, my skills, abilities, resources, and sparkling attributes, and I am ultimately innocent and always worthy of love, and I always have good intentions… Even though I feel ashamed, sorry, or guilty about this issue and I DON'T forgive myself for this problem, I would never pin this on anyone else, and self-blame is no better than blaming someone else… Even though I feel ashamed, sorry, or guilty about this issue, I never feel guilty that I am well, while others are sick and I can never be hungry enough to feed one starving child, and not even one thimbleful of my guilt will change what happened, somehow I'm managing to feel guilty about this, somehow I'm believing that me feeling bad is helping in some way, which does seem ridiculous... Even though I feel ashamed, sorry, or guilty about this issue, I was born deserving, I'll die deserving, and the only question is whether I'll give myself a break for the bit in the middle… ~~~~
As you will see in the following article by Zoe Zimmerman, a long list of childhood issues can ruin an adulthood! But when EFT is properly applied to the adult, these problems improve. We don't always get "one minute wonders," of course, but progress can be very steady.
EFT for panic, agoraphobia, and feeling like a failure by Zoe Zimmerman I’ve found that negative family patterns from childhood powerfully influence how we as adults interact at work, with spouses, with friends, and with our children. EFT can be very effective in resolving family-of- origin issues. Because family roles are “assigned” unconsciously very early in people’s lives, they become our identity in many ways, contributing to what Gary has called “the writings on our walls.” For this reason, we can’t imagine ourselves being any other way. We may be afraid to let go of the roles and move into other, freer ways of living and relating. I worked with Susan on her panic attacks, feelings of incompetence and failure in her marriage, fears of going outside, and fears of being in positions of responsibility. Susan’s father was an alcoholic with three children. He was 223
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emotionally volatile and verbally and physically abusive to Susan, his youngest child, and to his wife. The oldest child, a boy, was the one who did everything right. He excelled in school and sports and was his father’s favorite. He worked hard at keeping it that way. He never cried or showed weakness of any kind. Susan, on the other hand, felt all the family tension and anxiety in her body. Susan’s mother, because she was afraid of her husband, was not able to protect herself or her child from his unpredictable violence. Susan’s father used to tell her that she would never amount to anything because she was so weak and incompetent. He also told her that no man would ever want her. As an adult, Susan became increasingly unable to be effective in the world and was afraid of people in authority, including her own husband. She tried to work in the healthcare field, where she was responsible for other people, but whenever someone experienced a big emotion, such as sadness, fear, or anger, she would forget what she knew, become dizzy, numb, and panicky, and feel completely incompetent. She felt, at the same time, responsible for knowing what to do to help people and completely unable to do so. Finally, it became almost impossible for her to leave the house. We worked on a number of specific incidents having to do with her father and some having to do with her mother and sister. Here are some excerpts from the more general family dynamics sessions. Even though I felt, and feel, like a failure when I heard, and hear, my father saying I can’t do anything right, I deeply and completely accept and love myself anyway – myself as a child and myself now. Even though I believed I was weak and couldn’t do anything right when my father said that to me, I realize that what he wanted me to do was not right for me. Some part of me knew that and refused. Some part of me knew what was right for me, and I did that instead. Tapping on EFT points: I believed I was weak; I believed I was wrong; I believed I couldn’t do anything right. I realize now that I was never weak. I realize now that he tried to make me do what wasn’t right for me. Some part of me knew it, even back then. Some part of me knew what was right for me and I was following that. I was always strong in being me. Even though I was given the role of the weak and incompetent one, and this became my identity in the family, I realize now that this is not actually who I am personally and I give myself permission to give up the role and to be who I really am. Tapping on EFT points: I’ve had the role of the weak and incompetent one, and, in some ways, I’ve carried it to this day. I’ve thought that’s
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actually who I am. I know now that it’s a role that was given to me unconsciously. I forgive my family for giving it to me and for holding me to it. I forgive myself for taking it on and living it to this day. I give myself permission to let it go and I choose to be free to once again live who I really am. Even though I’m afraid to give up this role – because, without it, who am I? – I deeply and completely love and accept myself and give myself permission to give it up. Even though I was so scared and felt it was my fault when my father yelled or hit me, I realize now that it was never about me at all, and that he knew all along that it was not about me. Tapping on EFT points: He knew it was not about me; he knew I was fine. He knew it was his own problem. He knew that he was unhappy and angry and frustrated and took it out on me; he knew what he was doing and the evidence was his apologies afterward. He knew it was about him and not about me. I know this now. I forgive him now, so that I can go on with my life free and separate from his unhappiness. The patterns she learned in order to survive around her father were still present today with her husband. Although her husband is not like her father, whenever he showed “negative” emotions such as anger, she reacted with fear and with feeling wrong and like a failure. Even though I learned as a child that my only survival was to disappear away from my father and away from myself, and there’s still a part of me that’s living from that time and place, I’m committed to staying right here now with what I feel and think and know. Even though I feel unsafe when my husband is angry, and it brings back the danger of living with my father, I completely accept myself and I completely accept my husband. Tapping on EFT points: When my husband is angry about _____, it has more to do with him than with me. I choose to stay committed to myself and to the relationship with my husband. I choose to see the distinction between my father and my husband. I realize that my father was dangerous and my husband is not, and I give myself permission to let my father-fear go. Over time, Susan’s panic attacks have decreased, and she is able to go outside and run errands. She has also been able to teach a church class without getting dizzy, numb, and panicky. She was able to attend a training class that she had put off because she was too afraid to go. And she now sees that when her
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husband is critical of her, it’s often because of his own fears and does not mean that she is incompetent or that she is a failure. She is able to stand up for herself. ~~~~
JoAnn SkyWatcher gives us a helpful step-by-step trip through a successful EFT session for accident trauma. Note how the physical problems subsided and re-appeared at a later time. This is usually evidence that there are more aspects to address.
Relieving the trauma of a car accident by JoAnn SkyWatcher Recently I participated in a three-day workshop and really got to know the participants. It was truly an amazing weekend, and one of the highlights is that we would quickly come to miss the presence of someone if they weren't there. One day we were startled to hear that Sarah, one of the participants, had been in a car accident on her way home from the workshop the day before. Her car had been hit by a drunk driver, and she was in the hospital. Fortunately she had not been seriously injured, and she was able to make it to the end of the workshop that afternoon. I decided to volunteer my EFT services and we worked by telephone the next day. Before the call I went to the archives of the EFT website and searched for "car accident" in order to get a sense of what other practitioners had done. I hadn't dealt with the particular trauma of a recent car accident. I asked Sarah to describe what she saw, heard and felt during the accident as well as her fears and other feelings. I also asked her to give the accident a name, like the name of a movie. I then asked her about the pain she was having in her neck, such as its color (red), shape (triangular), texture (striated muscle), sound (Ahhh!!!-screaming), temperature (hot), and intensity (7 on a scale of zero to 10). I bundled together all of the aspects of the car accident and Sarah titled it “Sucks.” So, I asked her to tap on her Karate Chop Point while she said her Setup: Even though I was in a sucky car accident… Even though I was really scared by being in this sucky car accident… Even though it was really scary being in this sucky car accident… Then we did one round of tapping through the different points, saying, Sucky car accident! The next couple of rounds she repeated the following phrases that described what she had sensed while tapping on each point:
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I was driving through the intersection. I heard tires squealing. And thought that was not a good noise. I saw the teal blur coming at me. I first thought nothing would happen. I felt the impact of the car hitting the back left wheel. I'm getting hit and the car is spinning. I smell the airbag going off. It smells like gunpowder. I hear the sound of braking glass. I hear the sound of the impact. The squealing tires and the smack. Like a smack across the face. The car is spinning around 180 degrees. My glasses get knocked off. My vision is blurry. I see him drive off. I heard my neighbors talking. I am pissed that he drove off. The tapping brought her level of intensity down from 7 to 3 for the trauma of the car accident. I then asked her about the pain in her neck, which had already dropped from 7 to 5 without being directly addressed. We continued tapping for the trauma of the sucky car accident. Her level of intensity went to 2 and then almost to zero. However, the pain in her neck only dropped to a 4 out of 10. I asked Sarah to look inside and see if there was something that she had overlooked. She realized that she was feeling angry and embarrassed. So, we tapped on her anger and embarrassment for a couple of rounds, and her level of intensity remained the same. I asked if there was anything else that she was feeling. She reported feeling some guilt about the accident, even though it wasn't her fault. So, I tried using humor, and had her yell loudly about how guilty she was for driving the car. At each point, I asked her to yell louder. I think the yelling helped because her level of intensity dropped to 1 for the trauma of the sucky accident, and the pain in her neck dropped to 2. Next, I asked her to do the 9-Gamut treatment, and that brought her level of intensity to zero for the trauma, though the pain in her neck remained at 2. It only took two more rounds of tapping directly for the pain in her neck bring it to zero. The first twenty minutes of the session I used to learn about all aspects of the accident, how she felt about it, and how to describe the pain in her neck. Then we tapped for about thirty minutes to dissolve the trauma of the accident itself. We spent only five minutes directly tapping for the pain in her neck, and in less
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than one hour, both the trauma of the accident and the pain in her neck were completely gone. It has been a month since Sarah’s accident. We communicated by email today. I asked how she is doing, and she responded, "I'm feeling pretty good. My body still gets tired very easily but better each week. I'm having pain now (when I do have it) right behind my heart, at my sacrum, and sometimes also in my neck. One good thing is that in my last visit to my chiropractor I had no upper cervical stuff to be worked on, which was the first time probably ever!" ~~~~ Car accidents can leave both physical and emotional scars on us. Some repeatedly relive the accident mentally for decades, resulting in nightmares and lifelong limits. In this article, Alan Morison from the United Kingdom gives us some skillful approaches for lifting this burden from two different women. Notice how, in both cases, he gently tiptoes into the issue. Very useful.
Tip-toeing into two car accident traumas by Alan Morison In August at a health fair where I offer EFT to the passing public, I was talking to Sue, another stallholder, just before the end of the day. She suddenly announced that she was not looking forward to returning home and explained that two years ago she had been involved in a bad motorway accident, and even though she was unhurt, she disliked busy roads ever since. She had recurring nightmares, sweats, and flashbacks. Medication had not helped at all. As she continued speaking, I could see her becoming emotional, so, with permission, I gave her a simple round of silent tapping which helped calm her immediately. I then took her back to a calm state of mind just before the accident. I asked her to edge forward into the very first second of the event to prevent any further heavy emotions and to report what she could see and feel. Doing that, she said she saw the car that caused the accident just begin to appear in the periphery of her vision and she felt terror and helplessness arising. I felt no need to check the intensity of her feelings - it was pretty obvious it was a 10 or higher, so I tapped for these emotions. After tapping for any remaining emotions, I tested her by taking her gradually more and more into the accident memory. She felt no response whatsoever and when she played the whole movie in her mind, she said it was like looking into a very distant scene. Experience has taught me that clients report this when traumas have been released. She left to do her packing with a spring in her step. The whole process had taken no more than five minutes.
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Almost three months later I met her again and asked about the accident. She looked puzzled for a moment and then said, “Oh that! It hasn't bothered me since the tapping.” The trauma had so completely left her system that she had almost forgotten it even took place. Success! At another fair I was telling someone about Sue's story when I noticed another lady in the vicinity becoming rather emotional as she listened. I stopped talking and with permission tapped this lady to calm her down, thinking to myself that this must be another traffic accident PTSD case. She decided to have some treatment there and then, but because she felt some anxiety about treatment in a public place I tapped first for that and then eased her into telling her story. Her life, it seems, was a chapter of one motor accident after another, beginning at the age of four when she had witnessed a pile-up just by her house. Taking her into the scene gradually, I tapped her for the sounds she heard first from inside the house, opening the door to go out, the absence of mother (who was in a different room and didn't know she had gone out), walking down her path, and then seeing the crumpled cars. The color of the cars was also significant for her as future accidents involved cars of similar colors. As we proceeded, I tapped her for two more accidents by the time she was 13, dealing with the shock of the slow motion inevitability of impact and the feeling that her father could have done something to avoid the collisions. Each incident was fairly quickly resolved but she just kept revealing more. We dealt with the tragedy in her mid teens of the death of her best friend in a traffic accident and her ensuing loneliness, then with the shock of the suicide of a neighbor in her car. A long drive to Spain with friends ended in the horror of driving through terrible weather conditions and witnessing several fatal accidents. But the dominoes had started falling and she released these horrific sights very quickly, only to move on to a friend who had recently had an accident and bragged about his minor injuries to her, little knowing just how deeply his description would affect her. Most of the time I did not need to check for intensity levels but I tested for each event by getting her to play her movie of the scenes and only moved on when doing so provoked no reaction. I was using my intuition rather than the numbers but it all adds up to the same. When finally she could play through everything with no negative reactions she said, “This feels really bizarre.' No small wonder, as she had lived almost all her life under the cloud of these events. She could now experience what it was like to be finally emotionally free. She could now know what it was like to feel joyful and it was wonderful to see the transformation in her.
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The whole process took one and a half hours, and she hardly noticed the passage of time. There are still times when I can hardly believe how successful EFT is. These two trauma cases are witness to that. ~~~~
EFT instructor Ann Adams gives us the details (including several sets of Setup language) behind a relatively simple case involving accident flashbacks. This is a common problem and thus Ann's message should help many clients.
Rapid relief from accident flashbacks by Ann Adams Last year one of our terrific cooks at our residential program, Brenda, had two traffic accidents in less than six weeks. The irony was that both accidents occurred at the same intersection on her way home from work. She didn’t break any bones but had whiplash and other physical problems. She had weeks of physical therapy and was out of work for four months. She returned to work last August. In November, she shared with me that she was still having flashbacks of the accident and trouble sleeping. Since I was conducting another staff training on using EFT the following week, I suggested she attend. I started the training session with a brief explanation of the technique and led everyone right into an exercise, explaining that they did not have to believe this exercise would work. I asked them to pick a specific incident in their life that still upset them when they thought about it and then write down their current intensity on a scale of zero to 10. Then we did three group rounds starting with: “Even though I have this upset feeling, I deeply and completely accept myself.” After two slow deep breaths, I asked them to think about their upset and write down the number again. The inevitable surprised looks came on some faces. Several said the upset incident didn’t bother them any more. Brenda said, “Oh my goodness!” and I asked if she’d like to elaborate on that statement. She was working on the second traffic accident and said, “I can still see it happen but I am calm now. It is over and I am okay.” I asked for her number and she said it was a zero. She seemed so comfortable talking about it that I asked if she would like to work on other aspects of the accident as a demonstration in front of the group. She agreed but wanted to remain seated. I asked her to think of the worst part of the accident and she said she was so afraid of being hit again that she drove five
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extra miles coming and going to work in a detour around the "accident intersection." Her fear of being hit again at that intersection was at least a 9. We tapped several times for: Even though I am afraid to drive through the intersection... Even though I am afraid I will be hit again... Even though I feel helpless to prevent being hit by a car... I asked her to picture herself passing that intersection on her way home but to stop at any point she felt herself getting upset again. She began by picturing herself getting in the car, starting it, and then passing each landmark along the way until she got to the intersection where she had the two wrecks. She closed her eyes and was quiet for a few seconds. Then she said she was still a little apprehensive when she got close enough to actually see the intersection. Her intensity level was a 6. So we tapped twice through the points for: "Even though I still have some apprehension about getting close to where the accident happened..." When asked to take a deep breath and give me a number; she reported it was now a 2. I told the audience that I wanted to show them another step and for those who still had any level of upset to think about their problem and follow along. So Brenda and the audience did the 9 Gamut procedure and another round of tapping. Brenda was smiling now and said she thought she could go home the shorter way. I suggested to Brenda that she use the remaining time in the staff training to work on any other scenes of the accident that still affected her. And, as always, I gave the group a handout that describes the process and encouraged them to use it for everything. That was in November. About the middle of January, I had an opportunity to ask Brenda about her feelings now about the accident. She said, “That stuff you did really helped” and told me she not only had been able to drive home the shorter way but that after the training she was able to sleep and that she no longer was having flashbacks about the cars ramming into her. But she said that something about it still bothered her – it was a nagging kind of feeling that something was still wrong. Wrong with what? I asked. “Wrong with me,” she said. She was meaning emotionally, so I took a guess and said that sometimes victims felt that in some way they were responsible for what had happened to them. She said, “Yes, I feel like I should have been able to do
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something to stop it. That I shouldn’t have been driving by that intersection that day.” We started tapping for: "Even though I ought to have been able to do something…" "Even though I feel responsible…" "Even though I feel guilty for the accident…" Brenda then laughed and told me that she couldn’t see now how she could have thought she was responsible. There was nothing she could have done to stop it. “It was not my fault.” I asked her to close her eyes again and pictured both accidents, including the police and hospital experiences, and to stop at any point there was any upset. About a minute passed and she opened her eyes and said no. “That’s amazing.” Yeah, Brenda, it sure is! ~~~~ In addition to helping people recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, EFT can help prevent it from developing in the first place. Our newsletter archives offer many examples of people tapping immediately after a car accident, argument, injury, or other mishap. This is one reason why I encourage people to tap several times a day every day for issues big and small, and even when they can’t think of any specific problem to tap for. Keeping your energy balanced, especially during times of stress, is like giving yourself a vaccination against PTSD. Denis Franklin from Australia comes upon a friend being attacked in the streets and immediately applies EFT for the emotional trauma. Success. Wouldn't it be nice if we could apply EFT immediately after every traumatic experience?
“Preventive” EFT after an attack in the street by Denis Franklin I have been using EFT with tremendous results, both in my counseling sessions and on its own, for eight months now. Recently I came upon a lady I knew, who was being attacked by another woman! I could hear the yelling and recognized her from a distance. The aggressor had been punching and kicking my friend and hitting her with an umbrella. When I reached them, the former schoolteacher in me came out, and I assertively asked the aggressor, who apparently has serious psychiatric problems, what was going 232
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on. She started to explain, but it turned out that my friend wasn’t even directly involved in what the other woman was upset about. I told her to move on, and slowly and reluctantly she did so. The matter was considered serious enough to be reported to the police. A young woman was also there with my friend, and later we each had to give the police our statement of what had happened. After the aggressor had gone, I asked both ladies if they would like to be free of the pent-up emotion they were both feeling. Of course, they both said they would. The young woman who had been watching appeared even more agitated than my friend who had been attacked! My friend had previously heard me mention EFT, though she didn’t know anything about it, and the young lady had never even heard of it. I sat them both down opposite me in a quiet place and took them through a first round of tapping, explaining it as we went, including a brief prayer and using their feeling words. They mirrored my (left-handed) tapping on myself. After that first, often-interrupted round, both ladies said the level of their emotional upset had gone from a 10 down to about a 4! Then, after an uninterrupted second round, both agreed that the stress from that trauma had been reduced to zero! And they were very grateful! Later I prayed for the poor disturbed lady. As we hear so often, we never know when EFT is going to come in handy, or what it’s going to be used for! ~~~~
Listen in as Rosemary Eads uses EFT over the phone to calm her step-daughter. Also note the delayed reaction at the end.
Handling the aftermath of a mugging with EFT over the phone by Rosemary Eads As a mental health counselor, I use EFT with the majority of my clients to excellent effect. Recently, I offered EFT sessions at a fair, and every person, regardless of the issue, had a reduction of intensity in a matter of minutes. I have helped people stop smoking, eliminate food cravings, and neutralize traumas of all kinds.
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However, my most gratifying experience occurred when my twenty-something step-daughter was mugged in Minneapolis, hundreds of miles away from my husband and me. She was returning from the store on foot at about 5 PM when a boy on a bike tried to steal her purse. She instinctively clutched the purse and as a result was dragged along the road by the would-be thief. Her screams eventually drove the thief off and she stumbled into her apartment shaken and bloody. She called us the next day to tell us what happened and reported that she was crying a great deal and was still shaking. I asked her if she was interested in doing EFT over the phone and she agreed. I worked with her for about a half an hour, going over many of the aspects of the incident. While her intensity level was a 9 at the beginning of our work, she was down to a 4 at the end. My instincts told me that because the incident was so fresh, it might be appropriate to leave the intensity at a 4 for the time being. When we spoke the next day, she reported that she was no longer weepy or shaky. She felt that the incident was unfortunate, but was no longer preoccupying her thoughts. Her intensity had gone down to a zero on its own. I was so grateful to have this extraordinary tool to help her with her trauma. As parents, the physical distance between us and our children can be a source of great frustration in a time of crisis. EFT helped us bridge the distance and enabled me to comfort my step-daughter in a powerful and magnificently effective way. ~~~~ The EFT Movie Technique and Story Technique are two of our most useful procedures. They often generate impressive results even in the hands of newcomers. Note how seasoned EFTer Dawn Norton uses them for two separate issues. When her friend closes her eyes to watch events from the past, she is using the Movie Technique, and when she describes out loud what happened, she is using the Story Technique. The two go together like a hand and glove.
Using EFT for the aftermath of a hanging and for unresolved mother-death grief by Dawn Norton I recently had two amazing experiences with a friend in my community. I used EFT both times to bring total resolution to extremely difficult memories. I offered to teach her EFT because I knew she had witnessed the aftermath of a hanging that had happened about a year before.
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I did not know the details at the time we began. She only told me that she felt a little responsible as he was a neighbor and she probably should have offered more friendship. She also told me that for months she could not walk by the spot where it happened, and even now she still had daily memories, heart poundings, and a hard time sleeping at night. I asked if she were to picture it in her mind what her level of distress would be. Clearly her level of intensity was 10 out of 10. We tapped for: Even though this was the worst thing I ever saw... Even though no one should have to see something like that...
We used these and similar phrases, taking note of her level of intensity on each round. After about four rounds, she was down to a 1 out of 10. I then explained the Movie Technique to her. I explained that at ANY point, should she feel distressed to let me know and we would do more EFT. She closed her eyes and began to tell the story. I did not stop her because I did not want her to feel as if she were doing it wrong. I tapped along on myself on her behalf as she narrated. When she said, "And then I saw him hanging in the tree," I stopped her. How does it make you feel to say that? She replied that she felt all right and continued. When she said, "And then they cut him out of the tree and he fell to the ground," I again asked what she felt. Again, nothing. When she finished telling me the story, I asked her if she still felt responsible at all for what happened. And here was the shift. "No, I really don't. If I had tried to help him, he might have done it anyway. He was obviously very sad and depressed, and it is just sad that it happened." Only 15 minutes earlier, she had felt great regret, and now she did not. How wonderful! I saw her a week later and asked her how she was doing with what I hoped was a former memory. She said, "Oh, THAT! I forgot all about that." A few weeks later, I met with her again. As we sat down, I noticed she had been crying and asked her about it. She told me how depressed she was. She had begun counseling and she had been asked to keep a journal of her earliest memories. She had been writing about her mother's death at the tender age of 11 from complications of diabetes. We jumped right in. We went through all of the details of before she was sick; how she had been bedridden for some time; what happened the night she was taken away by ambulance; how she found out from her father that her mother would not be coming home; and her sadness at growing up without her.
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This was all done again with the Movie Technique. Again, she told the story and there was a little more to do. This time I explained just to run the movie in her mind and stop if there was any emotional intensity. She went all the way through it and opened her eyes and said there was nothing left. There were moments when I had to voice for her as she was so emotionally intense that she could not speak, and I just intuitively said what came to mind. I spoke to her recently about both of these experiences. On the first, she said she had not had any thoughts come to mind about it at all. And when I asked about her mother, she said that she could now deal with the memory just fine. It has been about five months since we worked together and she seems to have permanent relief. In her words, there have been no thoughts to trigger anything. ~~~~ This brief article by Monica Johnson highlights the near-instant transformation that often occurs when using EFT for traumatic memories. In this case a young boy was given immediate relief. EFT works well for people of all ages.
EFT for elementary school trauma by Monica Broadfoot Johnson I would like to share a success that I had regarding an elementary school boy. I work in an elementary school as a counselor and have been using EFT for two years now. I also know that many people believe that school counselors usually do 'band-aid' work, and that the real work goes to real therapists. I work at a school in a poverty area, and the parents do not take their kids to therapy. So here is my story. Jake had a father who committed suicide the summer before I started seeing him in a grief group and he was doing pretty well. However, one day there was a knock on my door and Jake and his friend were standing there. Jake's friend had brought him to me because there had been an accident on the basketball court. Another boy had been hit with something and was knocked out. The boy had a bad cut on his head and while lying on the court, blood was pooling around his head. So Jake was brought to me and looked as if he were ready to pass out. He began telling me what had happened on the court and how it reminded him of his dad lying on the street with the blood pooling around his head. I tapped on him while he was telling me this because he appeared to be in shock. Not only was the picture of his dad putting him into a re-grieving state, but another aspect arose. During his dad's death, the police officer had picked up Jake, put his head into the officer's neck, told him not to look, and walked with him away from the situation. And, of course, being a little boy, he looked. So here is the aspect of not doing what he was told to do, and then seeing the horror. 236
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I tapped on him for about 10 minutes. I just let him keep talking while I used the basic tapping points. I also added and had him repeat this Setup: Even though I didn't listen to the police officer, I'm still a survivor; I'm just a kid and I am a survivor … I forgive myself for just being a kid and looking when he told me not to. Even though an adult probably couldn't handle it, I'm just a kid and I forgive me … I am a survivor. Then he went back to class and made it through the day. I don't know how we would have gotten through so quickly this without EFT. ~~~~ Those of us with extensive EFT experience have many stories to tell, some of which are particularly heartwarming and stand out above the rest. Such is the case with Tom Altaffer, an experienced veteran in this field, who shares with us a life-changing trauma relief for a young boy.
Drowning-related trauma relief for a 9-year-old boy by Tom Altaffer We are used to EFT performing miracles in our daily lives all the time. I for one, find myself taking it for granted until something happens that is really out of the ordinary. Such a thing happened to me recently. I was contacted by the mother of a young boy who's name had recently been in the newspaper in connection to a drowning. The young man was at a lake with a friend, a young man. The boy, age 9, was not a good swimmer and was holding onto the demarcation ropes in a lake for support while he swam. The lifeguard told him he had to let go, so his friend came out to help him. The boy climbed on his friend's back and they started back for shore when the friend was sucked down into the water into a deep hole. The boy was saved, but his friend died. The boy was traumatized, of course. He experienced terrible nightmares and periods of crying, self-blame and anger after the event. He came to see me, and with his mother's help, we worked on his bad feelings for two sessions with EFT until they were all manageable. Since the child was so young and the trauma so dramatic, I decided to test the treatment by going to the lake with him the following week.
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The next week, his mother reported that the boy had experienced no further nightmares and that the self blame and despondency had almost disappeared. We went with him to the lake where his friend had died, stopping occasionally to do a few rounds of EFT, which were applied by his mother or myself. He was able to point out where the events had occurred and discuss the incident without undue distress. He even elected to go into the water and splash around. In the two weeks since this session, his mother reports that there have been no nightmares and that he has begun talking about his friend with appropriate sadness at the loss but without obvious distress. She also reports that when she went to pick him up at camp, the counselor happily reported to her that her son, with some other children, jumped off a dock into another lake. The boy reported to his mother that it was very scary when the water closed over his head and he began swimming up to the surface, but he was okay and did not panic. It had not occurred to me to treat him for this aspect of the experience so it is not surprising that it was scary, but I am thrilled that he felt comfortable enough to even consider it. So far as I, the boy, and his mother can tell, the trauma healed after only two sessions. Trauma like this is considered impossible to treat by conventional methods. Had we waited for the research on EFT's effectiveness to be done, this boy would still be having nightmares and blaming himself for the death of his friend. Today, he is fine. He is not happy about what happened or the loss of his friend, but he is not being tortured by painful memories. ~~~~ Few traumas compare with the loss of a child. In this well-written article, Marcia Platt shows how EFT can help the large number of couples whose pregnancies end in miscarriages that lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Resolving PTSD from a traumatic miscarriage by Marcia Platt All too often the emotional sequelae of miscarriage go unacknowledged. Unlike deaths marked by funerals, memorial services, and other cultural and religious rituals, miscarriage is kind of a “no man’s land." Sympathetic family and friends often respond to the loss by saying things like, “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll try again… These things happen… It’s probably for the best.” However well intentioned, such sentiments don’t begin to address the degree of loss and grief one may experience during this time. More than 25 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage and this unnoticed yet sizable minority of women and their partners may never reach resolution of their loss.
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Trish, age 36, was referred to me by a colleague three months after she suffered a miscarriage 3½ months into her first pregnancy. Two nights before Christmas, Trish began having cramps and bleeding and in the morning went to an obstetrician who was covering for her usual doctor. He performed a sonogram and said, with no preamble, “The fetus is dead, I don’t hear anything. You’ll need a D&C and I can do it later in my office. It’s no big deal.” A D&C (which stands for dilation and curettage) involves scraping the lining of the uterus and is usually performed in a hospital under anesthesia. Trish left the office with her husband, both in shock, and walked around in a daze for several hours trying to absorb this news and returned to the doctor that afternoon. She felt that the doctor and his staff wanted to leave early for the holiday and were rushing her. This painful procedure was done without any preparation or medication. The entire experience went from bad to worse as the physician mishandled the procedure and everything involved with it. Trish and her husband both felt and observed things they NEVER should have. I’ll spare you the details. Not only did Trish lose the baby, but her mistreatment by an “on call” physician compounded what was already an overwhelming situation. She was left with symptoms of severe PTSD, including insomnia, an inability to concentrate, recurring images of the medical procedure she endured, and feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, grief, and anger. She could not stop crying. My colleague worked with Trish several times using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, a method of psychotherapy that combines reliving a traumatic experience with specific eye movements), but she would immediately experience an abreaction and could go no further. He thought EFT might be more helpful and asked if EFT might work in this case. Of course I said, “YES!” Needless to say Trish’s level of intensity was initially beyond 10 on a scale of 0 to 10 for almost every aspect we tapped on. Even though I don’t want to talk about this… Even though I know I can stop at any time, it’s up to me… Even though it’s too painful to talk about… Even though I’m afraid I’ll be overwhelmed… Even though I’ll never get over this grieving, I’m open to the possibility that this can change. Even though I’ve never been able to talk about what happened, I’m open to the possibility that it can be different this time and I’m open to healing.
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When her level of intensity was down to 1 or 2 out of 10, we were ready to proceed. We used the Tell a Story Technique from the beginning of her experience. Her level of intensity was 8 out of 10. Going VERY SLOWLY we tapped on: Even though I thought I was “safe” after completing the first trimester… Even though I started bleeding and had cramps… Even though I knew something was wrong… Even though I was scared I’d lose the baby… Even though I couldn’t sleep… Even though I prayed and prayed things would be all right… Even though I was filled with dread, I honor myself for getting through this difficult time. Her level of intensity was down to 2 out of 10. We continued with the parts of her story that still had a high level of intensity, 10 out of 10. Even though he said “The fetus is dead”… Even though I really didn’t understand what that meant… Even though my mind went numb with that information… Even though I was in a daze… Even though the worst had happened… Even though it wasn’t “Fair,” I accept all my feelings without judgment. Even though this wasn’t supposed to happen, I’m open to healing this deep pain. Even though this did happen, I’m open to the possibility of finding peace. Her level of intensity was down to 3 out of 10. We then tapped for the procedure itself, which brought her level of intensity back up to a 10. Even though the pain was more than I could bear… Even though I was screaming because the pain was so bad…
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Even though I thought I would pass out… Even though I wanted to pass out… Even though it felt like a piece of me was being ripped apart, I acknowledge my body for being far stronger than I thought it could ever be. Even though this happened, I choose to remember that I survived terrible pain. I honor my body and my soul for being so strong. Her level of intensity came down to 2 out of 10 and her story continued: Even though I heard something crash on the floor… Even though I saw the contents of the (uterus) canister… Even though it was all red and bloody… Even though I knew what it was … it was my baby… Even though that canister held all hopes and dreams… Even though I believed the canister held the promise of a family, I accept myself and all my feelings. Even though I thought it was the family I would never have, I accept myself and all my beliefs. Even though it seemed like all my hopes and dreams had died too, I’m open to finding peace. I’m open to healing. We also tapped on self-esteem issues she has been dealing with her whole life. Her level of intensity started at 6 or 7 out of 10 when we began tapping on the following: Even though there must be something wrong with me that I couldn’t carry this baby to term, I want to accept myself anyway. Even though it’s probably my fault, I can’t do anything right, I’m open to forgiving myself for this belief and perhaps I can see this experience in a different light. Even though I believe I don’t deserve to have a baby, I’m open to changing this perception and I’m to open to healing this pain.
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Her level of intensity fell to a 1. We then reframed her experience, starting with a level of intensity of 6 out of 10. Even though this happened, I’m open to forgiving myself for any contribution I may have made to this event. Even though I’ve gone through hell, I’m open to the possibility that things happen for reasons I may never understand. Even though this was a terrible experience, I’m willing to consider that there may be some learning in here for me. Even though this may not have been the right time for this little soul to be born into this world, I’m willing to open my heart and release this pain. Even though this happened, I choose to believe in my dream of creating a family. We tapped many times for the statement, “I’m open to healing, I’m open to healing,” until her level of intensity fell to 1 or 2 out of 10. I asked Trish if there was anything else she needed to do to further her healing. We talked about creating rituals to acknowledge her loss. She wanted to write a letter to the baby expressing her sadness and to say “good bye.” Trish had also seen jewelry on the Internet for women who had miscarried and thought what she needed was a necklace spelling out the baby’s name. Her level of intensity was at 4 out of 10 as we finished with: Even though this happened, I’ve discovered just how strong I really am. Even though this happened, the bond I share with my husband is so much stronger now. Even though this happened, I’m ready to release my need to hold onto this particular “dream” and make space in my heart to move on. Even though this happened, I’m ready to accept that this experience is complete for me. Even though this happened I’m open to finding peace. My intention is for complete healing. After two hours of EFT, Trish was exhausted and relaxed. Her level of intensity for all of the issues we tapped for had fallen to a 1 or 2. She was able to tell the “story” calmly and without tears. Yes, she was sad, but appropriately so.
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We had one more session the following week just to check, and her PTSD symptoms were completely gone. She felt resolved with her experience. Trish said she wanted to hold on to some anger to motivate her to report the physician to the NJ Board of Medical Examiners. Post script, one year later: After an “uneventful” pregnancy Trish gave birth to a healthy baby. She says she is “over the moon!” ~~~~ Rape is another difficult situation, one made worse by the social stigmas associated with it. Our DVDs and newsletter archives provide many examples of EFT helping people of all ages overcome the very serious psychological damage caused by rape and sexual molestation. In this next report, Jeanne Ranger describes how she used EFT to resolve a “date rape” that had caused many years of anguish.
EFT clears up a long-ago date rape trauma by Jeanne Ranger George and I had dated a few times when I was 15. He seemed very loving and tender, always expressing his love for me. No one had ever loved me before. It was quite a new phenomenon for me. I didn’t know quite what to make of it, but I liked it. One night while we sat in his car, he said he loved me and wanted to marry me over and over again. But as he said these things, he was pushing me down against the seat, tugging at my clothes. I struggled against him because this didn’t seem right, but as I struggled he forced my head under and behind the steering wheel. My head was almost to the floor and I remember feeling the pedals. Each time I tried to get up my head was stuck and I couldn’t get in an upright sitting position. But I didn’t scream. I couldn’t fight against him. He did his dirty deed. I didn’t tell anyone. I never saw him again. I was alone. There was no one to help me. Love had come into my life briefly, and love hurt. This date rape issue is an incident I thought I had dealt with successfully with talk therapy before EFT. When it came up again a few months back, I tapped it down to level of intensity of 0 out of 10 with EFT. Yet there it was again, alive and squeezing at my heart, screaming for release. So I immediately started tapping: Even though I feel dirty and undeserving… Even though I couldn’t scream… Even though I couldn’t fight against him… 243
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Even though I couldn’t scream… Even though I didn’t expect that… Even though I was so naive to think he really loved me… Even though I never dreamed that could happen… Even though I did nothing to stop him… Even though I feel so guilty… Even though I couldn’t scream… Even though I feel so ashamed… Even though I was such a wimp… Even though I couldn’t scream… Even though I was alone and no one to help me… Even though I was so naive and didn’t know what to do… Even though I let that young girl tell me how to feel… Even though I listened to that young girl all this time… Even though I couldn’t scream… I was stuck on screaming. I somehow had to scream. I was in the bathroom so I turned on the fan, and the water full blast, grabbed some towels put them hard on my face and started to scream, and scream into the towels until I couldn’t scream anymore. Then I continued tapping: Even though I couldn’t scream then I can scream now… Even though I still feel so ashamed… Even though I was so stupid to think he really loved me… Even though I still feel so guilty… Even though I feel so guilty but I know it wasn’t my fault… Even though I let him take advantage of me…
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Even though I let that event control much of my adult life… Even though I’m still alone, it’s not in the way that I was alone before… Even though I have trouble forgiving myself for being such a wimp… Even though I let that young girl protect me in the only way she knew how, she doesn’t’ need to protect me anymore … She can stop now … She can rest now … It’s time for her to come in … It’s time for “us” to unite, to be one … I can protect her now … I choose to protect her now … I choose to love her, and give her what she desires … That little girl that was me and I are together now … I choose to love her and protect her, and take care of her, like she tried her best to do with me … She just didn’t know what to do. I know what to do now. I choose to let go of the guilt and the shame … No more guilt, no more shame … Letting it go … It wasn’t my fault … I did not cause it … I choose to forgive myself … I forgive myself … I am willing to look at forgiving George, the bastard; he really took advantage of me. I was so naive … I knew nothing … I wonder how many others he dateraped like he did me … He knew what he was doing … Maybe that was the only way he could feel good about himself … George is a sick individual … He needs help … He’s the wimp … I need to forgive him, so I can let this go once and for all. George, you bastard, I forgive you … George, I don’t want you in my life on any level anymore, so I completely forgive you, and let you go … I forgive myself for hanging on to this for so long … Letting it go … Letting it all go … I am safe, and I am happy … I completely love and accept myself. At long last, I was free of the date-rape incident. I was able to scream and I feel cleansed. I have also been able to clear several other painful core issues with EFT. I am so grateful to my friend Paul, who sent me the information on EFT. It's taken over my life. I immersed myself in it. I researched it, read about it, ordered and viewed all the DVDs, and studied it at every hour of the day and night. I began to treat myself for physical and emotional ailments, and to bring relief to my friends, their friends, family members, and whoever showed any interest in wanting to try it out. It works! It has become my passion. ~~~~
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Next, David Peppiatt used EFT to help a 19-year-old deal with rape.
Using EFT to reduce rape trauma by David Peppiatt Yesterday, I attended my 50th client, a milestone of sorts. She is 19-years old and three days ago was raped by her boyfriend, Paul. He also attempted to break both of her arms. He forced her left eyelids open and held a live cigarette lighter close to her eyeball. He attempted to strangle her, then sodomized her, then beat her face to a pulp. She came to me a complete mess (hardly surprising) because I had helped her mother through some serious issues. My first words were, “Mikaela, if I help you, no jury in the land will convict this man because you will be incapable of evincing any emotional import to what he did to you. And so, if revenge is your immediate need, it would be better if you filed a complete police report, waited for the trial, and then I can help you off-load your agony.” She replied, with tears and mucous streaming down her battered face, a result of inchoate agony, "Make 'it' (the pain) go away!!!" And so I did. I worked with Mikaela, blow-by-blow, indignity-by-indignity. assaultby-assault, agony-by-agony. For the thick end of three long hours we went to every nuance, every aspect. In addition to recent events, there were heaps of subjective/supportive aspects from her childhood. Finally we got every one of them down from tens to zeros. I called on Mikaela this morning for a follow-up. Every little moment of the entire episode is still with her, yet her pain has completely gone, and she feels genuinely sorry for her rapist! She wondered whether EFT could help someone as troubled as he was. ~~~~ I’m grateful to Alan Batchelder for sharing with us the following rape trauma case from two years ago. Notice how his report exemplifies the following EFT principles: Complete relaxation after the process has been successfully completed. When asked to bring up the emotional event after doing EFT, the client says she just "can't get there" and "it just doesn't seem to bother me like it did." This is very typical and indicative of major healing. Healthy cognitive shifts occur after the process. She says, "Well, that was 20 years ago. I was just a little girl. I couldn't protect myself then the way I can now. What's the point in getting upset about something like that?" EFT’s results lasted. After two years, she still has no problem with the old memories.
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Rape trauma: It just doesn’t seem to bother me like it did by Alan Batchelder Sandy and her partner came in for pre-marriage counseling. Among the issues they were concerned about was their sexual relationship. Most often, she found herself reacting with uncontrollable negative feelings when her partner initiated sexual play. He was patient, kind, and understanding, and he seemed genuinely interested in sex as a shared experience, which she freely acknowledged. Still, she got upset and turned off. They asked whether I could help. I suggested a session with her alone. When she came in I asked the gentle question, "Is there something in your earlier years that you could talk about?" She immediately burst into tears, her intensity level shot up to a 10, and she began to relate her story, punctuated with heavy sobbing and gasping. I sat, quiet and attentive, as she explained, "When I was seven years old we lived in a small town in Southern Oregon. One day my stepfather took me for a walk down a country road. It was in the summer. We hiked up the side of a hill. Then we stopped. Then he took off all my clothes. Then he took off all his clothes." At this point she was scarcely able to breath. I stopped her and said that it was not necessary to go any further, but to follow my lead and do what I showed her. We went through the first EFT tapping procedure without even clearing for Psychological Reversal. Her 0-10 intensity dropped to 6. We then cleared with "Even though I still have some of this…" and tapped again. Her intensity fell to a 2. One more clearing with "Even if I never get completely over this…" and a last round of tapping. By this time she was breathing quietly. Her skin was free of blotches, her eyes were clear, and she was looking at her hands, lying folded in her lap. I said, "Sandy, as you sit there now, think back to that hot summer day when your stepfather took you for that walk down that country road. Think about how you hiked up the side of that hill until you stopped. Think about how he took off all your clothes. Think of how he took off all his clothes.” I paused, then asked, “Now, what do you get?" She sat there without moving for maybe five seconds, then looked calmly at me and said, without undue emotion. "Well, I still hate him." I agreed that hating him was a pretty reasonable response and possibly a useful one to keep, then asked, "But what about the distress you were feeling?" Again she paused before answering. This time she laughed as she said, "I don't know. I just can't get there. Well, that was 20 years ago. I was just a little girl. I couldn't protect myself then the way I can now. What's the point in getting upset about something like that. I never let that man touch me again, and my kids have 247
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never been allowed to be near him. I don't know, it just doesn't seem to bother me like it did." That was over two years ago. I asked her a couple of months ago whether "that problem" we had worked on had ever come back. She laughed and told me that it was "good and gone." Her partner, now her husband, whom I saw last week, confirmed that there was no sign of the former difficulties. They have the usual "things," he said, but nothing they could not handle. ~~~~ Ellen Simes' client was gang raped and, of course, held within her all the anger and related emotions that go with that experience. Ellen is well studied in EFT and, as you might expect, separated out many aspects for tapping. As you will see, this one session allowed the client to travel a long way down the road to resolution.
Getting over a gang rape – including a follow-up by Ellen Simes Last June I had a client, Ann, who came to me for Reiki, to help her release stress and anger she felt building up from work and her relationship with Steve, her partner. We sat and talked before the Reiki session, and I asked her if she knew where all the anger stuff was coming from. She said she had never gotten over being gang raped 20 years ago by her then-husband, Neil, and a bunch of his service buddies. Neil beat her regularly in those days and was verbally abusive. She felt she could never forgive him even though she had been through much traditional counseling. Her history was negatively affecting her relationship with Steve and her ability to be intimate. I suggested that before we do Reiki, we try EFT and attempt to clear up the energy system a bit so that Reiki might be even more effective. She was willing to give EFT a try. When Ann started telling me her story, her intensity level immediately jumped to a 10+. We defined that aspect as feelings of helplessness and did two rounds of tapping to get that down to a zero. As she retold the story, many other aspects came up and we tapped for them all. Some of them were: anger at her husband disgust at herself feelings of weakness feelings of embarrassment why did this happen to me? I am not good enough this is my fault anger at herself for allowing it to happen
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anger at the other men involved feelings of shame feelings of dirtiness feelings of worthlessness I made this happen I did not deserve this why me? and even more.
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We tapped until each one was a zero. The whole process took about an hour and a half, and was, at times, a tearful experience. Ultimately, she told the story in several ways and commented that it was like watching a movie – she was now outside the event and there was no emotional charge to it. She was thrilled and amazed. We moved on to her Reiki session and she left relaxed and happy. Two weeks later I received a call from Ann. She wanted to tell me about what had happened to her on her birthday. She was on the phone with her former mother-in-law, with whom she had remained in contact throughout the years, when Neil walked into the house and grabbed the phone. He said, *Happy birthday Annie,* in what she heard as a sarcastic tone of voice. Ann said she was amazed because normally that would have caused her to freak out and go into panic and fear and an anxiety attack. Instead, she just thought it was ridiculous and told him to put his mother back on the phone. There was no emotional charge. She was thrilled. Five months later, Ann decided to file for an annulment from Neil. Although they had divorced years before, she had never gotten an annulment. She sent him the papers and felt at peace with whatever happened. He called her and they were able to have lunch and talk. He actually apologized and said he wanted to help her gain the annulment and do whatever else he could to make amends. Ann has since been able to talk with this man and explain how his past behaviors hurt her and caused her both physical and emotional pain, and she has been able to help both herself and him through a healing process. Her relationship with Steve, her current partner, has become more comfortable and they are now working through intimacy issues she had previously been unable to approach. During all this time, Ann was seeing a conventional therapist and receiving medication for depression. She recognizes, as I do, that all of these tools have helped her to heal, and that they have worked synergistically to produce results she had only dreamed of in a short time frame. ~~~~ This message from Ken Barclay is particularly useful for the student because it describes a case with many aspects. Understanding aspects, of course, is part of the "art of delivery” that is so important in treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other complex problems using EFT..
Trauma in the trunk of a car by Ken Barclay Since receiving the EFT kit in June, I've had many good experiences with clients, family, and friends. Some of them have been pretty profound; others have been more minor, like a headache cleared up or regaining the ability to fall asleep at 249
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night. Probably the most striking was working with Penny, a young woman who had several severe traumatic experiences with Richard, her former boyfriend. Penny was unable to talk or even think about specific incidents until we had worked on the general area of "painful treatment by Richard." When the negative charge on that was reduced, I asked her to pick the worst of the many traumas she had experienced at his hands. She thought of three "really bad" incidents that were so painful that she couldn't choose the worst. I asked her to pick one at random. She chose the time when he had bound her arms, legs, and mouth with duct tape, put her in the trunk of his car, and kept her there while traveling across country for four days. She had no food or water and was not allowed out to relieve herself. The only times he opened the trunk were to beat her. She worked first on the fear she still felt when thinking of the experience. When that was at about a 2 or 3, her anger became so strong that I felt it best not to pursue fear to zero, and we worked on the anger. When that was at a low level, but not quite zero, her feelings of humiliation came strongly to the foreground. We dealt with that and had brought it down to a zero when it was time to stop, since I was already using another client's time. Penny left the session feeling cheerful and "light as a feather." She thought of Richard as pathetic more than as an object of fear and anger. Prior to EFT, getting this much movement on Penny's post-trauma stress would have taken so many sessions that I'm sure she would not have stayed the course. And this was just one of three equally traumatic incidents in a series of episodes of devaluing, beatings and threats. I am looking forward to working with her on her other "tens," but I marvel at how much she accomplished in that one session. ~~~~
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Chapter Thirteen:
Do-It-Yourself EFT Can someone who has experienced traumatic events safely learn EFT on his or her own? Can someone who is not a trained psychotherapist or other professional help a friend, spouse, or relative who suffers from PTSD? Is there a danger that the tapping will just open up old wounds and make them worse? Will the person suffer a painful abreaction? If you have painful memories and PTSD symptoms and you choose to use EFT to help yourself, here are some suggestions for doing so. Remember, however, that professional help may be indicated, and you are urged to seek out such help should difficult intensity arise. Dr. Carol Look recommends focusing entirely on stress release and physical symptoms. “By starting with bodily symptoms and daily stress,” she says, “you can do a lot to help yourself feel more comfortable while relieving discomfort.” In other words, work at first on general stress relief and whatever aches, pains, or other physical symptoms you have. This will give you an opportunity to try EFT, become familiar with the tapping points, get into the rhythm of tapping, and balance your body’s energy. This is the most important foundation you can lay for yourself. Do this by working through EFT’s Basic Recipe, which is described in Chapter Two, for at least three general problems. Do the complete procedure, tapping on all the EFT points with appropriate Reminder Phrases. For example: Even though it’s hard for me to relax, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though my shoulder hurts, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I keep having this headache, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I have this overall feeling of stress or tension and I can feel it in my back, I fully and completely accept myself. Does the EFT make a difference? If you feel less stressed and if your physical symptoms improve, which is what I expect will happen, you’re learning to use EFT and your body’s energy is responding well. After a day or two of the Basic Recipe for general stress and physical symptoms, which has prepared you for more advanced work, you can start using EFT to defuse or
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neutralize the emotional intensity you feel toward recent events. This is not the time to tackle intrusive traumatic memories. We’re going to start small. Assuming that this has been an ordinary week with nothing unusual going on, pick out three things that irritated you and focus on them. For example: Even though I’m annoyed because the contractor didn’t finish the repairs yet, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though my boss is being impossible, as usual, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though my kids make way too much noise, I fully and completely accept myself. Now review Dr. Patricia Carrington’s Choices Method, which is described in Chapter Eight, and add a “solution” statement to each of your Setups. For example: Even though I have this overall stress and I can feel it in my back, I fully and completely accept myself, I forgive my back, which is doing the best it can, and I choose to surprise myself by relaxing and enjoying life while releasing all the stress in my back and letting my back feel flexible and comfortable in every way. Even though the contractor didn’t finish the repairs yet and I’m really annoyed, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though it’s impossible to get good help and there are always delays and it drives me nuts, I accept myself. Even though this repair business is noisy and messy and behind schedule and a real distraction, I completely accept myself and I choose to be surprised at how easy it is for me to switch my mind from the things that are going wrong to the things that are going right in my life, which is plenty. I choose to focus on the things that really matter, starting right now. Ingrid Dinter uses general Setups that she describes in Chapter Nine, all of which are designed to defuse stress and tension, help the person feel comfortable, and strengthen the body’s energy balance. Examples include: Even though I feel overwhelmed right now, I choose to be surprisingly okay with that. Even though I don’t want to do this tapping business, it’s too weird, I choose to take it one step at a time in a way that truly works for me. Betty Moore-Hafter uses “soft language,” which she describes on pages 52-54, to make the Setup’s Acceptance Phrase more comfortable for all. For example:
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Even though I’m disappointed about what happened, I accept myself, and I'm willing to see it differently. Even though I'm stuck in this anger and don't want to let it go, I'm open to the possibility that it would be nice to feel more peaceful about this. I strongly recommend that anyone working alone study the examples these talented practitioners have provided and use them as a model when doing EFT. Work through the Basic Recipe several times a day for at least a week on general issues like stress, physical symptoms, and recent annoyances. Having done that homework, your next assignment is to choose one or two unhappy events from the past, as far back as childhood, but not one that you have trouble talking about. Start with events that aren’t very high on the 10-point intensity scale, like a 3 or 4 at most. Write a Setup for the first event using all of the tips and hints you have been studying. Only after you have done this homework, practiced on general issues, and then practiced being specific with issues that don’t cause much discomfort should you tackle more serious memories. Don’t forget the Tearless Trauma Technique. The instant you start to feel emotional intensity, step back and pause while you tap until you feel more relaxed. Whenever you feel uncomfortable, try a general Setup like: Even though that makes me really uncomfortable, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I don’t feel comfortable thinking about that right now, I accept myself. Even though I don’t want to think about those things, I accept and forgive myself and I choose to let this tapping business do its work so that my stress level comes way down and it’s easy for me to remember what happened without being upset. Don’t rush, take your time, and when your intensity level falls to a zero and you feel completely at ease, which often happens after tapping through the Basic Recipe once or twice, try moving forward again. If you still feel uncomfortable, no problem. Keep tapping while you say: Even though I still have some of this uncomfortable feeling, I fully and completely accept myself. Even though I still feel uneasy about this memory, I accept myself. Even though I don’t feel like remembering what happened, I can step back from that event and just keep tapping until I feel relaxed. I choose to put it on the shelf for now, there’s no pressure or deadline, and the important thing is that my energy is balanced, so I am okay, I’m safe, I’m at peace. For even better results, include some of the phrases and recommendations referred to above, which appear throughout this book. Underline or highlight the words that feel
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right for you and add them to your Setups whenever you do EFT. Write down words or phrases you would like to incorporate in your EFT work. The following thoughtful article by Mair Llewellyn-Edwards of the UK illustrates a client's choice to use EFT for both herself and her family for long-standing anger issues. The client's grandmother sums it up by saying, “I now no longer blame others or myself; tapping has let me let go.” Please note the client's use of our "Borrowing Benefits" technique as well as a few of my own comments, which appear in brackets.
A client resolves lifelong anger on her own by Mair Llewellyn-Edwards Following her boyfriend's recommendation, Susan came to me 5 months ago for help with anger management. The boyfriend, Carl, had used EFT successfully twelve months earlier for a flying phobia. I am always a little cautious working with a client who is sent by someone else because I want it to be their decision. However, I need not have worried about Susan. She was very motivated to come. It was obvious that she had thought long and hard about working on this problem. Right from the onset of meeting her, I knew this meeting was different. Here was a very determined person wanting to sort out an anger problem that had plagued her for years. As a teenager it had often gotten her into problems at school as well as socially. [My comment: Anger is also a major cause of our physical ailments. It is well known that our emotions trigger a wide variety of chemical changes in our bodies and our "anger chemicals" can be particularly devastating. Some of our angers appear isolated from other causes and are easily addressed with EFT. Others go back to childhood issues and have many aspects. They too can be handled by EFT but often require several EFT applications/sessions to "get it all." In Susan’s example she was able to substantially reduce the problem by diligently applying EFT to herself over a two-month period.] It appears that this angry streak ran right through her whole family. Grandma was renowned for it and her mother exhibited obvious signs of it. When I asked a little more about family history I also found that great grandma was a powerful force to be reckoned with too! As a result, everyone told Susan that this anger was part of her personality--in her genes. While she questioned this "writing on her walls,” she was concerned about her children "inheriting" this family anger streak.
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[My comment: While I've never seen evidence that anger is inherited "through the genes," it can certainly be transmitted through family interactions. In fact, it is quite common for families to share certain beliefs (religious, political, etc.) as well as attitudes, prejudices and the like. Since experienced EFTers repeatedly see the link between our emotions and our physical ailments we must wonder if the real cause of "inherited" diseases isn't in the family emotions that get passed down through the generations – rather than "through the genes."] I found it fascinating to observe Susan's quest for freedom. She wanted to learn how I used this EFT so she could apply it to herself and thus be in charge of her own healing. This is the first time in my life as a therapist that this has happened so obviously. It is also the first time it has been possible to give a client such a comprehensive tool to help themselves. We began with muscle testing, so that she may learn to self test. (I had used a muscle test on Carl to reassure him he was okay to fly at the completion of therapy). Learning to muscle test was helpful for Susan too. We used it whilst we were together and she knew that it would give her the necessary feedback when working on her own. With confidence in her self-testing we were able to use muscle testing on many statements. Susan thought of two such statements that confirmed her new found belief were - “I am now ready to work on this anger problem” and “I can do it myself with EFT.” [My comment: Some practitioners enjoy kinesiology muscle testing and find it quite helpful within their own procedures. However, muscle testing is an art and very few become as proficient at it as Mair. Since EFT was designed to achieve results without it, the practitioner has a choice as to the use of muscle testing.] I then taught her EFT. When she left I gave her a copy of Gary’s early introductory video and Tam's (my husband's) book “How to Heal Yourself and Others with Meridian Therapies.” She made no further appointment but said she would be in touch. Two months ago she rang me and asked if I would come to meet her family. I did, of course, and learned from her family that there had been a profound transformation in Susan’s life. As a small child, she had been sexually abused-an obvious source for her anger. Whilst listening to Gary’s early introductory video tape, she had tapped along with Veronica (the lady who was raped by her father). As Susan tapped herself, she healed just as Veronica had healed. Through this simple procedure she had received wonderful results. She reported that following this experience she had frequently used EFT. Whenever she noticed any negative charge on any feelings she tapped them away.
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[My comment: Here is another attractive use of the "Borrowing Benefits" technique. The full session with Veronica can be seen on Video 2B of the EFT Course, Part One.] Susan’s insight through muscle testing and the EFT routine had progressively cleared these blockages. Two months of working with EFT had freed her of a lifetime of anger and blame. Susan reported that, since using EFT she had not had any recurrence of the anger. She had taught EFT to her family so they could reduce their own anger. I think her healing had been dramatically enhanced by sharing what she had learned in that the experience of facilitating the healing with her Mum and Grandma had added to her own personal liberation. The family meeting I attended revealed the extent of the healing in her small nucleus of the world. Her mother and grandmother were both going through ongoing healing with their daughter and granddaughter. Grandma summed up the change experienced in her own life with the following comment. “I now no longer blame others or myself, tapping has let me let go.” This story illustrates that, given the tools of healing, others can freely heal themselves and help others. This ensures that EFT can be truly accessible to everyone. ~~~~ Pat Farrell successfully diagnosed and treated her own PTSD long after the car crash that caused her symptoms. Pat is a good example of someone who experiences a trauma and then manifests occasional PTSD symptoms without realizing why or without realizing what they mean. I suspect that a large number of us have had similar reactions. This do-it-yourself story offers important insights.
Accident victim resolves her own PTSD 40 years later by Pat Farrell Three times over a period of about 25 years, I experienced shortness of breath, blood draining from my face, and heart palpitations so severe that I had to pull over while driving. Even though this occurred so seldom, these are typical symptoms of PTSD. Eventually, I started putting things together and realized that at each occurrence, I was passing an accident just at the moment that a person on a gurney was being put into an ambulance. By this time I was experienced in EFT and started looking for an explanation. When I was twenty, which was 40 years ago, I was trapped in a car for three hours while the rescue team tried to extract me after a horrible accident. Four of us in my little car were hit head-on by a 1959 Oldsmobile. That’s similar to a tank running over an ant. I realized that during that time, in an unconscious or semi-
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conscious state, I must have seen or heard the rescuers talking about my friend, Rita. It wasn’t until about a week after the accident, when my family was sure that I would be okay, that they finally told me of Rita’s death. While I felt shocked, I remember not really being surprised, and I realized that my subconscious was already aware of the tragedy. Now, all these years later, I focused on the accident and used EFT to tap on: Even though I have this stressful response each time I see a body being removed from a car… Even though the emergency team’s removal of Rita’s body from the crash is deeply embedded in my subconscious… Even though I feel responsible for Rita’s death… I tapped on the body points using wording like: This reaction to bodies being put in an ambulance. This reaction. That can’t be Rita on the stretcher. I’m afraid they’ll never get me out of the car. I then used a round of: I choose to release this subconscious reaction to seeing an accident. I choose to release this reaction. Then I did an entire round on guilt about Rita’s death and the medical struggles that my friends and fellow passengers Frankie and Danny experienced over the years. Even though the State Police said it wasn’t my fault, I have been holding on to this guilt for forty years… Even though I didn’t feel that people blamed me, I have been holding on to this guilt… Even though I didn’t realize it, I have been punishing myself for all these years…
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This guilt that it must have been my fault I choose to release this guilt. I have done lots of work to release the guilt over the years and finally feel free of it thanks to EFT. EFT is truly the miracle drug – without being a drug. I would love to see more use of EFT for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. ~~~~ This article by EFT do-it-yourselfer Lisa Rogers should be passed around the planet. It is a major testimony to persistence and points to the limitless possibilities within EFT.
How I handled my child abuse PTSD all by myself by Lisa Rogers I am not a therapist., and I have no training in the mental health field. In fact, I barely graduated from high school. I am just an ordinary person who had an extraordinary problem. I suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. From age 12, I visited dozens of therapists trying to get help for my depression and anxiety. Years of counseling and prescribed drugs left me frustrated and no closer to relief. My frustration led me to use street drugs and alcohol in an effort to medicate myself. When I found EFT, I had no idea then how much it would change my life. It seemed too good to be true. Nothing else had worked, but since this was something I could do on my own, I decided to give it a try. What did I have to lose? I tapped every day. My ritual was that I would tap every time I went to the bathroom. It was private and I knew I'd be there a few times day! Although there were many major issues I needed to address, I thought it would be helpful to focus on one at a time. I guess the best place to start is the beginning, with child sexual abuse. When I was a child, I was severely abused – emotionally, physically and sexually – by a family member. The sexual abuse began when I was eight and continued for four years on a regular basis. When I told my mother, she didn't believe me. This left me with a lasting feeling of shame and guilt that somehow I had done something to cause this. My family treated me like a traitor. I felt like a freak. I ran away from home at 12 and lived on the streets for years. I was an intravenous drug user by 14 and pregnant with my first child at 15. As the years went by my life was a wreck. I felt alone and misunderstood. I thought I was a bad person. I hated myself and resented the world.
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I was suicidal and desperate for help when I found EFT. I ordered the free EFT manual and learned the process. I was afraid to dig too deep, so at first I tapped on my physical feelings only. Even though I feel like a deer in the headlights… Even though my heart is pounding out of my chest... Even though I feel like someone just jumped out and scared me… Even though I can't concentrate... Even though the noise hurts me... Even though the light hurts me... Even though I'm so nervous for no reason… Even though I'm terrified and I'm only watching TV... Even though I keep having these night terrors… After about a month of tapping every day on my outward symptoms, I could see that EFT really worked. I then felt confident and safe enough to start tapping on specific painful negative emotions. Even though I hate myself... Even though I'm trash... Even though I'm worth nothing... Even though I deserved it... Even though I didn't deserve it... Even though no child ever deserves it... Even though my parents didn't love me… Even though my parents didn't protect me... Even though I should have never told… Even though I should have told earlier but I was too scared…
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Even though I told and it ruined my family and my life... Even though I can’t forget… Even though these memories won’t go away… Even though it's been years and it still hurts so much... Even though I feel shame and guilt... Even though I feel different… Even though a part of me still thinks it's my fault... Even though I know it wasn't my fault... Even though my mom didn't believe me... Even though everyone thought I was a liar... Even though it made me hate my body... Even though child services knew and they didn't protect me… Even though my mother knew and still won't admit it… Even though I'll never be normal... I just kept tapping on whatever came into my head. I would write things down to tap on later if I couldn't tap right then. I was determined. I tapped for another six months on a regular basis. I always checked my progress with the zero-to-10 scale. I have to note that for the first few months I never tapped on specific abuse memories because they were too painful. I didn't want to relive them so I simply tapped on my feelings surrounding the abuse as a whole. Once I got rid of the guilt and shame I had felt for so long, it was easier to address specific memories because I knew logically that it wasn't my fault. I have since learned to use the Tearless Trauma Technique, where you can imagine thinking about the problem without actually thinking about it. This is a great tool that I use often. Within a year of finding EFT, my life completely changed. For over five years now I have been clean from drugs and alcohol and have not had a single panic attack. I now love my life and myself. EFT gave me the freedom to be a valuable and productive human being. My personal success with EFT inspired me to help
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others. I am now an EFT practitioner, helping people to overcome their issues with the Emotional Freedom Techniques. ~~~~ This next example is not a happy story, although the ending is certainly uplifting. No one should have to walk in Jamala Rose's shoes but, unfortunately, far too many do. Despite its "tough to stomach" nature, Jamala's story gives us both inspiration regarding the possibilities AND insights into how a beginner can use EFT even for such a serious condition. I believe she would have received much quicker benefits had she consulted a skilled professional in the field or had she been able to apply the recommendations explained here. However, Jamala knew no one in this field and had no money to pay them, and her understanding of EFT was rudimentary at best. That notwithstanding, Jamala's healing qualifies as spectacular. She says, "The tumors, the angina pain and arrhythmia, the headaches, the panic attacks all sort of drained out. I woke up one day and they were just gone." My comments, which are scattered throughout her report, appear in brackets.
EFT beginner collapses her own PTSD by Jamala Rose I have had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder all my life. My father was a Prisoner of War in Japan for three years during World War II. We all know how brutal the Japanese were on these men. At the end of three years of torture, my father was on a ship one mile offshore when the atomic bomb was dropped and, accordingly, he suffered radiation sickness. [My comment: This is important input by Jamala. Abuse cases like this almost always involve abusers who were badly abused themselves. The temptation, of course, is to place blame on the abuser when, in fact, long term healing requires understanding and forgiveness. As easily seen by Jamala's experiences below, Jamala's father wasn't "bad." He was ill.] I remember my first memory of "life." I do not know if it was conception or birth, but I believe it was conception. I screamed in horror and did everything I could to get out of the body, to die. Anything but face this madman. He abused me horribly from the first moment of my life. I had PTSD from my first moment of life. For all intents and purposes I was born in a concentration camp and raised on terror, hatred, beatings, and starvation. Isolation was big. I was left for long periods of time alone in the dark, probably like the boxes my father was put in for punishment. I never functioned normally in my life. I was a dead limp infant and could not eat, sleep, or eliminate. I could not learn, could not color in kindergarten. I never 261
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laughed or smiled and had no idea how it felt to do so. I threw up most days and sobbed every day of my life. I woke from sleep with grief that I was alive again. I would beg and plead with God to end this now. By the time I was 11 years old I had severe panic attacks that lasted all night long. I would go into the bathroom and writhe in pain for hours and hours, feeling like I was dying, like my heart was being crushed and I was being murdered. Then I would pass out on the cold floor from exhaustion. I finally was given Valium at age 12. I often took almost 50 mg a day because I was so locked up in terror and all manners of pain. I was a walking panic attack and I walked into walls from all the drugs. I had migraines daily by age 12. I looked like Dracula's daughter my whole life. There is literally not one photo of me available. I destroyed them all because I looked so dead. So, okay, I learned basic EFT some 10 years ago from a chiropractor, just the tapping on the side of the hand. I did this almost every day all those years, but only for pain relief because I was in too much pain to be consistent with anything. [My comment: It is important to note that, at this point, the ONLY thing she learned was tapping on the Karate Chop point for physical pain. With persistence she was getting results despite her lack of training in the process. Tapping only on the Karate Chop point does not even qualify as beginner's status. It is pre-beginner's status. Even though she had no money and no help, she still received benefits. With help or better training, of course, she could have experienced much quicker and deeper results.] Sometimes I had a miraculous relief. I would be doubled over in pain and then suddenly okay. But the next pain was right behind it. I had no money so I had no one to help me or guide me through this. I was going through incest recovery and all that. [My comment: I spoke with Jamala by phone and learned that three months before writing this report, she downloaded our free EFT Manual and that allowed her to apply EFT much more efficiently. This is still a long way from the sophisticated refinements in our EFT training videos but it does qualify her as at least a beginner.] I really started to apply EFT this past year, and more specifically this past fall. I finally cleared myself enough to be able to get up every morning and do it like a program. I would do collarbone breathing first and then sit in a crossed legged position, close my eyes and start with whatever idea was in my mind that moment. I would
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tap that idea, say for example, "Even though my stomach feels like I swallowed a bowling ball,” "Even though I want to die" ( that one was always loaded), "Even though my head hurts,” etc. Then I would allow my thoughts to flow and follow them, like a vipassana meditation. I EFT'd whatever next thought flowed. I would stop if needed to. [My comment: This is a superb, creative use of EFT. It is a form of "chasing the pain" (which is covered in EFT Beyond the Basics, formerly titled Steps Toward Becoming The Ultimate Therapist ) only it goes a step further. Instead of limiting it to physical pains as they shift around the body (typical of some EFT sessions), she also applied it to her thoughts. The end result (three months I did this) is I rarely have a panic attack anymore. I occasionally get the beginning of a migraine but work it out pretty fast. I had huge tumors in my uterus and ovaries and was almost bleeding to death every month, so I targeted them specifically a month ago and they are all gone!!! Our bodies and minds present many symptoms at a time, but there is always one core energy to it all. To try to EFT with each specific thing was driving me crazy. I could not keep doing it, there was too much. I eventually stopped being "specific" and started to get "core.” [My comment: To me, the most efficient way to apply EFT to complicated issues is to break them down into the SPECIFIC EVENTS that underlie them. This is a highly effective way to go about this process. However, a newcomer such as Jamala who has no other guidance or outside help can, and did, find this to be difficult. It is easy to resolve one SPECIFIC EVENT and then shift to another painful issue quite quickly. This can be disconcerting until one has more experience with the process. Thus, there is no ONE way to do any of this. We must be flexible and take our clients by the hand and walk with them down their most gentle path. In my phone conversation with Jamala, the "core" that she was talking about had to do with some spiritual understandings that come from A Course In Miracles, forgiveness and Oneness being among them.] I unplugged that core and everything began to empty out. Like washing out a dirty garbage can. My body shifted into a cleansing mode. I had a stomach ache for 6 weeks during which I felt I was going to die, but stayed focused on this following the stomach ache, like a good craniosacral unwinding. Then it suddenly emptied out. The tumors, the angina pain and arrhythmia, the headaches, the panic attacks all sort of drained out. I woke up one day and they were just gone. I then found myself looking at my few relationships, all dysfunctional, and let them go. I spoke honestly to everyone I knew, which I was afraid to do before, I
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began eating only raw foods. I signed up for a class that was just for fun, the first in my life at the age of 48, threw out all my old clothes and got new ones (okay from the second hand store but new to me). Now I am looking at my work and affirming I choose to earn a living doing what I enjoy and do well, and it will not be a rival for my spiritual life, which is what I live for. EFT is a powerful tool for transformation. There are other things we must do along with it, following the healing process on every level as it presents itself, making the changes, but it is definitely a powerful primary tool. Everyone can be helped with it. I was a trained holistic therapist so I know the levels of severity human beings can be damaged at. I was a worst case. I was the worst life case I ever saw and I had many a guru in my life whom I asked for help. I was considered incurable by every healing modality. And I was incurable, but I learned the curing and healing are different. There are a lot of people who may be considered incurable, but every one of them is capable of being healed. And I know because I should have died decades ago. I beat all the odds. So I know there is not anyone out there who cannot follow in my footsteps and do the same. ~~~~ To clear our emotional baggage, we must include all the “stuff” we collected during childhood. It is usually foundational, by which I mean we build on it by adding memories, reactions, and layers of emotion, and it is often behind our current issues.
Beginner taps on childhood events by Angie Muccillo I recently ran an EFT workshop and received some interesting feedback from one of the participants, whom I will call Sarah. Before the workshop, Sarah was tapping almost daily on her present conditions, stresses, and worries, getting some relief but not making a lot of headway with her level of anxiety. In her email to me after the workshop, she wrote: "For a week or so after the course I was making more headway on my anxiety but life was still not much fun! I did have a new feeling of calm but it was still hard work getting through most days. I was tapping all the time on my anxiety and other present conditions as I had been since Christmas and making somewhat slow progress. Then last week I finally heeded the words to tap on childhood events and suddenly everything started changing. It just hadn't seemed like it would help so I wasn't wasting my time on this old stuff when I had so many present problems! The childhood events didn't look to me to be anyway related to present anxieties 264
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so I would never in a million years have tapped on these. If I'd had to try and choose some past events to try and "cure" my anxieties I probably would have gone for teenage stuff but the stuff I was tapping on was very early – about the age of five – but I guess that set the stage for my responses later on!" Sarah's belief that "tapping on childhood events was a waste of time" appears to have presented a major block to her progress. It wasn't until she decided to tap on early childhood memories that she started making more significant progress. During the workshop Sarah worked on and successfully cleared a past trauma involving the death of her cat using the Movie Technique. To me this points out three important things: The value of attending workshops. The importance of tapping on specific childhood events. The importance of persistence. Tapping on specific childhood events using the Movie technique is a fundamental EFT concept. Present day anxieties are often replays of our childhood dramas and traumas and will continue to create the same patterns in the present until they are resolved. Until Sarah started tapping on these childhood traumas, her present day struggles were not resolving as effectively as possible. Now that this has clicked for her, she is getting much better results. She is also dedicated to doing the work and is reaping the benefits. "I still feel like I've only touched a very small amount of the big stuff before the age of 10 but things have changed hugely and everyday just seems to be getting better. Even though I've got a long way to go I have a sense of joy now that I can't remember feeling for a very long time, and I’m enjoying the first serious relief from eight years of always-present anxiety Thanks so much for running the workshop. The day really inspired me not to give up with EFT." I wonder how many others out there share this belief that "tapping on childhood events is a waste of time" and are not making use of the personal peace process and tapping on specific events? These setups may help: Even though tapping on all that old childhood stuff is A WASTE OF TIME and I've got better things to tap on… Even though up until now I haven't found the need to tap on childhood events… Even though up until now I haven't understood the significance of tapping on all that childhood stuff…
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If you are not getting results with EFT it may be worthwhile to check into your beliefs around what you think does and does not work and tap on any beliefs that says "this is a waste of time." If we are convinced something will not work or is a waste of time, we do not try it and consequently miss out on important opportunities to heal. Sarah found the key to healing her present day anxieties when she heeded the words to "tap on childhood events." ~~~~
Domestic violence is one of those unspoken atrocities that exists in our culture. Fortunately, Ann Peck found ways to use EFT for herself and her children immediately after her ex-husband attacked her. Knowing how to use EFT in an emergency can be very helpful!
EFT in the aftermath of domestic violence by Ann Peck It’s been four years since EFT blessed my life with its presence. I’ve dedicated my EFT practice to working with women, especially those with histories of abuse. Teach what you know, they say ... and so I do. EFT has been instrumental in my healing in so many ways. My history includes sexual, physical and verbal abuse, among other things. While EFT has helped in healing the effects of past abuse, sadly, it cannot prevent abuse from happening. It does, however, give us something to use when abuse occurs. Recently, I was physically assaulted by my former husband. My children, ages 6 and 11, were present and my older child got involved by jumping onto her father, telling him not to hurt her mom. She then called 911. EFT to the rescue ... in a manner of speaking, that is. Upon getting to safety and while waiting for the police, I immediately began tapping. I can ’t believe he did this … I’m really okay ... It wasn’t my fault … I didn’t cause this to happen … Need to calm down … Kids need me. EFT calmed my emotions and pulled my scattered energies back into balance, allowing me to attend to my daughter, who told me she was so scared and that she thought her dad was going to kill me. I asked her if we could tap. She looked back at her dad and promptly refused. (Her dad is against tapping – probably because he has seen it work!) I tapped as a surrogate for her and noticed her breathing started to even out and the crying and shaking stopped. I tapped for … this precious child … this amazing strong child … this courageous child … feeling safe … breathing calmly. 266
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Later that evening I tapped with my son as we talked about what happened. By the time we were done, he was able to rest peacefully through the night. This event continues to give us lots of opportunities for tapping as we navigate through the legal system and our own individual healing. I cannot imagine life without EFT! ~~~~
Consider next this "impossible" case. Before EFT, health professionals would have gasped at the mere notion of anyone trying to collapse his or her own Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. How could someone do this on his own when even the most knowledgeable pro would typically take months or years ... and usually a lot of meds ... to make any noticeable progress? I personally think such severe trauma should be handled under the guidance of a skilled EFT professional because unexpected intensities could certainly arise. However, Bob Patefield in the U.K. couldn't get this help as he was on a long waiting list to see a psychologist. Sooooo, he got our materials and did it himself.
Paramedic cures his own PTSD by Bob Patefield Two and a half years ago my 14-year career as a Paramedic ended following a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I was in a real mess with nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, and compulsive behaviors, to name a few. As I traveled around, I would pass places where I had attended serious road accidents and other traumatic events, and they would vividly replay in my mind. I would see the accident in any situation. If someone simply crossed the road in front of me, I would see them fall and injure themselves in graphic detail. I would see my partner off to work in the morning and then was unable get images of her in a serious road accident out of my mind. It was a very unpleasant time. I'm not sure how I got in this state. It seemed very gradual, although there were some very traumatic incidents in my career. The worst was the attempted murder of two young boys by their father. My colleague on that day never worked again, it was so distressing for him. I managed another seven years. If only I had known about EFT then. Although I got some basic counseling though my General Practitioner, I was left on a very long waiting list to see a psychologist. I was desperate to find a selfhelp tool.
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I had seen EFT demonstrated two years before, but I wasn't convinced, so when my partner had her longstanding fear of heights diffused very rapidly, I had to look in more detail. I downloaded the manual and got tapping straight away. I was getting results almost immediately. I would spend an hour or so a day tapping on whatever issues came to mind, shifting here and there, tree to tree, using it to diffuse anxiety and stress in whatever situation arose. I ordered the wonderful DVDs and watched them all over the next 12 months, using the techniques I learned on myself and others. When I finally got my appointment to see the psychologist (after a two-year wait) she could find no traces of PTSD at all. She seemed very surprised that I had managed to deal with the PTSD myself, so I told her how I had gone about it. She seemed to think that EFT had somehow suppressed the traumatic feelings and they would resurface in the future. We know different, though. EFT has helped me not only get over the PTSD, it has also helped me rid myself of tons of negative baggage and self-limiting beliefs from my childhood. I built a growing hi-fi business and set myself up as an EFT Practitioner in Lancashire. My whole family has benefited from these great techniques, and EFT has made us closer than we have ever been. I am currently offering a free group session to Ambulance staff from my old service, not just for their benefit, but for the benefit of their patients too. There are so many opportunities to use EFT in frontline emergency care that I almost miss being a Paramedic - Mmmm! Night shifts. No. I changed my mind. I don't miss it at all. ~~~~
In conclusion .... Whether you’re working with yourself, your spouse or partner, your children, a friend or relative, a client, a patient, or even a favorite pet, EFT is a powerful tool for the relief of all types of pain, discomfort, trauma, stress, and anxiety. I hope you will join me in exploring its powerful benefits. Master what’s in these pages and you will never view healing the same way again. Together we will build within you a bridge to the land of personal peace. Once built, this bridge will become a lifetime skill that you can use to spread emotional freedom and joy from yourself to others. And it’s permanent. Like gold, it doesn’t rust or tarnish or become obsolete. It will always be there for you.
The End
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EFT Glossary The following terms have specific meanings in EFT. They are referred to in some of the reports included here and are often mentioned in EFT reports. Acupoints Acupuncture points, which are sensitive points along the body’s meridians. Acupoints can be stimulated by acupuncture needles or, in acupressure, by massage or tapping. EFT is an acupressure tapping technique. Art of Delivery The sophisticated presentation of EFT that uses imagination, intuition, and humor to quickly discover and treat the underlying causes of pain and other problems. The art of delivery goes far beyond Mechanical EFT. Aspects are “issues within issues,” different facets or pieces of a problem that are related but separate. When new aspects appear, EFT can seem to stop working. In truth, the original EFT treatment continues to work while the new aspect triggers a new set of symptoms. In some cases, many aspects of a situation or problem each require their own EFT treatment. In others, only a few do. Basic Formula See Mechanical EFT. Basic Recipe A four-step treatment consisting of Setup phrase, Sequence (tapping on acupoints in order), 9-Gamut Treatment, and Sequence. This was the original EFT protocol. Borrowing Benefits When you tap with or on behalf of another person, your own situation improves, even though you aren’t tapping for your own situation. This happens in one-on-one sessions, in groups, and when you perform surrogate or proxy tapping. The more you tap for others, the more your own life improves. Chasing the Pain After applying EFT, physical discomforts can move to other locations and/or change in intensity or quality. A headache described as a sharp pain behind the eyes at an intensity of 8 might shift to dull throb in back of the head at an intensity of 7 (or 9, or 3 or any other intensity level). Moving pain is an indication that EFT is working. Keep "chasing the pain" with EFT and it will usually go to zero or some low number. In the process, emotional issues behind the discomforts are often successfully treated. Chi Chi, or energy, flows through and around every living being. It is said to regulate spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical balance and to be influenced by yin (the receptive, feminine force) and yang (the active masculine force). These forces, which are complementary opposites, are in constant motion. When yin and yang are balanced, they work together with the natural flow of chi to help the body achieve and maintain health. Chi moves through the body along invisible pathways, or channels, called meridians Traditional Chinese Medicine identifies 20 meridians along which chi or vital
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energy flows or circulate through to all parts of the body. Acupoints along the meridians can be stimulated to improve the flow of Chi and, in EFT, to resolve emotional issues. Choices Method Dr. Patricia Carrington’s method for inserting positive statements and solutions into Setup and Reminder Phrases. . Core Issues Core issues are deep, important underlying emotional imbalances, usually created in response to traumatic events. A core issue is truly the crux of the problem, its root or heart. Core issues are not always obvious but careful detective work can often uncover them, and once discovered, they can be broken down into specific events and handled routinely with EFT. Generalization Effect When related issues are neutralized with EFT, they often take with them issues that are related in the person’s mind. In this way, several issues can be resolved even though only one is directly treated. Global While the term “global” usually refers to something that is universal or experienced worldwide, In EFT it refers to problems, especially in Setup phrases, that are vague and not specific. Intensity Meter The zero-to-10 scale that measures pain, discomfort, anger, frustration, and every other physical or emotional symptom. Intensity can also be indicated with gestures, such as hands held close together (small discomfort) or wide apart (large discomfort). Mechanical EFT EFT’s Basic Formula consists of tapping on the Karate Chop point or Sore Spot while saying three times, “Even though I have this __[problem]__, I fully and complete accept myself” (Setup phrase), followed by three rounds of tapping the Sequence of EFT acupoints in order, with an appropriate Reminder Phrase. Meridians Invisible channels or pathways through which energy or Chi flows in the body. The eight primary meridians pass through five pairs of vital organs, and twelve secondary meridians network to the extremities. The basic premise of EFT is that the cause of every negative emotion and most physical symptoms is a block or disruption in the flow of Chi, or energy, along one or more of the meridians. Movie Technique, or Watch a Movie Technique In this process you review in your mind, as though it were a movie, a bothersome specific event. When intensity comes up, stop and tap on that intensity. When the intensity subsides, continue in your mind with the story. This method has been a mainstay in the tool box of many EFT practitioners. It may be the most-often used EFT technique of all. For a full description, see www.emofree.com/tutorial/tutorcthree.htm Personal Peace Procedure An exercise in which you clear problems and release core issues by writing down, as quickly as possible, as many bothersome events from your life that you can remember. Try for at least 50 or 100. Give each event a title, as though
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it is a book or movie. When the list is complete, begin tapping on the largest issues. Eliminating at least one uncomfortable memory per day (a very conservative schedule) removes at least 90 unhappy events in three months. If you work through two or three per day, it’s 180 or 270. For details, see www.emofree.com/tutorial/tutormthirteen.htm. Reminder Phrase A word, phrase, or sentence that helps the mind focus on the problem being treated. It is used in combination with acupoint tapping. Setup phrase, or Setup An opening statement said at the beginning of each EFT treatment which defines and helps neutralize the problem. In EFT, the standard Setup phrase is, “Even though I have this ___________, I fully and completely accept myself.” Story Technique, or Tell a Story Technique Narrate or tell the story out loud of a specific event dealing with trauma, grief, anger, etc., and stop to tap whenever the story becomes emotionally intense. Each of the stopping points represents another aspect of the issue that, on occasion, will take you to even deeper issues. This technique is identical to the Movie Technique except that in the Movie Technique, you simply watch past events unfold in your mind. In the Tell a Story Technique, you describe them out loud. Surrogate or Proxy Tapping involves tapping on yourself on behalf of another person. The person can be present or not. Another way to perform surrogate or proxy tapping is to substitute a photograph, picture, or line drawing for the person and tap on that. Tail-Enders The “yes, but” statements that create negative self-talk. When you state a goal or affirmation, tail-enders point the way to core issues. Tearless Trauma Technique This is another way of approaching an emotional problem in a gentle way. It involves having the client guess as to the emotional intensity of a past event rather than painfully re-live it mentally. Writings on Your Walls Limiting beliefs and attitudes that result from cultural conditioning or family attitudes, these are often illogical and harmful yet very strong subconscious influences. Yin and Yang. See Chi, above.
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EFT Practitioners Ann Adams (USA, Georgia) www.eft4powerpoint.com
[email protected]
Ingrid Dinter (USA, New Hampshire) Healing Now PO Box 561 Hopkinton, NH 03229 Phone: 603-746-2328 www.eftcoach.us www.eft4vets.com
[email protected]
Maggie Adkins (Australia) PO Box 625 McLaren Vale SA 5171 Phone: 08 8388 3997 Cell/Mobile: 0420 314 837 www.maggieadkins.com.au
[email protected]
Rosemary Eads (USA, New Mexico) Sage Counseling 2019 Galisteo St., N10D Santa Fe, NM 87505 Phone: 505-989-4455 www.sagecounseling.org
[email protected]
Graham Batchelor (U.K.)
[email protected] Gwenn Bonnell (USA, Florida) Heaven on Earth Phone: 954-370-1552 www.tapintoheaven.com
[email protected]
Jerem Egan (USA, Oregon) Rogue Valley Healing Arts 33 North Central Avenue, Suite 410 Medford, OR 97501 Phone: 541-282-7950 or 1-888-763-3532
[email protected]
Patricia Carrington, PhD (USA, New Jersey) 61 Kingsley Road Kendall Park NJ 08824 Phone: 732-297-7261 Fax: 732-297-0778 www.masteringeft.com
[email protected]
Kim Eisen (USA, Minnesota) EFT Worldwide Phone: 612-802-HEAL (4325) www.doeft.com
[email protected]
Sophia Cayer (USA, Florida) Personal Peace Foundation Phone: 941-776-8584 www.sophiacayer.com www.personalpeacefoundation.org
[email protected]
Pat Farrell (USA, California) P. O. Box 420544 San Diego, CA 92142 Phone: 858-571-6545 www.pat-farrell.com
[email protected]
Wayne Clayton-Robb (UK, England) Watford, Hertfordshire Phone: 01923 350380
[email protected]
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Deborah Lindsey (USA, West Virginia) Self-Health and Awareness Center 3300 Grand Central Avenue Vienna, WV 26105 Phone 304-295-4411 or 304-295-9646 www.selfhealth andawarenesscenter.com
[email protected]
Denis Franklin (Australia)
[email protected] Andrea Fredi (Italy) EFT-Italia Phone: 335 66 46 951 www.eft-italia.it
[email protected] [email protected]
Mair Llewellyn-Edwards (England) Llewellyn Consultancy 4 St Marys Mews, Tickhill, S Yorkshire, DN11 9LR UK Phone +44 1302 743113 Fax: +44 1302 742346 www.TickhillClinic.com
[email protected]
Jo Hainsworth (New Zealand) Self Healing Portal www.selfheal4me.com Crystal Hawk (Canada, Toronto) Phone: 416-922-4325 Fax: 416-922-2261 www.therapeutictouch.com EFT Section www.managingyourmigraine.com
[email protected]
Dr. Carol Look (USA, New York) P.O. Box 1953 Madison Square Station New York, NY 10159 Phone: 212-477-8645 www.AttractingAbundance.com
[email protected]
Monica Broadfoot Johnson (USA, Arizona) EFT Gets U Better Personal Coach Tucson, AZ www.eftgetsubetter.com
[email protected]
Angela Treat Lyon www.angelatreatlyon.com
Lindsay Kenny (USA, California) Phone: 888-449-3030 www.LKcoaching.com
[email protected]
Dr. Steve Manire (USA, Arkansas) Great Relief Therapies Little Rock, AR www.greatrelieftherapies.com www.giveanhour.org www.chiroforvets.com
[email protected]
Dr David Lake (Australia) PO Box 738 Newport NSW Australia 2106 Phone: (61-2) 9997-3848 Fax: (61-2) 9999-2158 www.eftdownunder.com
[email protected]
Rebecca Marina (USA) www.rebeccamarina.com www.celebrationhealing.com
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Dawn Norton (U.S.A., Arizona) New Horizons PO Box 456 Duncan, AZ 85534 Phone: 508-464-6583 www.newhorizonseft.com
[email protected]
Jayne Morgan-Kidd (USA, Texas) Phone: 210-393-8663 or 210-525-9605 www.jaynemorgankidd.com
[email protected] Betty Moore-Hafter (USA, Vermont) Rising Sun Healing Center 35 King Street, Suite 7 Burlington, Vermont 05401 Phone: 802-860-7286 www.holistichypnotherapyeft.com
[email protected]
Bob Patefield (UK, England) 10 Reedymoor Terrace Foulridge, Lancashire BB8 7LQ Phone: 01282 867819 www.eftme.com
[email protected]
Alan Morison (U.K., Scotland) The Scottish EFT Centre Phone: 0131 339 6979
Ann Peck Goddess Journey, Inc. www.goddessjourney.com
Cell: 07766 936 906
www.eftuk.org Deepak Mostert (New Zealand and Indonesia) TREST AID (Trauma Relief & Emotional Support Techniques) www.trestaid.com
[email protected]
Marcia Platt www.marciaplatt.com Rev. Jeanne "J.R." Ranger (USA, Florida) 971 Virginia Ave., Suite E Palm Harbor, FL 34683 Phone: 727-375-7924 Fax: 610-471-5880
[email protected]
Drs. Phillip and Jane Mountrose Getting Thru www.gettingthru.org
Stewart Robertson (U.K., Scotland) The Consulting Rooms The Connal Building 34 West George Street Glasgow G2 1DA Phone: 07756 121 582 www.stressreliefclinic.co.uk
Angie Muccillo (Australia) Sublime Massage Clinic Hutton Street Thornbury Melbourne Vic Australia 3070 Phone: 0417391055 www.idealsolutions.com
[email protected]
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Barbara Smith (New Zealand) Phone: (+64) 06 3567999 www.eft-newzealand.com
[email protected]
Lisa Rogers (USA, Pennsylvania) The Ravens Nest Wellness Center 2579B Huntington Pike Huntington Valley, PA 19006-6111 Phone: 866-417-3137 www.theravensnestwellness center.com
[email protected]
Rick Wilkes (USA, West Virginia) Thriving Now 2567 University Avenue, Suite 3038 Morgantown, WV 26505 Phone: 304-284-0711 or 1-888-222-3856 www.thrivingnow.com www.painreliefwitheft.com
[email protected]
JoAnn SkyWatcher (USA, California) PO Box 789 Ukiah, CA 95482 Phone: 707-462-2501 www.wayhealthy.us
[email protected]
Zoe Zimmerman (U.S.A., Colorado) Phone: 303-444-1195 www.zoez-therapy.com
[email protected]
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Index Choices Method 135-139, 248 Clayton-Robb, Wayne 100 “A client resolves lifelong anger on her own” by Mair LlewellynEdwards 250 client’s language, importance of 186 cognitive shift 131 Constricted Breathing Technique 117 core issues, discovering 109 cross-over tapping 139 cure for PTSD? 18 date rape trauma 239 “Delivering EFT to a macho war veteran by Dr. Patricia Carrington 82 Diamond, Dr. John 1 Diepold, Dr. John 116, 205 Dinter, Ingrid 178 discovery statement 38 dissociation 201, 203-204 dissociative disorder 203 Don (veteran) 195 Donnie (PTSD example) 79-81 “Drowning-related trauma relief for a 9-year-old boy” by Tom Altaffer 233 Eads, Rosemary 229 Eden, Donna 148 “EFT beginner collapses her own PTSD” by Jamala Rose 257 “EFT clears PTSD from bombing in Iraq” by Andrea Fredi 102 “EFT clears up a long-ago date rape trauma” by Jeanne Ranger 239 “EFT for a Hurricane Katrina survivor” by Rebecca Marina 165 “EFT for a prisoner who is also a veteran” by Gene Joseph 100 “EFT for elementary school trauma” by Monica Broadfoot Johnson 232
abreactions 201, 205-206, 210-213, 235 Acceptance Phrase 47 “Accident victim resolves her own PTSD 40 years later” by Pat Farrell 252 acupuncture 6, 8 Adams, Ann 226 Adkins, Maggie 65 “Advantages of the 9 Gamut Procedure” by Mair Llewellyn 119-121 Altaffer, Tom 233 Andrade, Joaquin, MD 205 anger, PTSD and 213, 250 ankle points 42 Ann (example client) 244 Anthony (veteran) 76 Apex effect 45, 100, 101 argument tapping 140 Art (veteran) 62-63 art of delivery 46 aspects 107 aspects, examples of 67-68, 70-71 Barclay, Ken 245 Basic Recipe 25, 26 Batchelder, Alan 242-243 “Beginner taps on childhood events” by Angie Muccillo 260 betrayal trauma aspects 67, 187 Bob (veteran) 199 Bonnell, Gwenn 169 Borrowing Benefits 114-116, 252 Brenda (example client) 226 Callahan, Dr. Roger 1, 6, 45, 118 Camp Pendleton 13 car accident aspects 67 trauma 222, 224, 226, 252 Carlin (veteran) 62-64 Carrington, Dr. Patricia 82, 135, 215, 248 Cayer, Sophia 86 chasing the pain 131
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Eisen, Kim 104 EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) 235 “Employee overcomes anger at supervisor” by Steve Wells 214 Energy Medicine by Donna Eden 148 energy toxins 145 Ertl, Jeanne 13 exercise, vigorous, helps EFT 148 “Extreme trauma with a severe abreaction and what to do about it” by Jayne Morgan-Kidd 210 Farrell, Pat 252 Feinstein, David 148 Floor-to-Ceiling Eye Roll 117 forgiveness, EFT and 182 Fowlie, Adrienne 1, 74 Franco (veteran) 102 Franklin, Denis 228 Fredi, Andrea 102 Friedman, Dr. Phil 205 Gamut Point 36 Gary (veteran) 78 Gena D. 56 Generalization Effect 79 George (veteran) 104 “Getting over a gang rape – including a follow-up” by Ellen Simes 244 glossary of EFT terms 276-278 glossary, EFT terms 265 Goodheart, Dr. George 1 guest tapping 143 guilt 188-191, 218 Haas, Rue 202 Hainsworth, Jo 51 hand tapping points 35 “Handling the aftermath of a mugging with EFT over the phone” by Rosemary Eads 229 hanging trauma 230 Hannibal, Sue 13-14 Hawk, Crystal 99 healing, resistance to 185 “How EFT helped my PTSD” by Gena D. 56
“EFT for panic, agoraphobia, and feeling like a failure” by Zoe Zimmerman 219 “EFT for severe dissociative disorder” by Jerem Egan 203 “EFT formula for specific trauma” by Maggie Adkins 64 “EFT in the aftermath of domestic violence” by Ann Peck 262 EFT – Emotional Freedom Techniques aspects 107 affirmation statement 29 art of delivery 46 basic premise 3 Basic Recipe 25, 26 conditions that interfere with 127 discovery statement 38 energy toxins 145 exercise and 148 felt experience 150 food sensitivities and 145-146 glossary 265 hand tapping points 35 hard to do incorrectly 125 improving results 149 manual paperback edition 3 manual, languages available 3 optional points 42 positive language in 53 practitioner, how to select 73 preventive 228 PTSD tapping 54 Reminder Phrase 38 resistance to 184 Setup phrase 27 signs that it’s working 130-132 subsequent round adjustment 40 tapping points 33-34 tapping sequence 32 tapping tips 32-33 testing with combat veterans 15, 17 when it doesn’t work 145-148, 149 when to tap 120 Egan, Jerem 56, 126, 203
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Morrison, Alan 224 Mostert, Deepak 167 Mountrose, Dr. Jane 53 Mountrose, Dr. Phillip 53 Movie Technique 111, 230 Muccillo, Angie 260 mugging trauma 229 muscle testing (kinesiology) 251 music, tapping to 120 Nagy, Dr. Stephen, 19-24 Nassiriya, Iraq 102 9 Gamut Point – Karate Chop combination 119 9 Gamut Procedure 36-37, 119 Norton, Dawn 230 one-minute wonder 149 one-percent solution 215 opposite-hand tapping 139 optional points 42 “Paramedic cures his own PTSD” by Bob Patefield 263 past-tense tapping 144 Patefield, Bob 263 Paulette (Katrina survivor) 165 PCL-M 16 Penny (example client) 245 Peppiatt, David 242 Personal Peace Procedure 110 Philip (veteran) 78 photo tapping 143 Platt, Marcia 234 polarity reversal 28, 127 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) causes of 213-246 checklist – military (PCL-M) 16, 20 defined 11, 21 EFT for 54 Setup Phrases for 183 symptoms 11-12 military and 12, 21 study, San Francisco 86 “Preventive EFT after an attack in the street” by Denis Franklin 228 prisoner of war 100
“How I handled my child abuse PTSD all by myself” by Lisa Rogers 254 “How to weather hurricane stress with EFT” by Gwenn Bonnell 169 “How Unresolved Trauma Triggers PTSD” by Dr. Carol Look 59 Hurley, Wilber 14 Hurricane Katrina 165 hurricane stress, EFT for 169 Ideas for enhancing the standard EFT Setup 51 “Improving EFT results at home” by Barbara Smith 149 Indonesia earthquake 167 insomnia 104 intensity scale 25 Jack (veteran) 196 Jake (example client) 232 Jane (example client) 203 John (veteran) 86-98 John (veteran) 198 Johnson, Monica Broadfoot 232 Karate Chop point 31 Kenny, Lindsay 172 Kevin (veteran) 99 kinesiology (muscle testing) 251 kiss and tap 145 language, importance of 186 “Layers of trauma” by Sophia Cayer 86 Life Energy and the Emotions 1 Life Energy: Using the Meridians to Unlock the Power of Your Emotions 1 Lindsey, Deborah 152 Llewellyn-Edwards, Mair 19, 250 Look, Dr. Carol 59, 116, 247 Lyon, Angela Treat 53 Marina, Rebecca 165 Michael (veteran) 197 Miller, Giesele 14 Miller, Sgt. Trent 13-14 “miracle” reframe 53 mirror tapping 142 miscarriage trauma 234 Monterastelli, Gene 132 Moore-Hafter, Betty 48, 249
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EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The Promise of Energy Psychology by Donna Eden, David Feinstein, and Gary Craig 148 proxy tapping 113 psychological reversal 28, 127 Ralph (veteran) 75 Ranger, Jeanne 239 rape trauma 239, 242, 243, 245 “Rape trauma: It just doesn’t seem to bother me like it did” by Alan Batchelder 243 “Rapid relief from accident flashbacks” by Ann Adams 226 rapport, importance of 180 “Reframes (seeing things differently) for guilt, shame, and sorrow” by Stewart Robertson 218 refusal tapping 141 “Relieving the trauma of a car accident” by JoAnn SkyWatcher 222 Reminder Phrase 38 “Resolving PTSD from a traumatic miscarriage” by Marcia Platt 234 Rich (veteran) 74 Rick Rogers 12 Robert (veteran) 77 Robertson, Stewart 218 Robins, Dr. Eric 4, 18-19 Rogers, Lisa 254 Rose, Jamala 257 SA-46 16 San Diego Union Tribune 12 Sandy (example client) 243 San Francisco, veterans EFT study 86 Sarah (example client) 222 say goodbye to the past 130 school trauma 232 self-talk 127 Setup phrases 27 positive 53 shout 148 variations in 147 shame 218 Simes, Ellen 244 singing affirmations 142
Six Days at the VA (DVD) 74 SkyWatcher, JoAnn 222 Smith, Barbara 149 “Soft language to ease the EFT Acceptance Phrase” 48 Sore Spot 30 sorrow 218 subsequent round adjustment 40 Sue (example client) 224 surrogate tapping 113 survivor’s guilt 190-191 Susan (example client) 219, 250 Symptom Assessment 46 (SA-46) 16 TAB method 116, 208 tail-enders 128 “Tapping for being ’able, willing, and worthy’” by Deborah Lindsey 152 “Tapping for Collections of Traumas” by Lindsay Kenny 172 “Tapping on a single ‘personal’ point” by Jerem Egan 126 “The tap-while-you-gripe technique” by Rick Wilkes 123 Tearless Trauma Technique 111-114, 208, 249 Tell a Story Technique 111, 230 terrorist attacks, EFT for 153-164 thank-you tapping 142-143 Thich Nhat Hanh 178 tinnitus 62 “Tip-toeing into two car accident traumas” by Alan Morison 224 Tommy (veteran) 82-85 Top 10 Tapping Tips 139-145 top of head point 42 Touch and Breathe method 116, 208 “Trauma in the trunk of a car” by Ken Barclay 245 “Trauma relief for a prisoner of war” by Wayne Clayton-Robb 100 Trish (example client) 207, 235 “Trust and integrity with combat veterans” by Ingrid Dinter 178
279
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
“Using EFT for forgiveness: the onepercent solution” by Dr. Patricia Carrington 215 “Using EFT for the aftermath of a hanging and for unresolved mother-death grief” by Dawn Norton 230 “Using EFT for trauma relief after a major earthquake in Indonesia” by Deepak Mostert 167 “Using EFT to reduce rape trauma” by David Peppiatt 242 veterans, EFT for PTSD 172-197
“Vietnam vet sleeps for the first time in 39 years” by Kim Eisen 104 “War trauma – no more nightmares” by Crystal Hawk 99 “When EFT loses its effectiveness” by Gene Monterastelli 132 “Where only the pros should tread” by Lori Lorenz 207 Wilkes, Rick 123 wrist points 42 writings on your walls 127 Yogykarta earthquake 167 “you” tapping 144 Zimmerman, Zoe 219
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