EFT Tapping Success Stories with Veterans

EFT Tapping Success Stories with Veterans: Constance Louie-Handelman, Ph.D, a former captain in the US Army Reserve shares how after just one round of EFT tapping, soldiers were noticeably changed.

photo by Lance Cpl. Jason T. Guiliano

By Constance Louie-Handelman, Ph.D CPT, USAR, MS

I began investigating Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) when a friend told me about “tapping.”

Although I have a Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology, I was continually searching for other effective techniques that could help clients. I studied EMDR, Neuro-linguistic Programming and hypnotherapy.

However, after studying and practicing EFT, I found it worked quickly in eliminating fears, limiting beliefs, pain, and releasing traumatic events. Every opportunity I had, I used EFT with family, friends, and clients and achieved excellent long lasting results. I was so confident in EFT that I felt I had something to offer when I read about the high rate of suicide among U.S. soldiers.

I was commissioned as a captain in the US Army Reserve on March 2010, and was deployed to Afghanistan from July 2011 to May 2012. As a psychologist, I was in charge of a forward operating base in Kandahar Province and officially saw 199 individual soldiers (574 sessions).

Once I established rapport, understood their problems and needs, I used EFT primarily for anger, sleep, depression, and stress.

After just one round of tapping, soldiers were noticeably more relieved and calmer. Soon thereafter, soldiers added more details about their problems, or expressed issues that they had kept to themselves for years. Feeling the positive profound result, it was then easy to encourage soldiers to learn how to tap, something they could do themselves in a matter of minutes, in order to release past, current, anticipated problems or “pre-emptive tapping,” as one soldier called it.

The ease to learn and to apply the tapping was an important element of EFT since I often saw a solider just for one session.

I realized the success of EFT when soldiers were able to return to full duty, wanting to learn more about EFT, or having referred other soldiers into my office. Since returning home, I am disheartened to learn that EFT is not an accepted technique in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Fortunately, there is the Veterans Stress Project (www.stressproject.org) that offers free EFT sessions for returning vets

I can only hope that the VA’s powers-to-be will soon realize the effectiveness of EFT in order to help thousands of suffering vets, thus making a dramatic dent in the suicide rate. 

The Worst thing to ignore if someone you love has PTSD

This simple but effective technique is finding more and more skeptics turning to believers in the therapy world. EFT, or tapping, is easy to do, gives immediate relief and once you know how to do it, you can do it for yourself. So what's keeping the VA from adopting it TODAY? They want more studies.

Considering the massive amount of success that PTSD sufferers have had with this amazingly simple technique, we hope they get their studies done quickly.

Here is a quote from the article in Press Democrat.com about one man's experience...

To treat the post-traumatic stress disorder he's endured for four decades — the sleeplessness, the depression, the troubled relationships — Peter Tracy turned last year to tapping.

"It made a difference," said Tracy, 61, a Vietnam veteran. "I feel like I'm doing OK."

He said his Army service in Vietnam with a combat supply unit felt "like a nightmare I couldn't get out of."

Tapping, known formally as emotional freedom techniques, or EFT, is a therapy in which patients, guided by someone trained in the procedure, tap on acupressure points by the eye, over the lip, on the chest and under an arm. At the same time, the patient describes past traumas, ranks the intensity of the memory and repeats statements meant to affirm self- acceptance in the face of the experience.

For the entire article here is the link from PressDemocrat.com ...

http://www.eftuniverse.com/images/stories/6-4-10/pressdemovets.pdf

Only one in ten veterans who enters treatment for PTSD in the V.A. actually completes it.

This startling statistic should be an alarm that something needs to change in order for more vets to get the help they need for this life changing, debilitating condition. Two men have been in Washington D.C. this year trying to do just that!

On their first visit, Dawson Church and David Feinstein went, with a Second Lieutenant, to attempt to get Congress to set up hearings to plead the case that Energy Psychology is superior to conventional treatments for soldiers and veterans suffering with PTSD. Here is what Dr. Feinstein writes after finally getting in front of Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey.

Our presentation was brief but effective, centering around the Second Lieutenant telling of his story. While serving as a guard and medic in Iraq, he was able to psychologically mobilize himself to perform his duties like a model soldier. He had enlisted in the Army and was deployed to the “Triangle of Death” in Baghdad, where he served in 2006 and 2007. He attended to mass casualties and encountered many bloodied, burned, and dead bodies.  The first casualty he witnessed was a member of his unit who had half his head blown off.  It was a time when fellow soldiers were being kidnapped and beheaded.  At night, lying in his tent, in an area being heavily bombed, he explained what goes on in the mind:  “When the sound of a whizzing rocket fills the air, if you hear an explosion three seconds later, you are alive.  If you don’t, you are dead.”   

Upon returning to the U.S., safety did not provide comfort. In a classroom or other public setting, he would be calculating his response should there be an attack. Sirens were now the screams of approaching rockets.  An ebullient personality before the war, his inner life had become dry and restricted. He no longer found himself laughing.  He realized in retrospect that he had become dissociated from his body.  He gradually came to accept that his undiagnosed PTSD was his new way of life.  Having become an officer, and in training now to become a physician, he knew that reporting a psychological difficulty of this magnitude could have a devastating impact on his career. 

About a year after returning from Iraq, a friend commented on how he had changed. She offered to try a technique that she thought might be helpful.  This led to a three-hour session of EFT (a form of Energy Psychology) where he made a list of every trauma he experienced during the war. Giving a 0-to-10 “subjective units of distress” rating to the first item on his list, he reported that it was a 0.  He felt no distress in his (dissociated) body.  His friend had him tap on the memory anyway.  Within minutes he was sobbing, feeling the full impact of the memory, as high a 10 as could be imagined.  For three hours they went through and, by tapping on acupuncture points, emotionally neutralized every memory on his list.  He described how one of the first things he noticed as the session progressed was a return of sensation in his hands.  He said it was like he was back in his body.  By the end of that single session (followed by a brief follow-up session the next day), he was cured of all his symptoms of PTSD.  Now nearly two years later, although his friend would be happy to provide follow-up at any point, he has been his joyful self again, no longer hypervigilant, and in no need of further help. 

Dawson followed with a brief description of the research he has conducted demonstrating that the poignant story just told was not an isolated incident but rather an example of a reliable and unusually effective treatment for PTSD.  He described the Iraq Vets Stress Project, which has offered free Energy Psychology treatment to hundreds of veterans through an international network of more than 100 providers, with many VA therapists referring veterans for treatment. 

For the whole story go here! 

Veterans PTSD documentary to be finished in May

great news, in spite of announcing his retirement, Gary Craig has given a potential date of May for the finished film on healing PTSD with veterans using EFT. Here's a quote from his most recent newsletter.


"Vets Movie: The vets movie is still in process.  Best estimate for availability is May of 2010.  I will announce it when it is ready."


I'll keep you posted and let you know how and where to go to find this DVD when it's finished!

Ask a Veteran about EFT's value

This just in from the EFT free newsletter, a VERY good source of information and stories from people who have used Emotional Freedom Technique successfully in their own lives.

Ask a Veteran about EFT's value:
Debi Stanley is a Veteran who experienced EFT in a specialized workshop for Vets in San Francisco over a year and a half ago. She is willing to correspond with you about her experience. She says, "Before EFT in San Francisco, I had been suffering from depression for over 20 years and took every med in the books. I also had severe nightmares once or twice per week that would cause me to scream in the middle of the night. After EFT, I am off the meds and have had neither depression nor nightmares since. EFT saved my life."

Pretty powerful testimonial to the effectiveness of this work. It's especially good when you can work with a practitioner and there are several people out there who specialize in working with veterans, from all wars. Many EFT practitioners are easily able to work over the phone, if you are in a remote area. When you can't work with a practitioner, which I highly recommend, there are alternatives. From e-books, click here, to audio files and CD's.

Here's the link for the newsletter, you can sign up and probably get to this issue. If not drop me a line and I'll send it to you. newslettersign-up

Welcome to Healing Now!

am forwarding this from Ingrid...
here is the link for more information...http://NewEFT4Vets.com

Welcome to Healing Now!

www.eftcoach.us
www.eft4vets.com

June 7th 2009

EFT4Vets 2 day workshop In Concord, NH (30" from Manchester airport)
June 27-28 2009 more info about EFT4Vets

Please forward this email to whoever might be interested in advanced EFT and helping Veterans and their families heal from the trauma of war. Thank You!

Hi Everyone,
as many of you know, I was invited to speak about EFT4Vets at the recent ACEP Conference (www.energypsych.org) in Orlando Florida. I also presented the first results of the first randomized research study "EFT for Combat Veterans" (http://www.stressproject.org, http://www.eft4vets.com).

The results are very promising.

Both presentations were very well received and resulted in wonderful new connections and support for EFT4Vets.

It was an exciting weekend (especially the last 15 minutes before the presentation, where I felt I had to completely redo my PPT...:-), and the night before, when my printer broke and I stayed up until 3:30am to learn how to use the new one and print out some worksheets...

There is so much to speak about, teach, demonstrate and practice with EFT4Vets. This work has truly become a spiritual journey, not just as an EFT coach, but as a Minister as well. I embrace all the lessons learned and am very grateful for my Veterans and the many wonderful teachers who have been sharing with me many of the insights that allow for me to do my work this way.

So in less than 3 weeks, on June 27th-28th 2009, I will be teaching the full EFT4Vets program with a new and expanded curriculum at the Holiday Inn in Concord, NH. I very much hope you can join us!

Even if you are not interested in working specifically with Veterans, the advanced methods that will be taught will enhance your skill level as an EFT practitioner greatly.

Here are some testimonials from the presentation:

"I so thoroughly enjoyed your breakour session and I loved your passion. There is so much to learn and do!" T.
" I loved meeting you in person! You are great, and so is your mission. I know we will interface in our lives." R.

EFT4Vets workshop
When: Sat-Sun, June 27th-28th 2009
Time: 9:00am-5:00pm
Where: Holiday Inn, 172 N.Main St., Concord, NH 03301 (30 min. from Manchester/Boston airport)
Cost: $275.- ($245.- when sign up before June 20th)
An wonderful, inexpensive Lunch buffet will be available

In this EFT4Vets 2 day workshop, attendees will learn how to use Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) skillfully and successfully with returning Veterans and their families.

EFT has been showing very convincing, positive and lasting results even for the release of severe combat trauma. Read the Research results! Watch the EFT for Combat Veterans video on the home page for a demonstration!

But helping Veterans and their families heal from the trauma of war often requires much more than just an effective tool to releasing past trauma. To truly understand how we can help a Soldier heal, we need to know more about the archetypal "warrior" and the spiritual and historical meaning of war as a rite of passage and initiation. We need to understand the specific circumstances of different wars, and the meaning behind the stories that the Veterans might only want to touch on. The Veterans Community is in many ways very different from "the outside world", and having insights about the unique needs and background can make all the difference for a healing.

Some of the topics that will be covered in this seminar are:
- Several hours of demonstration and practice
- Research and discussion about the situation of returning Veterans
- The archetype of the "Warrior"
- War as a rite of passage and initiation
- Establishing Trust and Rapport
- Introducing EFT concepts to Veterans
- How to begin with EFT
- Discussion of specific issues that need to be addressed
- Insights into war specific trauma
- Practice of different gentle EFT approaches, including making the right choices
- Reframing of traumatic memories
- Spiritual discussion of forgiveness
- Childhood issues in the context of war
- Discussion of issues that often occur together
- Proper goal setting for a session
- The legal and ethical boundaries of this work for licensed/non-licensed practitioners
- Insights into the situation of the military families
- Helping family members heal with EFT
- Outlook into the Future of EFT4Vets and support for returning Veterans and their families

A certificate of completion will be given at the end.
Please contact me with any questions you may have!

Hope to see you on the 27th!
Love
Ingrid

Please forward this email to whoever might be interested in advanced EFT and helping Veterans and their families heal from the trauma of war. Thank You!
http://eftcoach.us/NewEFT4Vetsdescription.html

Here is some news from the EFT Community ...

A dedicated group of EFT'ers is voluntarily helping our war veterans. To date, 131 vets have enrolled in the project. A big thank you to Dawson Church, Crystal Hawk and the 64 EFT volunteers (many can do it by phone). The project is open to all vets who have served in the American Military (including nurses). Details

If you know someone who needs help but doesn't have the financial resources to get it, or simply doesn't know where to go, is tired of a run around, hasn't got the energy for the paperwork, then encourage them to get in touch with these folks. It's a great way to start feeling normal again!

successful use of EFT with an Iraq Veteran after 3 tours in Iraq

Wondering if you or someone you love can ever get over those feelings of nightmares, flashbacks, chronic insomnia, irritable/angry, anxiety, hypervigilant, avoiding crowds?

Here is a real case of successful treatment in the hands of a competent therapist using EFT. This method DOES work, it's fast, it's easy and it's effective! It's drug free, it's inexpensive. And it's so exciting to see this kind of progress... someone who can with help, go from traumatized to calm, anxious to smiling, avoiding eye contact to making eye contact. Thank you to Gary Craig for developing EFT and to Sue Hannibal for sharing this story of your work with an Army Sergeant

By Sue Hannibal

Session one: Joshua 1/27/09

History: Army Sgt. age 27, 10 years in, male, three tours in Iraq - first tour 2003: 18 months, second tour 12 months, 2005-6, third tour 9 months, 2007-08 at which point he was MEDEVACed out for PTSD. He was sent to Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany for one week, then to Ft. Bragg, N.C. At Bragg he was given various drugs including anti-psychotics and anti-depressants, none of which helped. He’s not on any drugs at this date. He went to Army therapy for a year, most of which he described as "visualize about what happened and put a positive ending on it," which didn’t help. Symptoms he described: nightmares, flashbacks of three or four specific scenes, chronic insomnia, irritable/angry, anxiety/can't relax, hypervigilant, avoids crowds. At this date he is non-deployable and is on medical board list to be separated from the Army due to PTSD. He wants to heal and might stay in the Army.

Summary:

Joshua was referred by an Army doctor at Ft. Bragg. Two standard PTSD scales were administered prior to our first 90-minute session on Tues. Jan 27^th. PCL-M score 54, SA-45 score 99. The day after our session, Wednesday morning, he reported to the doctor and to me that he slept all night Tuesday without awakening and free of nightmares for the first time in over one year.

He came back for session two, three days later, on Friday... In the second session, we only did one round of tapping on a perception of never feeling safe in Iraq, but all other issues were already a zero. During treatment we addressed, in an indirect, non-retraumatizing way using the EFT Movie Technique, the worst memory of his entire time in Iraq, which occurred during the first tour - an ambush and fierce firefight where three soldiers were killed by RPGs in an unarmored humvee. His affect was nervous, subdued voice, shoulders forward, eyes down, fighting back tears and couldn't maintain eye contact with me.

His job was convoy security which was once a day seven days a week. He estimated the convoy was attacked four or five times per week, ranging from a spray of AK-47 bullets by an insurgent to IEDs (roadside bombs) to RPGs, (rock-propelled grenades) to full on ambushes. The first time he was in an IED attack, the humvee flipped over and he was thrown out of the back, lost his weapon and he had only his 9 mm handgun.

About 45 minutes into the session, we took a break. He reported that the charge on the ambush flashback/memory he titled "HELL" ("if that event was a movie, what would be the title?") was down to about a 4 or 5 from a 10+ on an intensity scale of 0 to 10. We continued treatment, his affect became more animated, he relaxed into the chair, smiled, eye contact began. At the end, when I asked what number on the 1 to 10 scale that HELL memory was now, he shrugged his shoulders, moved his head from side to side said, "I don't know, I feel really calm about it now, I think it's gone. I can remember what happened but I don't feel anything bad about it."

thanks to army.mil for the photo

The Treatment of Combat Trauma in Veterans Using EFT

by Dawson Church

The Treatment of Combat Trauma in Veterans using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques): A Pilot Protocol. Traumatology, March

With a large number of US military service personnel coming back from Iraq with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a variety of associated psychological problems, a need exists to find protocols and treatments that are effective for these conditions in brief treatment time frames. In this study, a sample of 11 veterans and family members were assessed for PTSD and other conditions. Evaluations were made using standard psychological evaluations, the SA-45 (Symptom Assessment 45) and the PCL-M (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist – Military). The study used a time-series, within-subjects, repeated measures design. A baseline measurement was obtained thirty days prior to treatment, and immediately before treatment began. Subjects were then treated with a brief and novel exposure therapy, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), for five days with 2 to 3 hours of treatment per day. Statistically significant improvements in the SA-45 and PCL-M scores were found at post-test. These gains were maintained at both the 30- and 90-day follow-ups on the general symptom index, positive symptom total and the anxiety, somatization, phobic anxiety, and interpersonal sensitivity subscales of the SA-45, and on PTSD. The remaining SA-45 scales improved post test but were not consistently maintained at the 30- and 90-day follow-ups. In summary, after EFT treatment, the group no longer scored positive for PTSD, the severity and breadth of their psychological distress decreased significantly, and most of their gains held over time. This suggests that EFT can be an effective post-deployment intervention.

Man Helps Fellow Vets Heal Through Horses

Here's another great healing tool available to veterans. It takes longer than EFT but can be a very powerful lifelong aid. Anybody who has animals can attest to the fact that they can really help make a bad day better. The list of studies with animals in care facilities, homes for the elderly, childrens hospitals all show very positive results. Thanks to CBS 4 Denver for the article.

Written By Tom Mustin

ELIZABETH, Colo. (CBS4) ― A local Vietnam veteran is using "horse power" to help his fellow soldiers recover from post traumatic stress disorder.

John Nash is using a practice called equine assisted psychotherapy. The treatment uses a horse's instinctive bond with humans to help the veterans heal emotionally and physically from life on the battlefield.

"Now there's hope. We're creating hope," says Nash.

CBS4's Tom Mustin spent the day at Nash's moon fall ranch in Elizabeth and watched the therapy in action.

"This is my passion. This is the only thing I want to do for the rest of my life," says Nash.

Two months ago Nash started "Combat Veterans Cowboy Up." The non-profit program includes classroom training and trail riding for veterans suffering from PTSD and other mental illnesses associated with combat. A certified psychotherapist is also on hand.

"The program will help them to trust again, help them integrate into society again," explains Nash. "Just increase their whole quality of life. That's the goal. The wounds that soldiers have with PTSD, you can't see but they are just as much a wound as a physical wound and in cases worse because it's unrelenting. It doesn't leave."

Nash has a special bond with his fellow veterans. He served in Vietnam with the Army's 1st cavalry. Three years ago he was diagnosed with severe depression and PTSD.

"I was at the very lowest I ever was. Pretty much ready to check out," he says.

Nash wandered into his barn and sat there for hours comforted only by his horse.

"The horse stayed by me with her head over me like she was protecting me, eventually she would nudge me like she was saying it's ok now you can go to bed."

Nash says he experienced right then the healing power of horses. He says it's a form of therapy that's become more and more accepted nationwide. He decided to use his experience to help his fellow vets.

Right now there are five veterans in the program including Navy veteran Denny Romero.

"This gets us away to where we feel we're free again and don't have to deal with any of the other stuff that goes on," says Romero.

Nash is planning to build a new arena and riding area to accommodate 50 veterans at a time. He says the group is running on a shoe string budget so any donations are greatly appreciated.

Meanwhile John Nash and his horses have "cowboyed up" to change lives.

"I am so proud to have fought for our country. I always was," he says. "This is my purpose. We wonder why we survived. I know now why I survived. It's to run this program and help as many as I can."

Additional Resources:

http://combatveteranscowboyup.org/

2 spaces left!

Ingrid Dinter writes...

The first ever:
EFT4Vets
Life seminar

watch the EFT for Combat Veterans video on www.eft4vets.com

Learn top notch EFT techniques, gain insights, enhance your effectiveness

Helping Veterans and their families heal

Hi Everyone,
this is the last reminder of the EFT4Vets workshop this Saturday.

This class has filled without much announcement, which is very exciting. There are two spaces left, if you are interested in joining us.

What is EFT4Vets:
EFT4Vets is an advanced EFT program for practitioners who wish to help Veterans who suffer from Combat Stress.

Using a combination of different media, coaching, in depth training with advanced EFT approaches, insights into the world of Veterans and a multitude of techniques to help them, I will help you feel prepared to working with Veterans and their families.

One of the Veterans I am working with has volunteered to do some sessions during the class, so that you can experience the power of EFT with Veterans.

We will use the manuscript of an e-book chapter that I wrote for Gary Craig. Part of this will be published in his new book about using EFT for PTSD. Here is the link on amazon, so that you can get a preview: http://www.amazon.com/EFT-PTSD-Gary-Craig

Please email me (ingrid@eft4vets.com) so that I can send you the information you need.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!
Hugs
Ingrid

yet another VET getting relief from PTSD related symptoms!

Here's another successful treatment of combat PTSD of a veteran who had been at the V.A. seeking help. Thanks to Jan Luckenbach for sharing this story. If you don't know how to do the tapping she is talking about and would like to learn more here's a link...

http://www.emofree.com/get started for FREE

By Jan Luckenbach

I was asked to a cookout at a friend’s house and met Ron, one of her neighbors, at the party. At first glance, he had the look of a hollow eyed man that you see hanging around the corners downtown. His face was careworn and he had a depressed, miserable look to him. He managed a wan, toothless smile when I was introduced to him, and then he returned to picking at his plate of uneaten food.

I don’t know how the subject came up but he began telling me he went to the V.A. because he was having difficulty swallowing. They told him he had an ear infection and gave him antibiotics. That was 2 weeks ago and he hasn’t been able to eat or drink much since. He was in terrible agony every time he swallowed. He even went to the emergency room at one point because the pain was so intense that he couldn’t even drink water. I told him I could show him something that MIGHT be able to help him. At this point, I think he would have stood on his head if he thought it would help.

We adjourned to his apartment next door and I carefully explained the EFT process. We went through all the points and I tapped along with him. After telling me some of his history, of alcoholism, his wife’s suicide, some terrible war memories, PTSD, insomnia and other assorted ailments, I realized he was in need of professional help. He said he was being seen at the V.A. for his problems. (I am a former Psych Nurse, so I really understood him.)

So, as he brought up some of these issues, we tapped generally using the set-up “Even though I have this memory…” I felt it would give him some practice in the tapping procedure and it might free up some of his energy. As we tapped and he became more comfortable with the process, I decided to tap on his inability to swallow.

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when for the first time in 2 weeks he could swallow without pain after one round of tapping. After tapping on forgiving the doctors for not being able to help him, he smiled at me and said he didn’t believe it.

His whole countenance had changed. Gone were his furrowed brow and painful expression. He said even the trembling in his hands was better, holding out a barely moving hand. He said he couldn’t write because of the “shakes” and now that had improved as well.

He was hesitant to try eating because he was afraid that the pain would come back. I explained if it did, there might be something else that he had to tap on, as I had explained earlier. He seemed to understand and went to test the healing.

He very gingerly took a sip of water and looked at me with gratitude. No pain! He smiled and decided to eat a piece of cheesecake. I could see that the pain had not returned. Even though he was essentially fasting for 2 weeks, I will never forget the look of sheer pleasure he had on his face when he took that first delicious bite of blueberry cheesecake and swallowed without pain.

Jan Luckenbach

Have you seen this clip? It's VERY exciting news on healing PTSD for Vets.

It's VERY encouraging. Families, if your vet can't or won't get help right now...have faith, watch this video on actual filmed evidence of the effectiveness of this technique.

Gary Craig writes..."In March of this year 5 EFT experts and myself spent 5 days helping PTSD ridden war vets. The impressive results were all captured on film and a preliminary video is now available for you to view. A grander version, including more recent follow-ups, should be available within 3 months." Here's that link Help with PTSD for veterans

It's 19 minutes of information on how and why this new method of healing works so well. Not airy fairy ideas but hard facts and actual interviews. So families- watch this video without your vet first, then have your vet watch it with you if you think they are able to. THERE IS A SOLUTION! And many practitioners are offering their time free of charge for veterans and military spouses.
thanks to Tom T. for the photo!

EFT for Iraq veterans suffering from PTSD for FREE!!!!!

More good news from Gary Craig and the EFT team. This help is free and in the California area. With so many bases, this is a great place to have this project available to veterans wanting to heal the post traumatic stress symptoms that they may be suffering. If you or someone you know or love is having a hard time getting life back to normal after Iraq or Afghanistan, get to LA or San Francisco and get some help! The e-mail to Eric Huurre is below and good luck!!

EFT for our Iraq vets--no charge: As you may know, we have been filming some spectacular results with our PTSD burdened war veterans. Nightmares have faded, sleep has improved, intrusive thoughts and flashbacks have been minimized, etc. We are looking to complete this project with Iraq vets located in the Los Angeles or San Francisco areas. To be eligible, you must have recent Iraq/Afghanistan combat experience and be diagnosed with PTSD. Gary Craig and/or an EFT expert will work with you personally on camera without any cost to you whatsoever. If interested please write to our film's producer, Eric Huurre, at eric@skywriter.ca. Please write with some details about yourself or the person you are recommending for consideration. We are particularly interested in veterans with spouses or partners who would be prepared to appear on camera and also undergo EFT treatments on camera. Your story could help the lives of multitudes of your combat brothers and sisters.

EFT offering free help to Veterans

this just in from the EFT website...

Now, the Iraq Vets Stress Project, which offers EFT to ALL veterans free of charge, and which many of you have supported with your donations, is launching a nationwide study of vets with PTSD (whether or not they served in Iraq). If you know of a veteran who is suffering from nightmares, health problems, flashbacks, insomnia, or some of the other symptoms of PTSD, please encourage them to apply for the study. Help is available in many cities, as well as over the phone. Go to http://www.StressProject.org/multicitystudy.html for details. You can also call Crystal Hawk at 416-922 4325 if you have questions or need direction.

it's a great opportunity to get a vet you know and love some FREE help!! The success they have had on previous studies have encourage and lead them to offer more help. The exciting thing is they are looking at long term changes for the better, with this relatively new and VERY easy technique.

ptsdcombat.blogspot.com Thanks to Ilona Meagher for the cool poster!

Troops' brain injuries inspire a new mission

USA TODAY

LANDSTUHL, Germany — It took nearly three years for the Army to understand the damage to Army Sgt. Chad Joiner's brain after a roadside explosion left him unconscious in a Humvee on June 28, 2005.

He finished his tour and returned home, struggled with headaches and memory loss, went back to Iraq and survived another bombing in February that aggravated his symptoms.

Only after arriving here at the Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center with an ankle injury in February did a new and aggressive screening program finally identify Joiner's brain injury and lead to treatment. "I'm just in shock that somebody is figuring out what's wrong with me," says Joiner, 26, who says his gratitude for the treatment outweighs any bitterness over the delay in diagnosing his injury.

The Pentagon debated for years whether to systematically screen troops for brain injuries such as Joiner's. A recent study by RAND Corp., a research group, says such injuries could have affected 320,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Uncertain how aggressively to identify a wound that is still largely a mystery, the Pentagon initially resisted calls to screen all service members coming out of the battlefield. Under pressure from Congress, the Pentagon in March ordered all military branches to screen for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

By then, doctors at this key Army hospital — through which all war casualties pass on their way home — already had begun to check each of the wounded for a brain injury in an effort that could set new standards for whether such troops ever return to duty.

This is wonderful news for current troops coming out of combat. Perhaps veterans will be able to avail themselves of this technology also in the future. It certainly will help reduce the stigma of PTSD and brain trauma related injuries. Which in turn will lead to better awareness, which in turn will lead to broader search for effective solutions.

One of which is Emotional Freedom Technique. Some of the things I like about EFT are: you or your soldier can start using it TODAY! it's really inexpensive, it brings quick relief, it is drug free, it is so easy to do. And it can reverse these unseen injuries.

Side effects? Well more energy, more joy, more freedom to live a normal life, more engagement in the present, less depression, less fear, less anger, better sleep-I could go on and on but you get the idea!

thanks for the photo by foreignobsessed

Parents-soldiers will need your help!

Time Magazine reports-

"For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines."

This is what one combat sergent discovered after some heavy missions...

"LeJeune visited a military doctor in Iraq, who, after a quick session, diagnosed depression. The doctor sent him back to war armed with the antidepressant Zoloft and the antianxiety drug clonazepam. "It's not easy for soldiers to admit the problems that they're having over there for a variety of reasons," LeJeune says. "If they do admit it, then the only solution given is pills."

... any drug that keeps a soldier deployed and fighting also saves money on training and deploying replacements. But there is a downside: the number of soldiers requiring long-term mental-health services soars with repeated deployments and lengthy combat tours. If troops do not get sufficient time away from combat — both while in theater and during the "dwell time" at home before they go back to war — it's possible that antidepressants and sleeping aids will be used to stretch an already taut force even tighter. "

These kids coming back will have several issues to deal with. May of them simply won't be able to coop on their own. Much less to try and get their lives back to normal. Adding drugs to the mix may effectively hide symptoms, but don't be fooled. They will need extra time, care, attention and love to aid healing. (At a time when they may accept it from you least.)

Take care of yourself first, so that you can be your best, calmest, most loving self, in order to start to help them find a way out of the downward spiral they may find themselves in. To help both you and them-look into complementary health alternatives as a way to assist the mental and physical healing. Reiki, aromatherapy, cranial sacral, reflexology, EMDR, Quantum Touch, the list goes on and on. And though the healing stories may be largely antidoctal-the vast quantity of them is to large to ignore!

Our favorite is EFT www.emofree.com. It's inexpensive, it can be done over the telephone, can be done in groups or alone, with or without the help of a professional, (although at first we recommend finding an expert practitioner) and has no side effects. Once you learn how, the whole family can use it.

Illustration by Lon Tweeten and D.W. Pine for TIME

Combating P.T.S.D. and Preventing Suicides

by Jennifer Litz
Del Rio LIVE!

Pat Dugan was a reconnaissance marine corporal in Vietnam for 19 months, starting in 1966. He’s now a passionate voice for veteran help that resounds throughout West Texas. “I am seeing one of the biggest mushroom clouds,” Dugan says of times ahead for Iraq/Afghanistan veterans. “’... there are no front lines in this war. You can be [in a non-combat service] and get your butt blown off the road there with anyone else. Everyone’s sitting around waiting for an explosion to go off, and they send you back and back for more tours.”

When these vets do come back home—or in between myriad deployments—they’re still fighting—for their benefits. “In Del Rio, for example, we’ve got people with problems,” Dugan says. “And they have to travel 150 miles to get help [at a VA clinic]. And then when you get up there, I’m not being mean, but when you go up there and apply to get help, you get some VA muffin that’s not a veteran, and they put you through mental gymnastics like you wouldn’t believe. [Vets] don’t want to be humiliated and go through that process.”

This is a great article on a upcoming progressive treatment center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Texas. Dugan points out 3 classic problems for getting treatment from traditional sources for PTSD...
1. fighting for benefits
2. traveling 150 miles to get help from a VA clinic
3. humiliation of the process
That's what I like about using EFT for this population. Once they know how to do it, they can start healing without the fighting, traveling or waiting. They can work with a practitioner or they can work on their own. They can use the Emotional Freedom Technique at home, on the road, sitting in traffic-anywhere. They can find a buddy to do it with. And if they can't do it on their own-family members, friends and spouses can do it with them. How many therapies can you say that about?

Getting help for PTSD related to the "combat environment" will no longer be a reason to deny security clearances

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, right, walked out of the Restoration & Resilience Center at Fort Bliss after touring it Thursday. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

Bracing against a blasting wind that reminded him of his native Kansas, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates spent a day at Fort Bliss touring a mental health center, watching a demonstration of the Army's newest technology, and meeting with soldiers and community leaders.

Gates had high praise for a Fort Bliss center designed to treat soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and return them to their units -- a center he said would serve as a prototype for the Army.

"They are doing some amazing things here in terms of helping soldiers who want to remain soldiers but who have been wounded with post-traumatic stress disorder," Gates said of the Restoration and Resilience Center. "I think it's an extraordinary program. ..... And one of the things that I will carry back to Washington with me is the question of whether we can replicate this at other posts around the country."

During a morning press conference in front of the center, Gates also formally announced a change in government policy he said would allow soldiers to seek help for PTSD without hurting their careers.

Getting help for PTSD related to the "combat environment" will no longer be a reason to deny security clearances, he said.

The Fort Bliss center is also looking at finding ways to help soldiers in combat zones deal with stress, Gates said, adding that those techniques "are clearly worth additional attention as well."

Changing the way the military and public in general feel about the stigma of PTSD is a HUGE step forward in admitting that this is a normal affliction of war. For the Secretary of Defense to announce this policy change says alot about the new climate of acceptance and healing. It's interesting that they are looking at therapies just as EFT is starting to become a mainstream solution to this type of disorder.

Helping a Loved One when they return from military duty

U.S. soldiers are deployed for 15 month combat tours (although this is supposed to change to 12 months in August), and marines for seven months. Readjusting to life in the states can be a huge challenge. About 12 percent of soldiers suffer from anxiety, depression, post-combat stress and other problems during their first tour, according to an Army survey, and that rises to 27 percent of those on their third or fourth combat tours. The long and repeated separations also take a toll on marriages, as more soldiers are reporting related marriage problems.

One of the best things for someone who has just gone through a traumatic event like combat, to do is to learn how to let go of the negative images and experiences in their head, and the feelings associated with them. Easy to say I know, but many energy treatments can help with this, reiki, quantum touch, energetic balancing of all kinds have the potential to bring immediate relief, by treating the cause, not the symptom.

It's also very important for the family and friends of the soldier to take care of their own needs. The job of welcoming home someone who may have become a stranger and running a household, while working and or raising a family is extremely stressful. Learning to do EFT can help you to stay in good shape (emotionally and physically) while you are helping others.

We like EFT because once you learn how to do it, you can work with a practitioner or on your own. It's easy to do, you can do it without expensive equipment or lengthy training, you can take it with you and you can do for someone else.