Using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques or "Tapping") to Treat a Case of PTSD
At a recent health fair where I offer EFT to the passing public, I was talking to Bev, another stallholder, just before the end of the day.
She commented that she was not looking forward to returning home and explained that two years previously she had been involved in a motorway pile-up caused by a driver who had cut across 5 lanes.
She was not injured but disliked driving ever since, avoiding it if possible as she frequently had panic attacks and had to return home, sometimes after only a few hundred yards.
She also had recurring nightmares, sweats and flashbacks and medication had not helped at all.
As she told me her story I could see the tears welling up in her eyes so, with permission, gave her a simple round of silent tapping which helped calm her immediately.
She readily assented to further tapping but I knew that re-exposure to the trauma would again bring up heavy emotion, something that is best avoided.
I decided on the gentle approach and began by taking her back to a calm state of mind just before the accident.
I asked her to edge forward from that calm state where she was at ease in the car into the very first second of the accident and to report what she could see and feel.
Doing that she said she saw the car that caused the accident just beginning to appear in the periphery of her vision.
When I asked her about her emotional state in that first second she reported a feeling of rising terror and helplessness.
I felt no need to check the intensity of her feelings - it was pretty obvious it was a 10+ - so we tapped for these emotions.
We did a full round of Tapping which took less than a minute.
After working on any remaining feelings rising from the accident 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 of the event she said it was like looking into a very distant scene (clients often report this when traumas have been released).
She could hardly believe what had happened as it has taken place so quickly but she left to do her packing with a definite spring in her step.
The whole process had taken no more than 5 minutes.
Almost 3 months later I met her again and asked if she was still experiencing any negative effects from 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!
She commented that she was not looking forward to returning home and explained that two years previously she had been involved in a motorway pile-up caused by a driver who had cut across 5 lanes.
She was not injured but disliked driving ever since, avoiding it if possible as she frequently had panic attacks and had to return home, sometimes after only a few hundred yards.
She also had recurring nightmares, sweats and flashbacks and medication had not helped at all.
As she told me her story I could see the tears welling up in her eyes so, with permission, gave her a simple round of silent tapping which helped calm her immediately.
She readily assented to further tapping but I knew that re-exposure to the trauma would again bring up heavy emotion, something that is best avoided.
I decided on the gentle approach and began by taking her back to a calm state of mind just before the accident.
I asked her to edge forward from that calm state where she was at ease in the car into the very first second of the accident and to report what she could see and feel.
Doing that she said she saw the car that caused the accident just beginning to appear in the periphery of her vision.
When I asked her about her emotional state in that first second she reported a feeling of rising terror and helplessness.
I felt no need to check the intensity of her feelings - it was pretty obvious it was a 10+ - so we tapped for these emotions.
We did a full round of Tapping which took less than a minute.
After working on any remaining feelings rising from the accident 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 of the event she said it was like looking into a very distant scene (clients often report this when traumas have been released).
She could hardly believe what had happened as it has taken place so quickly but she left to do her packing with a definite spring in her step.
The whole process had taken no more than 5 minutes.
Almost 3 months later I met her again and asked if she was still experiencing any negative effects from 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!