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http://post_119_gulfport_ms.tripod.com/rao1.htmlPTSD Update 40:
The Santa Rosa (Sonoma County, CA)-based research group
The Stress Project "is trying to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs
to adopt" alternative medicine emotional freedom techniques, or 'EFT' therapy, "as a standard treatment for veterans with PTSD." Tapping, known formally as 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. Once trained, they can use the technique on themselves as needed. Private therapists have used EFT with veterans over the past 15 years.
Although some clinical psychologists working with VA may use the technique, the VA itself has not recognized it, and EFT is not used at the VA's National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park, and no doctors knew enough about it to comment, a VA spokeswoman said. In Massachusetts,
clinical social worker Marilyn Garland is preparing a workshop to introduce EFT to VA staffers hailing from around the country. VA therapists and military psychologists who have used EFT said it is highly effective.
"It shows massive drops in PTSD, pain, depression, all kinds of things," said
Dawson Church, an author on alternative medicines and the Stress Project's executive director. According to a clinical study conducted at the
Marshall University Medical School in Huntington, W.Va., and published in the
International Journal of Health and Caring, veterans' anxiety was reduced by 46%, depression by 49% and PTSD levels by 50%. The VA "is pretty careful about not wanting to use treatments too soon before they've been thoroughly tested," said
Patrick Reilly, director of mental health services at the Santa Rosa veterans clinic. Reilly said pilot studies done to date may have been too small to produce enough data for the VA to consider.
The Stress Project is now winding up a larger study in which about 60 veterans nationwide have undergone six therapy sessions and six months of follow-up study. Adherents hope the results will help persuade the VA to take a more thorough look at EFT, Church said. A 2009 Stanford University study concluded that the PTSD rate among Iraq War veterans will be about 35%. The San Bernardino County Sun reported on 15 MAR that 49,637 patients diagnosed with PTSD were treated last year at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center in Loma Linda CA. This is a 114% increase from 2005. As of 2007, 1.5 million service members had served in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Office of the Surgeon General. (Source: The Press Democrat Jeremy Hay article 13 Mar 2010 ++)
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100313/ARTICLES/3131006New help for troubled vets
SR group promotes alternative tapping therapy based on acupressure
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT (Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA)
Published: Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 4:02 a.m.
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 sounded pretty far-fetched to me," said
Tracy, a social worker with Sonoma County's Mental Health Services Division. He tried tapping as part of a pilot study being run by the Stress Project, a Santa Rosa-based research group. ....
Bill Simon, 59, of Santa Rosa served in Vietnam as an aircraft crew chief. He said regular and random rocket attacks wore down his psyche, leading to years of "low grade" symptoms that began to heighten with the onset of the Iraq war.
In 2009, he
retired from the county's Mental Health Services Division as program planning and evaluation analyst. He was unhappy with VA-prescribed medications and plagued by nightmares he couldn't recall, as well as by inability to sleep, anger and depression. ... ....
Late last year, he tried EFT. ....
In Massachusetts,
clinical social worker Marilyn Garland is preparing a workshop to introduce EFT to VA staffers hailing from around the country.
"I have the same experience as every person who uses it; it's a very effective tool in treating trauma," said Garland, who works at the
Worcester VA Outpatient Clinic, part of the Boston VA Health System. ....
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at (707) 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.
http://manifestpositivity.blogspot.com/2010/03/emotional-freedom-technique-helps-viet.htmlFriday, March 19, 2010
Emotional Freedom Technique Helps Viet Nam Veteran Overcome PTSD
Posted by
Dave BermanThis is the powerful video I shot last Sunday at
Incopah, the retreat in Willow Creek, CA
for veterans with PTSD.
Gary Woodings worked with
Steve Robinson for about 90 minutes using Emotional Freedom Technique and Steve was able to discharge shocking and horrifying emotional trauma he had been carrying since serving in the US Navy 40 years ago in Viet Nam. The video is edited down to less than 26 minutes and demonstrates the process pretty well. Note that Steve's story is rather graphic and may be disturbing. However, as you watch it, remember that he no longer has these feelings and you don't need to take on their weight either.
Bio (of David BERMAN):
I am the founder of ManifestPositivity.org, a non-profit advocacy journalism collective dedicated to using all forms of media and social networking tools openly and with intention to advance public service projects. I've used this approach to making media since 2002, though Manifest Positivity is the first time I've integrated secular spirituality - themes such as kindness, joy, love, the law of attraction, presence, and pronoia (the belief the universe is conspiring on our behalf) - to replace anger and righteous indignation as motivation.
This positivity paradigm emerged as I read books such as "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle, "Pronoia" by Rob Brezsny, "The Four Agreements" by don Miguel Ruiz, and "am I being kind" by Michael J. Chase. My personal development has been further fueled by adopting a vegan diet, making regular habits of jogging and meditation, and exploring polyamory - an openness to sex positivity accepting of multiple consenting loving relationships.
Prior to Manifest Positivity I blogged at We Do Not Consent, and before that, GuvWurld. Both sites spun off e-books that can be downloaded free at Manifest Positivity. During that time I also co-founded an election integrity watchdog group called the Voter Confidence Committee, and wrote the Voter Confidence Resolution, which was adopted by City Councils in Arcata and Palo Alto, California. This led to workshop facilitation and a lot of other public speaking, as well as connections with social change agents across the U.S. I earned a B.S. in Communication from Cornell University and have 10 years experience as a radio DJ. I have also successfully started, managed, and sold an international manufacturing business.
My mantra: Live to love as much as possible. -- Dave Berman
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