Energy Psychology for PTSD

In a recent EFT training in Aberdeen someone asked me if EFT was effective for PTSD. The question reminded me of this story which answers the question rather eloquently.

Carl Johnson, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist retired from a career as a PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) specialist with the Veteran’s Administration has, over the past six years, frequently traveled to the sites of some of the world’s most terrible atrocities and disasters to provide psychological support based in EP methods. About a year after NATO put an end to the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, Dr. Johnson found himself in a trailer in a small village where the atrocities had been particularly severe. A local physician who had offered to refer people in his village had posted a sign that treatments for trauma were being offered. On the afternoon of a very hot summer day, a line of people had formed outside of the trailer. The referring physician told Johnson, with some concern, that everyone in the village was afraid of one of the men who was waiting outside for treatment.

Indeed, when Johnson looked outside, he saw that the others had positioned themselves as far away from this man as possible. Johnson decided to start with him and invited him into the trailer. Johnson, who is seasoned in working with war veterans, recalled that the man “had a vicious look; he felt dangerous.” But he had come for help, so with the physician translating, Johnson had the man identify the trauma for which he wanted help. Everyone in the village was haunted by traumas of unspeakable proportion: torture, rape, witnessing the massacre of loved ones. The man brought the trauma to mind, and though he never put his memory into words, his treatment began. Johnson tapped on specific acupuncture points that he identified using a simple physical test. He then instructed the man, through the interpreter, to do a number of eye movements and other simple physical activities. Then more tapping. Within fifteen minutes, according to Johnson, the man’s demeanor had changed completely. His face had relaxed. He no longer looked vicious. In fact, he was openly expressing joy and relief. He initiated hugs with both Johnson and the physician. Then, still grinning, he abruptly walked outside, jumped into his car and roared away, as everyone watched in wonder.

The man’s wife was also in the group waiting for treatment. In addition to the suffering she had faced during the war, she had become a victim of her husband’s rage. The traumas she identified also responded rapidly to the tapping treatment. About the time her treatment was completed, her husband’s car roared back to the waiting area. He came in with a bag of nuts and a bag of peaches, both from his home, as unsolicited payment for his treatment. He was profuse and gleeful in his thanks. He knew that something deep and toxic had been healed. He hugged his wife. Then, extraordinarily, he offered to escort Johnson into the hills to find trauma victims who were still in hiding, both his own people—ethnic Albanians—and the enemy Serbs. In Johnson’s words, “That afternoon, before our very eyes, we saw this vicious man, filled with hate, become a loving man of peace and mercy.”

From an article about Energy Psychology In Disaster Relief by David Feinstein, Ph.D. which mentions this and several other examples of swift relief from PTSD.

Note: that in this instance Carl Johnson is using TFT the antecedent of EFT.