The PTSD Solution You Didn't Know About

PTSD is taking a HUGE toll on our society, particularly in our returning veterans, journalists, fire and police personnel, EMTs and first responders to any emergency or disaster.nnPTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is the name given to memories of horrid happenings that continue to haunt the individual. Common symptoms are nightmares and inability to sleep, uncontrollable rage and unreasonable aggression, severe depression, suicidal and sometimes homicidal tendencies and generally severely dysfunctional behavior. Or the symptoms may be less dramatic and obvious and result in a general malaise or depression which seems to have no cause and no cure.nnThe term, PTSD, is somewhat new. The medical community has only recently realized that it is a condition or syndrome peculiar to one or more related events. So far, however, the medical community has had marginal success treating the condition. Talk therapy has given little relief; there are Viet Nam vets who have been hospitalized for as long as 40 years.nnEnergy Medicine Gives Hope but HOW DOES IT WORK?n nWhat is Energy Medicine? For that matter, what is Energy?nnPeople think of energy differently depending on their point of view. The average person thinks of energy in terms of "How do I feel?" "Do I have enough energy to clean house? Or go running? And we hear people say "I am out of energy" when they are tired.nnIn high school physics classes, "energy" was, in the past, described dryly in terms of "work units" or the capacity to do work. Now physicists are telling us "Everything is Energy." And when they say everything, they truly mean everthing, even thought is energy. Energy is manifested sometimes by vibration, sometimes by flow. Every unit of matter vibrates at its own speed. Denser and seemingly solid objects—rocks and tables for example—are simply energy packets vibrating at a very slow speed.nnThis idea of constant movement or vibratory flow is hard for us who are used to a "seeing is believing" point of view. nnAnd yet we think nothing of flipping a switch on one wall and expecting a light on another wall to go on. How does this happen? We can't see the "current" or "energy" travel through wires to the light. We simply accept on faith that it works and it does work—every time, doesn't it?nnNor do we consider the miracle of watching in real time the activities of those half-way round the world on a box in our living room. What about sitting down in a metal tube that carries several tons of people and luggage into the air and gently (well, sometimes more gently than others) deposits them several thousand miles away?nnIs it such a stretch, then, to accept on faith that every cell, every molecule, every atom, every thought in the universe is vibrating in a lively (or maybe not so lively) dance?nnIt is in this dance and flow that EFT works its magic on a cellular level—a level so deep that it actually changes us as it works on our energy flow. This can be almost instantaneous or it can take several weeks, depending on the type and severity of the problem, and reaction of the individual.nnAcupuncture Without NeedlesnnIn today's world almost everyone has at least heard of acupuncture. EFT might be described as "acupuncture without needles." nnTapping on meridians or what we might think of as energy conduits throughout the body, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) activates and stimulates these conduits, rids them of blocks and allows energy to flow freely through starved and damaged cells, healing them as it flows.nnThis approach to changing emotional patterns is highly controversial, in the medical and psychotherapy communities. However, as the old saying goes, nn"The proof is in the pudding!" nIf it works, who can argue?nnDavid Feinstein, Ph.D. in an article published in Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences tells of Dr. Carl Johnson's work on victims of some of the world's most terrible and tragic atrocities. Carl Johnson is a clinical psychologist specializing in PTSD with the Veteran's Administration. nnIn a small Kosovo village where every person in the village was haunted by unspeakable trauma, Dr. Johnson began his humanitarian work. At the request of the villagers, he worked first with a man of whom everyone in the village was afraid. His behavior was angry, violent and completely out of control. Within 15 minutes of tapping and various activities to activate both brain hemispheres, this vicious man, filled with hate and rage, was transformed into a human dynamo, eager to help others become similarly transformed.n nOf those 105 victims of horrific torture, rape and the witnessing of the massacre of loved ones, all but two reported reducing their degree of distress from a level of "10" to "0."nnThis 0 to 10 scale is one used to determine the progress of the treatment: "0" indicating no distress and "10" the highest possible level of emotional distress. Though the memories remained they were no longer disabling.nnDr. Johnson kept provocative records of various areas in which he worked; areas of ethnic cleansing, natural disasters, and warfare. He had amazing results, that are difficult to post here. These remarkable results were corroborated by those working with Dr. Johnson. Dr. Feinstein reports that clinicians from a wide variety of backgrounds reported that energy psychology treatments rapidly and permanently cleared an overwhelming number of people of traumatic memories. nnWhile all these incidents provide only anecdotal evidence which scientists are loathe to accept, people experiencing resolution of their trauma quite happily accept the magical results.nnEnergy treatments also work in group settings. Dr. Feinstein reports that participants are able to experience immediate relief without having individual attention. Volunteers are often worked with while audience or group members are asked to do their own tapping, using either the same words as the volunteer or furnishing their own words while tapping. All benefit! nnAudience members seem to, in the words of Gary Craig, "BORROW BENEFITS" from the volunteer.nnThis extraordinarily fast and efficient method of reducing the trauma of shock and horror has enormous implications for those tens of thousands of returning veterans who experience terribly disabling PTSD. nnNot only are these young men and women unable to sleep or function in normal living situations; their families are torn apart by their dysfunctional behavior. nnEFT would be of enormous benefit to spouses and children of returning veterans as well as the vets themselves. It is not easy to fit a missing family member back into a unit used to functioning without him or her.nnThere seems to be no down side of EFT treatment—no side effects, no harmful after effects. Even in those rare situations where it is ineffective It Does No Harm—and isn't that the first tenet of the Hippocratic Oath?nnFIRST DO NO HARMnnEFT works on the premise that:nnEvery Problem, Physical or Emotional, is caused by a BLOCK in the Energy SystemnnWhile it is particularly effective with PTSD, its awesome results are not limited to PTSD. Every problem can be addressed by EFT.nnOne wonders why the US government does not insist on energy treatment for every returning vet; why media organizations don't insist of energy treatments for their journalists; and why fire and police departments don't insist on them for their personnel.n nNot only would energy treatments decrease the rate of burnout; they would undoubtedly save millions (maybe billions) of $$$$$ in lost time at work and disability.n nAnd that doesn't even begin to consider the savings in human suffering. Not only does energy medicine treat PTSD quickly and permanently (a HUGE savings in itself), it gives sufferers and their families a tool for self-treatment for any condition for the rest of their lives.nnClick Here To Learn More About Energy Treatments for PTSDnwww.healingveteransptsd.comn