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Are PTSD Symptoms truly at the root of distress for Veterans? Of course, living with PTSD is very difficult, as those who have been diagnosed with PTSD will confirm.

But in my experience, PTSD survivors are also tough people. These men and women were in war zones and had to deal with a lot more than stress symptoms. They are trained to move on and to be resilient.

After talking with hundreds of active duty personnel, reservists and Veterans, I realized that the most traumatic thing that the troops have to  deal with is not stress or even PTSD symptoms.

In my experience, the most difficult thing a warrior has to deal with is his or her MEMORIES.
When I speak with a soldier, they hardly ever mention their symptoms, even though they are certainly aware of them.
But what truly bothers them are the eyes of the twelve year old they might have shot because she held a hand granate in her hand.
What bothers them is the memory of having to hold their best buddy i their arms while he died.
What bothers them is the memory of switching places with their best friend while scanning the jungle, and the bullet that hit and killed him in the place where they should have walked.
What bothers them is the memory of returning home after a horrific time in the jungle and finding themselves being spit at and called “baby killer”.
What bothers them is the fact that they believed in their mission and how they can make a difference to innocent people, only being forced to sit outside of Srebrenica commanded to not take action but watch the genocide unfold.
What bothers them is being raped by a commander and forced to remain silent afterwards because nobody would help or even believe them.
There are a lot of things that bother Veterans more than not being able to sleep at night, to be hyper vigilant and having flashbacks.
The memories are real, they are there. They are what is causing the symptoms, and they are still holding a charge.

If we truly want to help veterans heal, we have to find a way to take the charge out of the memories, not just tranquilize the stress symptoms.

We have to help restore honor, self respect and confidence. We have to gain insights into  the Veterans world and mindset and relate in an appropriate and respectful way.
A skillful and insightful EFT coach can often do this and help heal memories .

Since EFT coaching is an approach that works with the charge of memories, that honors that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in our energy system, we can honor and work with the intensity of war trauma in a very new way:
We can detect where the intensity shows up, either as stress symptom in the body, as charged memory or as strong belief, and apply EFT to take the charge out of the memory.
Only when the memory has lost its charge is when a warrior can relax and heal.
And in my experience, a nightmare or flash back that has been “tapped” on stays away, an intrusive though looses its power and the warrior begins to make changes and choices that are working better for him/her.

While Veterans with PTSD need to get treatment from a mental health professional to deal with their diagnosis (which I am not),  EFT coaching can help them relax by taking the charge out of their memories. I can’t wait to see EFT being the self help and coaching tool of choice for all troops and their families, as well as those who want to help them.

If you are interested in helping Veterans and their families heal, you will have made the experience that the military community in general is not exactly open and excited about healing offers. Most Veterans acknowledge the work and express gratitude, but are far from asking for help for themselves.

This is hard to understand for those who want to help, and rather disheartening and frustrating.

Many give up, leave their good intentions out there but withdraw from actively reaching out.

If we want to make a difference on a larger scale, we need to understand that the toughest thing for helping Veterans heal is NOT to release the trauma, but to find ways to help them TRUST us!

Having a tool that works as well as EFT doesn’t mean that Vets are interested in connecting with us. There is a LOT more understanding about Military mindset and many insights are necessary to prove ourselves worthy and trustworthy.

If we don’t understand this, we will not succeed in making a difference to many, but only connect with a few.

We need to realize that we are truly entering a into a new field here. Offering EFT coaching and EFT as a self help tool on a large scale is not something that has happened in the  past.

We have to do our homework, not just in EFT but in what being in the Military means, what specific trauma the different wars, the different branches of the military, the different trainings entail.

I trust that those who are interested in offering EFT to Veterans have a solid background and education and are truly skilled not just in the basics, but in advanced applications of the technique.

But there are very specific things that need to be understood and related to when it comes to releasing war trauma:

What is a warrior?

What are military values?

What does the training require and entail?

What are specific traumatic events that most have suffered from, even if they don’t realize that they have?

Which place do we need to take as practitioners in the healing relationship to truly make a difference?

Which questions should we never ask? Which questions do we need to ask?

What is the spiritual difference between someone who has developed PTSD and someone who has not?

How can we prevent the development if we start tapping early enough?

What is truly happening in war that causes these symptoms to appear?

And should we really not offer support to soldiers who have only a few symptoms?

There is SO much to learn and understand, and I believe that taking the time to commit to learning in crucial to be successful in reaching out.

EFT help for PTSD. Self help for PTSD.

Hello to all who read this testimonial concerning my recovery from a massive Panic Attack using EFT.

I received complete recovery for that particular event through Tapping.

A short history of me: Basically I was a driver on convoys in Croatia and Bosnia in early 90′s before the Dayton Agreement.

Our rules of engagement were simple:  If anyone fires at you, #1 don’t fire back, #2 if someone from our contingent is killed or wounded severely, put the person in back of the truck and keep going, do not fire back. #3 in dark humour amongst ourselves was quake like a sitting duck. We had 90 bullets, trust me they counted them all at the end of tours. If one of us from the United Nations Protection Force fired his/her rifle and hit a belligerent, they would be sent back to Canada to PROVE their innocence.

Any how that was my ride over there and needless to say I came back fucked up. It took 6 years for the PTSD, Combat Stress etc… to go full throttle on my brain, body and soul, the latter being the worst in my opinion. More than fifteen years has past and I am still fucked up, but not nearly as bad.

By now all of you who have PTSD, know where I am coming from. So on to Tapping. I have been tapping now for a few months. I am blessed that my wife stuck around to basically force me into doing EFT. I’ll tell you that I did not think this would work. It probably took me a month to clue in that changes were happening, even then I dissmissed it as coincidence. The thing is I don’t believe in coincidence, I would allow 5% of happenings to coincidence.

That’s just me, point being I began to pay closer attention to what was happening during and after tapping. I want to stress the fact that I have been tapping only one hour per week, with the assistance of a great Healer of the Soul Ingrid. ONE HOUR PER WEEK!!! 1 hour is a fucking mountain when you feel nothing and care for little. Apologies for the three paragraphs that don’t include the reason of me writing this. As I said I’ve been tapping for a few months.

Now forget everything I wrote. 2 nights ago at 0315hrs (3:15am) Nightmare, went from laying to sitting position in a split second. I was drenched with sweat like if someone had pissed all over me and a Massive panic attack followed. While in the attack zone I went down stairs, checked everything and lit up a smoke in front of the fireplace. I was shaking from both hands this time and my legs felt like jello, I also had this little taste of metal under the tongue. I went to my medication cabinet, took a couple of my meds to get out of it. Only one problem my benzo’s only kick in about one half hour after taking it, about the same for my sleeping meds. So I knew that I had a half hour to go before things would change. Back to my smoke and the fireplace…………since I had time to kill.

I figured I would Tap on this Panic Attack, follow Ingrid’s way. The Tapping was a bit all over the place, LOL, but it  worked. I probably tapped for five minutes, my smoke was out, burned on its own. I got up from my sitting position. Here we go I felt no pain, not in my brain, not in my body, not in my soul. I took this as a welcome invitation to go back to sleep……..and I actually fell asleep. There is no way in hell that my meds got to me in five minutes. I can only say that I tapped my way out of it, period. Next day I woke with a smile and had a great day. I am going to continue to tap and free myself from the ghosts that haunt all of us.

I’ve been on so many types of pills and therapies in my life that I think it is awesome that I could end my massive panic attack with mind, body and soul in five minutes with EFT!

I just hope that YOU give it a try. Give it one month, what do you have to lose. This was my experience I hope it helps my brothers and sisters. ALL GAVE SOME, SOME GAVE ALL

KFL

P.S. Ingrid, thank you so much for your kindness and for pushing me to keep going!

The world of a veteran with PTSD is very different than that of a civilian. Most troops don’t go online to browse the alternative healing sites when they realize that they are having trouble when they come home. They would feel rather ridiculous to do this, and were trained in the believe that they have to toughen it out, to suck it up and to get over their trauma alone. Asking for help is almost impossible for many, and they don’t even return phone calls if they are called by someone who cares. At the same time, it often seems to be more acceptable for the military to see their traumatized veterans self medicate with alcohol and drugs, than to give them access to information that can help them heal and be strong again.

If the military doesn’t support community resources in getting the word out, then the community’s abilities are limited.

I hope that someday, the decision makers have the courage to see beyond their fears and learn to understand in a new way who is friend and who is enemy.

Many people want to help right now – I hope and dream that they will soon be heard and supported in doing so.

Given that of the 300.000 returning troops that have or are expected to develop PTSD (Rand Study), only 50% reach out to the VA, and only 25% receive at least minimally adequate help, it seems clear that we need to think outside of the box when it comes to offering help and support that is acceptable for soldiers and their families.

According to the RAND Study, 39% of the returning troops feel that their immediate family and friends are more helpful than a mental health professional. Why are these numbers, these facts ignored?

If we truly want to help our Veterans heal, we have to support those who have contact, who support them right now.

Families and friends can talk to a veteran in a very different, caring and compassionate way, much better than a mental health professional who has a very limited amount of time to adjust the drug cocktail that someone might receive. It is the time and caring that many Veterans need.

Due to its simplicity and effectiveness, EFT is the perfect tool to help Veterans and their families cope with the stress of deployment. It is so easy to learn that even children can offer to tap with their mom or dad, and can remind them to do EFT when they get upset.

However, when we don’t have an open door to share with the soldiers and their families about this technique and how to apply it, as well as the resources that are available to them to get started, there is not much we can do to help.

If you receive the www.eftuniverse.com newsletter, you have already heard about the meeting with a  Colonel from Walter Reed last week, as well as the round table at the committee for veterans affairs on July 21st.

I was honored to attend the meeting, and to share about the work with Veterans and EFT.

As a result of the meeting, Walter Reed is now open to duplicate our stressproject.org study with their own personnel.

Please read the full report of David Feinstein of the second visit to congress, the meeting and the roundtable hearing, which was attended by Dawson Church and David Feinstein, PhD and others.
For Report of First Visit See http://www.eftuniverse.com/images/pdf_files/eft-1st-visit-congress.pdf

The other day, I had a very interesting conversation with a high ranking officer: Even though he was well aware of studies about the effectiveness of EFT for releasing PTSD symptoms, he shared with me that the Army deals with the well being of the soldiers internally and they don’t need outside help.

To explain why this strict policy is in place, he shared that the military is very afraid of organizations, which, as he put it, “only want to make a buck of our soldiers.” I was told that the military is tired of people who offer services that the soldiers have to pay for, or that they ask to get reimbursed with free advertising or other benefits.

To protect the soldiers and their families, they have decided to not let anybody offer help and support. They also feel that if they allow one person or organization in, they have to permit everybody.

The commitment to protection from fraud is, of course understandable and even necessary to a certain degree. But unfortunately, this means that many free community resources will not be brought to the attention or made available to the soldiers.

Given the 18 suicides per day that the military has to justify these days, I find this policy to be questionable. I believe that every soldier, every family should have the freedom to decide for themselves if they see benefit in an offered service. However, given the stress of deployment, and the isolation that many experience, a great number of military families have no idea how supportive their community actually is, and how many wonderful services they often receive free or almost free access to.

I know of massage therapists, chiropractors and business owners who are happy to donate free services to Veterans and their families. However, they have hardly any requests, because they either don’t know who to talk to or their offers are not communicated.

At the same time, I have talked with many soldiers who wish that someone would help them, but they simply don’t know what is possible and available. They are usually positively shocked when they hear how supportive and appreciative their community is. Knowing and experiencing this helps them overcome the feeling that nobody cares, that many troops suffer from.

A list of EFT practitioners who are willing to donate services to veterans can be found on www.stressproject.org. It is my sincere hope that the chain of command will overcome their fear of civilian supporters and accept and communicate the help that is readily available for the troops and their families.

We have heard a lot about soldiers returning from deployment with PTSD, TBI or depression.

At the same time, studies show that many Veterans prefer not to use the VA to deal with their trauma, feel that their spouses, buddies or spiritual counseling can help them better than mental health treatment, and many prefer not to consider themselves as traumatized at all.

But the truth is, that deployment to a war zone changes people. This is not a sign of weakness, but a normal consequence of having been exposed to war.

Not all changes are bad: many soldiers report great satisfaction that they were finally able to use what they have trained for for so long, and they are proud of their mission and their service.

But this is only a part of the picture. I think we have to get over the assumption that “inner toughness” prevents traumatization, and honestly recognize that being able to deal with trauma does not mean that it doesn’t exist in some form.

How could finishing business at home, preparing a will “just in case”, attending predeployment events that explain to the family how the death of their loved one will be communicated, not be traumatic?

How could leaving wife and children behind, not knowing if he or she will ever see them again and what that will be like, not break a soldier’s heart, even though he or she is prepared and ready to deploy?

How could seeing buddies suffer from injuries and different kinds of trauma not hit even the toughest person hard?

The majority of troops report having seen dead bodies during deployment. The constant threat, the mindset of war, the fear and exposure of attacks and combat are traumatic. Toughness helps through this, but there is an end to how much someone can heal alone. And why should they have to?

They are trained to “suck it up” and “toughen it out” to the point that, as some of my Vietnam Veterans told me, they stepped over dead bodies saying “there ain’t nothing to it”. But where does this trauma go?

How could separation and tough and difficult circumstances not wear somebody down? Should Veterans really have to wait until PTSD, depression or TBI is diagnosed, in order to get help? Why is it so hard to admit that most troops can’t just “return back to normal” and deserve respectful support to deal with this?

I believe that we need to change the way we think about war exposure, and acknowledge that nobody comes back unchanged.

If EFT was routinely offered to all troops after a mission, simply as a destressing tool, could it be that the long term effects of war exposure lessen, especially if it was accepted and offered by loved ones, buddies and spiritual coaches?

I feel that everybody deserves to get some EFT coaching after returning from deployment.

Nobody comes back unchanged, nobody should have to deal with this alone.