EFT4Vets

The Christmas carol that briefly stopped World War I.

After 40 years of suffering from guilt and a feeling of inadequacy, I finally realized that my “job” as am medic with my first patient in Vietnam who was one of five victims from a direct hit by an RPG (rocket propelled grenade), was to be with him, comfort and reassure him while he was dying. When I just wrote that last sentence, I did not shake or feel any anxiety whatsoever; before this one EFT session last week, that wouldn’t be possible.

Most Veterans cases that I work with with EFT coaching are very complex, spanning over childhood trauma, often abuse, neglect, abandonment, through trauma with peers, boot camp, war experience, returning home and all the relationship and every day issues that result from this. It never fails to surprise me to see how thoroughly and lastingly we can help with EFT. I hope that the following case also makes a strong argument that working with Veterans requires extensive experience in EFT and knowledge and understanding about war trauma, in addition to having done one’s own “homework”, so that the stories we work with don’t trigger us as practitioners.

Vietnam Veterans poem: I wish that I could find a place…where I could heal and regain faith in myself, and again feel the joy and happiness that I so long ago lost – displaced by despair and hopelessness.where I am accepted without judgment, and where I am loved for who I am.A place where forgiveness reigns…where the future will become clearer and brighter…and filled with hope.

War has always been part of human life and history. War lives on in those who have lost their soul, their trust, their feeling of safety. War is a constant companion of those who are forced to live a life that is far removed from what they had dreamed of, planned for and deserve. And most certainly, war lives on in every Veteran and his family who doesn’t get the help to heal…