TFT Research in Uganda Published

Uganda TFT Class 2012
Uganda TFT training of local community members

The most recent research in TFT, by R. Howard Robson, Phyll M. Robson, Roger Ludwig, Celestin Mitabu and Caitlin Phillips, has been published in “Science Publications“. Below is the abstract. For the full research paper, click here.

Effectiveness of Thought Field Therapy Provided by Newly Instructed Community Workers to a Traumatized Population in Uganda: A Randomized Trial

Abstract: Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a promising treatment for posttraumatic stress in a resource poor environment. This study further explores the benefits of this treatment in a rural population in Uganda, which had suffered from the psychological consequences of previous violent conflict. Thirty-six local community workers received a two-day training in TFT trauma intervention and treated 256 volunteers with symptoms suggestive of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who had been randomly allocated to a treatment or waitlist (control) group. Assessment was by the Posttraumatic Checklist for Civilians (PCL-C). One week after treatment, the treated group scores had improved significantly from 58 to 26.1. The waitlist group scores did improve without treatment, from 61.2 to 47, although significantly less than the treatment group, but improved markedly to 26.4 following treatment. There was some evidence of persisting benefit 19 months later. This study supports the value of TFT as a rapid, efficient and effective therapy, empowering traumatized communities to treat themselves, although repeated treatment may still be needed.

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I’m happy to announce that the TFT Foundation’s Uganda PTSD study has been published by Science Publications and will be available in print in about one month. It can now be accessed online by clicking on the title: Effectiveness of Thought Field Therapy Provided by Newly Instructed Community Workers to a Traumatized Population in Uganda: A Randomized Trial. (abstract below)

Many thanks to author Dr. R. Howard Robson for an excellent job! Much gratitude also goes to fellow research participants Phyll M. Robson, Roger Ludwig, Celestin Mitabu and Caitlin Phillips

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Abstract: Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a promising treatment for posttraumatic stress in a resource poor environment. This study further explores the benefits of this treatment in a rural population in Uganda, which had suffered from the psychological consequences of previous violent conflict. Thirty-six local community workers received a two-day training in TFT trauma intervention and treated 256 volunteers with symptoms suggestive of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who had been randomly allocated to a treatment or waitlist (control) group. Assessment was by the Posttraumatic Checklist for Civilians (PCL-C). One week after treatment, the treated group scores had improved significantly from 58 to 26.1. The waitlist group scores did improve without treatment, from 61.2 to 47, although significantly less than the treatment group, but improved markedly to 26.4 following treatment. There was some evidence of persisting benefit 19 months later. This study supports the value of TFT as a rapid, efficient and effective therapy, empowering traumatized communities to treat themselves, although repeated treatment may still be needed.

 

 

 

TFT Healing Trauma in Uganda

UgandaMission2013_05_14Ugandan TFT Mission: January 12 – 27, 2014

By Roger Ludwig*

Mists of mosquito netting drape around me as I type, cross-legged, on my bed. Beyond are cracked walls and doors ajar. Any effort to make and keep parallel lines in Africa is usually ephemeral. But to do that, in the form of a well ordered scientific study of Thought Field Therapy’s effectiveness, we have come, in addition to training many people and treating dozens of others.

Beyond this room, in the haze of heat, humidity and dust, are now familiar sounds. Children shout, men laugh. There is the loud cawing of ravens, relentless hoopoe of grey doves, and the distant, throbbing hum of the hulking cement factory which towers over this gritty town of Hima. It brings meager paychecks to workers who come from all over Uganda with their separate languages and appearances. They toil in hope of better lives for their wives and children. Our sweat is small in comparison but our dreams are similar for these Ugandan peoples we have come to love.

The work of our mission is now finished, ending, as it began, in fatigue. I arrived two weeks ago at 3:15 am, a smooth landing in Entebbe, grabbed bags and passed customs to see the ever hospitable Fr. Peter waiting to “most welcome” me. It is my third trip to Uganda. Fr. Peter’s musical laugh and loving heart is a tonic, to me and to hundreds of others.

Our Volunteer Team

After two hours’ sleep in a guest house I meet the team at breakfast. Dr. Howard Robson and his wife Phyll are here from England. They have recently retired, he from his cardiology practice, she from nursing. We have worked together on both prior Ugandan trips. It is great to see them.

One of our most important goals is to add to the 2012 study. At that time we trained volunteer TFT counselors, who pre-tested, then treated 256 people who came admitting symptoms of PTSD. A week later they were post-tested. It was a wait-list controlled effort that involved hundreds of people. Dr. Howard directed the study and has taken charge, in his relaxed manner, of this one. We hope to bring many of those 256 back, now 18 months later, for post testing. How have they fared after their brief treatment? Continue reading “TFT Healing Trauma in Uganda”

Dr. Robson Presents Uganda Study Results

Dr. Howard Robson training Ugandan leaders in TFT
Dr. Howard Robson training Ugandan leaders in TFT, 2012

Phyll Robson, board member of TFT Foundation UKgave the following report on the presentation given by foundation chairman Howard Robson, M.D., at the 2013 ACEP conference:

Dr. Howard Robson was very pleased to be presenting the research results from the PTSD study undertaken in Uganda in January last year, 2012. He described the care taken to follow protocol to ensure the study undertaken on 256 participants would be valid.

The Research presentation session was well attended, and there were many questions from the floor about the study itself, and about the psychological and physical changes we witnessed in the study participants after treatment. The audience were very impressed to learn that only one treatment session was provided to each participant, by a newly trained Algorithm Ugandan Therapist, to achieve our results.

Roger Ludwig gave a moving account of the changes he observed in the study participants, followed by an overview of the many transformations we observed in the local people not included in the study, but who were treated by the TFT team, some of the Catechists trained in 2009, and some of the newly trained Catechists who were keen to practice their new TFT skills.

I talked about a group of women we had treated the previous day, who were very excited when we met them again at the training centre. They told us how they had been able to sleep all night for the first time in years. Many people in Uganda suffer Continue reading “Dr. Robson Presents Uganda Study Results”

The Uganda Project 2012

Dr. Howard Robson training Ugandan leaders in TFT

…from the perspective of the Norwegian team members, Mats Uldal and Bitta Wiese

By Bitta Wiese, Reg. Thought Field Therapist MNLH, Oslo, Norway

For Mats Uldal and myself it all started in June 2011. We had travelled from Norway
to attend the ACEP [Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology] conference in Reston, Virginia, and we split up to visit the different presenters/workshops and reported to each other afterwards. I chose to be the one visiting the session of Caroline Sakai and Suzanne Connolly, knowing about their work in the trauma committee and their studies on TFT in Rwanda.

These were exactly the kind of projects I had been dreaming of, being a co-founder and CEO of our brand new Mats Uldal Humanitarian Foundation. I also knew that Mats himself had wanted to start a foundation like ours long before I even knew what TFT was, and that he was eager to contribute in any way. After their brilliant presentation, I stood up and introduced myself and the foundation. Mats they knew already. There and then I eagerly suggested collaboration, and offered both Mats and me to come with them to the next project in Uganda in 2012.

12 months after the conference, our team was ready to go. We had frequent Skype meetings between USA, UK and Norway, led by Howard Robson, together with Joanne Callahan and Suzanne Connolly to plan and organize the trip. The team going to Uganda were Roger Ludwig from USA, Phyll and Howard Robson from UK and the two of us from Norway.

TFT Foundation USA suggested inviting Father JMV (Jean Marie Vianney), Celestine Mitabu, Deacon Augustin and Adrienne Nahayo from Rwanda to come, having experience previous studies in Rwanda. Howard would be in overall charge of the team and specific responsibility for the research study, and Phyll would be in charge of the trainings.

Our amazing host, Fr Peter, met us at the airport when we finally arrived at Entebbe at 4 am June 8th. Continue reading “The Uganda Project 2012”