Relieving Trauma of Family Car Accident

Excerpted from “The Thought Field”, Volume 18, Issue 5:

Dear Dr. Callahan and Joanne,

I wanted to take the time to thank both of you for giving myself and my family tapping sequences that helped us cope with the trauma and grief of surviving a horrific car accident.

Last summer we were hit “head on” by a drunk driver, the speed at impact was estimated at over 110 miles per hour. The drunk driver died on impact and although we all survived our injuries were extensive. My husband sustained a broken neck, broken lower spine, broken sternum and two broken feet. My 14 year old son fractured his leg and burst the main artery in the stomach lining. I sustained severe whiplash, broken sternum, “dented” stomach from seat belt, broken toes and foot.

Upon leaving the hospital and having necessary surgeries it was very difficult and anxiety provoking to get into a car. Because of the extent of our injuries we had to be taken to San Diego to be cared for by family.

I consulted with Dr. Callahan on October 12, 2010. He took turns asking each one of us different questions and then gave detailed instructions on tapping sequences. Each one of us were given a sequence to use for trauma/anxiety. In addition to this my son was given a sequence to ease the stress of the surgery he had undergone. My husband was given a sequence to clear side effects associated with the medicine he was taking. And I was given a sequence to gain confidence to drive again.

Just after performing the first tapping session we all noticed a more peaceful and calming state of mind. Within in 1 day I had enough confidence to get behind the wheel and run an errand. I was so happy I started to cry. Slowly but surely we all started to get our lives back on track and start the recovery process. We still go back to these sequences any time we have to make a stressful phone call or receive bad news.

I am happy to say that one year later we all doing well and thriving. My husband was able to go back to work in January, my son was able to start a fresh new school year and I am able to make long drives from the desert to San Diego by myself without experiencing severe anxiety.

We are grateful to the Callahan’s for their expertise and sincere concern for our health and healing process.

With sincere gratitude,

Mark, Mary and Tice Ledbetter La Quinta, California

Relieving War Trauma of Russian Immigrant

By Katherine Bragin, LCSW:

I work with a unique population–Russian immigrants 65-years-old and up. Our practice is in the heart of a Russian community, famous Brighton Beach.

Coming here to the U.S., my patients brought with them a myriad of issues – some are unique only to this population group and some are universal for all elderly–the loss of  social status, familiar surroundings, life-long friends, rich Russian culture, profession or career, and part of the family (left behind).

And much more…They miss the traditional cultural closeness of the family. They come here so they won’t be separated from their children, and their children often move to different parts of the country, leaving them in Russian neighborhoods to take care of themselves.

They also have unique pain and memories: fighting in WWII, running from Germans, famine and labor camps of Stalin’s era, and concentration camps or ghetto.

They are now getting older, with more medical problems that also affect their emotional well-being.

Mr. T, our patient for many years, is a WWII veteran. He fought during the war from Moscow to Berlin and was wounded a few times. He fought in the battle of Stalingrad.

Every night he would still fight during his sleep: screaming, yelling and making strange sounds. TFT has relieved this trauma. He still has flashbacks and talks about his war experience, but his wife reports that he is not screaming in his sleep anymore.

PTSD symptoms are normally very hard to treat, especially with the elderly. I am very grateful that I now have this knowledge and skill with TFT.

The main difficulty in my work with the elderly with different levels of dementia is their comprehension level. I find it hard to explain to them the concept of SUD and often have to judge our progress by the facial expression and patient’s subjective reaction.

The other problem is how to make the handout and explanation easy to understand for use at home. It often takes three or four sessions to do so.

I am very glad I learned TFT–and have it as the main tool in my tool box. It helps my patients enormously.

Relieving Trauma of Job Layoffs

(stock photo)

Layoffs Hurt, But TFT Helps

by Herb Ayers, MA, LMHC, TFT-Dx
 

Lay off one person from his or her job and it’s a disaster for the family; layoff hundreds of people from a business or plant, and it’s a disaster for that town.

Layoff disasters occur throughout the United States and other countries every day because of our current economic recession. Paradoxically, our movement out of the recession is not ending layoffs nor is it creating enough needed new jobs.

Economic recession causes a chain reaction loss of jobs that affects the security of millions of people. The outcome generally results in serious emotional problems for those affected.

I’ve been called to visit a number of different companies recently that were in the process of laying off employees. Most of the people being laid off are people who have been with their company for many years; some, upwards of 20 or even 30 years.

Most of these people are not ready to retire and they have essential bills to pay each month such as a mortgage, utilities, car payments, school loans, etc., and they usually lack other financial resources. Therefore, the news that they have to find other employment comes as a terrible shock to them.

One of these companies was on the brink of a shutdown when I was called. The employees had not yet been informed that a layoff was com- ing, so the management wanted me to be on the scene when the announcement was made. In essence, I was like a “first responder” to help employees deal with the firestorm of bad news.

There were 250 employees about to lose their jobs and frankly, they didn’t know me from Adam, but the management assured them that I would be available for counseling if they wished to see me. I was also available to help any of the managers who might become overwhelmed with the problem, and some were.

Over three days, I met with 40 people; some in small groups, some individuals and some couples. In one instance both husband and wife worked in the same company and both were being laid off.

When I arrived, I immediately sensed the tension and the apprehension among the managers. Continue reading “Relieving Trauma of Job Layoffs”

TFT Relieves Trauma of Baby’s Death

sad woman
(stock photo)

From “The Thought Field”, Vol 2, Issue 3

by Fred Gallo

A young mother, 23, saw me about the trauma when her first child was born and died in the hospital a couple days later. This placed a strain of her relationship with her husband since he did not appear to be caring or understanding about this. She was depressed and had lost the love she previously had for her husband.

Although I couldn’t do much for her marriage, we successfully treated the trauma of the death of her baby with a few minutes as well as the trauma of a cousin’s suicide. I saw her for a time and helped her resolve the depression, also with TFT. The traumas never came back to haunt or bother her.

Immediate Relief from Family Trauma

From “The Thought Field”, Volume 18 Issue 4

(photo not of actual client)

 

TFT Can Soften Life’s Traumas and Begin Healing

By Jennifer Harp, TFT-Dx

(Client name changed to Sara)

Sara is a 45 year old mother of two daughters, age 15 and age 13 as well as one son, age 17. She resides in Wyoming with her live in boyfriend and her daughters. Her son resides with his biological father in Florida.

Sara has endured a lengthy history of sexual, physical, emotional and mental abuse at the hands of her biological father from ages 5-18. She was later assaulted physically by numerous boyfriends as an adult. Her ex-husband, raped her on numerous occasions.

Her grief was compounded 8 months ago when she was told by her daughter that her son sexually molested her on a visit to Florida last summer. Her son is currently undergoing criminal proceedings for the assault. Sara sought counseling 5 months ago to assist her in managing her feelings of despair, shame and anger.

In working with her, I utilized the algorithm of complex trauma with anger and guilt to address her thought field of the perpetration of her daughter by her son.

I chose the algorithm for two reasons 1.) it was my first time using TFT in my own practice and I was more confident with the technique 2.) I thought that this would be a good place to begin with her symptoms of intense trauma as the algorithms have been tested and proven with so many clients.

Prior to going through the sequence, her SUDS level was a 10 on a scale of 1-10. After the first time of using the tapping sequence she experienced a reduction in SUDS to an 8. At this time, we corrected for specific reversal by adding the karate chop to the beginning of the sequence. After this process her SUDS dropped to a 5.

Another correction for recurring reversal was added to the sequence by rubbing the sore spot, this dropped the SUDS to a 2. The 9 gamut sequence was provided and then repeated the sequence of complex trauma with anger and guilt. To finish a floor to ceiling eye roll was facilitated. Sara’s final SUDS level was a 1.

No identifiable toxins were detected with Sara.

Upon administering this treatment, Sara commented that the technique was “unbelievable.” It took her several minutes to be able to identify her final SUDS level as she “could not feel it anymore.” Sara continues to tap on a daily basis with various algorithms as required for her symptoms.

Sara was the first client that I had utilized the TFT techniques with. It was remarkable the immediate relief that she felt in 7 minutes of TFT therapy that she did not receive in 2 months of cognitive behavioral therapy prior to the algorithms.

Sara and I frequently tap in session; I use both TFT diagnostic and algorithms to address her symptomology.

Jennifer Harp LPC-850, Northern Star Counseling, LLC, Cheyenne, WY 82001 Office: (307) 637-7906

Replacing Nightmares with Hope

UPdate Issue 8, Summer

El Shaddai Orphange: Nightmares Replaced with Dreams of a Future

by Gabriel Constans

There’s much more to Rwanda than the genocide that took place over thirteen years ago. Yes, there was plenty of carnage that lay in its wake and everyone in the country (the size of New Jersey) was directly affected, especially the children, many of whom ended up on the street, with distant relatives or friends or perished from neglect. Add the scourge of the AIDS pandemic and you found even more homeless and abandoned children living on the streets. The needs outstripped all available resources.

But it only takes one person to make a difference and the street children, also known as “street rebels” in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, were blessed with one such man. His name is NZITUKUZE Sylvester. (In Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda, last names go first and are capitalized).

While Sylvester was in the Rwandan Army he had a vision that he was somehow meant to help the street kids of Kigali. He followed his vision, left the army and started taking children into his home. It wasn’t an easy task. A lot of the kids were filthy, disease-ridden, taking drugs, angry and traumatized. After a year or two of Continue reading “Replacing Nightmares with Hope”