Thought Field Therapy Efficacy Following Large Scale Traumatic Events: Description of Four Studies Thought Field Therapy (TFT) has been shown to reduce symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) with trauma survivors in four studies in Africa.
In a 2006 preliminary study, orphaned Rwandan adolescents, who reported ongoing trauma symptoms since the 1994 genocide, were treated with TFT. A 2008 Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) examined the efficacy of TFT treatments facilitated by Rwandan Community leaders in reducing PTS symptoms in adult survivors of the 1994 genocide.
Results of the 2008 study were replicated in a second RCT in Rwanda in 2009. A fourth RCT in Uganda (in preparation for submission) demonstrated significant differences in a third community leader-administered TFT treatment. The studies described here suggest that one-time, community leader-facilitated TFT interventions may be beneficial with protracted PTS in genocide survivors.
To view the full article from Science Publications, click here.
Cite this Article: Dunnewold, A.L., 2014. Thought field therapy efficacy following large scale traumatic events. Curr. Res. Psychol., 5: 34-39.
Of course you cannot catch it like the flu or a bacterial infection.
When your loved one is exposed and develops dysfunctional survival and coping reactions, thinking, or behavior, do not just wait for time to heal this injury. Waiting adds to both of your stress levels and makes you more susceptible to developing more symptoms. Traumatic Stress Responses come in many forms. Even if your loved one does not meet enough of the 20 symptoms listed in PTSD criteria, the pain and healing can be just as difficult and they need your help. The closer your relationship, the deeper the love, the more at risk you are for the conditions that could lead to you getting your own dose of post traumatic stress.
Traumatic Stressor events can be any form of violence presenting a threat to life or safety. These events encompass a huge range and could be a one-time high- intense event, such as a car crash or shooting. Or it could be many less intense events over time, such as waiting for the next time a drunken rage ends in a physical fight or having to live in an environment under constant threat of attack. We all have our breaking points and traumatic stress can be a response to war, combat, assaults, childhood abuse, rape, domestic violence, natural disaster, or social indifference.
You can be affected by something called vicarious traumatization or secondary trauma, which can happen when you’re connected with someone through love and you know that your loved one has been overwhelmed and exposed to traumatic stressor events. This reaction is normal, and while it does not happen in every case and is not a test of your love in any way, you need to be aware of your own responses to knowing what happened to your loved one. You can find yourself with your own intrusive images and sensations about events and your own problems such as sleep, avoidance, or other symptoms causing dysfunctions in your work, relationships, or living a positive life. You must acknowledge and treat your own PTSD to be available fully to help another. There is much to be done to help and you are not alone. Using Thought Field Therapy is the best place to start. When
the overwhelming feelings are addressed, you can think and act in healing ways for you and the ones you love.
The following is a case study submitted to Joanne Callahan as part of TFT-Dx certification:
Case Study:
Female in her mid 30’s: lost her son at the age of 4 due to a rare genetic disorder less than a year ago. It is coming up on the first anniversary of his death. He was completely dependent on his mother and was not mobile at all. Fed by tube feeding, suction machines and continuous 24/7 care. Diagnosis was given with an undefined outcome of not knowing what each day would hold and the outcome being death.
So her life was a ticking time bomb for 4 years.
Current condition: She was feeling anxiety and fear of not knowing, not knowing how she will cope with the first anniversary. Anger for losing her son in the first place, why did this happen to her??
Algorithms used – Complex trauma with anger and guilt and she went from a 10 to 3.5.
I then corrected for level two reversal and repeated the algorithms. Ending SUD was a ZERO- there was no feeling of anxiety when thinking of the first anniversary or thinking of his death.
We finished off with ER- Floor to ceiling eye roll.
Comments: Client B was nervous and found it extremely difficult to hum the tune of Happy Birthday in the beginning. She fought back tears and somewhat choking in her throat. Her SUD dropped steadily and with a great response.
I found that she was humming without a prompt and more ease, without me having to remind her to hum the tune. No evidence of PR or Apex problems and she was extremely open to the treatment and findings.
During the treatment Client was swaying from side to side, she felt at peace, light and carefree.
The children of people who have experienced extremely traumatic events are more likely to develop mental health problems.
And new research shows this is because experiencing trauma leads to changes in the sperm.
These changes can cause a man’s children to develop bipolar disorder and are so strong they can even influence the man’s grandchildren.
Psychologists have long known that traumatic experiences can induce behavioural disorders that are passed down from one generation to the next.
However, they are only just beginning to understand how this happens.
Researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich now think they have come one step closer to understanding how the effects of traumas can be passed down the generations.
The researchers found that short RNA molecules – molecules that perform a wide range of vital roles in the body – are made from DNA by enzymes that read specific sections of the DNA and use them as template to produce corresponding RNAs.
Other enzymes then trim these RNAs into mature forms.
Cells naturally contain a large number of different short RNA molecules called microRNAs.
They have regulatory functions, such as controlling how many copies of a particular protein are made.
The researchers studied the number and kind of microRNAs expressed by adult mice exposed to traumatic conditions in early life and compared them with non-traumatised mice.
They discovered that traumatic stress alters the amount of several microRNAs in the blood, brain and sperm – while some microRNAs were produced in excess, others were lower than in the corresponding tissues or cells of control animals.
These alterations resulted in misregulation of cellular processes normally controlled by these microRNAs.
After traumatic experiences, the mice behaved markedly differently – they partly lost their natural aversion to open spaces and bright light and showed symptoms of depression.
These behavioural symptoms were also transferred to the next generation via sperm, even though the offspring were not exposed to any traumatic stress themselves.
The metabolisms of the offspring of stressed mice were also impaired – their insulin and blood sugar levels were lower than in the offspring of non-traumatised parents.
‘We were able to demonstrate for the first time that traumatic experiences affect metabolism in the long-term and that these changes are hereditary,’ said Professor Isabelle Mansuy.
‘With the imbalance in microRNAs in sperm, we have discovered a key factor through which trauma can be passed on.’
However, certain questions remain open, such as how the dysregulation in short RNAs comes about.
Professor Mansuy said: ‘Most likely, it is part of a chain of events that begins with the body producing too many stress hormones.’
Importantly, acquired traits other than those induced by trauma could also be inherited through similar mechanisms, the researcher suspects.
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Niccolo Machiavlli
Trauma- informed care and practice is a framework for the provision of services for mental health clients that originated in the early 1990s and has especially been put forth as a sensible service model since Harris and Fallot’s 2001 publication Using trauma theory to design service systems. Trauma-informed care can be seen to be characterised by three main considerations in regard to the provision of treatment services:
That they incorporate a recognition of the reality that there is a high incidence of traumatic stress in those presenting for mental health care services.
That a comprehensive understanding of the significant psychological, neurological, biological and social manifestation of traumatic and violent experiences can have on a person.
That the care provided to these clients in recognising these effects is collaborative, skill-based and supportive.
In Australia these ideas were the focus of a consciousness raising conference: Trauma-Informed Care and Practice: Meeting the Challenge conducted by the Mental Health Coordinating Council in Sydney in June 2011. The conference was part of an initiative towards a national agenda to promote the philosophy of trauma-informed care to be integrated into practice across service systems throughout Australia.
I was doing some supervision work with a newly qualified hypnotherapist this morning who was talking through a complex case study that had involved hypnotic regression to the initial sensitizing event in order to reprocess past trauma, and he was expressing the difficulties encountered with the client who was reluctant and guarded in going back to the initial traumatic event. This reminded me of the old days pre TFT, when this kind of method was the most effective way to work with such events. I felt a sense of relief that this exhaustive and sometimes complex methodology was something I rarely had to do anymore.
I was reminded of a client I did some intensive work with before Christmas. This was a complex case with multiple layers of trauma and abuse spanning over 40 years.
In particular, she reported a possible sexual abuse event, that she had an instinct that it had occurred, but had no memory of the event. She did report a strong negative emotion whenever she was in the company of men with pony tails but had no idea why she had such a dislike. There was no negative memory consciously of any event occurring with a character with a pony tail.
In the old hypnotherapy way of working, we would have had to induce deep trance to regress back to any initial event, that if found would have been most disturbing. It would also be questionable whether the unconscious would have permitted such access to a memory, because after all, if there was an event the unconscious mind was clearly protecting her from it.
Furthermore, false memory syndrome could have created an event, that might not have actually happened and there has been much reported cases such as this in the media in recent years. Finally, if there was an event and it was identified through hypnotic regression, then there would be a lot of work required to reprocess this event in such a way as to ensure it was dealt with.
Fortunately, TFT came to the rescue, in particular diagnostic TFT. All that was required was to tune into the thought field around the possible abuse and the whole men with pony tail feeling, sure enough diagnostic TFT revealed that there were perturbations in those thought fields and revealed a number of sequences, unsurprising beginning of the eyebrow for trauma and Index finger for guilt and under eye for fear appeared in the sequence.
TFT enabled me to deal with this completely within 30 minutes with no need to go back and uncover any traumatic past events.
Needless to say the client was amazed at the speed and the fact we could do the work without detailed knowledge of the event. A couple of weeks after our session, I received a call from her partner who thanked me for the work I had done and told me how much she had changed. Truly transformational work that as TFT therapist, I often take for granted, as this is expected. However this case reminded me of the true gift of diagnostic TFT to surprise and amaze when working with some of the most complex cases.
I am eternally grateful to Paul McKenna who originally introduced me to TFT when I used to assist him on his NLP training courses in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and of course both Roger and Joanne whom I had the good fortune to have been able to train extensively with over the years. TFT truly transformed my therapy practice when I introduced it into my interventions back then, now I have the privilege of being able to share my experiences and learning when I train the TFT Boot Camps in the UK for other therapists to help their clients in a similar way.
THOUGHT FIELD THERAPY EFFICACY FOLLOWING LARGE SCALE TRAUMATIC EVENTS
