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TFT Trauma Relief and Training in Uganda

UGANDA 2012 – Short Report

by Howard and Phyll Robson

We are delighted to make this short report on the TFT Foundation’s work in Uganda in June. The team worked hard to complete a packed program of research and training.

Training was provided for 310 Catechists at three centres within Kasese District of Western Uganda. To prepare for the PTSD study we first provided two days training for 40 catechists. These catechists would be the trainers in the PTSD study immediately following their Trauma Relief training.

The first day of the study was anxiety provoking, would all the participants attend? Many had to travel long distances, of-ten on foot. We were expectant that the study would be carried out effectively as we had been working on the details for over six months. Due to the lack of email facilities much of the detail was planned on the telephone with Fr. Peter, these conversations were recorded on our computer and sent by mail to avoid any misunderstandings.

Our first day went well in spite of our anxieties. However, the team met to identify and rectify any actual and potential problems. Working in a foreign language was challenging, due to pronunciation it was often difficult to understand each other, this difficulty improved quite quickly. The first part of the study took four days.

The first Catechist training took place in Nsenyi, the home of Fr. Peter and Training Centre for Catechists and 116 Catechists attended this two-day training.

We only had one day off before we undertook the second part of the study, again it took place over four days. We employed the same diligent method of having a team meeting each evening to ensure that all was going according to plan.

For the second training we moved to Bukangara Parish where we trained a further 104 Catechists. Each time we provided training and treatment for anyone who requested our help. The team travelled each day during the training to keep the cost down.

Following another day off, we moved to Hima Parish. Due to the distance involved we were guest of Fr Walter. We trained 90 Catechists at Hima Parish. Many of the sick in the Parish came to mass on Thursday, the day we arrived, and Fr Walter asked us to treat as many as possible. Two of the team were assigned to training and two treated the sick with the help of the Catechists we had trained for the study. We worked in the shade of the trees, watched by anxious relatives.

Saturday 30th June was the final day of the study, we planned to review 128 of the wait list group participants, for their post treatment assessment. Some of these participants had first attended on 13th June. We were concerned that there might be considerable fall off in attendance at this stage. It was therefore gratifying to be greeted by a large welcoming group of participants, still clutching their attendance tickets.

We are obligated to Fr. Peter and the catechists for their support and commitment to the completion of the PTSD study. They welcomed us into their lives and it was a pleasure to share the gift of Thought Field Therapy with them.

Free Trauma Relief for Those Affected by Shooting in Aurora, CO

This blog contains many posts demonstrating the profound effectiveness of Thought Field Therapy (TFT) for relieving trauma associated with violence, including mass violence such as the Rwanda genocide and the U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi.

Please refer anyone you know who has been affected by the recent shooting in Aurora, CO, to this site where we have written and video instructions for this safe, very powerful self-technique–all given free of charge. Those who could experience significant relief may be shooting victims or their friends and family–even unrelated persons who may experience trauma simply by watching or reading related news.

Helping Soldiers Adjust to Civilian Life

Soldiers Return with Invisible Wounds

by Genie Joseph, MFA

Soldiers are prepared for combat operational stress. The Army has drilled them, trained them, polished them.

What happens when they come home and have to adjust to the “surreal” world of civilian life? Once you have lived next to life and death as your daily reality, and perhaps gotten so familiar with the stress of combat operations, returning to mundane life can make everything feel out of whack.

Retuning warriors often feel out of sync with family or civilian life, after what they’ve experienced. With prolonged exposure to high-stress, the brain may actually adapt to this lifestyle of danger — so that danger brain messages feel normal. The harder part of what they’ve experienced may be coming home!

I teach classes in media and communication at Chaminade University in Honolulu, which offers classes on all the military bases. I work with all branches of the military, as well as their spouses.

Many students walk into class in high states of stress. While I am not a therapist, and I don’t do any treatment or diagnosis, as a teacher I need to make sure that students are fully functioning and engaged, in order to make the classroom experience as positive as possible.

Sometimes students come to class after just hearing traumatic news, witnessing something terrible or even have just been a part of something very disturbing. Continue reading “Helping Soldiers Adjust to Civilian Life”

Relieving the Trauma of Bullying

“I’ll Do Anything to Make It Stop”

—by Dr. Victoria Yancey

“You are fat, stupid and ugly.” This is just one example of the taunting that some students endure from peers and classmates. These and other harmful statements are instances of bullying.

Bullying is a form of violence. It is negative, aggressive and unwanted behaviors intended to cause harm, hurt or humiliation to another student. It is anything that hurts another student, when things are repeatedly said or done to have power over that individual.

There are many types of bullying, including racial bullying, sexual bullying and cyber bullying. Bullying includes name calling, saying or writing derogatory comments, purposely excluding an individual from activities, spreading lies and rumors, ignoring, threatening, doing anything to make another person feel uncomfortable or scared, stealing or damaging belongings of others, kicking, hitting, slapping, and making someone do things they do not want to do.

Children handle being bullied in many different ways. Those who are bullied are subject to peer pressure. Sometimes they end up doing things they really do not want to do in order to “fit in”—hoping that the bullying will stop. Those who are bullied often feel pain, fear or hurt.

They lose self-confidence and feel lonely, scared and sad. They sometimes do not feel safe at school, at home or at play—and often have poor grades in school. They may suffer from depression, headaches, stomach aches and other health problems and they may also have thoughts of suicide. Some feel it necessary to fight or bring a gun or weapon to school to stop Continue reading “Relieving the Trauma of Bullying”

TFT Relief After Decades of Flashbacks

Like Acupuncture for the Mind

By Michelle (Miki) Butterworth

Having regressed to my life as a 4-year-old—crouched, screaming and fighting off imaginary blows—I was hospitalized for the second time in 10 years. The first time, I had been released after four days as the safety of the hospital had brought me out of abreaction (the reliving of events as if happening at the present moment), and my functions returned to normal.

This second time though, the flood gates opened and spilled over my years of insistent denial. The physical, sexual and psychological traumas of childhood poured forth.

Many devoted healthcare professionals worked with me over the next 20 years. Blessed breakthroughs did come in the way of integrating the past with the present and changes in the way I acted out that pathology.

However, after trying every new therapy for PTSD that came along—the night terrors, flashbacks and regressions continued.

After retiring to Sedona Arizona, and though living a wonderfully rewarding lifestyle, I still suffered from PTSD. Just seeing something familiarly violent on a television show might trigger days of dissociation, self mutilation (the act of inflicting pain on self by cutting) and regressions.

Having learned over the years that PTSD symptoms are never completely eliminated, I dealt with these episodes as they came by staying recluse for periods of time. After one recurrent triggering event left me suicidal, I again sought help from the mental health community.

I was introduced to a therapist who, after listening to my story, asked if I would be willing to try an unconventional therapy that involved tapping on points of the body while recalling the trauma. I politely told her, “NO!”

Spiritually devoted and as open a person as I am, I was not going to spend time and money on some ‘Sedona Woo-Woo’ technique.

I suggested we stick with regular therapy.

Two sessions later, she mentioned she would be out of town for the next month (doing her woo-woo in some other country). Continue reading “TFT Relief After Decades of Flashbacks”

TFT, Soldiers and PTSD

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOAZoOSdW40&feature=youtube_gdata_player&rel=0]

Dr. Robert Bray discusses using TFT to aid those who suffer from PTSD.