TFT and Cyber Bullying

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Cyber Bullying and Low Self-Esteem: A Social Nightmare

By Dr. Victoria Yancey, TFT-DX, TFT-ADV

Young people around the globe are taking their own lives because of cyber bullying. Teen suicides have occurred within the past ten years in Missouri, Florida, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy and numerous other cities and towns.

Cyber bullying has created a social nightmare and has caused far too many teens to hang themselves, jump from bridges or find other ways to harm themselves. The number of suicides continues to grow with the easy access to and the increasing number of social media sites available to teens.

Cyber bullying is using digital technology to harass, embarrass, threaten, torment, humiliate or to make another person feel uncomfortable or scared. A study was conducted in 2010 by Cyber bullying research. It involved approximately 2,000 randomly selected middle school students from school districts in the United States.

The study revealed that of the students 20% reported seriously thinking about attempting suicide. Those figures include 19.7% females and 20.9% males. The results also showed that 19% reported actually attempting suicide with 17.9% females and 20.2% males. In addition, it is suggested that cyber bullying can cause emotional scarring, since it involves threats and humiliation.

Cyber bullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced cyber bullying.

Young people spend up to 7 hours a day Continue reading “TFT and Cyber Bullying”

TFT for Paris Shooting Trauma

Paris ShootingThe TFT Foundation offers its sincere condolences to those in France affected by the recent shootings. Please let anyone you know that has been traumatized by this tragic event about our site, which has the instructions for the TFT trauma relief technique in 14 languages, including French. Here is the link you can pass along: www.TFTtraumarelief.com.

La fondation TFT présente ses sincères condoléances à ceux en France qui ont été affectés par les fusillades récentes. Faites connaître notre site s’il vous plait, à toute personne de votre connaissance  traumatisée par cet événement tragique. Il contient les instructions de la technique TFT d’allègement des traumatismes dans 14 langues différentes dont le français. Voici le lien que vous pouvez diffuser largement : http://www.TFTtraumarelief.com.

 

 

TFT and Bullying

Bullying2“I Just Tapped and Walked Away”

Thought Field Therapy and Bullying

By Dr. Victoria Yancey, TFT-DX, TFT-ADV

“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 to cause harm, hurt or humiliation. It is anything that hurts another person, when things are repeatedly said or done to have power over that individual.

There are many types of bullying. There is 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, making someone do things they do not want to do.

When Thought Field Therapy (TFT) was taught to a group of students they reported using TFT when confronted with the violence of being picked on or bullied.

Children handle being bullied in many different ways. Those who are bullied are subject to peer pressure. Sometimes they end up doing something 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, 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 the hurt of being bullied.

I worked with a group of middle school students who felt they where being bullied. The students where referred to me by their parents because they where getting into trouble in school. Many of the students were receiving declining or failing grades. Some of the students had either experienced detentions or suspensions, in or outside of school, for fighting.

When meeting with the students they explained the reason for their getting into fights was because they felt they were being “picked on.” They explained that a group of students constantly bullied them and they got into the fights because they felt angry and wanted to lash out against the bullying.

Statistics reveal that one out of every 4 students are bullied, picked on, or abused each month. In addition, thirty percent of students in the United States admit to being bullies, victims of bullies, bystanders (those who witness bullying) or have participated in all three roles (Olweus, 2001.

My work with the group began with explaining Thought Field Therapy after their discussion of anxiety and fear of being picked on and bullied and having to fight to try to solve this problem. The students rated their Subjective Unit of Distress (SUD) after tuning into the thought field. The SUD ratings ranged from ten or above for fear and anxiety to seven.

I began leading the students through Psychological Reversal to correct any reversals that may negatively effect the treatment. I then taught them the algorithm for General Anxiety and Stress, e (under eye), a (under arm) and c (collar bone). We checked the SUDs then continued by repeating psychological reversal and the majors since the SUD did not go down by two points for all in the group. We repeated the majors. This was followed with the 9 gamut since the SUDs subsequently lowered by at least two points for all students in the group.

We continued in this way until the SUD for each student was down to zero or one. The students reported feeling better, they explained feeling better meant that they where having fun doing Thought Field Therapy and they did not feel tense and angry when they thought about being picked on.

Studies show that the less confidence a student has the more likely they are to be bullied. The more confidence a student shows the less likely it is that bullying will occur (Fulker, 2010).

They continued to practice the steps of Thought Field Therapy until they learned the algorithms. The students agreed to use Thought Field therapy throughout the week when they felt like fighting, scared or feeling less confident.

When the students arrived the next week they were laughing and talking with a completely different affect from the previous week when they where somber, sad and angry. The students reported using Thought Field Therapy throughout the week. All of them explained that they did not participate in any fights during the week. They all told experiencing of tapping when feeling scared.

One student explained that she was able to concentrate on her school work and was able to pass her math test because for the first time she was able to study. But the most compelling comment came from one student who was constantly engaged in fighting and was on the verge of being expelled from school although she was the victim of bullying.

She stated, “I didn’t fight when some kids where picking on me. I just started tapping and walked away.”

Fulker, B. (2010). Help your child beat bullying and gain confidence. Birthmarks.com USA.

Olweus, D. (2001). Peer harassment: A critical analysis and some important issues. In Peer Harassment in School, ed. J. Juvonen and S. Graham. New Yor k: Guilford Publications.

Salmivalli, C. Lagerspetz, K. Björkqvist, K. Osterman, K. Kaukiainen, A. (1996) Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group. Aggressive Behavior 22 (1-15).

Excerpted from “Tapping for Humanity,” Winter, 2014

Continue reading “TFT and Bullying”

Celebrating International Day of Peace with TFT

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Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.” The United Nations website

What better way to honor and celebrate this international day of peace than by sharing the TFT trauma relief technique with others? We now have instructions in 15 languages. If you know anyone who is suffering from the effects of trauma, or anyone who is working with people who are, please direct them to this site.

We invite you to also share the following trailer to the TFT Foundation’s film, “From Trauma to Peace,” which is scheduled for release at the end of this month. The film is a powerful demonstration of how effective TFT is in promoting peace.

 

9/11 Trauma Relief in New York

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In memory of those who suffered from the 9/11 tragedy–and in the effort to relieve their suffering and that of the many others who are traumatized by violence–we are reposting Ms. Bahr-Groth’s story of visiting New York five days after the event to help survivors with TFT. For another profound 9/11 TFT story, click here. 

World Trade Center Trauma Relief in New York

By Diane Bahr-Groth, CH, TFT-Adv

On Sunday, September 16, 2001, Kay and Jan, two women I trained in TFT, and I left our seemingly safe little town of Stamford, Connecticut and drove toward New York City. Unable to simply watch the horror of the World Trade Center disaster and its aftermath days before we decided to make our way into the city and find a way to help those in need. Armed with 2,000 copies of the Thought Field Therapy trauma/anxiety algorithm, a simple paper sign reading “Free, Trauma Relief”, a few bottles of water and a little folding table we began our somber journey.

It was one of those lovely late summer days with a perfectly clear blue sky and bright sun. We decided to put the top down on my convertible hoping the sunlight would lighten our spirits. The beauty of the day made it seem more incredible that such horror could have occurred.

As we passed the George Washington Bridge, just minutes from midtown Manhattan, the truth of the disaster could be seen and smelled. The awful sight of the empty skyline shrouded in white smoke shocked me beyond words. I, of course, had seen the news day after day and knew that the World Trade Center no longer stood tall and majestic in the sky. Still, I heard the words in my mind over and over saying “It’s not there…… It’s not there.”….. The tears streamed down my face as the truth and reality of all I knew set in.

The acrid scent of the smoke filled our nostrils and reinforced the certainty that so many had died. While driving and trying to absorb the shock of the situation, I treated myself with the trauma algorithm, often fixing my reversal. I noticed Kay and Jan treating themselves as well. We drove for miles in silence looking at the skyline which is now and forever changed.

We drove to lower Manhattan and tried to get as close to Ground Zero as possible. We miraculously found a parking space just in front of the memorial sight at Union Square Park. It is a lovely little park naturally filled with flowers and trees and but now filled with photos, candles and posters of those who were missing.

Thousands of New Yorkers were walking through the park bringing flowers, praying and connecting with others. It was there, close to the makeshift memorials, that we began Continue reading “9/11 Trauma Relief in New York”

Making the Impossible Possible

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The TFT Foundation’s documentary, “From Trauma to Peace”, is in post-production and almost complete. I will post when the DVD is available. Our new trailer gives an inkling of the power of the stories told. Please share it to give people an idea of the real possibility for peace in this world.