TFT and Grief

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TFT Allows Us the Feelings We Need

By Robert Bray, PhD, LCSW, CTS, TFT-Dx

TFT in the bereavement process

In my experience, the most common problem with grief is people not grieving. When a client comes in looking for help with grief, the first question I ask is, ‘What are you doing? How are you grieving?

The most common response is that it hurts too much and “I cry ever time I remember (he or she) is gone.”

Avoiding the memories, avoiding the parts of their current life that triggers the memories, or avoiding sharing memories with others is a common coping mechanism to manage the pain even for the toughest person. Taking the time to be with feelings of love for the one who has died and integrating the fact that person is no longer with him or her is a necessary component in reconstructing a life.

Grieving is an active process requiring our engagement. Time passively passed without our conscious awareness is of little help in this process. Time spent locked in overwhelming emotion that freezes our thinking and prevents us from taking action is of less help. Making the change in our being requires living with the reality of having been given the gifts of our loved one and now being without the physical presence of his or her. TFT provides a means to getting unstuck and using our feelings in this change process.

A woman in her late forties approached me after a presentation at a conference and asked for help dealing with the loss of her son three years earlier. In his early twenties he had been killed in Continue reading “TFT and Grief”

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”

Healing Life-Long Trauma with TFT

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Ruth tells her story of living in Austria when Hitler came to power and the effect of those events on her life. Working with Dr. Bray and using Thought Field Therapy helped her gain peace and relief from Traumatic Stress.

Relieving Violent Trauma of Teenager with Autism & Downs Syndrome

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It’s Not “Talk” Therapy

By Nora J. Baladerian, PhD

As the 17-year-old boy flopped into a chair in my office, I knew right away TFT was the right therapy to help him. A victim of violence by his day-program worker, he is an African-American boy, quiet, very engaging and cute!

He was also born with Downs Syndrome and Autism.

He lives with both of his parents and a younger sister in Los Angeles. To communicate, he uses sign language and a communication board to spell out, letter by letter, any words he wants to say—as his verbal output does not always match what he intends to say.  He also uses sign language (finger spelling) and some American Sign Language.

Because of the moderate level of mental retardation that he has, I knew “typical” talk therapy would not work to help him recover from his trauma. Continue reading “Relieving Violent Trauma of Teenager with Autism & Downs Syndrome”

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”