stress – Page 12 – TFT Trauma Relief

TFT Relieves Mother’s Trauma from 9/11

Diane Bahr Groth, TFT-Adv, shares how she used TFT with a mother whose son was tragically killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11:

Today I worked with a lovely woman who lost her only son in the World Trade Center disaster. He was just 24 years old and newly hired by Cantor and Fitzgerald who lost 700 people. She has allowed me to share her story.

We spent approximately 2 hours together. She was at peace when she left my office. The most difficult aspect of the session was to help her alleviate the pain associated with her son’s last phone call to her.

Miraculously his telephone in the office worked only long enough to call her. He described the scene of horror to her very calmly.

“Mom, something hit the building. The ceiling is coming down, the walls and floors are coming apart and there is smoke all around. I have to tell you that I love you and I am going to die”.

At first she thought he was joking but did not interrupt. She realized the severity of the situation and calmly told him she loved him, and to find someone to be with so he would not be alone. Instantly they were disconnected.

She rushed to the television and saw the horror we have all seen over and over. Her husband was in tower 7 and could not be reached.

She has heard her son’s words over and over in her mind and pictured the hell he was in before he died, and felt his fear.

She also expressed fear for her husband’s safety, guilt that she had not said the right words, that she had not protected her son and fear about anthrax.

As soon as she was at peace about her son, she realized that she had been with him so he was not alone–and the “picture” she held in her mind about his last moments was gone. All the other fears vanished as well. She was exhausted, as many clients are after such a session, but left transformed.

*Photo by Macten: http://www.flickr.com/photos/macten/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

TFT Relieves Trauma from Bank Robbery

Juanita Van Ham describes the horrifying trauma and how TFT relieved her of its debilitating effects. At the end of her story is a link to 5 drawings she did depicting the healing process that came to include other parts of her life as well. Juanita’s husband, Lee, adds his perspective.

Remembering August 1, 2005–

I entered the credit union shortly after 9am on Monday morning. There was no line so I walked up to a teller and handed her my checks, suddenly there came from behind very loud voices yelling obscenities. It felt surreal.

It took me a few seconds to realize these voices were here, now, yelling and cursing for us to get on the floor.I turned around and there were three men in black hooded sweatshirts with white cloth over their faces pointing weapons, large – not handguns, but rifles. They had a young male hostage.

I didn’t get far enough down on the floor. The leader, a very large, aggressive man was barking out orders to everyone and for a moment his words were directed at me. I tried to imagine myself as part of the carpet. I also thought that none of us had any value to these desperate men and we could be shot at any moment.

Feeling like both a fleeting moment and a life-time, the armed robbery was over. We were gathered into an office to await the arrival of the police and FBI.

As the bank employees and I talked a little and cried, I remembered that there was a young African-American man waiting in a car outside as I entered. He had caught my attention because I liked the music he was listening to. I was concerned that he may have been the hostage and walked with one of the tellers over to the window.

The car was there and the doors were wide open but Continue reading “TFT Relieves Trauma from Bank Robbery”

TFT Relieves Mother’s Trauma from Rwanda Genocide

Dr. Caroline Sakai shares the following story from the ATFT Foundation’s recent mission to Rwanda:

One older woman was hearing voices, as well as reliving the traumas and horrors of the genocide in a highly agitated state. She was initially unable to focus, and she had a vacant yet frightened look.

She started gritting her teeth, looking around at the voices she was hearing that were threatening to kill her and her family, and talking back to the voices while rolling her eyes, or looking around at what she was experiencing internally, and waving her arms, stamping her feet on the ground, and tipping herself backwards on the bench she was sitting on.

At one point she spat as she yelled out while flailing her arms. She stood up and was about to run away from the voices, when the psychological reversal and initiation of the trauma algorithm started getting her more grounded in the here and now. She shook her head as she started to look directly and intently at the therapist and assisting support ATFT team therapist as if actually seeing them for the first time.

We then did a TFT diagnostic assessment, and the Rwandan therapist continued her treatment using the diagnostic treatment points. Her agitation subsided, and she remained focused, and her body visibly relaxed, and the light went back on in her eyes. The gritted teeth relaxed into a broad smile of release and relief.

The voices disappeared, and she remained in good eye contact and fully present. She no longer went in and out of dissociation, and was not responding to compelling internal experiences.

Her only fear at the end of treatment when her subjective units of distress went from 10 plus to 0, was that it might come back again. The treatment protocol was written in Kinyarwanda for her even though she could not read, since she lived with the surviving 7 of her 13 children, and a couple of them could read. She also was informed of the on-going TFT services that would be available twice a week at the Izere Center.

She stated with amazement that it was as if she had been lost far away, and she had come back to earth now. She stated that it was now quiet in her head without the voices and painful flashbacks. She no longer felt she was cursed, and her stabbing pains in her chest and stomach totally remitted. She was elated and expressed her joy and gratitude for her experiencing release and relief.

TFT Relieves 16-Year Old’s Trauma from Uganda Massacre

Suzanne Connolly, LCSW, TFT-Adv, shares the following story from the ATFT Foundation‘s recent mission to Rwanda:

Kamal holds his hands to his head and says with wonder, “It’s gone! I can’t remember it!” He jumps up and gives me a hug and won’t let go. He dances around the room so we dance around the room hugging tight.

Kamal is 16 and been through more than anyone of any age should have to go through. He was born while his mother was still studying at the University so he lived with his mother’s sister.

When Kamal was three years old his mother died. When he was six his aunt, the only mother he had known, was killed, leaving him and his cousin Abdul orphaned.

He and Abdul were sent to a refugee camp in Uganda and while there he witnessed a horrific massacre. Until now he could never get it out of his mind, and he felt constant sadness and could trust no one. He thought anyone could change at any moment and kill him. He lived in constant fear of danger.

“I know it happened still” he says, “but I can’t think about it!” “Oh I am so happy!” Thank you! Thank you” “Murakoze.” He hugs me again and we do the dance for the second time. He finally lets go and we say good bye.

I see Kamal later in the school yard. He has changed to a dress shirt and walks like he has springs attached to his feet. Sometimes he almost skips. He comes back to thank me once again.

It is great to be able to share this moment with Kamal, and to be able to share it, like so many moments, with you. So many beautiful moments shared here in Rwanda, thanks to TFT and the wonderful ATFT members who have contributed to this mission.

There are so many stories, Kamal’s (not his real name, of course) only the most recent.

To go to Suzanne’s blog about this mission to Rwanda, click here.

TFT After Cougar Attack

Martin Law, C.Psych, describes how he used the TFT trauma technique to relieve his wife’s severe trauma after having witnessed the killing of their dog by a cougar:

It was a beautiful Fall Saturday in November 2001 when my wife (Viv) decided to go for a walk into a forested area close to our acreage west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Our one year old Samoyed dog (Nakoda) happily trotted along with her.

One of our twin sons (David) tagged along as well, then decided to turn around for home after walking for 75 metres. To this day we are thankful that he chose to turn back for home.

About a half-hour into her walk a flash of light brown came bolting from behind a tree, knocked Viv to the ground, suddenly did a 90 degree turn and pounced on Nakoda.

Totally stunned and bewildered, Viv stood up to witness the cougar mauling Nakoda. The sights and sounds of Nakoda’s death were seared into Viv’s brain as she began to take in what was happening. In a panic she fled the scene, feeling helpless, confused and disoriented, as well as guilty for leaving her beloved dog to the mercy of this wild animal.

I was with our oldest son 60 kilometres away at a tennis tournament when all this took place. Fortunately, a distant neighbour who lived close to the site of the attack was home when Viv came crashing through the bush. He drove Viv home.

While this was a short drive, Viv was panicking, not knowing if David had made it home safely. Fortunately he had and for the rest of the day, Viv and our twins stayed with our neighbour until I got home.

Up until this time, we had no idea that cougars would be anywhere near our acreage. We later deduced that this particular cougar had actually been prowling around our home!!

When I arrived home, I heard the whole story. Not surprisingly, Viv was incredibly shaken up. We talked about what happened and I basically followed the standard protocols for defusing following a critical incident (per the Jeff Mitchell CISM model).

That evening Viv could not sleep, with classic flashbacks to the event, a re-living of the sights and sounds of Nakoda’s last minutes. The next day we Continue reading “TFT After Cougar Attack”

TFT Relieves Autistic Boy’s Terror of Water

By Mary Cowley, PhD, TFT-VT:

During a family vacation last week, I had the opportunity to share the miracle of TFT with another family whose son was severely traumatized by water. The following account was written by my son, Rick Cowley, who witnessed the event:

Last week we had a family reunion on the island of Kauai. One day my mom and sister and I walked down to the local beach where we met my wife and 4 year old daughter. One corner of this beach has a man made sea wall which blocks the waves and makes for a perfectly calm and safe children’s pool about 50 feet in diameter. The bottom is sand. The depth varies with the tides and this day it was about 18 inches deep.

Deep enough for my daughter to swim around a bit, and then stand up whenever and wherever she wanted to.

We were sitting on the beach and noticed a father holding his son’s hand and running up and down along the water’s edge. The boy looked about 3 years old. He was screaming the whole way. I couldn’t tell if the screaming was excitement or panic. The father saw us watching them and said to us as they ran by us, “He’s afraid of the water.” So it was definitely a panicked scream.

My mom said to me, “TFT would probably help that boy.”

After a few laps the mother brought the boy into 8 inch deep water, sat down and held him in her lap. This time there was no mistaking his scream: sheer terror. He fought and struggled and screamed and kicked while his mom grappled him and tried to reassure him that it was okay in the water. His dad was playing in the pool with his baby brother, who was thoroughly enjoying the water.

It was obvious that his parents were determined to help him overcome his fear, but I was afraid that the trauma of being forced to endure the water was going to have the opposite effect. (I teach surfing and many of my adult students confess to me that they are terrified of the water because of some traumatic childhood experience in the ocean.)

We talked for a few more minutes but we couldn’t help but watch the struggle in front of us.

I said to my mom, “Why don’t you go see if you can help them with TFT?”

My mom got up and walked over to the mother, still sitting in shallow water, pinning her screaming son to her lap. My mom leaned over and talked with them for a moment and then motioned a tapping sequence which the mom did on the kicking and screaming boy.

I was really curious what would happen right then with the boy. After the sequence, while the mother and my mom were talking, the boy broke free and ran to higher ground. My mom kept talking with her for a few minutes.

I’m fairly skeptical of TFT. For myself I’ve experienced both good results and no results. At first I was disappointed that the boy didn’t calm down immediately and sit with his mom in the water. “It didn’t work,” I thought, “bummer…”

What unfolded during the next few minutes however was a miracle.

The boy stayed higher up for a few minutes playing in the sand while his mom and my mom talked, and his dad and baby brother played in the water.

Then the boy began approaching the water of his own volition, at first going in just up to ankle deep. His dad saw this and began enticing him by holding out a bucket of water for him to take. The boy slowly walked out in knee deep water to his dad.

This kid 5 minutes before was screaming in terror at running in wet sand. After one TFT sequence he was walking out by himself in knee deep water!

The whole family happily played in the pool together for the next 30 minutes.

Mary Cowley: I learned from the mother that her son was also autistic. I only had time to show her the first 4 tapping points before he jumped off her lap onto the sand. As I was teaching her how to finish the technique so she could try it with him later, we noticed he was in the water, happily playing with his Dad! Needless to say, the mother was ecstatic to see this profound shift in her son–and I was grateful for the opportunity to share and witness TFT’s healing power once again.