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PTSD Treatment for VeteransResolve PTSD with Emotional Freedom Technique TreatmentsWe've had Shell Shock, Battle Fatigue, Combat Stress, and now PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, anger, depression, addiction, nightmares, insomnia, phobias, suicidal thoughts, and hypervigilance. The triggering event, makes the subsequent feelings and emotions so real, so hyper-sensitive, you can literally smell it, taste it, feel it in your body, hear it, and see it in your mind. It's as if you are reliving the event all over again. What happens in the body to give someone PTSD? When you witness a traumatic event, your senses and your mind become completely overwhelmed. In the same way that your computer freezes when you throw too much information at the processor, your whole body freezes because it's too much for the body and mind to cope with. Your body becomes the 'buffer' for all this information, and your muscles and your organs absorb all the trauma and all the shock, which become trapped in the cells. Your mind needs to process and make provision for your survival, so allowing the overload to flood the body in this way, is a survival mechanism. The problems come afterwards when we try to respond to different, normal situations. The body has become hardwired to respond to every situation as if it was a life threatening event and takes you back to the trauma site and time. This imprinting is very hard to shift. What has EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) got to offer PTSD? What EFT does so beautifully is extinguish the triggers and the fuses that maintain the hyper-arousal. EFT is a simple tapping procedure which when applied in a therapeutic setting can rid people of even the most severe emotional issues. Not with weeks, months or even years of conventional therapy, but rather in days, or hours, or even minutes.
So what actually is EFT? It's an energy meridian therapy. You tap on various parts of the body that correspond to points where an acupuncturist might apply needles. But instead of needles, the idea is to tap with the fingertips on a few pre-determined points while you tune into an emotional problem, and the problem is then free to leave you. It just seems to melt away, including trauma as intrusive and destructive as the symptoms of PTSD that bother veterans of conflict and trauma every day. Commonly this is permanent. What will EFT do to me? EFT helps remove the inappropriate responses, but it also replaces them with new ones that are based on a revised belief about the perceived threat. Instead of being constantly triggered, an old memory can remain in the past, where it belongs, with reduced emphasis and significance. EFT allows you to see things in a different light and it puts you in charge. How long does EFT last? Delivered skillfully, EFT is a lifechanging event. So the effects should last forever. EFT is not like a headache pill that you need to redose every 4 hrs when the drug wears off, although there is a reassurance and a comfort factor associated with the continued use of EFT over time. You'll probably cry some, but EFT is not a painful process. You'll get the chance to be happy again, and honest again, to free yourself from the horror of what you went through. You'll come to a place where you can lift your head again in honour, and hug your children, and love your wife, and use that warrior courage to live life to the max. Is EFT an alternative to drug, talk or group therapy? It's to early to say 'alternative', and I'm not trying to push it that way. It is good on its own, but when combined with drugs therapy, when appropriate, talk therapy when appropriate, and even group therapy, EFT will one day become a major contributor to the increased effectiveness of all these approaches. What can I do to get EFT recognized? 1. First of all, book yourself in and get treated. That way when you recommend EFT to anyone else, you'll be speaking from the heart and from a place of conviction. 2. Second, click this link and enter your postcode: http://www.writetothem.com. This will bring up a list of your local councillors, Members of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament. Ask them why EFT is not on the list of treatments on offer from hospitals, doctors surgeries and VA centres. 3. Third, write to Help for Heroes, tell them of your experiences, and ask why EFT is not available to veterans with PTSD. The office is at Unit 6, Aspire Business Centre, Ordnance Road, Tidworth, HANTS SP9 7QD or you can email: . Or you can call Help for Heroes on 0845 673 1760 or 01980 846 459 Why isn't it available already? That's a very good question, and the answer seems to have to do with the way bureaucracy works, and EFT is missing in so many other areas of conventional therapy, that there is definitely a conspiracy to keep it out. It's easy to convince a veteran and their family about the benefits of EFT, because they 'see' them, 'feel' them and live with the results every day. But the scientific community is not so easily persuaded because it's difficult to quantify something by simple testimonials and anecdotal evidence alone. Science needs proof, documented proof and hard data they can pull apart and examine (I'm told there is now lots of trial data available, but this is largely being ignored at present). Prozac gives the body an almighty chemical hit that can be measured in the blood. Evidence is established that you've done something to initiate change. But if a doctor asks, what was it about EFT that made the change to take away this veteran's PTSD? You might struggle to answer without talking about energy flow, meridian lines and negative emotions. The doctor therefore would have difficulty recommending EFT to others because he has no clinical proof that it works, or that you have done anything positive. And it is because EFT struggles to fit into the 'conventional' framework or model of care, that it becomes a safer bet to invade the body with yet more of the same old methods used countless times before, whether they are appropriate or not. Help for Heroes, because of its charity status, should be able to set aside the bureaucracy that plagues science, government departments and medical establishments, and be able to make a coherent frontal assault on the problems that face our vets through PTSD. 
What can you do to help me? Why should I listen to you?Because I've done it, I'm doing it now, and I will continue to use EFT for the treatment of PTSD every chance I get. See below on how to give this a try for yourself and your family. Do I need to get into my stories? I keep them behind a wall for a good reason! No. But I hope to bring you to a point where you can talk without pain, remember without tears, feel without fear and love again without guilt or shame. You owe this to yourself, your wife, your children, your family and your friends. It is a recognized fact that more veterans commit suicide at home than die in battle. More veterans end up in prison at home than are ever captured and imprisoned in a warzone. More veterans end up homeless, on the street, destitute and in a worse position than the people in some third world country that they have tried to liberate and rescue from their own poverty and hopelessness. What thanks is that? More veterans end up alcohol dependent, drug dependent, in mental hospitals and rehab centres, repeat offenders, divorced and alienated from their kids than you will ever see in civilian life. We owe them more than a handful of pills and group therapy! One question I always ask:- Why does it take so long, and so many sessions, and so much money, to take care of these issues through conventional means? My own experience of working with veterans is that this drawn out, expensive approach is unproductive to their recovery and destructive to their mind and soul. The concept of EFT is a simple one, and that is: This is why EFT is so effective at treating emotional problems, from simple worries, right up to the almighty PTSD. It's not the severity of problem that is the issue, but how you deal with the cause. Too much conventional treatment is based around attacking the symptoms and not dealing with the cause. Every prescription ever written is designed to tranquilize the symptoms, as if they were the cause. But thats' not treating the cause. That is the reason veterans find themselves in therapy, or on medication, for 5, 10 or 15 years. No wonder they feel so desperate! They've been sold on the idea that drugging symptoms equals a cure, when this is very far from the truth. Don't the, so say, rapid results of EFT belittle the problem of PTSD? Not at all! Sometimes the occasion that brought on PTSD took only moments, just a few seconds of time. A strong emotional response to an explosion, the death of a close friend, an operation that went wrong, an operation that went right, a surprise attack, death and mutilation. It can be a multitude of things that trigger PTSD. The result is veterans have a lifelong problem afterwards. Why SHOULD it take months or years to make headway with a trauma of this type, usually by obliterating it with drugs, when it only took seconds to install in the body? Why is it so objectionable for conventional therapy to see it as something relatively easy to remove? Perhaps it is the "experts" who fear their skills are being belittled if the result is too rapid. Sooner or later, it's going to become obvious (its already obvious to seasoned EFT'ers) that conventional means have not produced the large scale results needed and that we've been going down the wrong path in trying to cover over the cracks of PTSD. You can talk about, and prescribe, combinations of drugs, for symptoms, all day long, but that won't address the cause. And unless you address the cause, the symptoms will diversify and increase in intensity, because the cause must manifest somehow. Deep down, your very survival is at stake, and so the symptoms will shift back and forth to keep you awake, hypervigilant, high on adrenaline, upfront and in your face. Until you rewrite the rule that keeps telling you, 'Your'e in trouble', that is exactly where you'll be; in trouble. In trouble emotionally, physically, mentally, socially and every other way. Look out H4H, Combat Stress, NHS, VA centres and the rest; EFT is coming to a place near you very soon! How do I know? Because ultimately it will be the carers of PTSD veterans who will see the results their men are getting at home and in therapy with EFT, and they will be the ones banging on the tables at meetings, in veteran hospitals, at military charities, to their MP's and suchlike. They will be the force to be reckoned with then. They will be difficult to ignore and demanding this as a right, and you need to welcome them with open arms, because I'm afraid you won't stand a chance. EFT is my therapy of choice for PTSD and other anxiety disorders. I guarantee you will see a change. I invite anyone currently suffering from PTSD to visit The Haven Healing Centre in Cheddar for assistance. Appointments and a treatment price list are available by clicking here. PTSD is probably the most severe form of emotional issue you can have. These men and women can't sleep, they have nightmares, they have flashbacks, intrusive memories, they don't fit into society, their marriages and families fall apart, they have nothing but problems that weren't necessarily their fault. And if you've reached this far, it's probably because you already know something about it and are suffering right now. That, I think, is the tragedy of PTSD. The sufferer is desperate for answers and help. I look forward to welcoming you soon where we can talk about a treatment plan structured around your needs. Phil. In Conclusion: It doesn't matter how extreme you feel your case is. The most difficult, extreme, complex cases have the most to gain. One day the world will wake up to the benefits of EFT. I hope that day will be soon. I hope that day will be soon enough! It just needs someone high up in the organization of Help for Heroes, or some other charity, to say to the board; There is enough food for thought here to give this a try, so let's organize a trial. If they ring, I'll be there like a bolt of lightening. If you know anybody at H4H, show them this page by print or email. Our veterans need our help. Take action now! Thank you. Please share this page with your friends. Thank you.
Note: DISCLAIMER: This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read. It's a small investment in yourself, but could be a life-changing experience you will cherish forever. | ||||||||
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