Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that is associated with serious traumatic events. Sometimes it is characterized by survivor guilt and often follows a terrifying physical or emotional event. The event may cause the individual persistent and frightening thoughts and memories, or even flashbacks. People who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder often feel chronically and emotionally numb. They may exhibit symptoms such as increased anger or rage, hyper-vigilance, tremors, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), gastrointestinal disorders and self-medication with alcohol or drugs. (1)
Posttraumatic stress disorder is essentially a severe anxiety disorder as a result of a significantly dramatic event such as rape or war. Individuals continue to repeatedly relive the event and often avoid stimulation that is associated with the trauma. Sometimes that means not placing yourself in a situation that resembles the past traumatic event. Sufferers may also have difficulty sleeping and increased irritability. (2)
This is a very terrible burden to bear for both the individual and the family. It robs people of their peace of mind and their ability to function both physically and psychologically. Traumatic stressors can result from experiences from childhood, dramatic experiences, assaults, or war.
Emotional freedom techniques have been shown in studies to significantly decrease the intensity levels for individuals who suffer anxiety disorders. Sometimes this intensity reduces with just a few short sessions as opposed to traditional psychotherapy which often takes months to affect a lesser change. Studies using war veterans have also shown that individuals have decreased cortisol secretion, which is a hormone secreted by the body when it is under stress. While an individual may say they feel less stress and many visually appear to be less stressful the ultimate measurement is the amount of cortisol being excreted into the bloodstream. (3)
Individuals who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder will experience immediate relief but will also find that the positive results will extend long after the treatment session. Because the treatments are so easy to perform and require no additional equipment, individuals are able to do their own emotional freedom technique process at any other time after the treatment protocol has ended, in which they feel stressed or highly anxious. (4)
While emotional freedom techniques continue to gain a degree of acceptance by the traditional Western medical population, this acceptance is slow coming. The inability of some therapists and physicians to accept the outcomes and effectiveness of emotional freedom technique often is a result of the inability of practitioners to describe how this technique is effective. Their question is not whether or not it is effective, but how it is effective.
Emotional freedom technique is used to help peel back all the layers of trauma and stress that it happens in individual over their lifetime. Sometimes practitioners find that while a specific traumatic event triggered the posttraumatic stress disorder individuals have also suffered from other major emotional issues that occurred well before the triggering event.
Using emotional freedom technique, it is important to help determine the basic or root issue in order to achieve the best possible means of success. While some patients believe that they understand the origin of their posttraumatic stress disorder, they often find there are deeper issues than the obvious once they begin using EFT.
In the hands of a skilled practitioner many presenting dramatic events or memories can be broken down into their specific parts. At this point, it is basically a matter of using a standard process to tap on every negative memory until the posttraumatic stress disorder loses all of its negative charge.
While not every situation will respond in a classic fashion, many will find significant positive relief from the use of emotional freedom technique. However, before giving up on the ability of this technique or treatment protocol to make an effective change in an individual’s life, it is important to determine whether or not the emotional freedom technique was applied objectively and effectively as well as consistently.
(1) United States Department of Veterans Affairs: What is PTSD?
(2) American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress: What is PTSD?