Healing Combat Trauma

EFT: "Emotional Freedom Technique" for Combat Veterans

If you know anyone who's watched "The Secret," with its emphasis on "the Law of Attraction" -- heck, if you know anyone who's watched Oprah, who promoted "The Secret" extensively on her shows -- you know someone who's probably heard of EFT.

What you might not realize is there's a body of work developing that shows its effectiveness with PTSD.  And some of its biggest fans are the veterans themselves, who've tried it.

"EFT," or "Emotional Freedom Technique," is a form of what's known as "energy psychology," or "energy work."  It was developed by a Stanford engineer -- note, not a psychologist -- Gary Craig, who calls it accurately "a needle-free form of acupuncture."

Craig and EFT practitioners have done some remarkable work with PTSD veterans.  If this subject interests you, or you've looked into various forms of treatment before, and you're even slightly open-minded about trying something with a large upside and very little (or nonexistent) downside, this video in particular is worth watching.  Here's the link. 

The most moving part of the video, in my opinion, is the obvious before and after shots of the veterans themselves, going from visibly struggling, to visibly coping, in very short amounts of time. The excitement of a family member, shown later on the video, is also palpable.  A few studies have also been done on EFT and PTSD -- a book has also just been published -- with more studies to come.  The results are refreshingly impressive, though, for such a low-tech technique.  According to the video, veterans report symptoms drop 63% after treatment, according to a self-reporting scale used by the military.  Symptoms of depression and anxiety reduced by 50%, on average. Cortisol levels -- we've talked about their significance here, here and here -- drop 25% after one hour-long treatment.

Watch the video first, to orient yourself as to what EFT is and how the sample of combat veterans from various wars -- Vietnam, the Gulf War, and Iraq -- responded to it. Then, to learn more, here's an article from the Scottish press about a combat vet and his experience with it.  Here's a story about a Vietnam vet and his experience with EFT. There's a new book by Gary Craig on EFT for PTSD. If you're a veteran, there's a study you can be part of that we blogged about the other day, and that study includes several sessions of EFT. (That post is linked here.)

But if you're intrigued -- after watching the video -- and you want to know more, you probably want to find an EFT practitioner to try it out with.  There's a subset of practitioners listed on the Web, linked  here, who are interested in working with veterans, including -- gasp! -- some who already work at the VA.  If there's no one in your area, you could try this link instead, to find an EFT practitioner who may not have a special interest in veterans, and yet could introduce you to the practice.  It seems to be something low-tech, affordable, simple to learn, and an after an initial introduction, very much DIY (Do It Yourself).  Practitioners may also be willing to negotiate or lower their fees for veterans: Ask.

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Editor's note: Talking about EFT, or any other technique, should not imply or be misread as an endorsement. In any case, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

 

Veterans Sought for National Clinical Study on EFT and Combat Trauma

Veterans sought for combat stress study

Veterans from wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan may be eligible to participate in a clinical study investigating the effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) at releasing combat-related stress, trauma and memories.

Qualifying veterans will receive six free private sessions of EFT with a professionally trained coach, including follow-up assessments after 3-6 months.

Combat-related conditions include insomnia and/or nightmares, drug and/or alcohol dependencies, anger, anxiety, depression, paranoia, obsessive compulsive behavior, panic attacks, phobias, rage, grief, survivor’s guilt, feelings of isolation or jumpiness around people.

The study is organized and sponsored by the Iraq Vets Stress Project (http://www.StressProject.org), a project of Soul Medicine Institute, a nonprofit research corporation.

For more information contact Susan Maloney, an integral life coach and EFT practitioner, at (707) 888-0246 or susan@susanmaloney.com.

Vietnam Veteran Turns to Acupuncture, Qi Gong and Yoga for Relief from PTSD

We've been discussing various forms of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, or "CAM" for short, which seem to have potential therapeutic usefulnessness for treating PTSD.  Here's a mention in a recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune of March 14, 2008, of other Eastern methods, including the energetic medicine, "Qi Gong," which appear to have brought some relief to one Vietnam war-era nurse.  From an article by Matthew D. LaPlante:

Mary Jane Shipley is a 62-year-old former trauma nurse who was stationed at a mobile Army hospital in Vung Tau, Vietnam. 

Shipley's "eyes well with tears," LaPlante writes, at the recollection of the young men she watched die there, burnt and broken and missing pieces of their bodies as they faded away." 

He continues, "Shipley says she knew almost immediately after returning home there was something wrong with her. In part, it was the helicopters. She could hear them, even smell them, ferrying patients to the Salt Lake City hospital where she worked - sometimes minutes before any of her associates could."

Her other symptoms are hallmarks of PTSD: "She had trouble relating to other people. She was restless. She was constantly afraid. Perhaps to the eyes of today's doctors and nurses, Shipley's illness would have been obvious. But back then, no one reached out."

In Shipley's case, according to LaPlante, "It took her 30 years to realize she wasn't alone. Now in treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, the Western-trained nurse has found Eastern therapies to be most helpful. She practices yoga and qigong. And at least twice a week, she undergoes acupuncture. "It took me so long to figure out what works for me," Shipley laments, "and I still have so much trouble."

Creating Sacred Space with Space Clearing

Editor's note: This is one of those posts where I am going wayyyyy out on a limb (sound of cartoon branch being sawn off); and if it's not to your liking, just pass on it and keep on going – it’s not for everyone, that’s for sure. And on some levels, I don't even know what I'm talking about here…

But that’s the great thing about wacky spiritual stuff: neither does anyone else, really.  (A childhood friend -- now a world-renowned religion expert and college professor, but who I know from elementary, jr. high and high school, plus Sunday school for all those years -- sets the “religion status” on his Facebook profile to “confused” – because, frankly, who isn’t. Even the experts, really.)

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The collisions between the sacred, or spiritual world -- and the material world in which we typically feel more at home -- can be surprising and even sometimes humorous when they arise.

A previous "party hearty" roommate -- whose sophisticated, wealthy, and even extremely well-educated family on one side came from Latin America, on the other side, from the Indian subcontinent -- kept both traditions alive when she'd take off her religious medals, that she usually wore around her neck, and lay them face down on the dresser, apparently so they couldn't "see" what she was up to, when she engaged in any non-G-related activities with her, erm, gentlemen callers.  I used to think this was pretty hilarious stuff -- who, after all, were they going to tell? -- but she was way superstitious about it, and not to be trifled with, on the matter (just in case). 

Another friend, an African educated at fine schools in England and the U.S., who is now a college professor in the Boston area -- though not the religion professor mentioned elsewhere -- has a mother who is both a tribal elder who practices magic, and a more traditionally-trained M.D.  Somehow, she has found a way to reconcile the two sides of her nature, or at least reach a meaningful truce between them.  Andrew Weil, M.D., famous worldwide as a classically-trained M.D., (Harvard Medical School), studied ethnobotany and shamanistic cultures prior to dispensing advice on what's good for what ails ya -- because he understood that the modernized Western world is not really where you go first if you're interested in learning traditional spiritual wisdom, as indigenous cultures still practice it.

Ready to step off the spiritual cliff, or slide on the spiritual banana peel (though ideally with better consequences)?  This is highly subjective stuff here -- not the white-washed church and steeple of your youth -- but that alone doesn't make it particularly wrong, or right, either. Try the garment on for size, so to speak, reject it if it doesn't fit you personally; and, as with most things in life -- to mix a metaphor -- be aware that "your mileage may vary."

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I was having a conversation the other day with a friend, telling her about a Vietnam veteran I know who has regular visitations from two of the many people he killed in combat.

(And by many, I mean more than 50, mostly at point-blank range.  If that wouldn't mess with your head, I'm not sure what would.) Of course, the apparitions he experiences as nightmares and hallucinations are "visions" that drive him to distraction -- but he also experiences them as real people, who on some level he "knows," if only because of their regular appearance in his life over all these years.  They seem to have attached themselves to him, personally, not where he lives, and have in fact "moved houses" with him several times over the years.  He rarely gets any peace from them at all; except sometimes in church.  These people who he killed in combat, now seem to appear to him in spirit form, where they menace and trouble him seemingly from beyond the grave.  Their constant visits are a continual and draining reminder of dark days from his past long ago, and of course also a direct reminder that years ago, he took their lives, very personally for them (and for him.) Over the past four decades since Vietnam, he's spent so much time in their company, in fact, that he's given them names: we'll call them "the Dark Lady" and "Nguyen" here for our purposes.

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The Dark Lady was a cigarette smoker, in her time; not so sure I know much in the identifying characterist department about Nguyen, except that he was a good fighter, and dangerous.  Both were highly treacherous individuals in life, and seem – at least in this veteran’s experience – to have carried those traits over into the afterlife (or into his hallucinations of same, since intrinsically it’s hard to clarify the difference between the two.  The two states may be one and the same, after all  Again, who will ever know.)

The friend I asked about his situation is from a different cultural background, a Caribbean nation in which the spirit world is considered to exist on a fairly parallel level to our own at all times, with frequent intersections of the two.  I’ve seen her go through some experiences, which I won’t go into here, where strange and magical things were accomplished by specific spiritual interventions, that cleared up some amorphous but troubling situations in her and her family's lives, as well as that of close friends of hers, who I've also known or known about.  She seemed like just the girl to ask.

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I laid out the situation as best I understood it, then asked her what people in her culture would do if they were faced with a situation like this. The approach she described was what we might call, in the Christian tradition, "setting a table for one's enemies" -- and as she talked, the wisdom of the approach became more clear. 

Her culture's take on this would be, that evil spirits like the Dark Lady and Nguyen were still "hanging around," because there was something they wanted from the person, some business they still had to transact (I'm paraphrasing) with those they haunted. She said her culture would make an effort to "honor" these "evil" spirits, by essentially, trying to figure out what they wanted from you, and then taking pains to honor them, in as sincere a way as would be appropriate, under the circumstances -- choosing rituals, ceremonies or objects that would convey acknowledgement, honor or respect.  (The goal, after all, is trying to get them to leave.  You're simply (and sincerely) making as nice as you can, until they do.)

She said in her culture’s magical/spiritual tradition, called Santeria, that might mean laying out an offering to them, in a special location in the house, perhaps on a table.  Lighting a candle for them (individually, I’m assuming); setting out a glass of water; doing something personal to dedicate the space to them; to acknowledge them in a way that might be meaningful.  In the case of the Dark Lady, we’re assuming laying out a pack of cigarettes (no, we’re not joking.  This is wild stuff – just roll with it.) If memory serves, just creating this “sacred space” to honor the spirits in transition, or whatever euphemism we choose to use here, apparently helps.  It may need to be done a few times, over the course of some time, but apparently it makes a difference – if only, and we insert this phrase to satisfy the skeptics (except that they can never be satisfied, by definition, so what’s the point?!) – to calm and appease (and set at peace) the one creating the ceremony.

A lawyer friend, we won’t name names, has made a career out of bringing “ritual and ceremony” into the practice of law, which has frankly been bereft of those.  It’s very right-brain thinking in a very left-brain profession, but think of the number of important areas of life where “ritual and ceremony” are completely devoid.  Marriages, funerals, first communions, and school graduations are about it.  Other profoundly meaning transitions -- divorce, the signing of a will -- have no ceremonies at all to mark their passage.  The participants are left completely on their own to wing it -- and hope that the passage from one state to another, or the gift -- makes sense.  That's how it is in America, but in much of the rest of the world, ritual and ceremony are cornerstones – and touchstones - for the community and its integrated life. 

Ever eaten out at an Asian restaurant, and notice off in the background or a corner, a little shrine set up for the protective saints and spirits?  (Okay, that's a nail salon in Florida pictured at right, but it's the same difference.)

Integrating the spiritual world with the tactile, experiential world is not a foreign concept to most of the world’s people, although it is to us.  When all else fails, it might make sense to explore some seemingly wacky stuff that nevertheless brings comfort and even sometimes spiritual breakthroughs to people so much less sophisticated than we allegedly are.

Of course, said my friend, if this quasi-reverential approach doesn’t work, over time, to get the spirits to leave the premises -- which might happen if they are particularly strong, or particularly evil (though she suggests trying, first) -- it might be time to take it up a notch, and consult what amounts to a shaman, from her culture, who can do his “magic” at a little heavier level.  Understood :-)

Time to call in the spiritual Mafia…who don’t take no for an answer.  (They'll make the "evil spirits" an offer they can't refuse? Actually, it sounds more pedestrian than that -- sounding like wise negotiators and mediators, they interview the disturbing spirits about what it would take to satisfy them and get them to leave, and then clear the premises of any vestiges of them. Sign me up :-)

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For the rest of us, who aren’t familiar at all with the concept of “space clearing,” it was popularized in the West in the 1990s by authors like Denise Linn and Karen Kingston, who wrote the seminal (for this field) Creating Sacred Space With Feng Shui.  Kingston learned her trade on the island nation of Bali, where spirituality is fully (and some say, beautifully) integrated with everyday life.  (Read the New York Times bestseller, Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, for further confirmation of this.  The author spends a third of her book in Bali, and can hardly pry herself away it’s such a marvelous experience. Neither could the famous religion professor, mentioned above, who recently traveled there as well.)

Energetic space clearing is based on the principles of Feng Shui – another litmus test for people’s beliefs, either pro or con.  Feng Shui is well-known in Asia, particularly China and Hong Kong, where it has been practiced for centuries.  (Think of it as a form of environmental acupuncture, moving energy and getting rid of blockages.)  There's ritual and ceremony involved: hands claps, bells ring, sage bundles smudge, and what's happening, in theory, bad energy is cleared out, and a protective "shield" of good energy is created around the subject and/or his or her family's living environment or work space.  Like the taste of cilantro or the scent of Patchouli, of course, this concept isn't for everyone -- but it has its adherents, as casual or as dedicated as they may be.

The idea seems to be, in short and very abbreviated/non-expert fashion here (read the Kingston book for more details on how it's actually done) -- do a spiritual perimeter walk, cleanse the living environment of energetic blocks (though specific means detailed in the book, etc.), and "clean" or "clear" the energy in the environment to create a more peaceful, harmonious atmosphere within the space.

In mild situations, and maybe just as a precursor thing to do even in more severe situations, it could be interesting to try on an experimental basis, being careful to follow the suggested instructions.  For all we know, it might produce a positive change.  Certainly its adherents believe that it does:

Denise Linn says she “cried out” excitedly upon entering a room at a conference where both she and Karen Kingston were to speak, adding, “I was startled by the profound change in the energy” that had taken place in the room, since she had last set foot into it, a short time before.  She explained,

"The room no longer felt heavy and depressing.  Even though none of the physical objects had been moved, the entire room [now] sparkled with light and energy.  It was quite remarkable.  Karen very quietly stepped forward and explained that she had been Space Clearing the room.  ‘The energy shift is incredible,’ I told her.  [To which Kingston responded, essentially, “but I’m only halfway through it!”]

A few years ago, I had the chance to stay for an extended period of time in a house which had a marvelously calm and peaceful “energy” about it, and which provided many soothing nights' sleep.  Unbeknownst to me initially, after talking with the owner I learned that Karen Kingston herself had “space cleared” that particular house, soon after the current owner had just purchased it -- both to "clear" the negative energy associated with the previous owners, as well as to establish a calming, positive, enhancing energy for the house's new inhabitants.  Real or imaginary, the “results” were incredibly pleasing, soothing and restful -- and noticeable.

The principles of space clearing, which can be learned from Kingston’s book, are perhaps too New Agey for some – but here’s the interesting thing – they’re also considered quite ancient to others, in other cultures.  Who knows who’s right in this equation – the important thing is finding out whether these concepts have any validity in your own life.  Proceed with all necessary caution and wisdom, but don’t fail to look into them, either, just because they’re unfamiliar or not what you grew up with. You might just be missing out on a better night's sleep, or more peaceful surroundings for you and your personal life, or your family life.  And to that we say, "good night!"

Not Specific to Combat, Research Project Studies Use of Tibetan Meditation to Treat PTSD

Although not specifically directed towards combat veterans and PTSD, a research study is currently evaluating whether Tibetan meditation has benefit for PTSD sufferers. Miami and Ohio State university researchers will use an ancient technique to address a modern problem. With a $98,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health, Deborah Akers, Miami visiting assistant professor of anthropology, will work with co-researchers from Ohio State on a project titled "Treatment of Trauma Survivors: Effects of Meditation Practice on Clients' Mental Health Outcomes."  (For more information about the department conducting the study, click here.) Akers and co-researchers Moyee Lee, professor of social work, and Amy Zaharlick, professor of anthropology, will investigate the impact of Tibetan meditation on victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The project began this month and will continue for two years.

Researchers will work with a group of women diagnosed with PTSD who live in Amethyst House, a women's treatment program for alcohol and drug addiction in Columbus. Tibetan monk Geshe Kalsang Damdhul of the Institute of Higher Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India, will assist as a meditation instructor. "Participants will be taught specialized meditation techniques and will be guided through meditation for a period of six weeks," said Akers. Results could then provide a new option for treating other victims of PTSD, such as combat soldiers returning from war or victims of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. "This project charts new ground, bringing a holistic perspective to the treatment of PTSD," said Akers. She added that though meditation has been used in a variety of therapeutic settings in the West, such as reducing stress and coping with pain,its application in the treatment of mental illness, including PTSD, has not been extensively explored.

 

"Whereas in the West treatment of PTSD may require years of prescription medicine and counseling, the Tibetan approach has been successful within one to two years by focusing on the spiritual connection between the mind and the body that seems to allow the patient to process the trauma more effectively," said Akers. "Moreover, unlike Western medical therapies, meditation is free and can benefit individuals who cannot afford extensive therapy or medicine over long periods of time. The Tibetan approach is empowering, as it offers PTSD patients an alternative and less invasive form of therapy and enables them to participate in their own treatment." The project grew from a Miami summer field school program, "Peoples and Cultures of Tibet," conducted in Dharamsala, the residence of the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama, and location of the Tibetan government in exile. During the field school, Akers and Miami students learned about how Tibetan monks minister to political prisoners and victims of torture who suffer from PTSD. For more information about the program, click here.) Several Miami pre-med and anthropology students will assist in the Columbus project, gaining hands-on research experience.

"The PTSD research project and the summer field program in Dharamsala exemplify Miami University's continuing interest in South Asia," said Akers.

Army Broadens View of Possible PTSD Therapies, Includes Complementary and Alternative Medicine

A Military.com article published on May 29th reports on the U.S. Army's increasing openness to non-traditional therapies to treat PTSD.  The article by Bryant Jordan is called, "East Meets West in Army Mental Therapy," and it quotes Col. Elspeth Ritchie on the Army's increasing openness to options beyond traditional counseling and medication, to include items like yoga, acupuncture, meditation, and of course, virtual reality. The headline is positive, but in truth, the Army may be taking only baby steps towards including nontraditional therapies, often known as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).

(Some "definition of terms" is in order.  "Alternative medicine" means treatment choices other than conventional medicine, to be used instead of conventional medicine; "complementary medicine" means treatment choices to be used in addition to conventional medicine -- so the term "CAM," or "Complementary AND Alternative Medicine" is meant to be inclusive of both approaches.  This ends up being an important distinction, because responsible M.D.s are often more in favor of patients adding complementary therapies in to their treatment protocol, rather than replacing a conventional treatment protocol with fully alternative therapies. "Complementary" is misspelled in the Military.com article as "complimentary," which further confuses the terminology.) 

The article states that "Therapies that are "kind of tried and true" remain at the forefront of treating Soldiers with behavioral problems, [Col.] Ritchie said. These include behavioral therapy and exposure therapy -- where patients are "exposed" by degrees to scenarios that may be at the core of the problem -- and medication."  And it further quotes Col. Ritchie as saying that although CAM therapies "are interesting, we don't have the hard data to show which therapies are useful for what population. So we're really in the research phase of this for yoga, acupuncture and some other therapies."

The Military.com article is linked here.  A previous article by Noah Shactman in Wired magazine on March 25 discussed similar material, and mentions a Department of Defense grant opportunity with a closing date of May 15, providing $4 million in funds to study therapies with possible benefits for PTSD and/or TBI, including but not limited to "music, animal-facilitated therapy, art, dance/movement, massage therapy, EMDR program evaluation, virtual reality, acupuncture, spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, yoga and other novel approaches."  (The grant opportunity announcement is linked here.)  According to the Wired article, reading from the grant application, the Army is willing to contemplate as well the potential effectiveness of "biologically-based treatments, botanicals, and nutritional supplements for enhancing cognitive function and mood in patients with trauma spectrum disorders, including TBI and/or PTSD, depression, anxiety, and/or substance dependence/abuse," and adds, "Even proposals for wild-sounding "therapies using bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, distant healing and acupuncture" would be accepted."  The Wired article is linked here.

I'm unclear whether the Army is leading the way of all the military branches in considering the potential of CAM for PTSD; but whether it is or isn't, kudos to it for being reasonably open-minded.  One of the problems that seems to keep coming up with PTSD is that no one obvious choice comes up in treating it, that works every time.  There are a variety of pharmaceutical drugs that are prescribed, but no one remedy in particular appears to be the wonder drug, or cure-all.  (You hear the frustration about this when you listen to the stories of combat veterans who are taking a handful of pills to combat PTSD, sometimes as many as 20 or 30 separate medications - a scary cocktail, indeed.)  Other approaches for PTSD, such as talk therapy, cognitive therapy, EMDR, etc., all have their place in the pantheon of treatments, and each has their adherents/proponents, but again, there doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-all, cure-all for PTSD.  In the absence of the medicinal "silver bullet" that cures all PTSD, it's great that the Army is at least embracing the concept of possible adjunct therapies, while asking them to prove themselves clinically, as much as possible.

In the following weeks, we will report on complementary and alternative therapies that appear to have some benefit in treating PTSD; in addition to the more mainstream approaches that are already in use.  (Virtual reality is another type of treatment entirely: dependent on technology, it doesn't fit the typical rubric of CAM, nor should it.)