EFT Blog

Gary,

I just retired from the Air Force and work as  civilian at Maxwell AFB.  I totally support your efforts!

The optimist in me loves the comment "Why not?" Instead of "Why?"

I'm a 20 year retired Air Guard vet and have PTSD/MST. I spent a decade consumed by rage, fear, and paranoia following the experience that caused my PTSD/MST. Hyper-vigilance was a way of life for me. I trusted no one. I was very sick. The military doctors had put me on antidepressants and simply sent me away.

Working with someone to learn and use EFT helped save my life. I think this is a fantastic method, and I'll be forwarding this website to a large number of people who are interested in this issue. I'm currently writing a book about women veterans and will be writing about the tremendous value of EFT in their treatment for PTSD.

Therapy, medicine, living like a recluse, even addiction, didn't relieve my symptoms. EFT did.

As an EFT practitioner for over ten years and the wife of an Army officer whose combat PTSD was cured with EFT, I support Gary's comments and this work 100%.  To refer others to a quick video of EFT in action on war trauma, go to www.suehannibal.com and click on the video screen on the home page. Youtube.com will appear and you'll see a 10-minute segment of an EFT session in which an Iraq vet heals his memory of having witnessed a murder/suicide at age 10, which triggered him into PTSD in Iraq at age 20. This is classic EFT "tell the story" technique.  

If anyone deserves a "bailout," it is our military veterans. According to a recent study by the RAND Corporation, about one in five war veterans or 300,000 in total, report symptoms of PTSD or major depression. Half of the vets experiencing PTSD have NOT sought treatment, primarily for fear it will harm their careers. Also, according to the study, PTSD could cost America as much as $6.2 billion. Investing in better treatment could save close to $2 billion. EFT could be a lifesaver for returning veterans and their families. A simple way we can honor our veterans is to contact our elected representatives. I'm doing it right now.

I am a combat vet who served in the infantry in Vietnam for 13 and a half months.  I was in the northern region, called I Corps, where fighting was rigerous nearly constantly.  

EFT works!  Please help combat veterans.  They risked their lives, repeatedly, for many of the freedoms that we enjoy.  Please stop the suffering.

Hi Gary,

I love it!

Yes, if we all make a move, we will be heard.

The healing that we see with EFT is phenomenal. Vietnam Veterans getting a restful sleep back after 1 session is not unusual. I have seen Veterans release their nightmares and intrusive thoughts, noise sensitivity, fear, grief and guilt over what happened. Using EFT, Veterans begin to find peace with themselves and their lives in ways that work for them, often without reliving their trauma or even having to talk about it. Physical symptoms often subside for good, and the whole environment seems to shift in a positive way.

The same is  true for military families, who are suffering with their loved ones overseas, and  have to helplessly hope and pray that they will come home safely, knowing  deep down that their lives will never  be the same.

There is so much power and healing in EFT, it a joy and an honor to be a part of it!

I have worked with more than 40 Veterans so far, and the results still astound and humble me.

Thank You for giving all of us this gift!

Ingrid

Thanks to all the vets - especially the Vietnam Vets for all of your service!!  I truly appreciate each and every one of you.  None of us can truly no what you've gone through except for other vets.  Keep doing the EFT and you will feel better soon.

About a month ago I read a very moving account in 'The Nation' of a young Iraqi vet with PTSD  and wrote to the paper asking that they pass on the EFT information to this young man and to their readers.  I didn't get a reply.

In the next issue of the paper was a response from a World War II vet who was still suffering from PTSD.  How terrible!  

I tried looking up both men on the internet but was unsuccessful, so I again wrote to 'The Nation' asking them to pass on the information and explaining that the therapy was free.  I still haven't heard so don't know if any action was taken.

Truly an idea whose time has come!

Dear Mr. Craig,

I took the liberty of forwarding this newsletter to Mr. Tom Philpott, a nationallly syndicated columnist whose articles specialize in military updates and  the medical treatment of our veterans.

Maybe this will help.  Who knows when the breaks will come?

Sincerely,

Charles M. Butts

Dear Gary~

While I agree wholeheartedly with almost everything you wrote, I admit that I cringe at the word "mandatory."  

In a country that promotes freedom, I find this word contradictory.  I do not support "mandatory" healthcare for children (Obama's platform) and I do not support "mandatory" EFT for anyone.

I definitely think EFT should be promoted as an effective choice of modalities.

with Love and Respect,

Sondra Rose

EFT-ADV Practitioner and Life Coach

I copied the link to the vets video example and forwarded to people in my mail box to forward to anyone they think may be connected with the services in any way as PTSD is like depression and is hidden and not talked or discussed in an open way so we never know who may be affected.  I often find we come across solutions when we have exhausted every other treatment and advice with the words, Well I have tried everything else, what can it hurt to try this one.  I have found more solutions this way and with EFT you can learn yourself for free, you can buy the DVD;s and self teach deeper at home, you can locate a workshop for your own use or you can go on to develop and become a practitioner and teacher yourself.  No hidden agendas here, I love it.  Joan x

Gary

While I support your demand that people do not 'trash' your outrageous idea (or any idea for that matter) we do need to explore the negatives, as well as the positives, as pointers to needs for improvements in the idea. The protocol I suggest is:

1. first identify all the positive (and potentially positive) features of the idea

2. convert the negatives to directions for improvement by using language like "we need to find a way to...." This will invite further ideas to overcome the difficulty.

Thus the comment "I cringe at he word mandatory" translates to "we need to find a way to make EFT easily available to all Vets without infringing their freedom and personal privacy", which prompts the invitation, "How might we do that?"

This is the well-established Synectics technique of Itemised Response, which initiates the process of Idea Development to move an initially outrageous idea to a feasible, acceptable solution which gets implemented

Don't skip the first part of the procedure - you may discover unexpected benefits and it ensures that you do not inadvertently lose any of the richness of the idea as you move it to a feasible solution

A build on your idea, Gary, might be to propose public funding of a large scale controlled experiment, applying EFT in a few locations and something else (current practice) in some other comparable locations, with the results monitored and evaluated by respected independent researchers, e.g, from universities

Vincent Nolan

Thank you, Vince!  I really appreciate your suggestions and your reframe of my comments!!!

Love,

Sondra Rose

I think the government should be obligated to *offer* EFT, based on the track record cited.  That will require a significant effort.  Making it mandatory for an affected veteran to take advantage of the offer might be counter-productive, though.

I'm thinking that a veterans' organization might want to be formed around this issue, or an existing organization might be persuaded to take it on.  Might this work?

I know it's a lot to ask of a veteran who has had to deal with PTSD, even one who has recovered, to take on yet another task.  But I bet a veteran will believe another veteran's first-hand account of his(/her) own experience a lot sooner than he(/she) will believe the government, or yet another outside interest group, however well-intentioned.  I think I'm right on this, but clearly an actual veteran would be better situated to comment.

I almost didn't read past the word "Mandatory." Several friends to whom I've introduced EFT sent me this column in shock and disbelief. I'm glad some folks have addressed this terrible contradiction already.

As for "public funding" of these efforts... I've got to ask why anyone thinks some people should be robbed in order to help others. How does the acceptance of stolen goods promote the peace and prosperity we all seek in the use of this technique?

Let us rather call for every EFT practitioner to expand their efforts to include veterans and their families, to offer this healing and life changing gift as freely as possible. Reach out to them, seek them and build an EFT community among them that will finally wipe out the disgrace of the VA. Let's involve the veterans as Fingal suggested, to help each other as well. Empower the veterans and their families, not the VA.

The VA has mismanaged and damaged the health of veterans for a very long time. How can they be trusted to manage something like EFT? Do we really want EFT to be taken over by these political hacks?

Let's give our gift to the veterans themselves and leave government out of it.

Robbed?  Stolen goods?  While I appreciate your encouraging EFT practitioners to step up to the plate and offer reduced fees, most veterans and their families cannot absorb even the lower costs.  Our government DOES need to take care of our veterans for their sacrifice and they (meaning WE the taxpayers) should pay for it.  I am very happy to reduce the cost for Veterans in my practice, but I must put food on the table, too.  Our government owes these soldiers for their sacrifice and comitment to keeping our country safe.  You won't be getting robbed, Susan; they will.  I sincerely hope no veteran reads your post.  They've been through enough!

I agree with all of the people who balk at the word "mandatory". This was at one time a "free" country. Although Bush did away with a lot of that, I would like to see us once again get back to free. It would be a great idea to have this treatment offered to all of the vets, but not to make it mandatory. No way!

It seems to me that EFT should be offered to the soldiers in the training phase, so that immediately upon suffering a trauma, they can start applying it, or would be ready to accept it, and it should be offered after any trauma event the same day if possible. That means practicioners should be available on the battlefield and in the field hospitals. Get it quick before long term damage is done. I would expect that some of the soldiers would apply it to their comrades and civilian casualties thus greatly improving the USA image and spreading the knowledge world wide faster.

I am a disabled vet, female, PTSD, multi joint issues, back, neck problems, and to top it off, I have fibromyalgia!  I have recently started reading about EFT, and think it would be a HUGE success with veterans, but to have that success, you must get va staff practitioners involved. Although it can not be mandatory, if the practitioners in the behavioral health, mental health, pain management areas promote it, and firmly believe in it, I think more vets would spread the word.  Finally, in the past couple of years, the va has branched out into some of the "alternative modalities" of health care, ie., chiropractic care and acupuntcure.  It took forever, but the va has been convinced that there are other ways of helping vets besides the traditional pain meds and psychological meds...in this, I have to give credit to the va. I feel that if we could get even one va hospital on board with teaching staff how to do EFT that it would spread like wildfire!  Remember, a veteran with this type of issue, rarely stays with one va for an extended period of time, so as they migrate, those having had success with EFT will spread the word and it will be by that, that the va will take notice. A great place to start would be with the inpatient PTSD centers...off hand I know of the one in Palo Alto, CA and one in Batavia, NY. If we could slip a veteran in these areas that knows EFT, I think the end result would be fantastic.  Teach a vet, help a vet!

Joseph Lassiter....you are wonderful!  I wish I would have thought of your approach! I agree, if it can be used immediately, chances are that there will be much less chance of an issue to fester until it errupts! It may even save a lot of lives...too many returning veterans are committing suicide, just look at the statistics! It is horrifying! If EFT were readily available, I believe that these statistics will decrease dramatically!  Good job, Joe!

Great, except change the word "mandatory" to the word "free" and refer to a list of volunteers who would offer a free EFT service for PTSD - by phone.   Why involve the Government?  There appear to be thousands of EFT'ers all over the world.  Busy practitioners could limit the free time to one morning a week or even once a month and a lot of people would still be helped.

Suan, come on! Robbing!? These men and women are our soldiers, and we need to support them to a much greater degree than we, as a country, supported the soldiers who came home from Viet Nam. We lost over 56,000 young people that time and many of the survivors have never got over the way they were treated when they got home.

Joseph Lassiter has a compassionate and very workable way to make EFT available to our soldiers. Teaching them EFT fundamentals during training and having practicioners available when needed, can help bring home solders who are whole in mind if not body.

This suggestion rang true for me, the moment I read it.  I am pretty certain that what Gary is suggesting is that it be MANDATORY that EFT be made available to all Vets, in a clear and supportive way.  The mandate is clearly aimed at the Veteran's Administration, not the individual veteran.  That the VA could view "Six days at the VA" and NOT institute EFT treatment in every hospital in the country, is hard for me to comprehend.  Now with this new beautifully made video, "EFT FOR WAR VETERANS" we need to make sure this approach is available wherever needed.  there is now wonderful research, that David Feinstein & Dawson Church and others have been gathering, supporting the effectiveness of EFT in a variety of conditions.  There needs to be an openness to make EFT available.   I frankly believe that, in the not too distant future, it will be considered Malpractice, for a physician or therapist not to have basic training in EFT and other Energy Medicine modalities, just like evry firefighter needs to know CPR.  That time is coming.  We all need to speak up and educate!

 As a Psychologist, I have often wondered at the great percentage of men that I pass in the streets, who have been in terrifying war situations, and never had a chance to share and resolve them.  "Daddy doesn't want to talk about that."  Imagine what a different culture we would live in, if all these traumatic wounds were healed.  How much freer, loving and open men could be, if they were not carrying around these heavy burdens.  I would guess that the majority of men I pass daily, even if not dealing with full blown PTSD, still have war memories that haunt them.  Now women are becoming PTSD war casualties as well.  I fully support the idea that it become mandatory that the VA offer EFT to all VETERANS, and I pledge to help in that becoming a reality.

I agree with Sondra Rose and others concerned about "mandatory". Why do we have to mandate anything of this sort? Yes, we want to be wise about our resources, but we should trust freedom, the heart of this miraculous method.

The last thing we need is one more 'mandatory' thing that the government has a hand in.  EFT is great!  But it can't be pushed down someone's throat. Put it out there and it will be accepted.  Maybe, more slower than a 'mandatory mandate'.  But with the welcomeness and enthusiasm it should create......

Hi- I love the idea of making the knowledge of EFT available to all vets. (It's a huge desire of mine to be able to eventually help PTSD sufferers.) HERE'S A PLAN THAT WILL WORK (I know because I suggested the Humane Society do this...they did...and have had incredible political clout ever since) MAKE IT EASY. As easy as hitting "send". There's software used by the ACLU, Common Cause and now the Humane Society (among many others I'm sure) that e-mails the right representatives/ politicians etc. as if it's coming from your email address WHEN YOU HIT SEND> from a common page made available to the list. I don't know how expensive it is....but it gets the job done effectively.And if there ever was something that deserves all the concentrated attention it can get ...it's healing the PTSD gap in the lives of our vets.

                                    All the best-

                                           Mary Elan Davis

Wow! This is what I call synchronicity! I am currently working on a project to make 100 copies of each DVD that I bought at the EFT online store to give them away to people in need through my website: www.hotchocolateforthespirit.com.

It's heart-breaking to see how many veterans are suffering from PTSD. I am convinced that EFT and other forms of energy medicine could help them enormously. Modern medicine saved my life, energy medicine saved my sanity, so I speak from personal experience.

I am a quadriplegic, I cannot work due to my disability. Therefore, I live on a fixed income (a disability check). This is why it's taking me longer than I would have hoped to make this little project a reality. However, I'm very hopeful that I will make it happen by next month.

Thank you for this gift Gary, you're my hero.

Gary: I have just started to learn EFT and saw a short clip of your work with one of our Vietnam Vets with PTSD and was astounded,excited and overwhelmed. I live within 50 miles of a couple of VA Hospitals and am trying to learn EFT as fast as I can to go help "my brothers in arms". What a blessing this method is! Thanks for sharing it with so many of us.

Jim Patterson

I think including the word "mandatory" would be extremely counterproductive.  It sounds like a demand instead of a gift and would seriously postpone EFT's inclusion in regular VA offerings.  Mismanagement of the VA hospital system has profoundly shortchanged our current war vets!  Totally unacceptable!  The best idea offered today could be managing to get field hospital personnel well trained and offer EFT actually on site - nip PTSD in the bud and accelerate physical healing to the max.  What a deal! Another great idea was direct approach to the teaching hospitals.  But don't go the direct route.  Go to the area universities that offer the behavioral, mental, social health studies and show the department heads things like the war veterans video.  Getting universities to offer, teach, recommend EFT would be a lot easier than getting a hospital administrater to do the same.  Convince the university to offer EFT at the hospital, both the vets and the hospital staff witness the miraculous successes and just maybe even the hospital administrator could be brought back to reality.  Add a little political and media pressure and poof!  Reality kicks in.  (reality means things that really work)

The effects of PTSD are being felt in many countries around the world and none more so than here in the UK. There have been many stunning successes with this relatively gentle method, and I want ALL servicemen and women to benefit.

Having served for 34 years in the Fleet Air Arm and taken part in many conflicts including the Falklands, Beirut, 1992 Gulf War and Bosnia campaigns, I feel very passionate about promoting the benefits that using these simple EFT techniques can bring to our service men and women, which are both life changing and lifesaving.

Now as an EFT Practitioner and Teacher of Energy Medicine I want to be able to use these skills and knowledge to bring some definable relief to this highly debilitating problem.

The benefits that using these simple techniques can bring to our service men and women are both life changing and lifesaving. I ask you to support this campaign by forwarding this information to as many people as possible with the aim of helping those who have served us so well. You too can help make a difference.

"Mandatory" is a bad concept, when you force people to do things,(even if you feel it's for their own good) this opens up the gate for fascism.  this will make people resent EFT and close down the movement.  Making EFT easier to access, educate them on how it can improve their lives, and let them have the freedom to chose.

Here in the UK, many veterans are left to sort out their lives after being traumatised in the wars in Afganistan and Iraq. Very little valuable help is available and I am trying to learn as much about EFT as possible in order to aid my fellow countrymen, who have been exposed to things I can't imagine in the name of 'freedom'. I hope I can help them soon.

Thankyou, Gary.

Best wishes and love,

Will

It's funny, I'm one of the biggest supporters of freedom & liberty around, yet the use of the word 'mandatory' in the article didn't bother me at all. I think I took it more as a word of enthusiasm or emphasis rather than a 'control' thing.

I'm disturbed by all the worry I see here over "manditory".  We have so many homeless on the streets because we wanted them to be "free".  Nobody is free when they are too ill to find and choose a way to heal.  Many are drugged out of their minds under the care of the military.  Our vets were "manditorily" set to war zones and forced to do that duty... but they shouldn't be mandated to heal???  What convoluted thinking.

Several thoughts:

1. As long as our soldiers receive mandatory POW training and shoot-to-kill training then they should receive mandatory EFT training. Whether they use the information or not is their choice.

2. Mandatory or not? Let's ask the insider: the soldiers and the families who have benefitted from EFT.

Gary,

Unfortunately I have bad news to report. It is possible that EFT may not work on some or all of the "new breed" of veterans. OIF/OEF vets have begun returning with PTSD and TBI (traumatic brain injury) I have never had EFT fail before, but in this instance I did. Not only did I try all the techniques to deal with the typical EFT setbacks, but the vet reported pain from the tapping. It has been suggested to me that the areas of the brain I was attempting to access were damaged, and consequently he felt pain at the tapping site. I will make another attempt with this vet after some time has passed since his brain injury and the brain has had a chance to heal and reconnect some pathways, to see if that makes a difference.

I don't want to dissuade anyone out there. EFT is a great technique that I have used successfully many times. Recently I helped a woman who was a recovering drug addict and had a history of abusive relationships fell self worth for the first time in more than 30 years. She has since made changes in her life, returning to work and leaving the relationship she was in with an alcoholic.