Dear EFT community,

I would like your help. I am a new EFT practitioner who has had some very nice successes, but ran into some snags on a recent case. My hunch is that this will be simple for those more experienced in EFT.

My client is a 47 year old seasoned firefighter, who was attacked by a pit bull 9 months ago. He was out for a run with his dog, with his wife and infant daughter following in a stroller behind. Out from one of the yards charged a pit bull who attacked & would not let go. He was eventually rescued by a worker from the house who was able to take the dog back in the yard. He was taken by ambulance. 

 He presented with full PTSD symptoms...reliving the event, avoidance of reminders (the dog still lives in the neighborhood & another pit bull lives next door), fear, to the point he cannot concentrate @ work if his wife goes for walks in the neighborhood, terrifying nightmares. 

 We focused initially on the attack itself, which dropped from a 9 to 7 in intensity, but then stayed @ 7 as various aspects kept popping up. He saw the dog's teeth & jaw & muscles & ferocity which was near his face, he remembered his fear of not being able to protect his wife & dau from the dog turning on them, he remembered the nightmares. The intensity went to a 10 when he thought about the nightmare of his daughter being ripped apart by the dog and his feeling of not being able to protect her. During the attack he felt immobilized by the dogs grip & subsequently because he could not walk after the attack. the attack shook his belief that he could handle almost anything & that he could handle the dog.Another aspect is the thought about the next door neighbor dog who lunges at the fence and barks.

We were not able to bring the intensity below a 7 during the 50 minutes we had, with one aspect after another presenting. He tends to be analytical and think a lot about what is happening.

At the close, I gave him the EFT on a page & invited him to continue to tap during the week. I meet with him, again, on Friday. I would certainly appreciate feedback on how to proceed in the next session.

Thank you,

Linda

 My intuition says that this dog represents much more to this man than just the attack at the moment,  One thing i might ask himis, what does this dog represent to you? 

Did a similar event to this one ever happen before?  

Is there 'another dog' in your life that you are afraid of? Wait for an answer on this question and see what comes up. 

My guess though is that the dog represents all the possible illnesses that firefighters get by virtue of being exposed to toxicity on the job.

As they 'jog along in their fire fighting existence', they do what they do and at some point through no fault of their own they are 'attacked' by all the cancers that firefighters get, and left with no way to defend themselves or to care for their families.

The dog attack is a real life metaphor for the helplessness that may be in the back of the firefighter's mind about these work-related cancers and illnesses (COPD, Asbestosis, and more.)

If this tack proves fruitless, then ask, Is there another event in your past that left you feeling like this?  Often, death or major illness of a significant person is behind this type of feeling)

Keep us posted.

Mildred

 Hi Mildred,

Thanks for your response. Whenever I am working w/ someone w/ an especially intense response to something in the present, I talk w/ them about the possibility of some of the intensity being an "echo" from an event in the past that resonates with the current event. So, I will check this out with him, too, along w/ any representations from the job. Certainly, his choice of career raises flags about past events and the desire to rescue or feel powerful.

My initial sense, is that the attack altered a major belief about himself and the world and that being able to protect his family was deeply shaken. I would suspect that aspect has more ties to the past. While his SUDS did not come down much in that initial session, his cognitions did begin to shift and he had some ideas about what he might do to feel less anxious about his wife walking in the neighborhood when he is at work. 

 Interestingly, he called on the day of his next appt, as his childcare plans had fallen apart, he had out calls for alternatives and was hoping for a later slot in the day to accomodate the search. He added that he was feeling a good deal less intense and anxious & would be OK until the next appt if I didn';t have anything that day. (I didn't). He sounded much less intense. He had continued to tap, on his own ("but not in front of the other firefighters" & we had a chuckle about what that would look like & what they would say. He had not been able to find much humor, before as his system was so on alert). It will be so interesting to see what he presents with when he comes in on Monday.

Again, thank you for your response.

Linda