Emotional Freedom Techniques Clears Traumatic Brain Injury: Hope for Vets' TBI, PTSD and Depression

May 4, 2009 - PRLog -- Sally, a 51 year-old woman, had suffered severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in an auto accident six years earlier, including surgically irreparable middle ear damage. She had recovered from a semi-coma, requiring months of rehabilitation with assisted breathing and a feeding tube. After six years she still required a cane to walk because of severe unsteadiness in her balance and gait. She also had sensitivity to multiple stimuli, which she found overwhelming.

This case study describes the resolution in one session of Sally's residual symptoms. The intervention was Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), developed by Gary Craig, the first author of this report in the May, 2009 issue of the International Journal of Healing and Caring – on line (IJHC). Sally literally staggered into the room, finding it difficult to walk without support of her cane. Using EFT, a new Energy Psychology method that rapidly releases residuals of emotional and physical traumas, Sally was immediately able to stand steadily on one foot and to run. These are actions she had been unable to do for six years. Her improvements have held over the 18 months since this intervention.

EFT is also being explored as a promising treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Clinicians are reporting that in as few as six EFT sessions, people with PTSD may find that most of the more severe aspects of their PTSD are relieved – to the point that they can function much more normally in society. Symptoms that are relieved include: insomnia, nightmares, anger outbursts, flashbacks, fears, phobias and more.

A question could be raised whether Sally's symptoms either partly or wholly represented a PTSD. It is very common to find both of these problems in people who have suffered severe traumas. In support of this hypothesis, Sally's father had been killed in the same auto accident. Residuals of depression could also have contributed to her symptoms.

This startlingly rapid response of physical symptoms to an Energy Psychology intervention suggests there may be similar hope for the thousands of Veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries, PTSD and depression. These are problems that often occur together in the same person. Understandably, under wartime conditions a brain injury could produce emotional responses from the trauma and from the physical impairments that result from that trauma. Another article in the IJHC (January, 2009) reports a series of clinical cases of Veterans with PTSD responding to EFT.

In Sally's clinical report, innovative methods of electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring during EFT sessions revealed increasing patterns of relaxation and centeredness as the treatment progressed.

Implications for further research and for assessment and treatment of wartime TBI, PTSD and depression are discussed.

References:
Craig, Gary; Bach, Donna; Groesbeck, Gary; and Benor, Daniel J. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for Traumatic Brain Injury, International J Healing and Caring - on line, 2009, 9(2), 1-10.

Church, Dawson; Geronilla, Linda; Dinter, Ingrid. Psychological Symptom Change In Veterans After Six Sessions Of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): an observational study. International J Healing and Caring - on line, 2009, 9(1), 1-13. (Veterans are able to release their PTSD symptoms and return to much more normal life after as little as six sessions.)

# # #

About the International Journal of Healing And Caring – On line http://www.ijhc.org
The IJHC features clinical reports, research and theoretical discussion on wholistic therapies, discussed by caregivers and careseekers receiving these therapies; remarkable recoveries from illnesses that are considered medically untreatable; personal development; student experiences in the helping professions; spiritual awareness and healing; intuition; and creative arts as healing.
Daniel J Benor, MD, IJHC Editor in Chief