I’m happy to announce that the TFT Foundation’s Uganda PTSD study has been published by Science Publications and will be available in print in about one month. It can now be accessed online by clicking on the title: Effectiveness of Thought Field Therapy Provided by Newly Instructed Community Workers to a Traumatized Population in Uganda: A Randomized Trial. (abstract below)

Many thanks to author Dr. R. Howard Robson for an excellent job! Much gratitude also goes to fellow research participants Phyll M. Robson, Roger Ludwig, Celestin Mitabu and Caitlin Phillips

Abstract: Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a promising treatment for posttraumatic stress in a resource poor environment. This study further explores the benefits of this treatment in a rural population in Uganda, which had suffered from the psychological consequences of previous violent conflict. Thirty-six local community workers received a two-day training in TFT trauma intervention and treated 256 volunteers with symptoms suggestive of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) who had been randomly allocated to a treatment or waitlist (control) group. Assessment was by the Posttraumatic Checklist for Civilians (PCL-C). One week after treatment, the treated group scores had improved significantly from 58 to 26.1. The waitlist group scores did improve without treatment, from 61.2 to 47, although significantly less than the treatment group, but improved markedly to 26.4 following treatment. There was some evidence of persisting benefit 19 months later. This study supports the value of TFT as a rapid, efficient and effective therapy, empowering traumatized communities to treat themselves, although repeated treatment may still be needed.

 

 

 

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TFT Relief for Flood Victims in Chile

photo by BBC.com

Floods at III Region, Copiapó, Chile – May 2015

by Mariela Prada, PhD

The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the experience of one week of mental health workshops with a company’s employees and their families who were suffering from the effects of a devastating flood.

The events happened in Copiapó, Chile, located in the III Region, 800 kilometers north of Santiago, Chile. On March 23 and 24, 2015, there were 4 floods that caused much destruction. There were a lot of people who suffered damage or loss of their homes, household goods and even some deaths.

After the flood the community itself responded to the basic needs in three major groups; families, neighbors and co-workers. There were no governmental social services avail- able during the first weeks.

Considering this situation, a company asked a team of specialists to provide some help to
their workers and their families. Thought Field Therapy (TFT) was chosen as the most appropriate tool to provide a quick and effective healing experience. The group of mental health professionals asked for some advice from a TFT expert, Mariela Prada, to design an adequate trauma relief algorithm, which was part of the workshop program.

The team designed a workshop with three areas of intervention to work with them: emotional education, trauma healing tools and networking analysis. The workshop included the TFT algorithm, a relaxation routine, and a working group analysis of individual and social resources.

For a period of five days there were 8 workshops and 75 attendees who shared their experiences. They learned about trauma and learned a routine to deal with anxiety. The people followed the instructions in spite of never having seen anything similar to TFT. They practiced the TFT technique without any resistance.

They demonstrated they felt relief and gratitude. Their faces at the beginning of the workshop showed anxiety and tension. At the end of the workshop their faces showed relaxation, and some were even smiling. It is interesting to note that the therapists experienced the benefits of tapping as well. Because they were using the tapping itself during demonstrations they felt energized instead of exhausted.

The final evaluation of the workshop showed a level of success. This was a single intervention with no plan for a follow up workshop. This was a time of peace and reflection about the tragedy and time of recovery after the flood. Each one learned something useful and maybe they will use tapping again.

excerpted from “The Thought Field,” Vol. 24, Issue 10

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Group Tapping for Paris Peace

TFT Foundation UK board member and TFT trainer/practitioner Ngub Nding is organizing Free Group Tapping Sessions and short meditations to alleviate the negative emotions related to the trauma of the recent events in Paris and around the world, to restore inner Peace.

The first 6 sessions have been well attended. The next sessions will take place every Saturday evenings at 8PM Paris time for a few more weeks. The sessions are conducted in both English and French.

Details can be found on Facebook as the weekly event pages get published, by searching the event title : “Ensemble, retrouvons la Paix Intérieure – Together in Peace, Stronger Together”. Alternatively, please contact Ngub if you or friends or family would like to participate, by sending him a private message on Facebook or by emailing him directly at Ngub@ OldTurtleCo.net

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TFT and Cyber Bullying

Cyber Bullying and Low Self-Esteem: A Social Nightmare

By Dr. Victoria Yancey, TFT-DX, TFT-ADV

Young people around the globe are taking their own lives because of cyber bullying. Teen suicides have occurred within the past ten years in Missouri, Florida, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy and numerous other cities and towns.

Cyber bullying has created a social nightmare and has caused far too many teens to hang themselves, jump from bridges or find other ways to harm themselves. The number of suicides continues to grow with the easy access to and the increasing number of social media sites available to teens.

Cyber bullying is using digital technology to harass, embarrass, threaten, torment, humiliate or to make another person feel uncomfortable or scared. A study was conducted in 2010 by Cyber bullying research. It involved approximately 2,000 randomly selected middle school students from school districts in the United States.

The study revealed that of the students 20% reported seriously thinking about attempting suicide. Those figures include 19.7% females and 20.9% males. The results also showed that 19% reported actually attempting suicide with 17.9% females and 20.2% males. In addition, it is suggested that cyber bullying can cause emotional scarring, since it involves threats and humiliation.

Cyber bullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced cyber bullying.

Young people spend up to 7 hours a day

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Celebrating International Day of Peace with TFT

“Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.” The United Nations website

What better way to honor and celebrate this international day of peace than by sharing the TFT trauma relief technique with others? We now have instructions in 15 languages. If you know anyone who is suffering from the effects of trauma, or anyone who is working with people who are, please direct them to this site.

We invite you to also share the following trailer to the TFT Foundation’s film, “From Trauma to Peace,” which is scheduled for release at the end of this month. The film is a powerful demonstration of how effective TFT is in promoting peace.

 

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Trauma Passed to Future Generations

When a man is traumatised changes occur in his sperm which are passed on to his children

How the trauma of life is passed down in sperm, affecting the mental health of future generations

The changes are so strong they can even influence a man’s grandchildren

• They make the offspring more prone to conditions like bipolar disorder
  

By EMMA INNES

PUBLISHED in Mail Online: 10:29 EST, 23 April 2014 | UPDATED: 10:42 EST, 23 April 2014

The children of people who have experienced extremely traumatic events are more likely to develop mental health problems.

And new research shows this is because experiencing trauma leads to changes in the sperm.

These changes can cause a man’s children to develop bipolar disorder and are so strong they can even influence the man’s grandchildren.

Psychologists have long known that traumatic experiences can induce behavioural disorders that are passed down from one generation to the next.

However, they are only just beginning to understand how this happens.

Researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich now think they have come one step closer to understanding how the effects of traumas can be passed down the generations.

The researchers found that short RNA molecules – molecules that perform a wide range of vital roles in the body – are made from DNA by enzymes that read specific sections of the DNA and use them as template to produce corresponding RNAs.

Other enzymes then trim these RNAs into mature forms.

Cells naturally contain a large number of different short RNA molecules called microRNAs.

They have regulatory functions, such as controlling how many copies of a particular protein are made.

The researchers studied the number and kind of microRNAs expressed by adult mice exposed to traumatic conditions in early life and compared them with non-traumatised mice.

They discovered that traumatic stress alters the amount of several microRNAs in the blood, brain and sperm – while some microRNAs were produced in excess, others were lower than in the corresponding tissues or cells of control animals.

These alterations resulted in misregulation of cellular processes normally controlled by these microRNAs.

After traumatic experiences, the mice behaved markedly differently – they partly lost their natural aversion to open spaces and bright light and showed symptoms of depression.

These behavioural symptoms were also transferred to the next generation via sperm, even though the offspring were not exposed to any traumatic stress themselves.

The metabolisms of the offspring of stressed mice were also impaired – their insulin and blood sugar levels were lower than in the offspring of non-traumatised parents.

‘We were able to demonstrate for the first time that traumatic experiences affect metabolism in the long-term and that these changes are hereditary,’ said Professor Isabelle Mansuy.

‘With the imbalance in microRNAs in sperm, we have discovered a key factor through which trauma can be passed on.’

However, certain questions remain open, such as how the dysregulation in short RNAs comes about.

Professor Mansuy said: ‘Most likely, it is part of a chain of events that begins with the body producing too many stress hormones.’

Importantly, acquired traits other than those induced by trauma could also be inherited through similar mechanisms, the researcher suspects.

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TFT: The Missing Link

Figure 1. A representation of the medical model conceptualisation of the relationship between “symptoms” and “treatment.”

Thought Field Therapy – The missing link to effective trauma-informed care and practice

By Christopher Semmens Clinical Psychologist Perth, Western Australia

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Niccolo Machiavlli

Trauma- informed care and practice is a framework for the provision of services for mental health clients that originated in the early 1990s and has especially been put forth as a sensible service model since Harris and Fallot’s 2001 publication Using trauma theory to design service systems. Trauma-informed care can be seen to be characterised by three main considerations in regard to the provision of treatment services:

1. That they incorporate a recognition of the reality that there is a high incidence of traumatic stress in those presenting for mental health care services.
2. That a comprehensive understanding of the significant psychological, neurological, biological and social manifestation of traumatic and violent experiences can have on a person.
3. That the care provided to these clients in recognising these effects is collaborative, skill-based and supportive.

In Australia these ideas were the focus of a consciousness raising conference: Trauma-Informed Care and Practice: Meeting the Challenge conducted by the Mental Health Coordinating Council in Sydney in June 2011. The conference was part of an initiative towards a national agenda to promote the philosophy of trauma-informed care to be integrated into practice across service systems throughout Australia.

It has only really been since studies such as

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NEW: Tagalog (Filipino) Translation of TFT Trauma Relief Technique

On Nov. 8, the Philippines experienced a devastating typhoon that left over 5,700 dead and more than 1,700 missing, with about 4 million people displaced. The TFT Foundation is very pleased that the blog now has instructions for the TFT trauma relief technique translated into the Filipino language, Tagalog. You will find it on the right side of this page, under Pages–Technique Instructions–Filipino/Tagalog. Many thanks to Maribeth Cowley for this translation! Please share it with anyone you know in, or having access to, the Philippines. With your help we can do much to relieve the severe trauma experienced by thousands of Filipinos.

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TFT–Simple and Powerful

stock photo

It is amazing that a simple Thought Field Therapy protocol, or algorithm, like the one we teach in this blog, can have such a profound effect. We see evidence every day of TFT transforming lives, even at its most basic level of standardized algorithms. The following is an example, given in response to the request “Please share how Thought Field Therapy helped you”:

Problem:  “I experienced PTSD, severe anxiety, and intense stress.”

Results:  “I felt balanced after doing the algorithms! The relief was wonderful and it was like feeling sane again. I practice the algorithms regularily because I love the feeling of balance it evokes within me.”

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TFT Healing During Rwanda Mourning Period

One of the worst disasters is when a country or a people are subjected to genocide.

by Joanne Callahan, MBA*

Last month was the Mourning Period from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. TFT is playing a key role in the healing of that nation through the work of the TFT Foundation. From the teachers in schools to the inmates of prisons, they are using TFT to heal from the atrocities of their past, bringing forth love and peace within their communities.

I want to share a small piece from an email I just received from Celestin Mitabu, one of our Rwandan TFT trainers in Kigali, Rwanda.

“This picture was taken during TODAY’S treatment at Kamonyi genocide site where TFT was invited officially by the District of Kamonyi to heal, assisting people traumatized with the Callahan Techniques TFT. The memorial site has got thirty-eight thousand bodies plus 36 bones recovered recently and they were buried today. This was a huge cloud of thousands of people led by many politicians, police, survivors and armies.

The thing is TFT is successful to any trauma. All the cases we faced today they were healed. We healed very strong cases of trauma and people admired. From morning hours till afternoon we worked hard to show to people that we have now a cure for trauma and people have experienced healing.”

Thank you Celestin and your team for your hard work and dedication to help so many begin to heal.

*Excerpted from “TFT e-zine – News on Tapping”, May 13, 2013

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