San Diego EFT
with San Diego Therapist Susannah Muller
with San Diego Therapist Susannah Muller
Emotional Freedom Technique
Trauma & PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Treatment
Trauma and PTSD treatments do not need to be full of suffering or to take a long time. With the combination of psychotherapy and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), treatment of PTSD, and of any trauma, including childhood traumas, moves much more quickly and with much less suffering than traditional psychotherapy alone, and this combination is at least as effective as EMDR for PTSD. In fact, with EFT, trauma treatment is often complete with only 3-4 one hour sessions.
EFT has been used world-wide to treat trauma and PTSD with great success, including the orphans of the Rwanda genocide and U.S. war veterans. (Studies on the use of EFT with these populations are currently being published. For one such study, see stressproject.org/Documents/Traumatology.pdf.) But you do not have to have had war experience to suffer trauma.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is the emotional or psychological result of experiencing extremely stressful events that are so powerful, they destroy your sense of security and leave you feeling helpless and vulnerable. Often trauma results when you were in fear for your life or safety, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and alone can be traumatic, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective facts that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized. Factors making an event more likely to be traumatic:
• It happened unexpectedly
• You were unprepared for it
• You felt powerless to prevent it
• It happened repeatedly
• Someone was intentionally cruel
• It happened in childhood
Trauma can be caused by a one-time event, such as a horrible accident, a natural disaster, or a violent attack. Or psychological trauma can also stem from ongoing, relentless stress, such as suffering childhood abuse, living in a crime-ridden neighborhood or struggling with a terminal illness.
Symptoms of PTSD or Trauma
Someone who has been traumatized often feels many upsetting emotions, has horrible memories or nightmares, and may feel a constant sense of danger. On the other hand, some people react by becoming numb, disconnected or unable to trust or form relationships.
Here are some of the possible emotional symptoms of trauma:
• Shock, denial, or disbelief
• Anger, irritability, mood swings
• Guilt, shame, self-blame
• Feeling sad or hopeless
• Confusion, difficulty concentrating
• Anxiety and fear
• Withdrawing from others
• Feeling disconnected or numb
Here are some of the possible physical symptoms of trauma:
• Insomnia or nightmares
• Being startled easily
• Racing heartbeat
• Aches and pains
• Fatigue
• Difficulty concentrating
• Edginess, restlessness and agitation
• Muscle tension
It is important to know that, whether the traumatic event happened years ago or yesterday, you can heal and move on. EFT combined with psychotherapy is, in my experience, the most effective treatment to resolve the traumatic experiences and move on quickly.
Possible sources of emotional and psychological trauma:
• Falls or sports injuries
• Surgery (especially in the first 3 years of life)
• The sudden death of someone close
• An auto accident
• Abuse – emotional, physical or sexual (see below)
• The breakup of a significant relationship
• A humiliating or deeply disappointing experience
• The discovery of a life-threatening illness or disabling condition
Childhood Trauma Increases the Risk of Future Trauma
Traumatic experiences in childhood can have a severe and long-lasting effect. For children who have been traumatized, the world is a frightening and dangerous place. When childhood trauma is not resolved, this fundamental sense of fear and helplessness carries over into adulthood, setting the stage for further trauma.
Thus, people who have suffered trauma in childhood often become adults with a long history of trauma suffered throughout their lifetimes. The good news is that with EFT treatment for trauma, you only need to treat approximately 10% of the traumatic incidents to feel 100% healed because of EFT’s generalization effect. For instance, one Vietnam War veteran with over 100 traumatic memories from the war, used EFT on 10 of these memories and then reported that none of his memories triggered emotional distress. The healing and calming effect of EFT generalized from those treated memories to the untreated memories. Childhood trauma results from anything that disrupts a child’s sense of safety and security, including:
• An unstable or unsafe environment
• Separation from a parent
• Serious illness
• Intrusive medical procedures
• Sexual, physical, or verbal abuse
• Domestic violence
• Neglect
• Bullying
Treatment for childhood trauma moves quickly and effectively with EFT combined with talk therapy. As explained above, because of the generalizing effect of EFT, we usually only need to treat a few of the traumatic incidents for all of the related incidents to be healed. This is an incredible benefit of EFT treatment of PTSD and trauma.
EFT provides a cutting-edge method of relief for trauma or pain. Although this therapy does not benefit everyone, it often provides a valuable solution to those who have not found relief through other trauma therapy types. In some cases, full relief cannot be achieved but slight relief occurs. Sometimes however, long-term repetition creates further change and relief.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is the emotional or psychological result of experiencing extremely stressful events that are so powerful, they destroy your sense of security and leave you feeling helpless and vulnerable. Often trauma results when you were in fear for your life or safety, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and alone can be traumatic, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective facts that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized. Factors making an event more likely to be traumatic:
• It happened unexpectedly
• You were unprepared for it
• You felt powerless to prevent it
• It happened repeatedly
• Someone was intentionally cruel
• It happened in childhood
Trauma can be caused by a one-time event, such as a horrible accident, a natural disaster, or a violent attack. Or psychological trauma can also stem from ongoing, relentless stress, such as suffering childhood abuse, living in a crime-ridden neighborhood or struggling with a terminal illness.
Symptoms of PTSD or Trauma
Someone who has been traumatized often feels many upsetting emotions, has horrible memories or nightmares, and may feel a constant sense of danger. On the other hand, some people react by becoming numb, disconnected or unable to trust or form relationships.
Here are some of the possible emotional symptoms of trauma:
• Shock, denial, or disbelief
• Anger, irritability, mood swings
• Guilt, shame, self-blame
• Feeling sad or hopeless
• Confusion, difficulty concentrating
• Anxiety and fear
• Withdrawing from others
• Feeling disconnected or numb
Here are some of the possible physical symptoms of trauma:
• Insomnia or nightmares
• Being startled easily
• Racing heartbeat
• Aches and pains
• Fatigue
• Difficulty concentrating
• Edginess, restlessness and agitation
• Muscle tension
It is important to know that, whether the traumatic event happened years ago or yesterday, you can heal and move on. EFT combined with psychotherapy is, in my experience, the most effective treatment to resolve the traumatic experiences and move on quickly.
Possible sources of emotional and psychological trauma:
• Falls or sports injuries
• Surgery (especially in the first 3 years of life)
• The sudden death of someone close
• An auto accident
• Abuse – emotional, physical or sexual (see below)
• The breakup of a significant relationship
• A humiliating or deeply disappointing experience
• The discovery of a life-threatening illness or disabling condition
Childhood Trauma Increases the Risk of Future Trauma
Traumatic experiences in childhood can have a severe and long-lasting effect. For children who have been traumatized, the world is a frightening and dangerous place. When childhood trauma is not resolved, this fundamental sense of fear and helplessness carries over into adulthood, setting the stage for further trauma.
Thus, people who have suffered trauma in childhood often become adults with a long history of trauma suffered throughout their lifetimes. The good news is that with EFT treatment for trauma, you only need to treat approximately 10% of the traumatic incidents to feel 100% healed because of EFT’s generalization effect. For instance, one Vietnam War veteran with over 100 traumatic memories from the war, used EFT on 10 of these memories and then reported that none of his memories triggered emotional distress. The healing and calming effect of EFT generalized from those treated memories to the untreated memories. Childhood trauma results from anything that disrupts a child’s sense of safety and security, including:
• An unstable or unsafe environment
• Separation from a parent
• Serious illness
• Intrusive medical procedures
• Sexual, physical, or verbal abuse
• Domestic violence
• Neglect
• Bullying
Treatment for childhood trauma moves quickly and effectively with EFT combined with talk therapy. As explained above, because of the generalizing effect of EFT, we usually only need to treat a few of the traumatic incidents for all of the related incidents to be healed. This is an incredible benefit of EFT treatment of PTSD and trauma.
EFT provides a cutting-edge method of relief for trauma or pain. Although this therapy does not benefit everyone, it often provides a valuable solution to those who have not found relief through other trauma therapy types. In some cases, full relief cannot be achieved but slight relief occurs. Sometimes however, long-term repetition creates further change and relief.