Operation: Emotional Freedom shows the power of war trauma and the power of EFT. This film has the potential to change the world of many Veterans and their families who are currently struggling with the aftermath of deployment, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, anger and rage, grief, avoidance and re-experiencing. It is with deep gratitude to the Veterans who have stepped forward and allowed us practitioners to help them with EFT, so that others would be encouraged to try EFT tapping themselves. These men and women have already excelled in leadership and bravery and have inspired many others to begin their path of healing.

I am deeply grateful to have been allowed to be a part of their healing journey.

Get your copy of Operation Emotional Freedom!

PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS FILM CONTAINS GRAPHIC AND POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING IMAGES AND SOUNDS. I RECOMMEND THAT PEOPLE WITH MILITARY TRAUMA WATCH IT WITH CAUTION AND DO NOT WATCH IT ALONE.

If you purchase the film through this link, I will receive a small affiliate commission. This money will be used in its entirety to help more Veterans and their families with EFT.

Image by Truthout.org via Flickr

Are PTSD Symptoms truly at the root of distress for Veterans? Of course, living with PTSD is very difficult, as those who have been diagnosed with PTSD will confirm.

But in my experience, PTSD survivors are also tough people. These men and women were in war zones and had to deal with a lot more than stress symptoms. They are trained to move on and to be resilient.

After talking with hundreds of active duty personnel, reservists and Veterans, I realized that the most traumatic thing that the troops have to  deal with is not stress or even PTSD symptoms.

In my experience, the most difficult thing a warrior has to deal with is his or her MEMORIES.
When I speak with a soldier, they hardly ever mention their symptoms, even though they are certainly aware of them.
But what truly bothers them are the eyes of the twelve year old they might have shot because she held a hand granate in her hand.
What bothers them is the memory of having to hold their best buddy i their arms while he died.
What bothers them is the memory of switching places with their best friend while scanning the jungle, and the bullet that hit and killed him in the place where they should have walked.
What bothers them is the memory of returning home after a horrific time in the jungle and finding themselves being spit at and called “baby killer”.
What bothers them is the fact that they believed in their mission and how they can make a difference to innocent people, only being forced to sit outside of Srebrenica commanded to not take action but watch the genocide unfold.
What bothers them is being raped by a commander and forced to remain silent afterwards because nobody would help or even believe them.
There are a lot of things that bother Veterans more than not being able to sleep at night, to be hyper vigilant and having flashbacks.
The memories are real, they are there. They are what is causing the symptoms, and they are still holding a charge.

If we truly want to help veterans heal, we have to find a way to take the charge out of the memories, not just tranquilize the stress symptoms.

We have to help restore honor, self respect and confidence. We have to gain insights into  the Veterans world and mindset and relate in an appropriate and respectful way.
A skillful and insightful EFT coach can often do this and help heal memories .

Since EFT coaching is an approach that works with the charge of memories, that honors that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in our energy system, we can honor and work with the intensity of war trauma in a very new way:
We can detect where the intensity shows up, either as stress symptom in the body, as charged memory or as strong belief, and apply EFT to take the charge out of the memory.
Only when the memory has lost its charge is when a warrior can relax and heal.
And in my experience, a nightmare or flash back that has been “tapped” on stays away, an intrusive though looses its power and the warrior begins to make changes and choices that are working better for him/her.

While Veterans with PTSD need to get treatment from a mental health professional to deal with their diagnosis (which I am not),  EFT coaching can help them relax by taking the charge out of their memories. I can’t wait to see EFT being the self help and coaching tool of choice for all troops and their families, as well as those who want to help them.

If you are interested in helping Veterans and their families heal, you will have made the experience that the military community in general is not exactly open and excited about healing offers. Most Veterans acknowledge the work and express gratitude, but are far from asking for help for themselves.

This is hard to understand for those who want to help, and rather disheartening and frustrating.

Many give up, leave their good intentions out there but withdraw from actively reaching out.

If we want to make a difference on a larger scale, we need to understand that the toughest thing for helping Veterans heal is NOT to release the trauma, but to find ways to help them TRUST us!

Having a tool that works as well as EFT doesn’t mean that Vets are interested in connecting with us. There is a LOT more understanding about Military mindset and many insights are necessary to prove ourselves worthy and trustworthy.

If we don’t understand this, we will not succeed in making a difference to many, but only connect with a few. Read the rest of this entry »

EFT help for PTSD. Self help for PTSD.

Hello to all who read this testimonial concerning my recovery from a massive Panic Attack using EFT.

I received complete recovery for that particular event through Tapping.

A short history of me: Basically I was a driver on convoys in Croatia and Bosnia in early 90′s before the Dayton Agreement.

Our rules of engagement were simple:  If anyone fires at you, #1 don’t fire back, #2 if someone from our contingent is killed or wounded severely, put the person in back of the truck and keep going, do not fire back. #3 in dark humour amongst ourselves was quake like a sitting duck. We had 90 bullets, trust me they counted them all at the end of tours. If one of us from the United Nations Protection Force fired his/her rifle and hit a belligerent, they would be sent back to Canada to PROVE their innocence.

Any how that was my ride over there and needless to say I came back fucked up. It took 6 years for the PTSD, Combat Stress etc… to go full throttle on my brain, body and soul, the latter being the worst in my opinion. More than fifteen years has past and I am still fucked up, but not nearly as bad. Read the rest of this entry »

The world of a veteran with PTSD is very different than that of a civilian. Most troops don’t go online to browse the alternative healing sites when they realize that they are having trouble when they come home. They would feel rather ridiculous to do this, and were trained in the believe that they have to toughen it out, to suck it up and to get over their trauma alone. Asking for help is almost impossible for many, and they don’t even return phone calls if they are called by someone who cares. At the same time, it often seems to be more acceptable for the military to see their traumatized veterans self medicate with alcohol and drugs, than to give them access to information that can help them heal and be strong again.

If the military doesn’t support community resources in getting the word out, then the community’s abilities are limited.

I hope that someday, the decision makers have the courage to see beyond their fears and learn to understand in a new way who is friend and who is enemy.

Many people want to help right now – I hope and dream that they will soon be heard and supported in doing so.

Given that of the 300.000 returning troops that have or are expected to develop PTSD (Rand Study), only 50% reach out to the VA, and only 25% receive at least minimally adequate help, it seems clear that we need to think outside of the box when it comes to offering help and support that is acceptable for soldiers and their families.

According to the RAND Study, 39% of the returning troops feel that their immediate family and friends are more helpful than a mental health professional. Why are these numbers, these facts ignored?

If we truly want to help our Veterans heal, we have to support those who have contact, who support them right now.

Families and friends can talk to a veteran in a very different, caring and compassionate way, much better than a mental health professional who has a very limited amount of time to adjust the drug cocktail that someone might receive. It is the time and caring that many Veterans need.

Due to its simplicity and effectiveness, EFT is the perfect tool to help Veterans and their families cope with the stress of deployment. It is so easy to learn that even children can offer to tap with their mom or dad, and can remind them to do EFT when they get upset.

However, when we don’t have an open door to share with the soldiers and their families about this technique and how to apply it, as well as the resources that are available to them to get started, there is not much we can do to help.