Since the Afghanistan war, U.S. veterans’ suicides have formed a silent, tragic epidemic. More military personnel have died by suicide than died in the war.
In the nine years from 2008 and 2017, 60,000 men and women veterans killed themselves. In 2019 rates of suicides among returned service personnel are still increasing, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (www.military.com)
That figure does not include suicides disguised as ‘accidents’.
Overwhelmingly, these suicides have come out of post-traumatic depression (PTSD), which officially has no cure.
EFT tapping saves lives
By contrast, the Veterans Stress Project — which has offered free trauma treatment from volunteer EFT tapping practitioners over ten years — has helped more than 21,000 veterans with PTSD stay alive. The recovery rate is around 80%. Most of these veterans no longer qualify for the PTSD diagnosis. Some of the average of 6-10 EFT sessions were conducted by phone or on Skype.
In getting their lives back, these survivors are now also able to apply EFT tapping to smaller daily stresses themselves.
The Project serves veterans of all ages from the Korean, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Gulf and Iraq wars.
In 2017 the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledged EFT as a safe technique for its healthcare staff to use with veterans, including the seriously ill. This followed from eight years of EFT lobbying as far as the White House and the Pentagon, to make this non-traditional, effective method of stress relief available to those who need it most.
A movie documentary called ‘Operation Emotional Freedom — The Answer’ showing EFT in action with veterans is available on http://www.operation-emotionalfreedom.com/dvd.php
How does tapping on yourself help?
EFT is an acupressure-and-mindfulness technique . It is science-backed, and rated ‘evidence based’ by the conservative American Psychological Association. Researchers at Harvard Medical School tell us that acupressure calms the brain’s fear centre, the amygdala.
EFT belongs to a new category of energy healing called Energy Psychology. Its simple techniques interrupt the brain loop of traumatic memories and restore calm, and reduce or eliminate PTSD symptoms, typically permanently.
While serious problems need the experience and expertise of qualified EFT practitioners, almost anyone can apply tapping for lesser stresses.
EFT is a leader in what is beginning to be seen as a ‘fourth wave’ of psychotherapy,: ‘brief psychotherapies that include a somatic intervention’ — that is, they are more than talk therapies because they also include the body, and they work faster than we would expect.
Australian war veterans and EFT
In the Australian Defence Forces, 17% of the 25,000 men and women who left the services between 2010 and 2015 — more than 4,000 men and women — suffer from PTSD.
Melbourne EFT practitioner Jenny Johnson has worked with many veterans and their family members (many of whom contract PTSD from living with a PTSD sufferer) to combat PTSD.
One of them, John Meehan, was sceptical as he tried EFT. To his amazement John found that he was suddenly no longer bothered by a memory that had plagued him daily for 35 years, a memory of a crazed fellow soldier putting a gun into John’s mouth . You can see an 8-minute interview with John on http://jennyjohnston.com.au/department-of-veteran-affairs
Another war memory de-fused in an hour
This apparently simple tap-on-yourself technique also healed a horrific war memory that had agonised a U.S. ex-soldier for 60 years after his Korean service.
U.S EFT trainer Alina Frank delivered EFT via an adaptation method called Matrix Reimprinting with EFT.
The war veteran was Karl, and he couldn’t talk about that experience without emotional turmoil – until he went through this EFT session..
Afterwards Karl said, ‘Thirteen years of group therapy, or one hour of EFT/Matrix Reimprinting ? Take your pick. I’m sold on EFT!’
Drug-free, gentle and fast
One of the Project’s practitioners is Marilyn McWilliams, who writes in the ‘Clinical EFT Handbook, Vol. 2’: ‘EFT is a drug-free technique… fast, flexible and economical.
She says, ‘Many studies confirm it is astonishingly effective. In the first randomised controlled clinical trial applying EFT to veteran PTSD, 86% of veterans no longer tested positive for PTSD, and gains were maintained in follow-up.
‘Anyone can learn enough EFT to improve his or her quality of life. Expertly delivered, EFT is extraordinarily effective in resolving even complex PTSD.
‘EFT carries the promise of unimagined gifts of freedom and peace.’
Marilyn adds that after EFT the veterans’ theme is, “Thank you, I have my life back. How can we make EFT available to other veterans?”
Former V.A. psychiatrist and psychotherapist Rick Staggenborg (2013) said, ‘This EFT technique is the best hope I have ever seen of helping all of our veterans.’
EFT could save billions of dollars
EFT is also economical. EFT researcher Dr. Dawson Church, who conducts the Veterans Stress Project, argues from facts that treatments such as EFT for veterans could save the US. economy at least $65 billion a year.
The V.A. spends astronomically for drug treatments for vets. A number of these drugs are known to significantly increase the risk of dementia, or to have unwelcome side effects such as sexual dysfunction or emotional numbness. Over ten years the V.A. spent $541 million on one drug that was then shown to be no better than a placebo.
Now a simple innovative non-drug tapping method is actually helping thousands of the wounded who previously had little hope.
‘How can I learn EFT tapping?”
FREE GIFT . You can start by signing up for the free gift accompanying Annie’s free monthly EFT newsletter opt-in below: ‘Start Learning EFT Tapping Right Away!’ (mini-ebook)
Then you might:
- purchase Annie’s book ‘Tapping Your Troubles Away with EFT’ on Amazon
- treat yourself to a private EFT/Matrix-Reimprinting-with-EFT session with Annie, online anywhere or in person in Adelaide, South Australia
- sign up for some serious life improvement with a Freedom Breakthrough Package
- attend a weekend EFT Certificate training course with Annie in Adelaide, South Australia.