Using Continuous Tapping For Victims of Abuse

Barbara Smith is a psychotherapist, trauma specialist and EFT practitioner in New Zealand.  She works as a contracted counselor for the Accident Compensation Commission; a government funded “no fault” insurance system for all New Zealanders.  ACC also funds counseling for both recent and historical sexual assault.

One portion of Barbara’s job is to establish that claimants fit specific criteria covered by the ACC Act.  What this means is that the claimants have to remember and recount their traumatic experience in detail in order to complete the necessary paperwork.  Many of them are still in deep shock from a recent incident; others have to remember details they have spent years trying to suppress.  Most of these people re-experience the horror and overwhelm of the assault when they talk about it and since it’s important that they don’t become overwhelmed by traumatic reactions that they can’t handle, it can take up to four sessions to complete a single report, and even then the reports are not always clear and coherent.

Recently, however, Barbara has been using a very different approach when interviewing these attack victims.  She has been asking them to tap EFT points continuously as they sit in her office remembering and recounting their painful experiences.  She finds that by doing this she has been able to bring about important changes in the nature of these interviews.

When the victims tap continuously as they talk, the time it takes to collect the crucial information is often more than cut in half, with crucial data collection frequently completed in a single interview during when the respondents have been tapping.  In addition, the reports themselves are more coherent and accurate when there is continuous tapping.  As a side benefit, the assault victims learn how to calm themselves from the very first session, as well as being able to recall the incidents and talk about them with greater ease.

One survivor of a murder attempt eight weeks previously had been plagued with flashbacks and unable to work or sleep as he tried unsuccessfully to avoid anything that might remind him of the attack. After only one round of EFT he put it this way, “You know, Barbara, it’s really strange.  I can remember far more details now; all sorts of things I’d forgotten—but somehow it all seems like a long way away…” He was able to go on with his life with much more normalcy after that.

Barbara’s experience at the government agency where she works suggests that an important new use for EFT in mainstream circles may be its ability to facilitate crucial data collection by official agencies.

If you work in, or know people who work in, an official capacity where they deal with victims of attacks, you may be in a position to introduce the use of EFT in this kind of setting.  Running a comparison study in which the interview time of a typical (non-EFT) group was compared to the interview time of a group of respondents who continuously tap while they report would be relatively easy to do.  If the study showed a clear advantage to the group that uses EFT, this might well be of interest to other government agencies.  Word about its utility might then spiral outward like the concentric circles radiating from a pebble dropped into a pond.  Perhaps we can work together to bring this about?

To contact Barbara Smith write to: EFTchanges@xtra.co.nz [ via EFT 1-Minute News ]

Tagged as: Trauma