PTSD and Energy Psychology

“These methods do not rely on insight and understanding, but on shifting internal states of bodily experience. [They] can bring about remarkably rapid changes in the way people feel and move through the world.”

— Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D.

Medical Director, the Trauma Center, Boston, MA

Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine

Side of the Eye location for EFT Tapping

I first read of the work of Dr van der Kolk when I did my certification training (in sexual abuse counseling for adults and children) at the Justice Institute of BC in the late 1990's.  

At that time, van der Kolk was already the leading researcher in the field of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  He was examining the way the brain lays down memory, and had identified that when traumatic events occur, especially when they involve serious injury or death (or a threat of these), memories get coded not in the usual "narrative" form, which integrates with the rest of your memory, but in a special form where the emotions are so tied up with the memory that each time the event is recalled, it comes back full

force, as though it is still happening in this moment.  This can be in the form of "flashbacks" or nightmares or dissociative fugues, where the person may appear to be having a mild seizure, or may "disappear" for minutes, hours, days or even years.

It is important that we do not minimize the effect trauma has on us.  Different people react or respond differently to stimuli of the same magnitude.  Police and firefighters and soldiers are trained to respond without freezing or freaking out while a threat is occurring.  Partly, I think they learn to view themselves as people who can cope, and that is their best protection.  Many of these people still develop PTSD; they still have vulnerabilities.  And many people without the training do not develop PTSD after even serious incidents.  It's intriguing to think about the many resiliencies we all have, and also where are vulnerabilities also are.

It is exciting to find that van der Kolk endorses Energy Psychology, because what this means is that it won't be long before Meridian-based Therapies (MBT's) are the medical profession's treatment of choice for people suffering from PTSD.  In the meantime, those of us who are practitioners of MBT's and other energetic interventions, can continue to work to reach and help as many people as possible.

Also check out and follow:

My daughter, Audrey Batterham, is a trauma informed and feminist-focused educator and counselor in Toronto, Ontario. She writes an informative, insightful and truth-telling blog. One focus is on workplace challenges for care workers. Read it.