EFT used successfully on resolving Horrendous Childhood abuse

Using EFT and other modalities

By Rehana Webster

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The names of people and Agencies in this study have been changed to protect their identities.

I first met with John  (not his real name) in late 1998.  I had a contract with a government agency for using NLP interventions on some of their long-term and high-risk clients.  The agency monitors people released from prison or on sentence of supervision.

John had been assessed by the various psychiatrists and psychologists in New Zealand.  The diagnosis was bi-polar and/or schizophrenic disorders and he was  experiencing several psychotic episodes.  He had been on a range of medications and was still on his medications when we first met.  We had a total of 10 sessions.

I met John last week again after not being in contact with him for over a year.  He came in to see me and to show me how he had progressed.   The changes were AMAZING.

I’d like to take the reader back to my first meeting with John and our sessions thereafter:  He was 47 years old and by this time he had spent the majority of his life in and out of the prison system starting from age 12.

John was nervous and jittery.  His body language showed a heightened flight-fight state.  He was as skinny as a rake, displayed nervous tics and tremors on his face and limbs and his eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets.  It was difficult for him to make and maintain eye contact.  He certainly did not want to talk about himself.

My first step was to build rapport with him and I used all my NLP rapport building skills to do that.   I explained to him that I did a different type of therapy, which he would not have experienced before, and that I would also teach him skills if he was willing to learn them which would help bring down his anxiety levels.

Over the sessions I got a detailed life history of John.  He was adopted into his family when he was a baby.  His biological parents are unknown to him.  His childhood was a living hell, fraught with abuse, violence and fear.  At the age of 3 he was sexually violated by his stepfather and this abuse continued almost on a daily basis until the age of 12 (when he was able to stand up to the abuser).  After every sexual assault (where he was brutally sodomized), he was also beaten unmercifully and threatened with death.  Finally at age 12 John left home and began a life of drug and alcohol usage, which led to criminal activities.

The intervention techniques I used and taught John were:

VAK Disassociation – the movie technique
Change History – finding core experiences and reworking them
Collapsing Anchors – neutralizing triggers
Inner Child work (Bradshaws)
Applied Milton and Meta Model throughout
EFT – tapping technique

In addition we did time lining and future pacing  (DHE) so he could design a future for himself.  This allowed him to feel he had some degree of control over what could happen in the future.

During our weekly sessions John used all the techniques frequently and kept a daily journal.  The technique of choice for John was the VAK Disassociation – his preferred representational system is Visual, followed by Auditory.   The changes he was making to his thoughts and behaviors were evident immediately.  He told me that in all his years of therapy and counseling he had never been given any self-help tools.   The counseling he had received previously was purely Cognitive!

When I saw John last week, it was a sight for sore eyes!  I was amazed at the difference in demeanor.  He has put on weight which suits him well.  
Tics and tremors disappeared
He is oozing confidence.
Makes full eye contact now
Has been in a full-time relationship for over a year and plans to marry
Going on an over-seas trip shortly

All the above were part of his hopes and dreams in his Time Line work.

I feel privileged and proud to have worked with John.
I want to thank Richard Bandler for making the use of NLP and DHE possible for so many people and Gary Craig for creating EFT.
 

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Author's Bio:

Rehana Webster, EFT Master, now resides in Perth Australia.  She is available for sessions, workshops and trainings

connect@behaviourchanges.com

7 Comments

Sandra
Posted March 25, 2010 05:41 PM

Wow, I love it. You are using so many tools available to help someone including EFT. Wonderful.

VAK Disassociation – the movie technique
Change History – finding core experiences and reworking them
Collapsing Anchors – neutralizing triggers
Inner Child work (Bradshaws)
Applied Milton and Meta Model throughout
EFT – tapping technique

-Sandra

Dorothy Biagioni
Posted March 26, 2010 01:57 PM

Wow. Thank You for sharing this beautiful story with everyone. The power behind the various healing modalities is limitless.
In Peace and Light to All
Dorothy Biagioni

Rehana
Posted March 27, 2010 02:46 AM

Hi Dorothy and Sandra

thank you both for your comments. Yes, its good to use all that you have in your tool kit the help your client move as easily and swiftly as possible, considering that some have been stuck for decades.

Rehana

Edith Howell
Posted March 27, 2010 04:29 PM

Thank you Rehana for sharing this healing story with us.
It is amazing that "adoptive parents, or biological parents" can treat children with such cruelty, I am wondering if it is common to see this kind of background in people who suffer schizofrenic and bipolar disorders. Rehana, what is your experience with this?

I wish EFT was available to all children so they could look at their future with hope and optimism and I am grateful that you could help
John with all these healing modalities. Thanks for your article!

Rehana
Posted March 27, 2010 05:49 PM

Hi Edith,

Thanks for your comments and to answer your question, John put it so well to me once. He said...it's no wonder I am the way I am, because I had no way of getting away from what happened to me...until now.

So to answer your question, the majority of people I worked with who had been sexually abused and suffered physical violence had been assessed with some sort of anxiety disorders...ranging from GAD to bipolar. Now that is not to say that these disorders are only related to childhood abuse, however the correlation is high.

Imagine a vulnerable child being brutalized ...I guess it would cause major brain development disruption. Just being hit on or around the head will cause brain bruising. You may know that even in adults any blows to the head can be part of the cause of becoming depressed. I've had clients who had riding or surfing or sports accidents and become depressed. I always recommend sacro-cranial treatments for them to realign the skull bones. Thats another story however.

Heather
Posted May 24, 2012 05:56 AM

Thanks for that story,

I have recently become interested in tapping and I have found some relief in my life because of it. I have been a "victom", of sexual and verbal abuse at various times in my life. From grandparents to partners, At times it feels like I can spend the rest of my life tapping on various things that have occured.

I think I have finally changed my vibration and good things and good people are now attracted to me. I still feel embarressed about sharing my tapping with people. How do you bring up tapping to someone you know needs the help but refuses anything that seems remotley new wave?

Rehana Webster
Posted May 25, 2012 05:42 AM

Hi Heather.
So good to hear that you have found EFT to be helping you with your issues and problems. Keep tapping and cutting down the thorny trees in your forest. Before you know it, they will be gone. Remember to persist with the tapping.

I find the best way to introduce tapping to a person who is not interested in new ways of dealing with problems is to ask if they are interested in a relaxation exercise. Most people are and then show them how the tapping can allow them to relax and then encourage them to talk or think about their problems while continuing the tapping. Check by asking them how relaxed they feel.

good luck and keep tapping.

Rehana

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Disclaimer: All information on this website is for educational purposes only, and the content is not intended to suggest that it is a substitute for proper medical care or good common sense.

While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it.

In addition, the articles on this site represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the founder of EFT, Gary Craig, nor the owner of this web site, Stefan Gonick.