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The Troubled Teen Industry / Emotional Freedom Technique
« on: March 31, 2005, 11:24:00 AM »
I know nothing about this EFT treatment protocol. I just read it in the San Diego Union-Tribune this morning.
Has anyone tried this?
---
Unorthodox therapy gains local following
By Rick Rogers
STAFF WRITER
March 31, 2005
LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune
Susan Hannibal, a self-described intuitive healer
from Vista, demonstrated the Emotional Freedom
Technique used to treat stress.
VISTA ? A once-dismissed therapy for mental
disorders is gaining a following among San Diego
medical experts who treat combat veterans.
Social workers, chaplains and psychiatrists from
Naval Medical Center San Diego and Camp Pendleton
are learning the Emotional Freedom Technique, an
unorthodox method that even its creator can't
explain precisely.
It and a treatment that uses virtual reality are
two of the enterprising approaches being tried at
the medical center to alleviate combat-induced
psychological wounds.
The Emotional Freedom Technique was developed by
Stanford engineer Gary Craig in the 1990s. It was
largely ignored by the mental health
establishment because no one had conducted a
study on its effectiveness.
But Jeannie Ertl, a senior clinical social worker
at the medical center, gave the technique a
chance in November.
She and many of her patients are happy that she
did.
"EFT is tremendous for treating anxiety
associated with post traumatic stress disorder,"
Ertl said.
CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune
Seaman Wilbur Hurley, a 20-year-old corpsman,
returned from Camp Pendleton from Iraq in October
plagued with horrible visions. He has since been
treated for post-traumatic stress disorder using
the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is based
on the same theory as acupuncture.
She has tried the method on 15 patients, 12 of
whom found it helpful at relieving or eliminating
symptoms such as anxiety and stress. Ertl uses
the technique, which hasn't been approved by the
Defense Department, in conjunction with more
traditional therapies.
"It seems to work for a lot of people," she said.
Seaman Wilbur Hurley is one of them.
Hurley, a 20-year-old corpsman, returned to Camp
Pendleton in October plagued with horrible
visions. In mid-September, he had witnessed a
young Marine kill himself while serving in Iraq.
It was just weeks before Hurley returned to his
base at Camp Pendleton.
"I don't care what happened in Iraq," Hurley
promised himself. "What happened there would stay
there."
But back home in Calvert County, Md., Hurley
couldn't erase the image of the dead Marine.
"I felt like a black cloud was over my head every
day," Hurley said. "I had vivid dreams of walking
through fields of gore. I isolated myself from
friends and family."
By early December, anxiety attacks sometimes made
Hurley pull to the side of the road until his
tremors passed.
Willing to try something new, Hurley followed a
friend's advice and went to Susan Hannibal, a
self-described intuitive healer from Vista who
uses the Emotional Freedom Technique to treat
stress, anxiety and post traumatic stress
disorder. It was Hannibal who taught the
technique to Ertl and several military chaplains.
Hannibal explained to Hurley how the method is
based on the same theory as acupuncture ? that
the body is an energy field with points that can
be manipulated to restore health.
Patients focus on a traumatizing event while
repeating a self-affirming chant and tapping
parts of their body, such as their hands, lips
and sides. A typical session is about 90 minutes,
and some results can be seen after a single
session.
"Once I started doing the tapping, an
overwhelming calm came over me," Hurley said. "I
had no cares or worries in the world. In fact I
left Sue's (office) singing. It was pretty much
the greatest day of my life."
Hurley spent that weekend trying to summon bad
feelings just to prove that he could stay calm.
He concentrated on the worst cases he'd seen
while patching up Marines for seven months in
Ramadi. He also thought about the suicidal
Marine.
"But I felt nothing. It wasn't there anymore,"
Hurley said.
More then a month later, Hurley said he believes
that what happened in Iraq is finally staying
there.
"Nothing that happened over there ruins my day
now," he said.
For more information about the Emotional Freedom
Technique, visit http://www.emofree.com or
http://www.guidedhealing.com.
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212;
rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
Has anyone tried this?
---
Unorthodox therapy gains local following
By Rick Rogers
STAFF WRITER
March 31, 2005
LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune
Susan Hannibal, a self-described intuitive healer
from Vista, demonstrated the Emotional Freedom
Technique used to treat stress.
VISTA ? A once-dismissed therapy for mental
disorders is gaining a following among San Diego
medical experts who treat combat veterans.
Social workers, chaplains and psychiatrists from
Naval Medical Center San Diego and Camp Pendleton
are learning the Emotional Freedom Technique, an
unorthodox method that even its creator can't
explain precisely.
It and a treatment that uses virtual reality are
two of the enterprising approaches being tried at
the medical center to alleviate combat-induced
psychological wounds.
The Emotional Freedom Technique was developed by
Stanford engineer Gary Craig in the 1990s. It was
largely ignored by the mental health
establishment because no one had conducted a
study on its effectiveness.
But Jeannie Ertl, a senior clinical social worker
at the medical center, gave the technique a
chance in November.
She and many of her patients are happy that she
did.
"EFT is tremendous for treating anxiety
associated with post traumatic stress disorder,"
Ertl said.
CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune
Seaman Wilbur Hurley, a 20-year-old corpsman,
returned from Camp Pendleton from Iraq in October
plagued with horrible visions. He has since been
treated for post-traumatic stress disorder using
the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is based
on the same theory as acupuncture.
She has tried the method on 15 patients, 12 of
whom found it helpful at relieving or eliminating
symptoms such as anxiety and stress. Ertl uses
the technique, which hasn't been approved by the
Defense Department, in conjunction with more
traditional therapies.
"It seems to work for a lot of people," she said.
Seaman Wilbur Hurley is one of them.
Hurley, a 20-year-old corpsman, returned to Camp
Pendleton in October plagued with horrible
visions. In mid-September, he had witnessed a
young Marine kill himself while serving in Iraq.
It was just weeks before Hurley returned to his
base at Camp Pendleton.
"I don't care what happened in Iraq," Hurley
promised himself. "What happened there would stay
there."
But back home in Calvert County, Md., Hurley
couldn't erase the image of the dead Marine.
"I felt like a black cloud was over my head every
day," Hurley said. "I had vivid dreams of walking
through fields of gore. I isolated myself from
friends and family."
By early December, anxiety attacks sometimes made
Hurley pull to the side of the road until his
tremors passed.
Willing to try something new, Hurley followed a
friend's advice and went to Susan Hannibal, a
self-described intuitive healer from Vista who
uses the Emotional Freedom Technique to treat
stress, anxiety and post traumatic stress
disorder. It was Hannibal who taught the
technique to Ertl and several military chaplains.
Hannibal explained to Hurley how the method is
based on the same theory as acupuncture ? that
the body is an energy field with points that can
be manipulated to restore health.
Patients focus on a traumatizing event while
repeating a self-affirming chant and tapping
parts of their body, such as their hands, lips
and sides. A typical session is about 90 minutes,
and some results can be seen after a single
session.
"Once I started doing the tapping, an
overwhelming calm came over me," Hurley said. "I
had no cares or worries in the world. In fact I
left Sue's (office) singing. It was pretty much
the greatest day of my life."
Hurley spent that weekend trying to summon bad
feelings just to prove that he could stay calm.
He concentrated on the worst cases he'd seen
while patching up Marines for seven months in
Ramadi. He also thought about the suicidal
Marine.
"But I felt nothing. It wasn't there anymore,"
Hurley said.
More then a month later, Hurley said he believes
that what happened in Iraq is finally staying
there.
"Nothing that happened over there ruins my day
now," he said.
For more information about the Emotional Freedom
Technique, visit http://www.emofree.com or
http://www.guidedhealing.com.
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212;
rick.rogers@uniontrib.com