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Deepak Chopra, MD
"EFT offers great healing benefits."
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques®) Where emotional relief brings physical health
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A concept for successfully applying EFT to Tinnitus
Stephen Frost, from the United Kingdom, has had substantial success with tinnitus and gives us his theory, procedures and some actual case histories below. At first, he first noticed that tinnitus diminished as PTSD was resolved. Later, he later saw that tinnitus appeared to occur because of repeated and traumatic-like noises. He used EFT on those past "noise events" (my term) with great results. He says, "Of the 18 clients I have worked on specifically with tinnitus, 14 reported a reduction down to a very bearable (1 - 2ish) one client reported "No difference" and three clients I have lost contact with."
Note that Steve uses the term "Lorry" within his article. For those outside the UK, Lorry means truck.
As a hypnotherapist since 1991, treating PTSD intermittently, with varying degrees of success, I came upon and have been using EFT, since about 2001. What an awesome tool it is in the armoury of the therapist.
In both hypnotherapy and EFT, I have noted with some regularity working with PTSD clients, as the PTSD diminishes, so the tinnitus seems to become more bearable, in some cases it's the first I have been told that they have the condition.
My conjecture could be that it is a residual traumatic (to the ears) memory of loud noise, e.g. music, (rock concerts are common) car engines, (motor or drag racing) pneumatic drills, (which we still hear today) or even warfare and conflict. PTSD seems to affect the body globally i.e. auditory sensations, physical sensations, visual sensations, and even olfactory sensations, in extreme cases physically living the event in the present.
What I am concerned with is 'auditory sensations' not the actual noise but the effects on the memory. If you stand next to a drummer when he hits the cymbal your ears will ring. For how long, I don't know? The physical memory may fade, but the subconscious memory lasts forever. We might say sustained exposure or shock to the ears could bring that subconscious memory into play resulting in what we know as tinnitus. Also it may not even be a physical sound but a perceived sound, i.e. when receiving shocking news people will say it's like being hit around the head with a lump of 2 x 4 wood, a numbness goes through their body, which could possibly be blood pressure rising due to shock thus affecting the ears.
Case history 1.
One man stands out in my mind (name withheld) he was about 60 yrs old he had never been in a conflict zone, but was a lorry (truck) driver for years transporting livestock.
So after the prelims, (explanation and demonstration) with a 0-10 intensity of 7ish, we tapped for 'even though I have this whooshing in my ears' (his words), got to a 5ish.
Then it became tightness across the head, down to a 4, again 'even though I have this tightness'; back up to a 7 (aspects coming into play).
At this point he was thinking about the engine noise, so we tapped for 'even though I have that dammed engine noise drumming in my ears' (his words), down it came again, about 5ish.
Then came the thing I never thought of, he mentioned matter-of-factly being involved in a big lorry rally and all the lorries blowing their air horns in unison, so another round on 'even though those air horns made such a bloody racket' (his words), and down it came again about 2ish. More rounds different aspects one in particular a cow he was transporting kicked out while inside the lorry and kicked the side just as he was walking past. Well you can imagine the ringing in the ears that gave him, so we tapped on 'even though I was deafened the day that cow kicked the side of the lorry' (his words), and he was down to a 0-1ish.
I left then (home visit about 1= hrs) for my next appointment, after getting him to promise to tap on more aspects as and when they came to mind, also to let me know how he was doing in a week or two. He did phone about a week later to say he is only just aware of it in the dead of night.
In all we found about 15-20 different aspects to this mans tinnitus all to do with noise some loud, some sharp, etc, but to him and his ears all traumatic. Some of them seemed so insignificant as to be meaningless to me, but highly significant to my client, so we tapped for these issues using his words.
So please listen to your client. Don't write off tinnitus suffers, as un-helpable. Handled correctly, life can be made as bearable for them, as it should be for you.
The way I work with clients', is to give a them set-up statement, then let them word it their own way, (they know the significance of the words and feel comfortable with them) while I tap surrogately using intuition, and get them to follow my tapping points tapping on themselves.
That is the gist of how I work with tinnitus sufferers, and getting to the residual traumatic (to the ears) memory of loud noise.
Note: This man had little or no faith in 'EFT' (maybe he still doesn't, I don't know, does it matter?) but was desperate to try anything. He was bought up on a farm in Cornwall. U.K. and is very down to earth with an even more earthy approach to life.
Case history 2: Dave McLamont. (Name given at the insistence of client. Dave will tell you himself, he wants this form of healing (EFT) out there, to help others who are suffering.)
Dave, a healer friend of mine mentioned he had residual PTSD and tinnitus (in therapy for 15 or so years after the 'Falklands' conflict). There and then (we were in a stable at the time) I explained the concept behind EFT, and showed him the tapping sequence, within 5 minutes his 0-10 intensity for tinnitus had dropped from 6-7 to 1-2, as he walked away I could hear him muttering, "Marvellous that's bloody marvellous." Residual PTSD had abated latter when he went to bed and realised he had slept properly with no interruptions. Since then he keeps sending me his friends (mostly Falkland veterans) or anyone who will listen to him. (About 10 so far).
Dave has since phoned me to report; one night when he was under canvas during a rainstorm, with the sound of rain on canvas he became aware of a slight tinnitus returning. He reported the next morning it had abated during the night. (He travels around the country on his pony he's an animal healer). Another time he will be aware of the tinnitus, if he wakes suddenly or is startled. It could be a sudden rise in blood pressure causing this to happen, but only seem to lasts for a few minutes.
At present we are talking through the possibility of some residual memory of being under canvas with loud noise, whether a marquee for a disco or such like, or while in the armed forces. The reason we are talking this through is because he is as intrigued, as I am to understand more about tinnitus, thereby getting to grips with it better, and offering a better service to sufferers in the future.
Note: Of the 18 clients I have worked on specifically with tinnitus, 14 reported a reduction down to a very bearable (1 - 2ish) one client reported "No difference" and three clients I have lost contact with.
This research is on going, unfortunately with the mindset given to tinnitus suffers by the medics i.e. incurable, un-helpable, lost cause or 'you will just have to live with it', gives suffers little or no hope and they seem to fight shy of any assistance that may be out there.
Steve Frost
