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This division of the Quantum Wellbeing Centre C.I.C.
(QWC), is in the process of establishing a UK National
EFT Research Platform;
it's focus being to co-ordinate evidence-based
trials using EFT for PTSD,
Depression, Addiction, Anxiety and Physical Pain.
This is supported by collaborating with the highly successful Iraq
Vets Stress Project in the U.S.A, (www.stressproject.org/)
under the direction of Dawson Church PhD,
Principal Investigator.
Dawson has recently launched
www.EnergyPsychologyJournal.org
which will be of interest to
anyone involved in Complementary Therapy research
Please note that while EFT Founder Gary Craig
(www.emofree.com)
encourages research, he cannot evaluate or endorse this EFT Research Programme and
we have agreed to
abide by his
'open hand policy'
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What is PTSD? |
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Post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD for short)
is the name given to the psychological and physical
problems that can sometimes follow particular
threatening or distressing events.
These events might include:
• a
major disaster
• war
• rape or sexual, physical or emotional abuse
• witnessing a violent death
• a serious accident
• traumatic childbirth
• other situations in which a person was very
afraid, horrified, helpless, or felt that his or her
life was in danger.
The
trauma can be a single event or a series of events
taking place over many months or even years. PTSD
may affect the person directly involved in a
traumatic event or situation. It may also develop
in members of the emergency services or in families
of those involved in a traumatic event. PTSD is
quite common—up to a third of people who have
experienced a traumatic event may go on to develop
PTSD and it may affect about 8%1 of people at some
point in their lives. It can develop in people of
any age, including children. One of the most common
symptoms of PTSD is having repeated and intrusive
distressing memories of the event. There may also be
a feeling of reliving (or ‘re-experiencing’) the
event through ‘flashbacks’ or nightmares, which can
be very distressing and disorientating. There can
also be physical reactions, such as shaking and
sweating. Because the memory can be very intense and
upsetting, some PTSD sufferers may avoid people or
situations that remind them of the trauma, or try to
ignore the memories and avoid talking about the
event. Some people may also forget significant parts
of the traumatic event. Other people will think
about the event constantly, which stops them coming
to terms with it (they may, for instance, ask
themselves why the event happened to them or how it
could have been prevented).
It is
thought that about 80–90% of PTSD sufferers also
have other problems, such as depression (which is
quite common) and anxiety disorders. Some people
start to use recreational drugs or alcohol as a way
to cope, especially if they have had PTSD or
experienced trauma for a long time.
Within the Research Programme, we will be using
Dawson Church's principles which applies the
insights of the new field of Epigenetics (epi=above,
i.e. control above the level of the gene) to
healing. Citing hundreds of scientific studies, he
shows how beliefs and emotions can trigger the
expression of DNA strands. He focuses on a class of
genes called Immediate Early Genes (IEGs).
These genes
turn on
within a few seconds of a stimulus.
They can be triggered by
thoughts or emotions. Many IEGs are
regulatory genes that turn on other genes that
affect specific aspects of our immune system, such
as the production of white blood cells that destroy
attacking bacteria and viruses. Epigenetics thus
influences our health every day.
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