PT(604 words – 3  minute read)

I came across this article the other day about using the drug propanolol to help the brain get over being traumatized at unknowncountry.com (a great website for news on the edge).

A comment to that post (which I agree with) says:

“Two therapies – EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) have successfully treated phobias for decades – without drugs.”

Amy and I have been successfully treating traumas, PTSD, phobias and compulsions since the 1960’s. The techniques we learned back then still work very well and now we add in  EFT and other energy therapies to make them even more effective.

I worked for ten years in a hospital behavioral health center helping people with severe abuse recover completely from their trauma.

So why is PTSD still a thing?

“We can’t mend your broken leg but we can help you hobble around with these adjustable crutches.” If  your doctor said this, would you consider him or her a competent physician?

Social workers and therapists are told it is illegal to use the word “cure”. They are allowed to say “we can help you manage your condition”, and occasionally achieve a  “temporary remission” – but never “cure”.

This lets the social worker or therapist off the hook. Since real results are impossible, nothing is demanded. They can’t fail when they can’t win. Tell clients the brain is an impenetrable black box and the best they can do is give you drugs and hope for the best.

That’s just not good enough.

So how does the mainstream address PTSD? The standard text for treating PTSD is “The PTSD Workbook”

“The PTSD Workbook” is tailor made to trigger your worst traumatic incidents… and leave you there. I’ve had clients sent to me whose symptoms worsened as they tried to struggle through the exercises presented in the book. It is a dreadful book.

Believe me, I have every sympathy for those suffering from PTSD. I have listened to stories of the most violent physical and emotional abuse. I have heard stories from soldiers who have been traumatized from having to do horrible things to survive. I could not listen to those stories unless I had a way out – it would be too painful for me.

And yet these techniques, which have been available for so long, are not available in the mainstream mental health clinics. I worked in one for ten years as an alternative mental health practitioner thanks to an open-minded clinical supervisor. But this was the exception. There is a world of research on PTSD that is not taught in universities today.

I worked closely with my mainstream behavioral health colleagues and, kind and earnest in their desire to help people as they were, they had no idea how to actually help people. Not a clue.

As a result, these “practitioners” (and I use the term loosely, as most of the people who are now acting as “therapists” are actually social workers, whose one piece of training in the mind is Psychology 101 – and I dare you to read that total piece of crap) would intentionally avoid even asking for the traumatic events that are at the core of PTSD, because they has no idea what to do when faced with the actual event.

So we would frequently tag team with a client. One week they would check on their meds provided by their drug dealer – the psychologist, and have 5 minutes to discuss how they were doing.

The next week they would come to me and I would address and resolve their trauma. My goal for them was to be happy and healthy without the need for medication. More often than not that goal was achieved. When it did not, doing both, drugs and therapy, often helped. We do whatever works.

Also, when you are told by a “professional” that all feelings are a result of brain chemistry, the client is scared to stop the meds, as they believe the current lie that all is chemistry and can only be controlled rather than “cured” or handled.

I got to help many people and also see how poorly equipped mainstream psychological help was at actually helping people effectively resolve traumatic incidents once and for all.

I’m not anybody special. I have no magical gifts. I just know what works and it pains me to hear of people suffering unnecessarily.

So why, if it can be so easily resolved, is PTSD still a thing?

Rod.