By Carol Look, EFT Master
Many of the survivors who worked in the World Trade
Center have been experiencing the classic cluster of
symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, including
auditory and visual flashbacks, an exaggerated startle
response, nightmares, profound restlessness and a
heightened state of agitation. I would like to address the
population of people experiencing a milder, scaled down
version of PTSD. While their symptoms are less severe than
those of people who barely escaped with their lives, they
are still unbearable and deserve and require competent
treatment.
Some of those New Yorkers who did not lose direct
family members are experiencing deep grief as a result of
being glued to the news accounts of the tragedy and from
seeing hundreds of photograph posters of the missing that
make the loss of complete strangers all the more personal.
They are also grieving the symbol of downtown, the
buildings that represented the commerce of the country.
They can’t get away from the constant sound of sirens, day
and night, the smell of smoke and destruction, and the
look of terror on neighbors’ faces. Friends and clients
are unsettled in the present, afraid of the future and
“unhinged” by last week’s attack.
The most prevalent emotional symptoms for people
suffering in this second tier of PTSD include feelings of
guilt, helplessness and anxiety. In addition, I have
observed signs of distraction (people staring at you but
not hearing what you are saying), emotional numbness
(shock), mild disorientation (getting into the shower with
socks or glasses on), irritability (picking fights with
loved ones), losing orientation to time and space (missing
important meetings/ bumping into things), and being
dissociated from feelings and events. Strong feelings of
“survivor’s guilt” are preventing individuals from
validating or expressing their feelings, and a strong
sense of feeling unsafe is preventing people from making
wise, centered decisions in their daily lives. These
emotional states and their oppressive consequences can be
efficiently handled with EFT.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TRAUMATIZED THERAPIST
It is not just weekly clients who feel disoriented,
exhausted, frustrated and traumatized. Therapists are, of
course, among those New Yorkers who need help. Hundreds of
mental health workers have lost patients and loved ones or
witnessed the devastation directly, yet expect themselves
to be ready and emotionally available to comfort others.
Numerous colleagues have been telling me that they feel as
if they went back to work too early.
Many described feeling stunned and unprepared for
hearing the horror stories and fears of their clients, one
after another, all day long. One social worker said she
was overwhelmed by her patients’ actual experiences.
Several of her clients had waited until feeling surrounded
by the safety of their therapist’s office to tell every
last detail of the catastrophe.
Still other colleagues said they were under the
impression that they were coping well and processing what
had happened until stories of unprecedented devastation
were recounted in their offices. Colleagues are telling me
they are going to work without their appointment books,
double booking their sessions, making poor logistical
decisions, failing to carry out routine chores, feeling
empty, lonely, helpless and afraid. One therapist told me
she felt useless as a professional and was “leaking” her
own emotions all over the place.
As mental health professionals, we must be able to take
care of ourselves in order to offer comfort and care to
others. When I volunteered at the Armory for the families
who were directed there to report missing loved ones,
numerous mental health workers appeared nearly as
traumatized and disoriented as the family members. Some
social workers were so eager to “help” that they were
emotionally intrusive and missed important clues from the
distressed families.
Some of the most effective EFT practitioners I know
“forgot” to seek help or treat themselves and only
compounded their feelings of distress by volunteering too
long or going back to work too soon. A seasoned clinician
told me he feared he had added to the emotional damage of
his clients by being too distraught himself to be present.
Below are some useful setup phrases for overwhelmed
therapists:
“Even though I don’t want to hear about it anymore…”
“Even though my clients’ fears scare me…and I feel
overwhelmed…”
“Even though I shouldn’t want to protect myself from
the stories…”
“Even though I should be doing more…helping more” (“I
am enough…I do enough…”)
“Even though I resent their neediness when I have my
own needs…”
“Even though I’m mad at her for telling me the gruesome
details…” (“I wish I hadn’t heard that story…”)
“Even though I want to be taken care of instead of
taking care of them…”
“Even though I feel guilty…I should be able to handle
this…”
“Even though I’m afraid of the hatred I’m hearing
about…I choose love…”
“Even though I wasn’t afraid of the future until they
reminded me to be…”
“Even though I feel helpless and powerless…I want to
feel safe…”
“Even though I can’t stop seeing the images in my
head…”
TREATMENT FOR A CLIENT WHO ESCAPED
I wanted to share a portion of the treatment process I
used with a client who felt guilty and unsafe as a result
of last week’s devastation:
This morning I worked with “Jen” who had been attending
a meeting in a building directly across the street from
the World Trade Center when the attack occurred. She
escaped through a southern entrance of the building, was
covered in soot, and crawled under a fence with other
employees to safety at the tip of the island. Jen has a
sketchy memory of the morning, and told me she was in
“survivor mode” all day, blocking her feelings of fear and
vulnerability. It was quite evident she had been
traumatized.
First we tapped for….
“Even though I still feel jittery, and scared of the
future…”
“Even though I don’t feel safe in New York anymore…”
and
“Even though I can’t believe I went through that
incident…”
“Even though I feel threatened…I can and do take care
of myself…”
At various treatment spots I alternated “I feel
safe now” with “I’m not safe” until Jen
calmed down. (Please note that using the technique, “Tell
Me The Story” is also very helpful. The client is already
tuned in, and just narrates what happened (“and
then…and then…and then…”) while they tap on
themselves or you tap on them).
We then turned to Jen’s feelings of guilt. She
described herself as “fine” and not nearly as traumatized
as other people who lost their loved ones. She felt guilty
about receiving attention and help. She said she felt
overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem, even aware
that I, her therapist, must be going through trauma. Jen
also felt wracked with guilt because she had burst into
hysterical giggles and laughter Friday evening. She felt
totally out of balance, although she enjoyed and needed
the release. With EFT, Jen was able to reframe her
outburst as a natural release of intense emotion, rather
than humor that she feared offended others.
“Even though I shouldn’t have been laughing…”
“Even though I feel guilty for being upset…when I
wasn’t hurt as much as others…”
“Even though I shouldn’t get the attention…others
deserve it more than I…”
“Even though I feel guilty getting on with my life…I
choose to take care of my needs…”
“Even though I feel guilty for not doing more…for
wanting to change the subject…”
These rounds produced a deeper awareness of guilt and
physical feelings in her chest and throat which needed
attention.
“Even though I have this heaviness in my chest…the dust
and the screams…”
“Even though I have this anxiety in my throat…I’m
afraid to stay in New York…”
“Even though the future is so uncertain…and I’m afraid
of what is going to happen…”
“Even though I’m afraid I’m in denial…” (People kept
telling her she was in denial and would fall apart in the
near future)
Jen described feeling deeply conflicted between 2 sets
of experiences and feelings:
1) feelings of shock/terror when in her downtown home
where she compulsively watched the news around the clock,
and
2) feelings of relief she felt when working uptown in
Manhattan where she found people seemingly oblivious to it
all—with an absence of reminders such as candlelight
vigils or hospitals teaming with families and people in
crisis. She wasn’t sure which emotional state was “right”
or appropriate.
“Even though I don’t know where I fit in…nothing feels
stable any more…”
“Even though I feel guilty for wanting to run away…”
“Even though I don’t want to burden other people with
my fears…”
“Even though I don’t know how to react…I choose to love
and accept myself anyway.”
“Even though I need a break from it all…I accept all of
me…”
We kept tapping until Jen regained the confidence in
her own ability to handle what she had experienced.
Many thanks to all of you who contacted me to see if I
was safe and sound. Your calls and emails were the perfect
antidote to the devastation here. They encouraged me to
keep repeating, “I’m okay, I’m safe” and continue
to be enormously comforting.
