Thought Field Therapy Efficacy Following Large Scale Traumatic Events

April 7, 2015 Trauma

Citation: Dunnewold, A.L., 2014. Thought field therapy efficacy following large scale traumatic events. Curr. Res. Psychol., 5: 34-39.Click here to read Abstract and Full Paper http://goo.gl/nIWizv

Abstract

Thought Field Therapy Efficacy Following Large Scale Traumatic Events: Description of Four Studies. Thought Field Therapy (TFT) has been shown to reduce symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) with trauma survivors in four studies in Africa. In a 2006 preliminary study, orphaned Rwandan adolescents, who reported ongoing trauma symptoms since the 1994 genocide, were treated with TFT. A 2008 Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) examined the efficacy of TFT treatments facilitated by Rwandan Community leaders in reducing PTS symptoms in adult survivors of the 1994 genocide. Results of the 2008 study were replicated in a second RCT in Rwanda in 2009. A fourth RCT in Uganda (in preparation for submission) demonstrated significant differences in a third community leader-administered TFT treatment. The studies described here suggest that one-time, community leader-facilitated TFT interventions may be beneficial with protracted PTS in genocide survivors.

Editor’s Note

This is a Review Paper that summarizes a series of four large scale traumatic event related studies using Thought Field Therapy (TFT) to alleviate Post Traumatic Stress in African communities that suffered severe trauma within their populations. TFT was studied for its effectiveness for use with orphaned Rwandan adolescents and adults who were suffering ongoing post-traumatic stress post genocide and reviews a not yet published study done with PTS victims in Uganda. Over 650 participants were involved in these 4 studies. Peer leaders within the community was the primary method of intervention and like many other EP studies, comparison was active treatment vs. wait list control.

There is no doubt that there is a great need for wide scale trauma treatment modalities that need to show their effectiveness so as to be applied to relieve suffering in devastated, war torn and traumatized communities. These bold series of studies points to TFT as being one of those modalities that is being shown to be able to be taught to and implemented by community leaders in just this kind of post traumatic community situation with this review paper by Dunnewold.