Tag Archive for: Study Participants

TFT 2009 PTSD Study Published in June 2013 African Journal of Traumatic Stress

The TFT Foundation is excited to announce the publication of its 2009 PTSD study and work in Rwanda.  It has taken a long time and a lot of effort by many, and led by our board member, and Trauma Relief Committee chair, Suzanne Connolly.

It was a long time coming but, I think, an important article in a well read journal by those interested in helping Africa recover from trauma.  I would also like to thank the Peter C. Alderman Foundation for their assistance in edit corrections.

The entire study can be found on page 24 of the June 2013 Issue of the African Journal of Traumatic Stress, found here: http://petercaldermanfoundation.org/AfricanJnl/AJTS_V1N5.pdf

I wish to thank all the members of the TFT Community, The Paton Family Trust, The PepsiCo Foundation and the Ruth Lane Foundation for their support to complete this work.

The abstract is below.

 

Abstract

The use of Thought Field Therapy (TFT), a brief therapy technique, is examined in a study titled, Utilizing Community Resources to Treat PTSD: A Random Controlled Study Using Thought Field Therapy, to determine if there is a significant difference in the reduction of trauma symptoms between the treated group and the untreated group post treatment.

Study participants in the waitlist group received treatment after having completing the posttest.  One-hundred and sixty four adult survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide received a one-time trauma-focused TFT intervention in this randomized waitlist controlled study. Prior to the study,TFT techniques were taught to community leaders, who then provided them in their native language, Kinyarwanda, to the participants during an individual session. Pre- and post-intervention surveys of trauma symptoms included the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI)

(Briere, 1995) and the Modified Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale (MPSS) (Falsetti, Resnick, Resnick, & Kilpatrick, 1993). After one week, significant differences were found in trauma symptoms and level of PTSD symptom severity and frequency between the treatment and the waitlist control groups. Participants in the waitlist group experienced significant reductions in trauma symptoms following their treatments,which took place after the first posttest.  These positive outcomes suggest that a one-time, community leader facilitated trauma-focused intervention may be beneficial with protracted PTSD in genocide survivors.

My Journal About the TFT Foundation Film-making Trip to Rwanda

There was a trip to Rwanda earlier this month,  to film a documentary on the work the Rwandans are doing using TFT. The Rwandans hope to serve as a model for other countries who have suffered large-scale traumatic events.  The filming went well, and of course, after hearing the stories of healing, the documentarians want to learn TFT!  I am attaching a journal of the 11 day trip for any of you who would like to hear about it. Suzanne M. Connolly, LCSW

The TFT Foundation efforts to make a film documenting the use of TFT in Rwanda got off to a superb beginning.   We landed in Kigali Rwanda the evening of the 8th of January.

Bob Stone, our documentarian, Diana Gross, his assistant and I were greeted at the airport by Father Augustin, organizer of the Byumba segments of the filming; Darling Clementine, organizer of the 2008 research and 2010 follow-up and this year’s TFT training; Billy Gatete, old friend and translator; and Jean de Due, former resident and now supervisor at the Rwandan Orphan Project.

We hit the ground running and by 8am the 9th, Diana, Bob and I were in a car headed to meet some of the new TFT trainees, trained by Celestin Mitabu. We entered the training room, located in Stella Bar, a local restraint/bar, and I was surprised to see many so many familiar faces.  Most of the new trainees, recently trained by Celestin, were former 2008 study participants from the AID’s group, the Widows’ group, and the older orphan groups.  What a pleasant surprise!  Their experience of TFT was such a positive one; they wanted to help others using this technique.

The stories were amazing!  One by one the trainers gathered at the Stella Bar, told their own personal stories.   In a separate room Robert Stone, our documentarian and his assistant Diana Gross got four moving stories on film.  In the larger room, others wanted to share their amazing stories of recovery with the help of TFT.

Each one started with something like: “I thought this was crazy. How could tapping help MY problems?”  But they did follow the instructions of their Rwandan therapists in 2008, and they did tap.  One by one, as they told their stories of trauma and recovery, I heard things like: “I’ve had a sad life.” “The first time in my life that I felt happy was after I joined the Widows group and then we did TFT.” “Now I have a life, a business.”  “Now I have hope, where before I had no hope and thought I would just die and my children would be orphans.” We were all inspired and encouraged by these stories of recovery. Read more