Citation (APA Style): Stone, B., Leyden, L., & Fellows, B. (2010). Energy Psychology treatment for orphan heads of households in Rwanda: An observational study. Energy Psychology: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 2(2), 31-38.
Abstract
A team of four energy therapy practitioners visited Rwanda in September of 2009 to conduct trauma remediation programs with two groups of orphan genocide survivors with complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Results from interventions with the first group were reported earlier (Stone, Leyden, & Fellows, 2009). This paper reports results from the second group composed of Orphan Head of Households. A multi-modal intervention using three energy psychology methods (TAT, TFT, and EFT) was used, with techniques employed based on participant needs. Interventions were performed on two consecutive workshop days followed by two days of field visits with students. Data were collected using the Child Report of Posttraumatic Stress (CROPS) to measure pre- and post-intervention results, using a time-series, repeated measures design. N = 28 orphans with clinical PTSD scores completed a pretest. Of these, 10 (34%) completed posttest assessments after one week, three months, and six months, and all analysis was done on this group. They demonstrated an average reduction in symptoms of 37.3% (p < .005). Four of the ten students (40%) dropped below the clinical cutoff point for PTSD at the six month follow-up. These results are consistent with other published reports of the efficacy of energy psychology in remediating PTSD symptoms.
Keywords: PTSD, orphans, Rwanda, genocide, TAT, Tapas Acupressure Technique, TFT, Thought Field Therapy, EFT, Emotional Freedom Techniques
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