Trauma and Memory Holes

Trauma sends our hippocampus (mind's historian that keeps track of events and time) off-line. The trauma is so hurtful the mind simply shuts it down! Trauma also shrinks the hippocampus up to 25-30%, particularly when one has post-traumatic symptoms, so it makes sense that many of us have big memory holes! The hippocampus comes on-line about age 2-3, if I remember correctly, but our amygdala (alarm center) is present in utero; therefore, we have alarms ringing in our mind before we have processes to figure out what is going on. It amazes me how much tapping we practitioners do on VERY early memories, some of them we swear happened before we were born, and as a practitioner, we just go with whatever the client brings to the tapping table. Sadly, science clearly shows us that we carry around so much epigenetic trauma from our ancestors! It's no wonder some of us are so burdened down with emotional stuff! Anyone have a tapping story to share around any really, really early memories? We'd love to hear them! Sherrie Rice Smith Certified EFT Practitioner EFTforChristians.com Author of EFT for Christians 5 Book Series

Cancer/Diseases and Epigenetics

As a R.N. I've often thought about this! We know fear generates a ton of internal stress, so fear of death or whatever other stresses (financial, relational, etc.) someone encounters during cancer treatment could potentially mess with any treatment.

We also now understand if one fears GETTING cancer or any other disease (based on family history) is probably enough for gene expression to occur. Simply the stress from fearing a possible disease could be enough to give one the disease!

How many times have we heard a friend say something like this, "My grandmother died of ovarian cancer, my mother now has ovarian cancer, so I guess I will get ovarian cancer?'

That statement repeated often enough could possibly come true! You may not even have an ovarian cancer gene in your body that was going to give you cancer, but repeating the above statement (about anything) could be enough to epigenetically express a cancer gene.

This same idea goes for anything in our lives, not just diseases! "My parents were divorced, so will I", "my grandparents died young, so will I", my sister flunked out of college and she is smarter than I, I can't possibly graduate", etc., etc. are all epigenetic statements of sorts.

Watch what you say in daily life! Tap the negative beliefs away!

Internal stress reduction is imperative, especially the thoughts you simply think about - the ones you keep repetitively telling yourself in your own head!

https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-09-20-bombshell-study-shows-that-stress-hormones-caused-by-the-fear-of-a-cancer-diagnosis-interfere-with-cancer-treatments-oncologists-are-killing-people.html

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical or psychological care, so consult your own personal physician before using EFT.  Thank you!

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)
Certified EFT Practitioner         
Author EFT for Christians (2015)
Author of EFT for Christians, Tapping into God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced (2017)

Author of EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions (2017)

www.EFTforChristians.com  

EFT & Memory Reconsolidation

In the article referenced at the bottom of this blog, I copied this statement:  "What most probably happens is that memories in long term storage stay fairly stable until they are remembered. The process of remembering alters stored memories in some still unknown but physical fashion so that they become temporarily unstable and need to be consolidated (made stable) once again." {in a more positive fashion when using EFT - my comment}

So, exactly what does that mean in laymen’s language?

When something horrible happens to us, and remember “horrible” is in the eye of the beholder, what is awful to one person means little to another, trauma is personal, we remember. Sometimes the memory stays in the conscious mind, but other times it is only remember subconsciously.

Once that memory is accessed or brought back into the conscious mind, it is friable, or able to be changed. Every time we re-tell a memory we change details in it.

Using EFT, or tapping, we have the ability to change an awful, traumatic into something neutral, and no longer threatening – a memory that holds no triggering charge for us, and no longer runs our life. This is called memory “reconsolidation”. The memory is changed for the better. We remember what happened in the event, but the event is no longer important to our life story, or who we think we are.

Dr Robert Scaer’s definition of a traumatic event is it is horrifically overwhelming and one thinks one is going to die because the situation is completely hopeless and the person feels completely helpless and without resources.  This is why we need to ask clients, "What were you THINKING" when that memory happened. Often the thought of death itself is so buried in the psyche it underpins the memory. Tapping on, "I was going to die" multiple times until it neutralizes, along with tapping the emotion of "shock" that the event even happened takes much of the punch & sting out of the memory, in many cases.

I don’t recommend at all that individuals tap on their own traumatic memories. This is one of those times when it is imperative that you hire an EFT practitioner to help you. Why? Because most likely you will NOT go deep enough to neutralize all the aspects of what happened at that fateful time, and in only partially “fixing” the memory you might drive it deeper into the subconscious. (Please just get help – email me! I have a list of Christian practitioners to help you).

Often huge amounts of the neurotransmitter norephinephrine are secreted during a trauma.  Norephinephrine drives the sensory memory. The more norephinephrine pumped out, the better the memory aspects stick.

"Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is, of course, an anxiety disorder that occurs sometimes in the aftermath of exposure to a horrendous traumatic experience involving death or the threat of death. It essentially involves a person ingesting a trauma memory that is so "hot" and emotionally overwhelming that it cannot be processed and grieved normally and instead is just avoided as best as can be managed. The trauma memory does not degrade as normal memories do, but instead stays fresh and intrudes into the traumatized person's awareness in an unwanted, unbidden and very frightening manner. Three classes of classic PTSD symptoms come out of this situation: 1) hypervigilance for threats, 2) attempts to avoid threats (anything which will trigger the trauma memories), and 3) chronic intrusive remembering of the trauma memory despite attempts to avoid it."

The above definition of PTSD comes from this same article.

I want to stress to you that PTSD symptoms almost never go away spontaneously and the triggers and behaviors resulting from the trauma are NOT your fault! Often trauma leads to PTSD. Memories continue to disintegrate and magnify as years pass. And there is absolutely no way a person with PTSD symptoms can work on themselves using EFT or any other energy techniques and adequately clear the trauma. It is a must that they find a practitioner who can gently lead them where they must go to resolves all the deep-seated trauma pieces of the memory.

Because these memories are so imbedded in the hippocampus, they continue to intrude into the life of the one who carries the memories. Sadly, the damage goes even further in that the hippocampus actually shrinks, taking with the shrinking the good earlier memories when life was good and pleasant, leaving the person with just a life full of bad memories.

Triggers, those short snaps of sensory input, that causes the flare-up of emotions and spontaneously erratic behaviors is nothing one can control. The amygdala in the brain is now in control once these memories are implanted deeply in the psyche.

EFT is one of the few modalities that actually effectively works on neutralizing and calming these awful memories.

Post-traumatic memories are not a weakness in personality or spirit. They are something done to you as a result of something awful that happened years or decades ago. There is nothing shameful about asking for help.

So, do you have memories that haunt you?  God has offered us an opportunity through tapping to once and for all reconsolidate those memories and put them to bed forever.

Are you ready to give EFT a try? Call and let’s talk!

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/memory-reconsolidation-and-treatment-for-post-traumatic-stress-ptsd/

EFT is not a substitute for medical or emotional care from a qualified physician or therapist. Call one when necessary.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

Certified EFT Practitioner

Author of EFT for Christians – on Amazon

EFTforChristians.com

EFTforChristians@gmail.com