Aden veteran Brian Bryson had post-traumatic stress disorder
for 40 years until he met Alan Morison – who started tapping
on his skull. NICOLA BARRY learns about a remarkable therapy

‘The memories
are still there,
but they don’t bother me now’

My wife, Jean, says I was a Jekyll and Hyde character, one minute cheery, the next ranting. “And as I got older,

MORE and more British troops are coming home from the war in Afghanistan with horrific wounds. Never mind the obvious results of combat such as missing limbs,      
many young men and women bear mental and emotional scars as well.
They have seen things, perhaps
done things, that no human being normally experiences in the course
of a lifetime.
 There is no miracle cure for the
mental consequences of combat. Conventional treatment is available
but it can take months, even years to get back on track. But one treatment, the emotional freedom technique (EFT), is proving highly successful.

 One man who signed up
to fight for Queen and
country, in Aden, in 1967,
Is still suffering 40 years
later– perhaps as a result of
being born in a time when
men were expected to just
pull themselves together.
Brian Bryson, 68, from
Linlithgow, West Lothian,
managed to survive the
insurgency in the Gulf state
made famous by Lieutenant
Colonel Colin “Mad Mitch” Mitchell and his Scottish troops, the Argyles, who
stormed the notorious Crater district. Brian was an NCO at the time, and one of the men in his platoon drove over a mine.

“The Landrover just went up in flames,”
Brian recalls. “Then everything was still. I ran over and saw a soldier with his arm hanging off. There was blood everywhere.” Since Brian was the only survivor of the platoon not stunned into inaction, he had to put his feelings aside, act professionally and treat the soldier until better qualified help arrived. It has taken Brian – who also sustained physical injuries – almost half a century to be diagnosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder. “Over the years, I have tried countless therapies but EFT is the only one which has worked,” he says. “When I came home I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, although I developed a temper.

‘I reckon EFT
would help any
soldier coming
back from a
war zone. It
could be a sort
of emotional
debriefing’

who suggested EFT.  “After only two sessions, I felt so different,” Brian says. “Instead of being the usual doom and gloom merchant, I had a smile on my face. I felt happy again.
“It’s strange. The memories are still there. It’s just that they don’t bother me anymore. In fact, I reckon EFT would help any soldier coming back from a war zone. It could be a sort of emotional debriefing.”

As a practitioner of EFT, Alan knows the treatment sounds bizarre. If ,for example,you saw someone in the street tapping themselves on the head and reciting something out loud, you might think it a bit strange. But once you try EFT and reap the benefits of it,
cynicism goes out of the
window. Indeed, Alan insists
the treatment is not at all odd.
“It’s new, that’s all. People
often make judgments without
first informing themselves. Everybody thought the idea of flying was odd
at first, to the point of saying it was
impossible.
“Well, it is the same
with EFT. As soon as
the sceptics experience it for themselves, they revise their opinion.”

EFT works by tapping on acupoints while focusing on the problem in question. It is similar to acupuncture, but uses the fingers rather than needles.You begin by tapping on the soft part of the hand beneath the little finger, around the eyes, under the nose, on the chin, the collarbone,under the armpit then on the crown of the head.
Alan says: “You can change how you feel about something, even though you can’t change what has happened. That is where the emotional freedom
comes in. I see bigger changes using EFT than with most other therapies.”
 Alan believes EFT is the therapy for the 21st century. He adds, “Talking about problems can allow people to understand better what is going on, but EFT takes it one step further. Tapping allows people to let go of their problems, rapidly.
 “Anxieties which have existed for as long as 60 years can sometimes be released in one session, which
means the therapeutic process is reduced from months or years down to hours or sometimes even minutes.”
Celebrities love EFT: singer Lily Allen lost weight using it, and Michael Ball is a fan as well. Some American PGA players have also been seen tapping on the golf course.

ACUPOINTS:
Alan Morison performs emotional
freedom techniques on Brian Bryson

flashbacks became more and more of an issue. The tensions began to build up. I knew I wasn’t coping, but nothing I tried seemed to help.” Then a month ago, when Brian had what he calls a breakdown, he consulted Edinburgh therapist Alan Morison

ALAN MORISON has helped hundreds of people with a wide range of problems, from phobias to simply calming people down before important events. “Unfortunately, but by their nature, men are often reticent about asking for help,” he says. “Which could explain why more than 90 per cent of my clients are female,” he adds.
“The trouble is our society up to this point has never really known how to resolve personal issues, so the strategy we most often use is to push everything out of sight, hoping the problem will disappear with time. Instead we end up dragging a half ton of issues along behind us, trying to stay in control and prevent the old feelings from re-surfacing. Medical assistance may alleviate symptoms but there may be side effects and we still have our baggage to deal with. EFT removes our problems by releasing the impact of the root causes. Although we will still remember what happened, we will no longer be affected by it
“It takes clients back to the moment the
problem first appeared. If a person feels overwhelmed or reluctant to consider old feelings then we gently work on those aspects first until the person feels ready      to deal with the problem direct. And      EFT can even be done in silence if          any embarrassment is felt”
             He believes EFT is good for                clearing traumatic memories:                    abuse, violence, phobias,                       haunting memories of                     childhood, addictions, and                   one-off traumas such as a          car accident or sudden fright.         Former teacher Alan is a gentle     person, excellent at making his clients      feel safe and nurtured. He lives in                           Edinburgh with his                           wife, Fiona, 52, who                           is a principal teacher of music. The couple have two daughters, Catriona, 24,and Lesley, 22.                  
Alan admits he was very sceptical when he first heard about EFT, until he used the therapy to cure his neuralgia.
 He also believes it could be the solution to troublesome teenagers in schools, helping with exam anxiety and improving classroom concentration.
 He explains that EFT is based on the
ancient belief that there is a network of
electrical channels inside our bodies
called the meridian system, discovered by the Chinese more than 5,000 years ago. Yet, scientific evidence for
EFT has only recently come to light.
 Alan says: “The cells of our bodies are
affected by tiny electrical charges and
these can be generated by tapping or rubbing points on the meridian
lines. “Although the amounts of energy are small, their effects can be substantial, since emotional trauma is stored in our organs as electrical charges. That charge is released by the tapping and an immediate reduction in tension will follow.
 “Emotional - and often physical pain - disappears and creates permanent psychological changes. People often say they feel lighter and more relaxed as a result.”
Like Brian Bryson they are not bothered any more by what has happened.

THERAPY: Celebrities such as Lily Allen  are said to be fans of EFT.

Brian meeting Gordon Brown