C.T. Holman - Treating Emotional Trauma with Chinese Medicine: Integrated Diagnostic and Treatment Strategies

Foreword

Trauma is an unfortunate side-effect of living and when it occurs, as it does in everyones life, there are emotional, psychological, and physical repercussions. Trauma can range from very mild to extremely debilitating, whether caused by a natural disaster, a war, a bad accident, or a personal tragedy. While many techniques have been developed for treating the intense manifestations of what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, the focus has been primarily on alleviating the physical symptoms that inhibit normal functioning. However, emotional trauma has insidious effects on health that have been less recognized and emotional trauma has often been undertreated.

Recent studies have proven that the body stores memories and trauma. Even inherited or epigenetic traumas manifest in a variety of physiological and psychological symptoms that often seem far removed from the original traumatic event. This is where Chinese medicine and other holistic treatments can be of great value in working with trauma. Chinese medicine has never differentiated between the mind, the emotions, and the body and teaches that what affects one affects all.

Chinese medicine also offers a variety of specific techniques for diagnosing dysfunction sometimes seen in the subtlest of signs. These diagnostic techniques include five element analysis, facial diagnosis, pulse diagnosis, channel palpation, tongue diagnosis, and more. Combining diagnostic methods allows Chinese medicine practitioners to get a clear picture of the blockages, whatever the cause, and also offers numerous methods for releasing and treating those blockages that have inhibited optimal functioning.

CT Holman spent many years intensely studying various diagnostic techniques with me and other eminent teachers. He was a dedicated student of facial diagnosis and was most interested in the application of these teachings in his clinic. He became one of the few advanced students with whom I conducted clinic visits. These visits involved a slightly longer intake, which included using facial diagnosis as a way to pinpoint and uncover traumas from the Facial Map of Life Experience, along with several other diagnostic techniques. A treatment plan was then developed from the signs on the face utilizing the map of emotions and the coloration of the face indicating particular organ involvement. At the end of the treatment, patients were evaluated for changes based on the facial signs and these changes were validated by before and after photos.

The results of CT Holmans treatments were phenomenal and manifested in obvious changes on the face including healthier coloration, an increase in Shen, and distinct changes in emotional affect. The most startling response to the treatments was the disappearance of some deep markings, including wrinkles! Ultimately, the treatments to release emotional trauma manifested in some profound health changes. My relationship with CT evolved to the point where he now co-teaches with me at conferences about clinical applications of facial diagnosis, where he presents and shares the protocols he has developed. I am so pleased to see facial diagnosis applied in the clinic in such a worthy way.

CT was and continues to be a skillful Chinese medicine practitioner dedicated to uncovering emotional trauma, treating it with the result of alleviating the suffering of his patients. I feel privileged to have been able to watch his evolution into a specialist in this field, which has culminated in this book.

CT Holman has given readers a thorough overview of the causes and the physiological manifestations of emotional trauma, in both Western and Eastern medical terms. There is a detailed discussion of five element diagnosis and facial diagnosis, both of which provide an understanding into the nature of an individual. He also brings in his knowledge of channel palpation, pulse diagnosis, tongue diagnosis, and intuitive diagnosis. Any of these modalities used alone are effective diagnostic techniques, but used together they give an in-depth understanding of the totality of the patients condition at the present moment, which allows for much more specialized and personalized treatments.

His discussion of treatment methods that correspond to Chinese medicine syndromes, disharmonies, and emotional symptoms is comprehensive and gives many tested options that are easy to find and therefore use, due to numerous charts. Of particular importance are his techniques of Gathering the Qi and Soothing the Trauma Memory protocols. And, he includes many other methods including three of his other specialtiesshaking qigong, bloodletting and shamanic drummingas powerful release techniques. His lifestyle suggestions show his adherence to classical Yang Sheng practices and remind those of us in Chinese medicine how important these practices are for strengthening the body in order to deal with trauma.

My personal favorite chapter is