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 26 Sep 2011 @ 15:53
National Injured Warrior Alliance (NIWA)-- Serving Warriors, Vets, First Responders & Families (SEE REVISED VERSION - [link]
Recovery-Restoration-Resilience Individual Health Care Plan & Daily Routine
Self-Care Outline
Introduction
As Chinese medicine is described by Bill Moyers in "Healing and the Mind: "...it is believed that how you live ultimately influences your health. It's not just diet or exercise; it's also a spiritual or emotional balance that comes from the way you treat people and the way you treat yourself. And since that's the basis of their culture, it spills over into their medicine."
Our Alliance and our participants recognize that recovery, restoration and resilience will be successful when we design and administer a daily health plan that incorporates our five living realms into our Daily Action Plan. Our participants will identify and include Integrative Health Practices within this plan to improve the whole being--physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and socially. By making this Health Commitment to ourselves, we are encouraging, supporting and manifesting our integrity, dignity and self-respect as professionals. Increasing our determination or willpower while carrying out this plan will permit us to operate at high levels of awareness and mindfulness—becoming honest, open, accepting, allowing and appreciating of ourselves and our relations.
Commitment
I designed this professional self-care plan with my Community Services Advocate and/or Primary Therapist to Promote Healing, Restore my Health and Wellbeing and improve the quality of my life, health and relationships.
I understand that health is an experience of well-being in dynamic balance and relationship with my natural and social environments and the integrity of my physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social realms. I recognize that these five realms include developing and maintaining strength, coordination, balance, and flexibility as a whole being.
I commit myself to becoming the best that I can be physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and socially while recognizing that I am in a process of healing and recovering from my injuries and wounds. With every action there is a reaction; therefore, I am aware that pushing myself beyond ‘limits’; isolating myself; feeling guilty about false promises; and/or blaming myself and others for my predicament, experiences or lack of willpower, are not effective health benefits. I will accept this Challenge to be the Best I Can Be!!!
Signature_____________________ Date_____________
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Self-Care Plan
Six Realms-- Identify Daily Exercises - Integrative Health Practices support healing & restoration in all 5 areas of health & restoration (See, Alliance Programs & Activities)
I. Physical Practice-movement, Kath State Exercises, biking, tai chi, yoga, massage; Acupuncture
II. Mental Health Activities- Karma/Trauma Cleaning, Gestalt Therapy, and Meditation
III.Emotional/Moral Practice – Breathing Exercises, Expressive Arts, Individual & Group Therapy
IV.Spiritual – Awareness, Meditation, Reiki, & other Mindful Practices
V. Social Relations & Family--Outings, Couple’s Group, “15Minute StressOut Program”
Note:
This is a creative opportunity to individualize your daily health routine to fit with your interests, abilities, injuries, health status, work schedule, family, and social activities. Meet with your Advocate and Primary Therapist regularly to review progress, changes, challenges, and improvements.
Recognition:
I am pleased and honored to know the Victor & Diane Bustamante Family that have worked together to support and restore their health and wellbeing. SFC Victor Bustamante, decorated & seriously injured Warrior, returned from several tours in Iraq and the family worked every day and night to improve the quality of their lives, health and relationships. A model of health & resilience that will serve as a remarkable family for our National Alliance to feature with our Self-Care Plan.
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 28 Jul 2011 @ 15:51
Our Call for Community Support Advocates-- National Integrative Health Services Alliance with Injured, Wounded Warriors, Vets and their Families--A Transitional Health, Wellness, Aftercare & Continuing Care Services Program for our Community
Gerald W. Vest, ACSW/LISW/LMT, Organization Co-Team Leader, Integrative Health Coorinator, with Sean E. Pearson, BA, Military Services Representative & Program Coordinator
We will identify, select, train and prepare community advocates to serve, support, engage and interact with every Injured Warrior, Veteran and their family medically released or discharged from the Military in southern New Mexico. We will establish working advocates who are "on call" and ready to serve who support their partners enrolled in related programs. These advocates will be selected from professional health programs, VA support systems, teachers, and ROTC—MSW’s/BSW's/RN's (Generalist Practitioners & Case Managers) in the helping professions and other interested volunteers with a background in the military, especially medics, NCOIC’s & nurse practitioners interested in serving our community vets, warriors, families, and active duty. Graduates from our program will be evaluated and recruited as one of our best sources for serving as health advocates.
The goal of PTSD Aftercare/Continuing Care Services is to increase opportunities, intensive and extensive integrative health & wellness services for our participants while decreasing maladaptive behavior—suicides, isolation, loneliness. Continuity of care and participation in treatment with integrative health/wellness activities are essential for the success of our Program. For example, see follow up practices of an Aftercare Program recommendation for injured warriors following an unsuccessful experience with a missing warrior in treatment with VA Programs in Albuquerque, NM. [link]
We recognize that every day and night is a challenge for our warriors and their families diagnosed with PTSD & TBI. Memory loss, anger, frustration, pain, discouragement, despair, fear, loss of comrades, recurring associations and nightmares producing panic and anxiety attacks—experiencing demons and déjà vu are often common or shared experiences of War Trauma.
Furthermore, when our troops return to their homes and our community, they require at least a year or more follow up and often continuing care resources to heal their injuries and wounds and restore their whole health, wellbeing and resilience. (See, Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center statistics and overview for active duty soldiers.) [link]
We recognize the value, importance and commitment of personal and professional healing, recovery & restoration self-care plans that is designed, adapted, and reviewed weekly with our population and shared with our Health Services Advocates. Together, we will work as partners to achieve the best possible health and wellness program with you and your family.
Other services offered by Health Advocates include:
· o Knowing & using community resources for Veterans
· o Participating in Treatment & Self-Care Plans with Injured Warrior
· o Assisting with College Admission, Housing, Benefits, etc.
· o Securing Meaningful Employment
· o Advocating with Schools and Child Care Programs for best practices
· o Engaging Injured & Wounded Warriors with understanding, respect and appreciation
· o Supporting basic need requirements—housing, nutritious food, healthy touch, transportation to VA & other health care services
· o Networking with community organizations to provide support, assistance and resources
· o Introducing “Partner & Family Touch” and the 15-Minute StressOut Program [link]
Follow up services provided with Certified Advocates for maintaining “best care practices” while supporting services for safety, security and transitions to community life from their Military Culture are essential for encouraging, advocating and sustaining progress, stability, development of wellness life styles, and for preventing further loss of life, despair, and disillusionment. [link]
SNM Integrative Health Services Alliance – Co-Team Leadership
Gerald Vest, LISW/LMT, Coordinator Integrative Practices; Patti McClure, MA, Reiki Master, Owner-Tesoro Integrative Health Center; Tina Dalcour, BSW, Coordinator 15 Minute StressOut Program; Sean E. Pearson, BCJ, Program Coordinator, Vet. Rep., Richard Rosemont, Iraq Vet, Rep. and Activities Coordinator; Rob P. Knowles, BS, Administrative Coordinator
Contact: geraldvest@comcast.net 575.524.2379
Website – Coming Events – Logs – Announcements
[link]
Warrior Recognition
Picture: SSG Lance Bradford, decorated, injured, and wounded warrior--Bronze Star with Valor & Purple Heart returns to Iraq 3 following extensive and intensive integrative health treatment, Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center & Warrior Transition Battalion. We Salute You Lance for your Dedication, Courage, Devotion and Honor for our Country. We look forward to a safe return for you and all of our great Warriors and their Families.
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 29 Jun 2011 @ 16:34
When we are able to see our world from the perspective of change, we become open to a new freedom and awareness...our world comes alive; we are whole again. Tarthang Tulku, Tibetan Meditation,, p.60
This NY Books Article & Research is a must read for anyone who is prescribed and takes mental health drugs or psychotropics. There is now real evidence that many of these drugs cause shrinking of the frontal part of the brain as discovered in these long term studies. Psychiatry must have a very red or purple face for all of the red and purple drugs they give out to most soldiers, millions of children, and their families. These labels administered with drugs are the wrong medicine, so beware of the consequences and side effects....the independent researchers are only now finding that the patients would have improved and restored their health much better without these mind altering chemicals. [link]
Interesting to me is that the vast evidence shows that the Placebo is as effective as the Drug/Chemical...thus, why not take a sugar pill. This suggests to me, our Mind-Body-Spirit knows what is best for itself when given integrative and holistic health as the "best practice" for healing, restoration, and resilience. Seems to me that basic human need requirements are the best medicine for injured warriors & families when they are out of balance physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and socially.
Read this life saving article and these published books and pass on this important message to friends and colleagues who are engaged in the conventional mental health & VA related Programs. I've known for many years as an integrative & holistic social worker that those who passively take these meds, lose much of their motivation and desire for change, self-care, and improvement of their whole being.
Scroll down and visit my other logs that also describe and introduce research showing their dangers and the healthy alternatives for improving the quality of lives, health and relationships. The conventional and subjective mental health model of judging, labeling, and drugging without offering holistic or integrative health practices, and absence of long term research has only created high risk and long term dangers for their patients while only providing short-term relief with hazardous, long term harm, creating and establishing an American Drug Culture & Society.
There is now real evidence that many of these chemicals cause shrinking of the frontal part of the brain as discovered in these long term studies and is much like the lobotomy treatments of a few decades past. Psychiatry must have a very red or purple face for all of the red and purple drugs they give out to most soldiers, millions of children, our families and others seeking help. These labels along with the drugs are sick care medicine, so beware of the consequences and side effects....the independent researchers are only now finding that the patients would have improved and restored their health much better without these mind altering chemicals.
Interesting to me is that the vast historical evidence now shows that the Placebo is as effective as the Drug/Chemical...thus, why not take a sugar pill. This research suggests to me, our Mind-Body-Spirit knows what is best for itself when given integrative and holistic health practices as the interventions for healing and restoration. Seems to me that basic human need resources & requirements of love, social interaction, healthy touch, understanding, encouragement,respect and kindness are the best medicine for injured warriors & families when they are out of balance physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and socially.
Read the article and these published books and pass on this important message to friends and colleagues who are engaged in the conventional mental health & VA related Programs. I've known for many years as a military & civilian health practitioner, that those who take these meds lose much of their motivation, inspiration, and desire for change and improvement of their whole being. Scroll down and visit my other logs that also describe and introduce research showing their dangers and alternatives to the failed, conventional mental health drugs,and medical practices. Beware of psychiatric labels, drugs, and conventional mental health therapy.
Please visit our Website and Homepage to view our Southern NM Alliance and our community organization response to the epidemic and catastrophic injuries of our returning Warriors and Families returning from a decade of Wars. We offer Health Services and not failed conventional mental health and chemicals for treating, restoring, and improving health and wellness of the whole family. More >
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 22 Jun 2011 @ 12:59
"Since mind in its true nature is without duality, not separate from the unity of all things, our lives become our meditation. Meditation is not a technique for escaping this world--it is a good friend and teacher who can guide, support, and help our minds to touch our innermost beings directly, with no walls to divide us from our awareness, inspiration, and intuition. Through this experience we can contact our own wholeness. " (Tarthang Tulku, Gesture of Balance, p.99)
This discussion is in response to an article in Huffington Post on the improvement of psychiatry and medicine. I responded as follows: Frankly, I see this article as propaganda. If you visit your therapist and they bite their nails, give you a label, and prescribe pills without knowing you, don't waste your time or money. If therapists haven't worked on themselves from a holistic and integrative perspective, don't count on getting better or improving your life, health and relationships by taking their medicine.
Actually, psychiatry has created a drug culture and society that is stuck believing that the only cure or relief from stress, anxiety and depression is in the pill box. Get a headache, *don't* walk around and re-connect to mother earth and restore circulation in the whole being, just take a pill. What kind of nonsense is this?
When have you seen an article by these drug pushing doctors recommending that before you take meds, make sure you observe your nutrition, your work or absence of a meaningful job, your worries, your relationships, fears, your lack of self-care. Hey, design a daily health care plan that includes all of the human realms--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social--exercise all of them. Meditate daily and use all of the integrative health practices available before getting stuck and dependent upon pills. Also, don't allow these mental health practitioners to put a label for life on your children or your psyche. An open, accepting, allowing and appreciative mind is very eager to restore our health and wellbeing and these labels tend to stick to our psyche and prevent healing, restoration, and resilience.
Post Traumatic Stress, Anxiety and Depression(PTSD) is not a Disorder, Disease or Illness. Post Traumatic Stress, Anxiety, and Depression is a serious INJURY that affects the whole being--physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Thus, everything in the whole body-mind-spirit must be worked and exercised, hopefully without the meds being the primary and often the only treatment modality. These meds are often Spirit and Motivation killers as well. Thus, beware of your psychiatrist or psychologist if all they deliver is a prescription and a label without offering continuing care, holistic, and extensive integrative services to support you and your family.
See our Website for alternatives to drugs, labels and conventional medicine-psychiatry.
Note: Picture is of Injured and Wounded Warriors participating in weekly Water Polo therapeutic activity in our Ft Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center as part of our Integrative and Holistic Health Program where I served as Senior Social Worker, Primary Therapist, and as coordinator of Health Ed, Meditation and this activity...love these warriors. More >
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 13 May 2011 @ 02:34
Tarthang Tulku helps us learn to meditate and to transcend and transform our Ego mechanisms into healthy human beings. By introducing awareness exercises to guide us in all of his books, this resource is great for health practitioners and others interested in improving themselves from a holistic perspective. For example, in his chapter, “Releasing Fear, Being Honest,” Tibetan Meditation – Practical teaching and step-by-step exercises on how to live in harmony, peace, and happiness, (Dharma Pub, 2006); he guides us with the use of the Mirror:
“The ego plays many games with us and permeates all our feelings, sensations, and ideas; yet we are not even truly aware of how the ego creates these Patterns in our lives or how our various negative attitudes and motivations develop. All we know is that we will continue to suffer from our pain and problems until we are exhausted.” Tarthang Tulku
I have been working with Master Tulku’s practical and visionary exercises for many years and continue to find them adventurous and enjoyable for my injured warriors, couples, families and others as we explore our social psyche--Mind, Body, Emotions and Spirit. Using the Mirror is very inspirational, especially when experiencing all of the masks or veils freeing us from fear, insecurities, prejudices and other inhabitants. I am now eager to see who and what is real behind our persona by using these Mirror exercises and “… to communicate clearly and honestly with both yourself and others.” We might also ask ourselves: “Who is that Masked Man/Woman?”
Please let me know your experience with Tibetan Meditation by Tarthang Tulku. [link] More >
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 4 May 2011 @ 18:23
Breathing Promotes Awareness – Awareness Heals our Injured & Wounded Warriors by Gerald W. Vest, LISW/LMT
Breathing may be one of our most important guides readily accessible and available to us every moment of our life. Tarthang Tulku Rimpoche, author, teacher and Founder of the Nyingma Institute, describes breathing as our most effective means for healing, interacting and supporting our whole being.
“Once we know how to contact the energy of breath, breathing becomes an infinite source of vitalizing energies.” Furthermore, he states: “…breathing charts the life rhythms, the way we breathe signals the disposition of our energies.”
It is for these reasons and because meditation has been a daily part of my life experience that I encourage all of our warriors and families to learn about their breathing patterns. I love to sit or work with Qigong/Kath State Exercises and observe my breathing while enjoying Nature’s relationship with us. For example, every evening the Doves and other birds come for their early evening feeding, bath and strut around our back yard. They are very brave as are our four dogs who love to chase them from their territory. Cody, for example, our Shepherd, will take them out of the picture when their instincts are not focused. I realize that animals and Nature are not in competition, but rather possess an instinctual form of behavior that we all possess.
Wouldn’t it be great if our World Leaders would sit and observe their breathing prior to or during diplomacy and peace meetings? Opening our mind with our Breath offers us a real opportunity to engage and interact with others in order to find peaceful solutions to every problem as well as to discover the peaceful alternatives to war and confict.
It is often hard to accept that All is Known; however, as we enter our mind with questions, challenges and concerns, our Mind discloses Truth and responds accordingly. An example of this knowing can be understood as we agree or disagree during our teaching-learning processes and experiences. As described in The Tarot, the Book of Life Experience, our knowledge, wisdom, love and truth are an unfolding process of ego and spiritual development of our whole being. The Minor cards show our ego development while the Major Arcana introduces us to our spiritual or essential qualities of maturation.
It is for these reasons and for our understanding that it is important to maintain a “continuum of awareness” of our senses, breath, pain, blocking, and flow of energies so that we can experience the Gestalt or Holistic presentation of life, Nature and our relationships.
We know that Nature or Mind has no judgment, as in the beliefs and rules established by our family and our society. Nature operates in a lawful and absolute Way—No Contradictions, only “collisions of energy” as described in particle science—All is in Total Interaction whether we are aware or not. It is only our Egos who are in conflict with Nature—the Self Preservation; Relations, and Adaptation Instincts respond to any dangers or insecurities as protective and supportive mechanisms. I suspect the greater the number of beliefs we hold, take us further away from the opportunity to be united with our True Nature and respond effectively or skillfully to symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.
Therefore, observing our breathing and becoming aware and mindful allows us to restore our health and wellbeing and become closer to who we are while offering us Hope and an opportunity to fulfill our aspirations and destiny to be complete loving, responsible, compassionate and respectful Human Beings.
Note: I dedicate this log to SSG Woody who served as our NCOIC in the Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center, leader of the Wolf Pack and retired a year ago from military following 20+ years of successful leadership and following several tours of duty in Iraq. Woody reportedly took his life on May 3, 2011. God Bless you Woody, my dear friend and comrade. I hold our politicians responsible for these deaths as they had other alternatives and chose not to follow their instincts and past experiences of Wars.
Picture is Red Cloud preparing us for a Native American Sweat Lodge, one of our most important healing programs for Injured and Wounded Warriors. More >
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 31 Mar 2011 @ 14:07
Refuting the erroneous view that "whatsoever fortune or misfortune experienced is all due to some previous action", the Buddha said:
"So, then, according to this view, owing to previous action men will become murderers, thieves, unchaste, liars, slanderers, covetous, malicious and perverts. Thus, for those who fall back on the former deeds as the essential reason, there is neither the desire to do, nor effort to do, nor necessity to do this deed, or abstain from this deed." [link]
I like this article on the "politics of fear" that has put us in the quagmire we are in today. I suspect we also have the politics of ignorance and prejudice, but then, these human inhabitants have always been with us as far back as I can recall. [link]
I would like to question the concept of Karma as most of our soldiers and general population understand it as what comes around, goes around. I took a poll in my groups and most of our Warriors believed that if they kill a child or someone in war, they will also experience a similar loss with their family or friends. Many will put detection devices around their homes and will sleep with one eye open to protect their loved ones. Obviously, this lack of sleep only prolongs their stress, anxiety and depression (PTSd). Furthermore, they are given sleep meds that rarely work and several other psychotropics are added to their treatment.
I suggest to my soldiers that Karma only continues to haunt them because they have not learned from their life or War experiences that Nature is always teaching us without judgment and if we are not mindful or aware of this opportunity, we will continue to suffer. Thus, we must work to discover the Truth behind the trauma events. Together we will find, reframe and resolve this fear and belief, put our lives and relationships into a new context, and observe or witness reality as it truly exists while unfolding our experiences. [link]
At first, this experience of reframing is like putting a puzzle together while not having all of the pieces. It's interesting to me that durng the soldier's expressive arts session, many will work on very complex puzzles and it never fails, someone will take a piece out of it, usually in the middle, to represent that it will not be fully completed. However, it is completed enough so we can clearly witness or see the gestalt and clarify the learning experience.
Furthermore, I have observed many warriors transcend and transform these missing links once they reframe and learn that they are not responsible for their brothers and sisters losing their lives and it is only their beliefs keeping them in the State of Fear.
NOTE: Picture is SFC Scott Milligan, a great Warrior who has 2 Purple Hearts, 4 deployments, broken back and other serious injuries graduating from our Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center. Now back to his unit, fit for duty, with only one year or so of service to complete, may now deploy to Afghanistan. Do visit this pic of his tank destroyed by IED on our website where he rescued his team and was seriously injured, again. [link] More >
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 8 Mar 2011 @ 15:54
Dr. Ashley Montagu argues that the kind of society we have depends on our success in raising healthy children. He considers the ‘psychic needs' of a growing child that must be fulfilled to ensure the full development of a child’s potential. These requirements for a healthy human being in childhood, are in addition to physiological needs, especially our need for Love, Encouragement and Physical Interaction--safe, skillful and nourishing touch. [link]
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The list of twenty-six psychic needs are: (1) The need for love; (2) Friendship; (3) Sensitivity; (4) The need to think soundly; (5) The need to know; (6) The need to learn; (7) The need to work; (8) The need to organize; (9) Curiosity; (10) The sense of wonder; (11) Playfulness; (12) Imagination; (13) Creativity; (14) Openmindedness; (15) Flexibility; (16) Experimental-mindedness; (17) Explorativeness ; (18) Resiliency; (19) The sense of humour; (20) Joyfulness; (21) Laughter and tears; (22) Optimism; (23) Honesty and trust; (24) Compassionate intelligence; (25) Dance; (26) Song.
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Many comments about the failure of schools and teachers are filling the airwaves and logs these days, perhaps because the politicians wish to cut collective bargaining, the unions, and teacher salaries. It is for this reason that as a teacher I am sharing a couple of suggestions for teachers to enrich their classrooms with teamwork, interaction, creativity, and learning opportunities.
The teaching-learning experience in our schools could be explored as we all are unique and what works with one child may not another. However, if we look at our personal experiences of learning, our buddies and friends provided great sources of encouragement and support as well as engaging our natural competitive nature by not wishing to be the lowest member of the class.
So, I am suggesting that teachers create a class buddy system so that no one is left *out* or behind. Perhaps teamwork (3 or more) students engaged in daily projects can become more part of the teaching-learning experience so that improvement for one student, becomes improvement for the entire team and consequently the class raises its level of consciousness and learning. Teams can also be designed so that students from advanced classes can serve as consultants to the teams.
And, I suggest that schools provide more social workers for students with single moms & dads, especially with this increasing economic disaster creating hardships, illness, injury, unemployment, crime, cruelty, abuse, neglect, depression, suicide, etc. Supporting the health, welfare and best interests of every child has a direct relationship with the health and wellbeing of the entire family, community, and society at large. I believe the same relationship exists in the classroom & school community if we acknowledge that certain health conditions must be in place in the social environment for positive and creative learning to be effective for every child.
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 24 Feb 2011 @ 15:15
This link is perhaps one of the most detailed articles and reports about the serious dangers of drugs, labels and absence of reliable research and follow up.
The mental or behavioral health industry is still in the Dark Ages and continues to identify persons suffering or injured as having a DISORDER while identifying and classifying patients with a "check list" of symptoms and with no scientific truth or evidence. These are the facts about mental Disorders and why the psycho/pharma industry promotes the biological drug model of disease-for profit..
[link]
Dr. Ofer Zur is one of the great psychologists of our times as he investigates, introduces and designs courses to advance our knowledge, skills, values and ethics in mental health. I recommend that professionals interested in learning more about health and wellbeing visit his website and interact on his forums.
More About DSM & Therapy
August 06, 2009: DSM:
Diagnosing for Status & Money
Posted by: Dr Zur • 25 Comments
Is the DSM scientific, political, social control, or simply for profit?
Opening Statement By Ofer Zur, Ph.D.
In principle, mental health diagnoses can be helpful to clinicians and researchers in their formulation of treatment, research, and communication with other professionals. Unfortunately, the DSM has been shaped by economic and political influences rather than by scientific and medical ones. The DSM assigns diagnoses in a biased manner, resulting in more harm than good to our patients, their families, and society at large while delivering huge profits to pharmaceutical companies. Women, children, minorities, lower income, and older people are the groups most likely to be negatively affected by the biases presented in the DSM.
DSM Recap:
The DSM has been called the billing bible of psychiatry and has become one of the most influential texts in the field of mental health.
The DSM is a powerful tool of social control: its criteria are used to judge who is normal or abnormal, sane or insane, and who should remain free or be hospitalized against their will.
Most texts and graduate and postgraduate courses present the DSM as an objective, scientific document. It is neither.
The DSM is primarily driven by the psychopharmacological industry, which reaps huge profits from each new diagnosis that can be treated with medication.
The DSM is distorted by a primarily intra-psychic-individual focus. It does not appropriately address patients who, in fact, are wrestling with social problems, such as sexism, racism, or homophobia, or existential anxieties regarding loneliness or death.
The DSM perpetuates the myth that the medical-mechanistic model can simply be applied to psychology.
DSM-based research has repeatedly been shown to be of questionable validity and is, in fact, very unreliable.
DSM is big business, not only for its publisher and the American Psychiatric Association, but even more so for the psychopharmacological industry, which profits from prescriptions written for the ever-increasing numbers of DSM disorders.
DSM pathologizes many normal and healthy behaviors
Shyness: You are mentally ill if you are very introverted or extremely shy.
Grief: God forbid if you intensely grieve the loss of a beloved one for more than six months.
Depression: You must be mentally ill if you respond to real life issues or injustices with deep sadness and intense despair.
Anxiety: You must be mentally ill if your reaction to the existential reality of mortality or loneliness involves profound or debilitating anxiety.
Lack of sexual interest: Lack of sexual interest is often not a mental disorder. Many women may have good reasons to avoid sex.
Spirited children: DSM casts a very broad net around ADHD, and often includes millions of spirited, strong-willed, and highly gifted and creative children.
Online Article: DSM: Diagnosing for Status and Money
Online Course: DSM: Diagnosing for Money and Power
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Gerald W. Vest, ACSW/LISW/LMT wrote:
As a US Army Clinical/Holistic Social Worker for the past 3 years in the premier Ft Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center, I am convinced that the stress, anxiety and depression is induced by a natural response to War Trauma and is not a disorder or disease.
While engaged 24/7, hunting down the invisible enemy, killing or be killed, along with the extensive and multiple deployments, provides a horrendous experience and unnatural, harsh and inhumane environment for the human being to endure without injury.
While our Self Preservation Instinct and Relations System need to know, every moment, "am I safe and secure," and having to respond to the question, "who am I with? Friend or Foe?" Every system is overwhelmed and this deep whole body, mind, emotion, spirit(compassion & empathy)and social (society-family & friends) system has totally been affected and injured to the core.
Furthermore, it is essential for the injured warrior, health practitioners and therapists to reach deeply into the whole being to restore health, wellbeing and their resilience.
Conventional therapy and pills may only provide temporary relief with multiple side affects. It is for this reason that all integrative and holistic health methods, with evidence based research, must be intensively provided and extensively offered.
War Trauma is not a Disorder or Illness, it is a deep injury of great proportion and should be treated with whole health methods, wide community and family support, extensive services and resources, and preferably in treatment centers like our Ft Bliss R & R Center. [link] More >
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 31 Jan 2011 @ 16:24
We in the Western world are beginning to discover our neglected senses. The ability of Western humans to relate to fellow beings has lagged far behind our ability to relate to consumer goods and the unnecessary necessities which hold him in thrall--possessd by his possessions. He/she can reach out to other planets, but too often cannot reach out to fellow humans. We seem to be unaware that it is our senses that frame the body of our reality. Ashley Montagu, Touching--The Human Significance of the Skin.
Better Health: How Touching Makes You Healthier
Commented by Gerald Vest, Jan 23, 2011 at 11:46:15 in Health: Huffington Post
“Way to go!!! Everything you suggest is so great for us that we should clone you so that our society can awaken from its sickness and malaise. Everyone should empty their medicine cabnets of any drugs that are not life sustaining and supporting and "Give Touch a Chance." [link]
I have worked in a War trauma center for injured and wounded warriors for the past 3 years and was experiencing compassion fatigue without realizing it. Once I discovered these symptoms, I started my daily meditation, riding my bike and most importantly received a deep tissue massage every Sat. on our Downtown Mall. My health and wellbeing, attitude and energy is now at its best and feel the resilience that these integrative health practices produce.
Keep up the good work with these logs....America needs to awaken our consciousness with touch and overcome the fear and insecurity that it provokes, especially in mental health and aging programs where they have no sense and deprive their customers of safe, skillful and nourishing touch. See our website about how we are advancing the use of integrative health practices and safe, skillful, and nourishing touch with our injured warriors and their families. [link]
Note: Picture is CPT Laura Kennedy, LMSW and me celebrating another successful workshop in our Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center. Laura is a friend and colleague and one of the terrific Clinical/Holistic and Integrative social workers in the US Army. More >
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 24 Dec 2010 @ 20:36
In response to the DSM 5 that is about to be marketed and distributed to the mental health industry, BigPharmas, licensing boards, professional programs, and Big Insurance--all joining together to judge, label and code every person who enters their system. How much longer will our public allow themselves, their children and families to be put into their data base of Disorders and Diseases. See my previous log related to the dangers of these practices. [link]
DSM 5 - A Sham, A Scam and A Lie
Submitted to "Psychology Today" by gerald vest on December 24, 2010 - 12:08pm.
All of the DSM's are phony and only exist as a means to manage, control and dominate clients and practitioners in the mental health industry. I know this is true because when we organized our community mental health center, prior to the advent of labels, we provided successful services to our population area without this classification system. We knew that once we slapped a label and code on a client that it would be with them for life. There is no interest in confidentiality and right to privacy for patients given these DSM labels by the mental health industry.
Psychiatry and psychology is a false or pseudoscience as they only pretend that there is scientific evidence--validity and reliability clearly established for their labels. It is simply a code to submit to the insurance industry to establish and collect fees for the contractors.
More importantly, however, is the fact that once this seed or label is planted in the mind, there can be no recovery from a disease or illness that does not exist.
These labels do not fit reality. They are simply a short-cut approach or way for therapists and others to talk about or discuss their patients or clients who have clusters of symptoms. They could discuss their behaviors and look at each of their clients as a unique individual having unique finger prints and unique ways of relating and interacting with Nature. But, they pretend to have a solution while only having a diagnosis to fit a pill that can make the client feel as though they are being cared for or treated for this disorder.
I suggest, stop drugging, judging and labeling your clients and get to know them as unique individuals and human beings wishing to have basic human need requirements met and to become accepted, respected and appreciated for who they are--just like you and me.
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 22 Nov 2010 @ 22:43
The Power of Touch and Its Influence on the Well-Being of the Elderly
by Director Haya Daskal
"Does physical touch affect the quality of life of the aged?"
In my practical work as a third-year social work student at a day-centre for the aged, I experienced day-to-day relationships with elderly persons and felt their longing for expressive physical touch as opposed to instrumental touch. Studies show that the use of tactile sensation, a primitive sensory sense, decreases with age and communication is replaced by other means, such as sight and hearing. In old age, when these or other senses are functionally impaired or disappear altogether, both the psychological and physical needs arise to experience the primary sense - physical touch. In our times when life expectancy is prolonged, the chances of remaining alone after one's partner has died are greater. A situation is created in which elderly persons live alone for many years without experiencing the power of touch.
Our Injured Warrior Community Project to wrap-around integrative health practices is going well. We are reaching out and opening our network to others who share their visions and opportunities and resources for our injured warriors and their families. As we move into 2011 we will have a team of interested community veterans, Elders, friends of our vets, and health practitioners to engage and welcome our injured warriors with the knowledge, skills and practices known to improve the quality of lives, health and relationships deserving our great warriors and their families.
Do interact with us if you wish to be added to our community of caring health practitioners and volunteers. We will be introducing our "StressOut"- partner meditation-massage with acupressure and mindfulness with the Elder Community of the City of Las Cruces in late December or early January. Learning to engage our warriors by introducing and administering training programs we will expand and extend our healthy touch program into every senior program in southern NM and beyond. Our cadre and volunteers will be able to introduce and give our stressout to every vet and their family in our community and in every elder program to establish a foundation of basic trust, empathy, respect and caring.
This program does not require licensing; however, we have established "guidelines for the use of safe, skillful and nourishing touch." You will love this experience of exchanging energies at high levels of awareness--uniting your skillful touch with the vitality of breath--producing the empathic and welcome home connection and relationship.
Come Join With US!!!
Picture - SFC Victor Morales-Bustamante Family - Thank you for your trust, openness and participation in our Program - I appreciate all I learned with your great family. More >
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 17 Nov 2010 @ 14:46
Engagement is the first step in the planned change process and marks the establishment of a helping relationship between the social worker(therapist) and client. During the engagement the worker demonstrates a genuine interest in helping the client, an ability to understand the client's feelings and situation (empathy), and the capacity to listen carefully to what is being communicated, both verbally and nonverbally. To the clients, workers are expected to communicate warmth, genuineness, authenticity, and an interest in helping (empowering) them." Alvin Sallee, LISW, Social Work & Social Welfare: An Introduction, Eddie Bowers Pub., 2004
Engaging Injured Warriors & Families Identified with War Post Traumatic Stress-Anxiety-Depression (PTSD): A Holistic and Integrative Approach to Wellness
Gerald W. Vest, LISW, LMT, US Army Social Worker & Professor Emeritus
Course/Workshop Description:
This workshop/course will offer advanced holistic practices for improving physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social development of injured warriors and their families and caregivers. Soldiers and professionals participating in this course share a common commitment to promote wellness in their work, with their families, within their organizations, and in their lives. Central to this commitment is an openness and interest in developing a healthy attitude or outlook, examining personal and group behaviors, altering negative patterns of conditioning, while developing and/or perfecting practices that support an integrated, healthy human being, strengthening family relationships, and developing a responsible lifestyle.
Additionally, this workshop will focus on transforming and transcending serious injuries sustained in war that affect the whole being, their families and our wider community. Incorporating integrative health practices, including the family relationship, with follow up are essential aspects of care.
This course has special emphasis on supporting the health of the therapists and caregivers. Compassion fatigue is a common injury sustained by caregivers who are often unaware of the dangers of being exposed to the nature and trauma of war.
A significant part of this course represents prevention of Compassion Fatigue that can become a serious injury for the caregiver since our soldiers have experienced trauma beyond belief. As soldiers share their trauma, we need to know that we only can know or respond to our own experience and the analogies and creative war movies don’t even come close to preparing us for the devastation, agony, blood, loss of ‘brothers/sisters’, and events that are a result of combat.
These images and experiences may haunt our injured warriors for life with nightmares, headaches, panic and anxiety attacks, environmental associations, and negative interactions in their social and natural environments. The consequences of not successfully disclosing these experiences may promote disillusionment, despair, and suicide ideation. It is for this reason that the therapist must be well prepared to assist with the trauma process, with disclosure of the events completely, using a variety of mindfulness, holistic skills, and integrative practices. In this workshop the 'Gestalt Approach ’ or whole puzzle is put together with awareness, insight, and learning. Caregivers must be aware of their own pain, resistance, beliefs, sensitivity, fears, associations, experiences, and understanding while being accepting, allowing, encouraging, non-judgmental, responsive, effective, and resourceful.
In this course participants will learn various self-care and holistic health practices to support the vitality, strength, coordination, balance, and flexibility of their whole being to maintain and engage our Injured Warriors and their families with “High Levels of Consciousness.”
Note: Contact our Organization Administrator to set up a Workshop for your Program. [link] More >
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 20 Oct 2010 @ 02:11
Mission Statement:
The Fort Bliss Restoration and Restoration Resilience Center restores optimal functioning and battle-readiness to neurophysiologically, psychologically, and spiritually challenged post-deployment Soldiers and their families
using integrated state-of of-the-art treatment to stimulate maximum resilience.
I am very proud and honored to share SSG Hooty's article on his experience being diagnosed with War Post Traumatic Stress and assigned to the Ft Bliss Warrior Transition Battalion and for treatment in our Ft. Bliss Restoration Center, the US Armys premier integrative health program that returns the majority of its Wounded Warriors fit for duty. However, many of our wounded soldiers, like Hooty, have other medical or physical injuries and can no longer meet the physical requirements and are Medically Boarded out of the Service.
SSG Hooty is an exceptionally bright, courageous, humorous, open and encouraging leader. I believe that this article will help other soldiers and their families seek treatment and resources for their serious injuries identified as War Post Traumatic Stress. Thank you for sharing your experiences, knowledge and wisdom with us and our readers. You are the Best, Hooty!!!
Jerry
Note: Picture is Hooty and Sharon, one of our clinical social workers.
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Why is there a certain negative stigma against soldiers being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? Troops that are coming home from a long and tiring war in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home to the very people who they are defending and those people are judging our troops for having been effected by the war in a way they will hopefully never have to understand as deeply as our troops do. Mention PTSD at a party or in conversation with friends and watch the flags raise up above their heads. Troops and PTSD is considered a sensitive subject in some groups and in most not even mentioned at all. Americans automatically accept the worst case scenario and are quick to place the blame. “Oh, it’s the PTSD! Just leave him alone.
I was diagnosed with a chronic case of PTSD in 2008 from action that happened in 2004. I went 4 years undiagnosed and confused about what the problem was. Did I suspect it was PTSD? YES! Did I go get help? NO! Why? To be in the Army and reach out for help with mental issues is hands down, a sign of weakness. You’re looked at differently among your peers, you’re treated differently, and people feel like they have to walk on egg shells around you and in some cases this may be true. I was given the opportunity to go through a sort of exclusive treatment facility in Fort Bliss Texas. The treatment center is called the restoration and resilience center (R & R Center). It’s the only one (as of right now) of its kind anywhere in the world. The program was 6 months and not only did I learn tons of things about PTSD and how to help keep it under control, I also learned that I wasn’t the only person going through this. I met all sorts of other soldiers from an array of military occupations across the Army that were suffering the same way I was. They all had dealt with all the things I was dealing with in my life- Divorce, Anger, frustration, lack of sleep and in some situations- Flashbacks, black outs, very aggressive mood swings. All of which in some cases turned into other issues like drug abuse, alcohol abuse or marital abuse. Truth be told, we were all messed up pretty bad which doesn’t surprise me because the center was very exclusive to those who were suffering the worst from the problems they were having. All in all my experiences there were very beneficial to me. I learned all sorts of different things I could do to keep a level head when things get bad. [link]
Now flash forward and I’m out of the Army, way out of my comfort zone and all these issues were piling on top of me. I had no solid source of income, I had no place to live, I was homeless with 2 dogs and 2 kids to worry about. I had no idea what I was going to do. I flipped out. I had a very angry and violent outburst and I realized after I calmed down that I had no one to blame for it but myself.
Most of the people I talk to who have been diagnosed say the same thing. They feel like they are treated differently because of what they experience and to be honest, every one of the guys I was in the center with all lead pretty normal lives. We all complained about the nightmares and sleepless nights among other things, but we never really let it bug us. We all lived like regular people with what we have, we all talked about the fun times we have with our kids, some of us went out as a group to different places we normally can’t go to alone like bars and food shopping in the dreaded Wal-Mart. The point was we had to rely on each other because we felt out of place in our own city. Our home- America; was not the same place we left behind when we boarded the planes to go to war. We served our country valiantly. Most of us were crazy enough to go back 2, 3, even 4 times. We don’t regret what we did. We just want to feel normal.
Stop blaming everything on the war, it’s easy to point fingers at the effects of war. America has this vision that every soldier that comes back has an issue and just blame the war, they give the media fuel to blast the military for “letting this happen”. Is the Government to blame? Yes, but only to a certain extent. I hear about it all the time, soldiers get in trouble and sure thing their first line of defense their lawyer uses is “My client may have PTSD”. I see it in the news and in the papers and you see it too. People use the disorder as a crutch.
Fort Carson Colorado a man working with the mental health system up there told Associated Press that the Army told him and other specialists up there to misdiagnose soldiers with “anxiety disorder” rather than PTSD. As horrible as that is- the ONLY treatment the entire world has to battle PTSD is a little white horseshoe shaped building in Fort Bliss Texas that houses a hand full of social workers (DAMN good ones too!) and some alternative medicine personnel that help the healing process along immensely.
More needs to be done but as a nation we have really stepped up our game on the war against PTSD. The Army as a whole have opened their eyes and last I heard were building another PTSD center up in Fort Carson Colorado and plans were in the works for another on the east coast. PTSD has shadowed the military and society for centuries. It’s only now that we are doing something. As it will take time to get where we need to be with it, I have faith that as an American nation we’ll get there together because that’s what we do. All or none! More >
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In these articles, I introduce the basic need for human touch. While there is strong evidence that our society and human family are becoming an endangered species, many governments, such as the USA, pay little, if any attention, to global warming, nuclear stock piles, environment, natural and economic disasters, poverty, abuse, neglect, pandemic health diseases, and growing military-industrial monopolies.
While many of us are aware of these pending and current disasters, organizations such as New Civilization, are hoping to awaken humanity through mindfulness, virtual interaction on the Internet, and forming healthy, respectful alliances to make a difference and change the direction we are heading.
Our health promotion team is a small effort, but hopefully an expanding opportunity, to awaken individuals, couples, families, groups, organizations and commuities to an awareness that touch, respect and love are basic human needs for survival and wellbeing.
Obviously, there are serious considerations for being circumspect and skillful in offering touch as a conscious intervention in the workplace or in a family environment. Guidelines for the safe use of touch include:
- providing the option for participants to self-administer our program;
- receiving permission to touch and reminding participants that contact is always in safe areas;
- having witnesses or partners present;
- teaching the activity to others so that they can be the givers of the stressout program;
- encouraging participants to use the teaching video and study guide (Vest,1995)if the worker chooses not to make physical contact.
Join with us in advancing the use of healthy, respectful and loving touch throughout the world. We are One. |
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