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 20 Aug 2009 @ 13:43
Depression & Trauma--Just as the increased physical arousal that comes with being aggressive can cause anger to spiral upward, decreased physical arousal can cause a downward cycle into inactivity and deeper depression. Being in a depressed mood makes it hard to enjoy many activities, and the less active you are, the more likely you are to feel depressed. A depressed mood can also cause you to see things more negatively, making it harder to motivate yourself to participate in activities. And the less active you are, the more time you have to dwell on negative thoughts about yourself, making you feel even more depressed. Courage After Fire-Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and their Families by Keith Armstrong, LCSW/Suzanne Best, Ph.D./Paula Domenici, Ph.D.
Do visit our US Army Restoration & Resilience Center slide presentation.
To really know about our experience, you would have to be be in our trauma health center on a daily basis. However, when a wounded warrior enters our program during their first week and beyond, they are given a Primary & Secondary Therapist, while receiving our Integrative Health methods--Reiki, Medical Massage, Acupuncture, meditation, movement therapy, expressive arts--and, one of our experienced soldiers is assigned to assist and support him. He will also have had a group therapy session daily, supplemented with 2 individual sessions. If he is married his family is invited for a family or couple session.
In addition to serving as a Primary Therapist, teaching meditation, coordinating Water Polo, I serve as coordinator for our Health Education Program. I schedule weekly workshops and presentations related to holistic health--nutrition, touch, movement, anger management, fitness, breathing, neurology, academic opportunities, and other health related activities such as Sweat Lodge (see pic with Red Cloud), other multi-cultural, spiritual rituals and healing and treatment approaches identified in the slide show.
Our goal is to empower and offer our soldiers the best possible selfcare-skills, knowledge and awareness to guide, to heal and to learn about themselves. As identified in our slide show, we introduce them to 'best practice' tools/skills to manage their stress, anxiety and depression with the support of their family & whole being--physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
During my wonderful experience over the past 1 1/2 years with our R & R Center, I have seen everyone get better, with the vast majority, 61%, returning fit for duty to the Force.
I am very happy and pleased that I can be part of this Great Experience and Experiment. My thanks to everyone who makes our health center work, inside and outside. Special appreciation and thanks to all of my colleagues and especially Dr. John Fortunato, Chief and Founder.
[link]
Jerry More >
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 30 Jun 2009 @ 02:54
Health is an experience of well-being that is in dynamic balance with our whole being and with our natural and social environments. (Fritjof Capra) Would someone please describe what our sick care system is all about?
Thank you Sen. Sanders for taking on these corporations and calling for an investigation of their FRAUD! Do go to Sen. Sanders' website and support his efforts. I've posted a number of logs related to the Big Pharmas and their corrupt relationship with Psychiatry. It's interesting to me that recently the president of the APA admitted that the DSM or Diagnostic Statistical Manual and bible for mental health practice is flawed. Also, they are unable to define or clarify what a "DISORDER" is, yet their classification system is based on this concept. People carry their labels for life, yet they have very little science to back up their claims. In other words, make sure you read the fine print and the numerous side affects of their drugs. [link] [link]
Please pass this message on to people who are not aware of the Big Pharmas; Big Hospital Association; Big AMA; Big Giant Insurance Corporations. All of these powerful and wealthy corporations and organizations are fighting a universal health program for all. Ask your congressman/woman how much money they have accepted for their political vote from these corrupt corporations and their lobbyists.
Senator Sanders tells the truth about these giant corporations: "In his remarks before the committee, Sanders suggested that it is absolutely imperative that real health care reform prevent major insurance companies, drug companies and hospital chains from perpetrating fraud and abuse on government health care programs and individuals, which are driving up health care costs in this country by billions of dollars every single year."
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Huffington Post
"We Must Stop the Rampant Fraud in the Health Care Industry
Sen. Bernie Sanders, 06.29.2009
Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont
What we have seen over the last several decades is the systemic fraud perpetrated by private insurance companies, private drug companies, and private for-profit hospitals ripping off the American people." [link]
Read Post | Comments (131) More >
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 12 Jun 2009 @ 00:40
The Ft. Bliss Monitor published an excellent article on our recent Therapeutic Outing to the Texas State Vet Center. Our Warriors administered our 15Minute StressOut Program with the elder Vets as a morning activity to support the healing and interaction of our soldiers experiencing PTSD and elder Vets while giving our Skillful Touch Program. See June ll, 2009 Ft. Bliss Monitor. [link]
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Soldiers reach out and touch veterans
Y. WRIGHT
Fort Bliss Public Affairs
The Fort Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center is a place for Soldiers to recuperate and learn methods of dealing with issues of post-traumatic stress upon returning from deployments. There are several programs incorporated in the treatment regimen to obtain holistic health. One of these practices is the 15-minute StressOut Program. This program reinforces healthy touching as a means of healing.
The StressOut program was designed by Jerry Vest, army/health practitioner and social worker, from William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Restoration and Resilience Center, Warrior Program, in 1979. It involves acupressure and other skillful techniques, coordinated with breathing to balance the body, mind, emotions and spirit.
On Thursday, warriors in transition took time out from their healing process to visit the Texas State Center for Veterans to administer a little healing to some of
their own. The Soldiers joined some of the vets in a private room with very soft lighting, ‘’mood music’’ and the goal of creating 15-minutes of relaxation through a partner meditation technique.
The Soldiers agreed that the process is really good for both them and the veterans they were there to help. During the sessions, the “givers,” who are those giving the massage, systematically applied pressure points to the receivers, while the two
worked at establishing a memorable experience.
The idea is for the partners to connect the vitality of their breath with the power of touch during this process of relaxation. Because there are so many myths surrounding touch, Vest said he introduces and demonstrates safe, skillful, appropriate and nourishing touch as a means for teaching physical interaction, stress management, and self-care for individuals,couples, groups and families. “Many of these patients only get touch from the bed to the chair,” said a Soldier from the Restoration and Resilience Center. “Being on either side [giving or receiving] is very relaxing, and you benefit either way,” said another Soldier.
Glenda Bromberg, who was also a part of the team of volunteers, talked about how powerful touch is in healing as well as in everyday life. She said she was moved by “people who are healing, giving to people who need healing.”
After the session, many of the Soldiers who were visiting for the first time said they would like to volunteer to spend time with the vets more often.
“This may be a regular field trip for the warriors,” Vest said. For more information on the 15-minute StressOut Program, visit [link]
Y. WRIGHT
Note: Picture is Dr. John Fortunato, Chief & Founder, Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center, Wm Beaumont Army Medical Center More >
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 24 May 2009 @ 15:05
"The teachings of Buddhism, called the Dharma, tell us that to understand the hopelessness of 'samsara' is to enter the path to 'nirvana', or liberation from suffering. This path carries us directly to the heart of 'samsara' and teaches us to transform it into peace. When we follow the Dharma, our self-concepts, desires, and negative habits themselves provide the energy that fuels our spiritual growth. Every aspect of every situation becomes a process of training, learning, and understanding. The teachings become a silent song--a thread running through every moment--leading us to greater knowledge and awakening."Tibetan Meditation-Practical teachings and step-by-step exercises on how to live in harmony, peace, and happiness by Tarthang Tulku
Suicides Increase - Beware of Labels
I placed these comments on the Washington Post today as some of us know that soldiers get better and many may have killed themselves had we not had resources such as our Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center [link] [link]. We return over 62% of our soldiers to active status. We hope that they don't have to return to combat as they need time to assimilate what they have learned and to practice their new found skills.
Several of our soldier would like to have a new MOS that allows them to be counselors/technicians to help others get treatment and to find a way out of these painful nightmares, isolation, despair, agitation, depression, and anger.
Jerry
Your Comments On...
Generals Find Suicide a Frustrating Enemy[link]
It was just past midnight in Afghanistan when Brig. Gen. Mark Milley appeared on the video screen in the Pentagon conference room to brief some of the Army's top generals on a sobering development: his unit's most recent confirmed suicide.
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By Ann Scott Tyson and Greg Jaffe
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vajara wrote:
Some people plant the seed of despair by suggesting that our Warriors will never overcome their PTSD. That is not a very hopeful message to those who are diagnosed with a label--labels stick to the psyche and they may never go away, but I can assure you the soldiers are resilient, they do heal, they do get better, and they return to the force. We only hope that the Army is wise enough to change their MOS and give them an opportunity to be mental health counselors so that they can help their brothers heal and get well. In any event, don't tell them that they will never get better, it just isn't true and it only makes their lives more miserable. How would you feel if the doctor or your best friend told you to forget the treatment and rehabilitation as you will never improve? Please think before you project your beliefs onto others, they just might believe you and commit suicide--it can be a way out when you have these horrendous symptoms. Some of us who work with our warriors do know better.
5/24/2009 10:09:20 AM
vajara wrote:
Seems we need to do a better screening of soldiers serving multiple tours. We could shorten their tours as the Marines have done and they have fewer suicides. We can also stop the wars and bring the troops home. Why do soldiers become disillusioned and it turns into despair? I believe they know that the leadership has let them down by sending them there in the first place and secondarily, what are they hoping to accomplish when history tells them, it is a hopeless cause.
5/24/2009 10:00:03 AM More >
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 10 May 2009 @ 14:06
When we are able to still our body, breath and mind, a very comfortable, soothing feeling naturally arises. As we expand this feeling, we feel very much at home there, and we can return to this feeling again and again in daily meditation. (Tarthang Tulku, "Finding the Space Between Thoughts", p.127, Tibetan Meditation)
Come Join with us in support of our Veterans living out their lives in residential treatment centers and nursing homes:
I've learned that when our soldiers take leave and visit their homes and communities where they once called home, they have little in common to share with their family and friends after returning from "many long extended tours of duty" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of our warriors have been so wounded that they are not often recognizable by their family. Many of our soldiers in rehabilitation in our Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually wounded as you may know, so it is hard for them to convey their experiences, especially their trauma, as few people can understand or appreciate what they have been through. After all, much of this war and the long deployments were held in secret by the previous administration while our media, professional organizations and politicians had little courage, ability or will to describe and inform others about the soldier and their family stories. (See, my previous log related to long deployments and how families describe their experiences.)
Can you envision Veteran's Nursing homes with a StressOut Team that partners up with a vet and gives our nourishing touch program to the residents, 2 x's a week. We are especially interested in partnering up with an elder vet suffering with Alzheimers'. We will shortly be training a core group of wives of our deployed Warriors and soldiers from our Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center, and other volunteers assigned to the Ft. Bliss Warrior Transition Battalion to provide this service.
We know that our mindful and skillful touch program unites the body, mind and spirit. See our Protocol for giving the 15-Minute Stressout. [link] This exchange of energy is experienced as Empathy when we breathe together as One. We open and close our Program while we lay and rest our hands on our partner's shoulders. This experience is referred to as "Melting" in the ancient Tibetan practice of Kum Nye. [link] (I have practiced and taught Kum Nye Relaxation during my 30 yr. tenure at New Mexico State University in my Holistic Health Practice Courses and curretly introduce meditation as a daily exercise in our integrative treatment center.)
Do visit our new Website that Brent Laracuente and Christy Laracuente put together to expand our use of touch into vet centers in our region and beyond; in nursing homes; Family and Childrens' programs; and, now with Wounded Warriors and their families.
If you wish more information do visit this Website: [link]
Several of us at Ft. Bliss are about to launch this training program for the wives of our soldiers assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion and also for the wives having their loved ones being deployed beginning May 11, 2009. In addition to helping or empowering wives and volunteers deal with the physical pain, stress, anxiety and depression often accompanied by these long separations, we are developing a core group of wives & soldiers to give our "stressouts" in Vet Centers in EP and in other places. Currently, we are focusing on the Alzheimer's patients as this population is rarely touched in skillful ways and meds are often the primary treatment intervention.
As I have described in previous logs, our City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Senior Programs, have joined with us for giving our partner massage/meditation program in diabetic clinics, in-home care, and nursing homes and we are now extending this health program in other communities and vet centers. [link]
If you wish to become trained in using our touch program and become certified as a team member and volunteer, do contact us and visit our websites to learn more about us and this opportunity to serve. [link] More >
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 29 Mar 2009 @ 16:35
Dr. Ashley Montagu, anthropologist and educator, focused on human bio-social evolution and maintained throughout his long career that cultural phenomena are not genetically predetermined. He committed himself to popularizing the findings of modern science in the hopes of improving civil society and the quality of life.
In his groundbreaking book, “Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin”, he brought awareness to the Western World of how the sense of touch was so neglected, and at the same time how critical the sense of touch is for human development. Additionally, he devotes special attention to the relation of the skin and touching to mental and physical health and the discovery of the immunological functions of the skin. [link]
Do read this short article about a school principal in Connecticut banning touch in her Middle School. I suspect this is quite common in schools where they lack creativity, exploratory learning, motivational & skillful teaching, and encouragement for their students. [link]
I believe that this ban is a drastic measure and I wonder if these administrators know what the consequences are for depriving humans of physical contact--healthy nourishing touch? I suspect the student reactions will be explosive and include much more anger, bullying, restlessness, frustration and other negative emotions when basic human need requirements for touch are denied. If you doubt this truth, go visit a nursing home, prison, mental health inpatient unit, or home where parents don't use healthy touch and use physical punishment and restraints to get their "way."
Anyway, this is just a form of MASS Punishment when administrators don't have the knowledge, skill or wisdom to come up with a helpful and resourceful solution to a bad incident. Frankly, as a parent experiencing a similar incident in our children's school, we successfully organized and petitioned the school board to fire the principal.
One alternative is to include a class or assembly sessions in introducing and teaching healthy, respectful and responsible touch in all of the classes. Parents can also learn how to discipline and guide without using corporal and mass punishment for their children. I would also suggest that schools and other institutions use alternatives such as we use for our nourishing touch programs--"Guidelines for the Safe Use of Touch." [link]; [link];[link]
Any other Comments and Recommendations?
I work for the US Army and mass punishment is a common practice to make soldiers "tow their line!!!" Ask any soldier how effective this solution is and you will learn very quickly that it doesn't work for very long, if at all.
Do read this short article about a school principal banning touch in School.
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A Connecticut middle school principal has laid down the law: You put your hands on someone -- anyone -- in any way, you're going to pay.
Connecticut School Bans Physical Contact
East Shore M.S. Outlaws "High-Fives," "Hugging" And Horseplay Of Any Kind; Violators May Face Expulsion MILFORD, Conn. (CBS) ―
A Connecticut middle school principal has laid down the law: You put your hands on someone -- anyone -- in any way, you're going to pay.
A violent incident that put one student in the hospital has officials at the Milford school implementing a "no touching" policy, according to a letter written by the school's principal.
East Shore Middle School parents said the change came after a student was sent to the hospital after being struck in the groin.
Principal Catherine Williams sent out a letter earlier in the week telling parents recent behavior has seriously impacted the safety and learning at the school.
"Observed behaviors of concern recently exhibited include kicking others in the groin area, grabbing and touching of others in personal areas, hugging and horseplay. Physical contact is prohibited to keep all students safe in the learning environment," Williams wrote.
Students and parents are outraged. They said the new policy means no high-fives and hugs, as well as horseplay of any kind. The consequences could be dire, Williams warned in the letter.
"Potential consequences and disciplinary action may include parent conferences, detention, suspension and/or a request for expulsion from school," Williams wrote.
Many think the school's no tolerance policy goes way too far. Others said it's utterly ridiculous.
"Now it's almost as if it's a sanitized school. Where you have to keep your distance from everybody? And that's not what school is about," one father said.
"What if they are out on the playground at recess, or in gym class?" parent Kathy Casey wondered. "You know, gym class is physical."
A violent incident that put one student in the hospital has officials at the Milford school implementing a "no touching" policy, according to a letter written by the school's principal.
East Shore Middle School parents said the change came after a student was sent to the hospital after being struck in the groin.
Principal Catherine Williams sent out a letter earlier in the week telling parents recent behavior has seriously impacted the safety and learning at the school.
"Observed behaviors of concern recently exhibited include kicking others in the groin area, grabbing and touching of others in personal areas, hugging and horseplay. Physical contact is prohibited to keep all students safe in the learning environment," Williams wrote.
Students and parents are outraged. They said the new policy means no high-fives and hugs, as well as horseplay of any kind. The consequences could be dire, Williams warned in the letter.
"Potential consequences and disciplinary action may include parent conferences, detention, suspension and/or a request for expulsion from school," Williams wrote.
Many think the school's no tolerance policy goes way too far. Others said it's utterly ridiculous.
"Now it's almost as if it's a sanitized school. Where you have to keep your distance from everybody? And that's not what school is about," one father said.
"What if they are out on the playground at recess, or in gym class?" parent Kathy Casey wondered. "You know, gym class is physical."
More >
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 24 Jan 2009 @ 15:31
Forget descriptions of meditation and just sit quietly. Be very still and relaxed, and do not try to do anything. Let everything--thoughts, feelings, and concepts--go through your mind unheeded. Do not grasp at ideas or thoughts as they come and go or try to manipulate them. When you feel you have to do something in your meditation, you only make it harder. Let meditation do itself.Tarthang Tulku, Openness Mind,
This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post this past weekend and it answers many questions for the skeptics of Integrative Medicine. Many will argue that integrative medicine lacks a scientific inquiry; however, it is really the lack of inquiry, awareness, and knowledge of the hard core mental health professionals that should be addressed. And, how can anyone cast a stone at "integrative medicine" when psychiatry and psychology adopt the Diagnostic Statistical Manual(DSM) as their bible?
Hmm, I don't believe that anyone these days view this labeling, drug system a valid or reliable instrument for measuring the Whole Health (mental health) of their patients. It is a system that separates the body, the mind, the emotions and the spirit. Our mental health professions are primarily diagnosing, labeling and drugging their patients and clients. I'm only surprised that drug stores and mental health centers and alopathic medicine aren't providing drive in therapies with drug distribution centers. (All you need is a prescription and a label to get treated for your "disorder" with a magic pill). However, buyer beware and do read the fine print and warning notice by your pharmacist.
By DEEPAK CHOPRA , DEAN ORNISH , RUSTUM ROY and ANDREW WEIL
"In mid-February, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the Bravewell Collaborative are convening a "Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public." This is a watershed in the evolution of integrative medicine, a holistic approach to health care that uses the best of conventional and alternative therapies such as meditation, yoga, acupuncture and herbal remedies. Many of these therapies are now scientifically documented to be not only medically effective but also cost effective."
Abstracted from article.....
"Many people tend to think of breakthroughs in medicine as a new drug, laser or high-tech surgical procedure. They often have a hard time believing that the simple choices that we make in our lifestyle -- what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our relationships and social support -- can be as powerful as drugs and surgery. But they often are. And in many instances, they're even more powerful."
[link]
Begin the New Year with Skillful Touch -
2009 will hopefully bring Peace, Love and Respect for our planet and for all of our inhabitants.
I appreciate all of you who have visited and contributed to our "StressOut Forum" and Webpage. Let's stay-in-touch as this is one of the best ways to make sure we unite with empathy and meet our basic human need requirements for living healthy, respectful and loving relationships. [link]
We are One!!
Jerry More >
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 12 Dec 2008 @ 15:48
Ask any veteran how life is after war. Most likely in their own words (and ways)they will tell you how it imprinted lasting marks on their minds and souls. Some will let you know all the different ways their war never ends. Many will not even begin to talk about it because they feel that nobody would ever understand unless they had been there too. For the people back home...they need to understand that it is most difficult to fathom how things have changed for their returning troops. After all, how can anyone see inside of a duffle bag that still goes unpacked? Some troops may never unpack it completely, and we cannot expect them to. Down Range to Iraq and Back by Bridget C. Cantrell, Ph.D. & Chuck Dean
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As many of you know, I work with injured Warriors in the US Army's, Ft. Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center as a clinical social worker. During this past year, I meet with soldiers in individual, couple and family therapy while also coordinating Meditation, Water Polo and Health Education activities. Our R & R Center is an experimental center for soldiers who have been diagnosed with PTSD and many who also have experienced concussions or Traumatic Brain Injuries and other physical wounds. We have 2 young soldier who have completed 5 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of our soldiers have been away from their families for 2 to 3 years and when they return they are often unrecognizable as they have serious mental health issues that prevent them from relating and interacting with their loved ones as they did before they were deployed.
I believe that we have the best program and staff in the world and yet, it is very sad for us to see how our families struggle every day to sustain their relationships. Do read these stories that describe the challenges on military families despite our best efforts to help. [link][link]
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As wars lengthen, toll on military families mounts
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Far from the combat zones, the strains and separations of no-end-in-sight wars are taking an ever-growing toll on military families despite the armed services' earnest efforts to help.
Divorce lawyers see it in the breakup of youthful marriages as long, multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan fuel alienation and mistrust. Domestic violence experts see it in the scuffles that often precede a soldier's departure or sour a briefly joyous homecoming.
Teresa Moss, a counselor at Fort Campbell's Lincoln Elementary School, hears it in the voices of deployed soldiers' children as they meet in groups to share accounts of nightmares, bedwetting and heartache.
"They listen to each other. They hear that they aren't the only ones not able to sleep, having their teachers yell at them," Moss said.
Even for Army spouses with solid marriages, the repeated separations are an ordeal.
"Three deployments in, I still have days when I want to hide under the bed and cry," said Jessica Leonard, who is raising two small children and teaching a "family team building" class to other wives at Fort Campbell. Her husband, Capt. Lance Leonard, is in Iraq.
Those classes are among numerous initiatives to support war-strained families. Yet military officials acknowledge that the vast needs outweigh available resources, and critics complain of persistent shortcomings — a dearth of updated data on domestic violence, short shrift for families of National Guard and Reserve members, inadequate support for spouses and children of wounded and traumatized soldiers.
If the burden sounds heavier than what families bore in the longest wars of the 20th century — World War II and Vietnam — that's because it is, at least in some ways. What makes today's wars distinctive is the deployment pattern — two, three, sometimes four overseas stints of 12 or 15 months. In the past, that kind of schedule was virtually unheard of.
"Its hard to go away, it's hard to come back, and go away and come back again," said Dr. David Benedek, a leading Army psychiatrist. "That is happening on a larger scale than in our previous military endeavors. They're just getting their feet wet with some sort of sense of normalcy, and then they have to go again."
Almost in one breath, military officials praise the resiliency that enables most families to endure and acknowledge candidly that the wars expose them to unprecedented stresses and the risk of long-lasting scars.
"There's nothing that has prepared many of our families for the length of these deployments," said Rene Robichaux, social work programs manager for the U.S. Army Medical Command. "It's hard to communicate to a family member how stressful the environment is, not just the risk of injury or death, but the austere circumstances, the climate, the living conditions."
An array of studies by the Army and outside researchers say that marital strains, risk of child maltreatment and other problems harmful to families worsen as soldiers serve multiple combat tours.
For example, a Pentagon-funded study last year concluded that children in some Army families were markedly more vulnerable to abuse and neglect by their mothers when their fathers were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Iraq, the latest survey by Army mental health experts showed that more than 15% of married soldiers deployed there were planning a divorce, with the rates for soldiers at the late stages of deployment triple those of recent arrivals.
For the Army, especially, the challenges are staggering as it furnishes the bulk of combat forces. As of last year, more than 55% of its soldiers were married, a far higher rate than during the Vietnam war. The nearly 513,000 soldiers on active duty collectively had more than 493,000 children.
Jessica Leonard at Fort Campbell says family support programs there have improved since her husband's first combat tour, helping her feel more self-reliant. Yet she's convinced that domestic violence and divorce are rising at the base, which is home to the 101st Airborne Division.
"Infidelity is huge on both sides — a wife is lonely, she looks for attention and finds it easier to cheat," she said. "It does make even the most sound marriages second-guess."
Among soldiers coming home, whether for two-week breaks that often end with wrenching good-byes or for longer stays, she sees evidence of lower morale and rising depression.
"They come home, and find that problems are still there," she said. "Instead of a refreshing R-and-R, a nice little second honeymoon, it's battle for two weeks."
There have been some horrific incidents shattering families of soldiers back from the wars — a former Army paratrooper from Michigan charged with raping and beating his infant daughter; a sergeant from Hawaii's Army National Guard accused of killing his 14-year-old son as the boy tried to save his pregnant mother from a knife attack by the soldier.
In one of the saddest cases, a recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol in February before killing his two young children and himself at Oklahoma's Tinker Air Force Base. Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson's former wife had sought a protection order against him, saying he threatened to kill the children if she filed for divorce.
Officials at Tinker, while confirming that Thorson had been getting mental health care, would not say whether those problems related to his service in Iraq.
His brother, Shane Thorson, a sheriff's deputy from Pasco, Wash., who also served in Iraq, has no doubt Dustin's war experiences contributed to the tragedy.
"He didn't want to go — he was afraid, but he had a job that he'd signed up to do and he went and did it," Shane said. "I do think it led up to everything that happened. ... It opened up a world of death and chaos and uncertainty."
Shane, who is married and has an 8-year-old daughter, is sure the deployments have damaged many marriages.
"My wife and friends, they tell me I'm not the same person before I came back — not as loving," he said. "You really realize how insignificant you are in this world, and life moves on whether you're there or not."
Overall, the Army says its domestic violence rates are no worse than for civilian families. However, critics say there is a lack of comprehensive, updated data that reflects the impact of war-zone deployments and tracks cases involving veterans, reservists and National Guard members.
The Miles Foundation, which provides domestic-violence assistance to military wives, says its caseload has more than quadrupled during the Iraq and Afghan conflicts.
"The tactics learned as part of military training are often used by those who commit domestic violence," said the foundation's executive director, Christine Hansen, citing increased proficiency with weapons and psychological tactics such as sleep deprivation.
Jackie Campbell is a nursing professor at Johns Hopkins who served on a Defense Department task force examining domestic violence. She says the military's data on the problem is based only on officially reported incidents, and should be supplemented with confidential surveys such as some that were conducted before the Iraq war.
"They have no clue what the rate of domestic violence is — they only know what's reported to the system, and that's always lower than the actual rate," Campbell said. "I'm disappointed.... I know the system is stressed to the umpteenth degree. But I do think they need to do the right kind of research so they can keep up with this."
One complication, she said, is the high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among service members returning from war. She said PTSD raises the risk of domestic violence, yet many soldiers and their spouses don't want to acknowledge PTSD or any domestic crises for fear of derailing the soldier's career.
"They know the power of the military will come down on them," Campbell said. "The women are often reluctant to have that happen."
At Fort Campbell, Family Advocacy Program director Louie Sumner — who's in charge of combatting domestic violence — has encouraged people to report suspected abuse, to the point where many allegations turn out to be unsubstantiated.
But Sumner said his program, though considered one of the Army's best, should do more outreach with the majority of families who live off the huge base, in subdivisions, apartments and trailer parks where many couples' troubles may go undetected.
Sumner is sure that the repeated deployments heighten the risk of family violence. "When the soldier goes overseas three, four times, the fuse is a lot shorter," he said. "They explode quicker, and the victim gets hurt worse."
He marveled that some of the hasty marriages by youthful soldiers survive the rigors of deployment.
"My wife and I have been married 38 years," he said. "I'm not sure we could have stood being apart 30 of the next 42 months at the start of our marriage. That's a long time when you're real young."
The independence that wives develop at home alone leads to friction when a returning husband seeks to restore the old order in household decision-making.
"Somebody who's violent and controlling of his partner before he leaves will spend a lot of time while he's away wondering what she's doing, worrying that he doesn't have that day-to-day control," said Debbie Tucker, who co-chaired the Pentagon's domestic violence task force. "He comes back with the attitude that it needs to be re-established as firmly as possible."
Despite the stresses, a study published in April by Rand Corp. concluded that divorce rate among military families between 2001 and 2005 was no higher than during peacetime a decade earlier. But the study doesn't reflect the third and fourth war zone deployments that have strained many military marriages over the past three years.
Maj. Mike Oeschger gets a closer look at struggling marriages than he'd like in his role as rear detachment commander for the 1st Brigade Combat Team at Fort Campbell. Dealing with family crises while the brigade is in Iraq is a critical part of his job.
"The biggest problems usually revolve around money — the husband may not have given the wife access to funds," he said.
Oeschger, a husband and father who served in Iraq himself, has seen infidelity in multiple forms. Some wives at the base are preyed on by men who know the husbands are overseas; some war-zone soldiers pursue extramarital affairs over the Internet.
"Often the guy comes back, tells his wife, 'I'm not interested in you any more. I think we're done,'" Oeschger said.
He'd rather stay out of his soldiers' personal lives, but that's not always an option.
"There's almost nothing that's private in the Army," he said. "Once it starts to affect performance, I'm involved and want to know every detail. It's miserable stuff ... but it's my job."
Col. Ronald Crews, one of several chaplains called from the reserves to help with family counseling, said long-distance marital crises became so severe for two Fort Campbell soldiers recently that they were sent home from Iraq to handle them.
"Their commander said they wouldn't be of any use until the problems were resolved," Crews said. The soldiers were required to meet with him weekly. One returned to Iraq and the other did not.
For some time, chaplains have been conducting marriage workshops for soldiers back from deployment. Now, says Crews, married soldiers also are being required to attend such workshops before they leave.
"Deployments don't help in strengthening a marriage, but they do not have to kill marriages," Crews said. "That's a choice a couple has to make."
Medical personnel, meanwhile, have been directed to be more aggressive in screening spouses of deployed soldiers for depression. More than 1,000 "family readiness support assistants" are being added, as are dozens of marriage and family therapists. A respite child care program is expanding to provide more relief to stressed mothers.
However, for families living off-base, there are often far fewer support programs readily available.
Advocacy groups also say more must be done for families of wounded and traumatized soldiers who leave the service. At a recent congressional hearing, Barbara Cohoon of the National Military Families Association suggested the Veterans Administration is not meeting these needs, and said the anguish of wounded soldiers' children "is often overlooked and underestimated."
Stacy Bannerman, an anti-war activist whose husband served with the Washington State National Guard in Iraq, says many Guard members and reservists don't get adequate treatment when — like her husband — they are diagnosed with PTSD.
"The families are scattered everywhere, and we don't have the support networks that active duty does," Bannerman said. "There's very little attention paid to reintegration — bammo, you suddenly go back to your civilian life. I haven't spoken to anyone who hasn't experienced some degree of stress on a marriage."
Her own marriage nearly became one of the casualties. She and her husband, Lorin, were separated for more than a year, but now — after finding a counselor outside the military — are working at reconciliation even as Lorin faces a second deployment to Iraq in August.
"It's been a long, arduous process," said Bannerman, who has moved to Oregon to work at an animal sanctuary which is seeking to involve traumatized veterans in its programs.
Many returning soldiers experience some form of depression, lapsing into substance abuse, sleeping fitfully, withdrawing from family activities. Children may feel their father is too distant, or unsettlingly changed.
"The kids may not really recognize their parent," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general. "Their expectations build up, and then expectations aren't met."
The Army would like to beef up psychiatric care for children, Ritchie said, but is hampered by a national shortage of child psychiatrists.
"The children of these families are suffering damage emotionally and a lot of them aren't getting any help," said Lee Rosen, whose North Carolina law firm handles many military divorces. "We're going to have fallout from this for a long time."
Rosen says the breaking point for many couples often arrives with a second or third deployment.
"To go off for one deployment for a year is difficult, but when that soldier comes back, people are able to adjust, to heal," he said. "When you go a second time, and are threatened with the possibility of a third, it's just devastating."
Yet many marriages don't survive even a first deployment.
While 1st Lt. Mike Robison was serving in Iraq in 2003-04, his wife, Candance, depicted him as a "good, brave man" in a letter she wrote to President Bush. But the marriage fell apart after Robison's return home to Texas. Candance said they argued over her role managing the household and how he treated her 10-year daughter from a previous relationship.
"It absolutely changed him," Candance said of his deployment. "I still struggle every day — that year has affected every single aspect of my life."
Andrew Brown, an Army Reserve sergeant from Pennsylvania, says his marriage failed to survive the effects of his Iraq deployment in 2004-05. Returning home, he was diagnosed with PTSD and deduced that his wife, lonely in his absence, had been having an affair.
"With the mental state I was in, I was relying on her to provide support, and she wasn't ready to do that," Brown said.
"What I went through is not an isolated incident," he added. "Guys came back — they'd shut down, turn to the bottle, have lots of fights with their spouses."
At their small ranch house near Fort Campbell, Staff Sgt. Brian Powell and his wife, Krystal, expressed determination to keep their marriage on track as they raise two young sons and as Brian faces a second deployment — this time to Afghanistan — starting in December.
Brian was in Iraq when his eldest son, Jamison, was born in 2006. He got home on a brief leave three days after the birth.
"It was just two weeks," Brian said. "You don't want to get attached because you know you have to go back."
"It's a really hard transition, coming back from blood, death, corruption to a wife and baby. You feel you don't know each other," Krystal added. "But if you have faith, you get through it."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[link]
Share this story with friends and others who wish to support our soldiers and their families.
Note: This amazing picture of a Bradley Tank that SFC Scott Milligan served as commander, shows how vulneable our warriors are, even enclosed in our military's best weapon systems. When they are struck by these powerful explosive devices they may survive, but the injuries are extensive. It is amazing that Scott and two team members survived this devastating blow, but he did experience 3 broken vertabrae and a concussion that is still being evaluated.
SFC Milligan has given me permission to show his pictures and his Expressive Art work on my website. [link]. Scott is a great soldier and leader and I am honored to serve as his primary therapist. He wishes to show these pics so that others may learn how war impacts their lives, health and relationships.
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 15 Nov 2008 @ 16:23
"If there is a difference between us human beings and all that is not human in nature, it is this: We are the only creatures who question their own identity. We must see immediately that identity means the development of a sense of separation (I am I, and you are you), a sense of establishing borders, making a kind of obstruction between ourselves and reality; identity is then a metaphysical proposition." (_Between Metaphysics and Protoanalysis - A Theory For Analyzing The Human Psyche_, Oscar Ichazo)
Alton, my friend, martial artist, acupuncturist and spiritual brother sent me this insightful note this morning and gave me approval to share his message with others who visit my logs. I have known Dr. Kanter for well over 35 years, almost half this life time. As a host to "Get Healthy with Dr. Alton Kanter," for many years for a Hawaii Radio Station, my friend interviewed me a few years ago about the development of our 15-Minute StressOut Program. About 40 years ago, along with several hundred other seekers, Alton and I participated in an Arica Advanced Training Program in NYC, numerous other spiritual training programs and we continue our Work as teachers and students in this School of Integral Practice and Philosophy. I am 73 years young and feel much like Alton, especially when I open my mind, body and spirit to 'all that is'--our true nature and our universal energy.
During the late 80's, I had the good fortune to have Dr. Kanter introduce acupuncture, tai chi chuan and other integrative health practices with our graduate students, New Mexico State University, School of Social Work and he was a great inspiration for our students and faculty. In fact, Patricia Callahan, L.Ac, attended our workshop with her partner/couple Bill Parmeter, LMSW and she has expressed to me, on several occasions, that Alton is her hero. Following his workshop, Pat enrolled in the School of Acupuncture-Oriental Medicine, Santa Fe, NM, completed their program in 2000 and now has a thriving practice in upstate New York.
It is a great honor for me to have a colleague who practices what he teaches and is an inspiration to all of us "growing young" (see, Montagu, A. "Growing Young," (1981, NY: McGraw-Hill). [link]
I hope others can draw inspiration from our elders who are engaged in advancing and improving lives, health and relationships in our society and beyond. Thank you Alton for 'staying in touch' and for all you have done to support Humanity as One Body, Mind and Spirit. I Am - God is One!
Best Wishes and may we continue to "Grow Young".....
Jerry
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Aloha Jerry,
What a treat to talk with you again!!
Attached is some of my recent stuff showing up on the radar screen
1.
THE DECLARATION OF
IN DEPENDENCE
In Dependence
On the practice
Of a path
Which is
The indivisible union
Of wisdom and method
You can be transformed
from a state of suffering
into a state of attainment
of freedom and happiness;
Forever
God Is One
ToHam Kum Rah
**************************************************************
2. MY LETTER OF RESIGNATION
I have met Some ONE
Hu is helping me write
A letter of resignation
To Sadness,
Anger,
Fear
God Is ONE,
ToHam Kum Rah
Alton
***********************************************
3.
Tadyatha Gate
Gate
Para Gate
Parasam Gate
Bodhi Svaha
My Divine Mind Transcend
Transcend Beyond
Beyond the Beyond
To Total Enlightenment
Be it the will of God
lets talk
Alton
*************************************************
4.
I am now eighty years old. And yet I feel like I am an infant. I feel
clearly that in spite of all the changes, I am a child. My teacher tells me
that the child who is you even now is your real self. Go back to that state
of pure being where the "I am" is still in its purity, before it was
contaminated with "this I am" or "that I am."
Your burden is of false self identifications: abandon them all. My teacher
told me "Trust me, I tell you, you are divine; take it as the absolute
truth. Your joy is divine; your suffering is divine, too. All comes from
God. Remember it always, you are a manifestation of God; His will alone is
done."
I did believe him, and soon realized how wonderfully true and accurate were
his words, I did not condition my mind with thoughts of pride and vanity
such as "I am wonderful; I am beyond." I simply followed his instruction,
which was to focus the mind on pure being. "I am," and "God is One," and
stay in it. I used to sit for hours with nothing but the "I am" in my mind.
Soon peace and joy and an all embracing love became my normal state.
In that state, all disappeared: my self; my teacher; the life I lived; the
world around me. Only peace remained and unfathomable silence.
Aloha nui loa
Alton More >
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 8 Nov 2008 @ 15:46
While working with our Wounded Warriors in our Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center, we notice how families suffer as well. Seems that when soldiers go off to war and their families are left to fend for themselves, often while their partners are deployed for several tours, it often takes months and even years to get to know one another. The families do have many Support Services on post, but when 20% or more of the force are wounded physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, there are just not enough resources to respond quickly to the challenges of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), PTSD and the numerous physical and mental injuries that require a broad spectrum of specialists.
This research identifies the tours of duty for the marines who average just over 3 months in this report, while the US Army units are much longer. We have one infantry soldier who left home at 18 and returned home when he was 23. Can you imagine what happens physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually to a young soldier when we send teenagers to war and return them when they are young adults? Another soldier that I worked with has been married and deployed with 3 children and he has been with his family for only 7 of the 15 years of marriage. Is it any wonder that the divorce rate is so high in the military?
Do pass this message on to others so that we can advocate for developing and advancing more health and family resources and to also encourage our government to examine the serious affects and consequences of long tours on couples and families. Obvious to me is that when the troop morale goes down, our forces will not be able to protect and secure our Nation as we would expect. May God Bless all of our Warriors and their Families.
Expressive Art Picture - "Wounded Warrior" by SFC Scott Milligan
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Science News
More than 2 million U.S. children have had parents deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan during the wars there, according to background information in the article. About 40 percent of these children are younger than 5. "Recent policy statements from the American Psychological Association and the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health have called for research on the effect of wartime deployments on children in military families," the authors write.
Molinda M. Chartrand, M.D., of the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, and colleagues studied 169 families with children age 1½ to 5 who were enrolled in military childcare centers at a large Marine base in 2007. Parents and childcare providers each completed a behavior problem assessment that analyzed both internalizing (such as anxiousness, depression and withdrawal) and externalizing (such as attention problems and aggression) behaviors in the children. Parents also completed a questionnaire to measure their own level of depression. Caregivers provided information about the rank and deployment status of the parent in the service, as well as family composition and both parents' age, education and ethnicity.
Of the 169 families, 55 (33 percent) had a deployed parent, with an average deployment length of 3.9 months. Children age 3 and older who had a deployed parent had significantly higher scores on measures of externalizing and overall behavior problems than children of the same age without a deployed parent. "Such reported differences might be dismissed as distorted perceptions of the child by the distressed non-deployed parent; however, the association remained after controlling for parental stress and depressive symptoms," the authors write. In addition, childcare providers reported similarly elevated scores.
"Larger, longitudinal studies are needed to ascertain whether there are changes in children's behavior from the time before parental deployment, during parental deployment and at the time of reunification," the authors write. "This information is necessary to provide clinicians serving military families with evidence-based anticipatory guidance and clinical interventions. Finally, the needs of the children of deployed parents in the National Guard and Reserves also warrant urgent further elucidation."
This study was supported by the Joel and Barbara Alpert Foundation and the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Support in the form of books was provided by Reach Out and Read.
This article describes how children and family services are needed to address these issues as well.
**********************************
Editorial: Changes in Policy and Services Needed
"The decision to send troops into war is never taken lightly, and the sacrifices experienced by the soldiers, their families and their country are heavy burdens that may be considered intrinsic to war itself," write David J. Schonfeld, M.D., and Robin Gurwitch, Ph.D., of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, in an accompanying editorial. "However, our country's policies must be based on efforts to take all reasonable steps to minimize known negative effects; thus, these research results, which are unlikely to be surprising to pediatricians and other child health care providers, are nonetheless timely and important."
"Findings from this study highlight the need for increased attention to the mental health concerns of young children of deployed soldiers as well as the mental health concerns of the soldiers and non-deployed spouses," they continue. "They raise questions of how to best determine deployment length and what preventive measures can be taken to reduce stress and distress to the non-deployed spouses and children left behind." More >
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 18 Sep 2008 @ 12:01
During one of our Therapeutic Field Trips with our soldiers, I took pictures of their Tattoos and posted them on my website. The Army has new rules related to tattoos and they don't limit them as they did at one time. Some of the soldiers almost cover their bodies with this art form.
Anyway, I will be expanding this log when I have more time, but thought you might enjoy seeing how our soldiers express themselves with body art.
Jerry
[link] More >
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 5 Aug 2008 @ 23:38
Awakening the Awe by Ron Lautenbach, Ph.D.
Below is a poem by Ron Lautenbach, Ph.D. who wrote about his experience while meeting with the soldiers at Ft. Bliss in our William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Warrior Restoration & Resilience Center. I have invited Ron to be a guest blogger for me this month and we are grateful for his presentation and his service to our soldiers from the Warrior Battalion.
Dr. Lautenbach is a remarkable human being and a world class mountain climber and adventurer. I have known Ron for the past two years during our visits to Munson Senior Center where he and I volunteered our services with the elders enrolled in the senior programs. My friend has been on the Discovery Channel and is on the Kodak Mountain Climbing Team that has successfully climbed numerous mountains throughout the world. As part of my responsibilities for our Center, I serve as Coordinator for our Health Education Program. We introduce a variety of presenters and resources every Friday morning as a means for keeping our Warriors informed about health, education and family issues. [link]
Thank you very much, Ron. I know the soldiers enjoyed and appreciated your thoughtful and respectful message related to "Creating Lifestyle Changes." We look forward to a return presentation soon and hopefully a mountain retreat with you in September.
Jerry Vest, ACSW/LISW
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Awakening The Awe
I did not visit you to view values of your valiant, voguish voyages, venomous ventures of vital valor, nor the vitality of your pledges.
I did not try to teach or tempt your mind with technical talk and tempered thinking of theology’s or philosophy’s tiring theorems that are so stinking.
I came naked to an unbalanced truth with dreams and vicissitude to new goals of simple nonsense’s subtle humor and freedom’s discipline of self controls.
I encountered a warm invitation to share souls seeking real serenity - not yet found; but with a passionate hope manifested from serendipity.
I felt your vast agony and anger; and acknowledged it; but I ignored it since I sensed an awesome algorithm of wonder that inspires fresh spirits.
It was reverence for awe that grabbed me as I shared the awful with the awe-struck; and I was challenged to metamorphose reality into awesome good luck.
I felt my mind melting into my soul as my heart appealed to karma’s pleasure to experience your unique program of R & R with positive leisure.
Groriter © 2008 More >
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 27 May 2008 @ 13:31
You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”
In the beginner’s mind there is no thought, “I have attained something.” All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thoughts of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn something. The beginners mind is the mind of compassion, it is boundless. Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, pp. 21-22.
Dear Colleagues and friends,
I believe that as social workers or health professionals, we should begin to examine our use and support of the DSM as it causes more harm than good for our clients and students as introduced in this article and in several logs that I have posted here and on my forum. Many of our schools of social work and Board of Social Work Examiners continue to support this handbook for mental health professionals and present it in classes and for professional examinations as if it is a scientific measurement for mental health disorders. I am hopeful that our profession will abandon the use of this system and share this information with students, colleagues, and clients.
I have introduced my views of this system on my forum and also with our NCN in several logs; however, I believe that Dr. Zur has made the best case for abandoning this flawed system and stop labeling our clients and others. If for no other reason, we should be aware that once a patient or client is labeled with one of these disorders, it remains with them for their entire life. I don't know of any program that is designed to change a diagnosis to 'cured' once they are identified with a diagnosis. And, because these patient labels/codes are not held in confidence and are added to numerous databases with insurance companies and other health resources, we are causing great harm to those who trust us and believe that their records are private or confidential.[link]
***********************************************
"DSM:
Diagnosing for Status and Money - A Critical Look at the DSM and the economic forces that shape it."
In principal, 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.
A newly published article: DSM: Diagnosing for Status and Money
Online Course for 4 CE Credits: DSM: Diagnosing for Money and Power
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 or 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 frame of the DSM is distorted by a primarily intra-psychic-individual focus and tends to ignore contextual factors. It does not address what cannot be solved with a pill. 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. Unfortunately, using the DSM, the dis-ease of such patients will be redefined as medically treatable maladies.
The DSM perpetuates the myth that the medical-mechanistic model can simply be applied to psychology.
Some clinicians have used the DSM categories as a form of "name calling".
Accordingly, the DSM gives some therapists an illusory feeling of power and superiority driven by the "power to name".
DSM-based research has repeatedly been shown to be of questionable validity and is, in fact, very unreliable.
Since its inception in 1952, the DSM has consistently viewed pathology as residing within the individual. Subsequent revisions in 1980 and 1987 have evolved toward a more firmly biological perspective.
In response to insurance companies' need for increasing specificity in diagnoses and the psychopharmacology industry's need for new markets, the number of available diagnostic labels rose from 297 in 1994 to 374 in 2000. The upcoming DSM V is likely to include hundreds more "new" (and profitable) mental disorders.
DSM is big business, not only for its publisher, 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. (For more, see our online course: Depression.)
Anxiety: You must be mentally ill if your reaction to the existential reality of mortality or loneliness involves profound or debilitating anxiety. (For more, see our online course: Anxiety.)
Lack of Sexual Interest: Lack of sexual interest is often not a mental disorder. Many women may have good reasons to avoid sex that may stem from domestic abuse, overwork or other reasons. Kaschak and Tiefer (2001) discussed Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) as "a textbook case of disease mongering by the pharmaceutical industry..." or what they call the "medicalization industry." (For more, see our online course: Feminist Sex Therapy.)
Spirited Children: DSM casts a very broad net around the ADHD diagnosis, and often includes millions of spirited, strong-willed, and highly gifted and creative children. It results in huge profits for medicating psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies. (For more, see our online course: ADHD: Myths or Facts.)
Online Course for 4 CE Credits: DSM: Diagnosing for Money and Power
Over 90 Online Courses
Email Dr. Ofer Zur
Visit the Zur Institute website.
Phone: 707 935-0655
Fax: 707 935-3918
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NOTE:
Do visit Dr. Zur's discussion on the myth of touch by our mental health professions:
I recommend that all of our members and students, visit Dr. Zur's website for the most thorough understanding of the myth of the use of touch by all professionals, health, education, and human service programs. [link]
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 4 May 2008 @ 02:25
Because breathing charts the life rhythms, the way we breathe signals the disposition of our energies. Agitation or excitement causes the breath to be uneven and rapid; but when we are calm and balanced, our breathing is even, slow, and soft. We can also change our mental and physical states by the way we breathe. Even when very upset, we can calm and balance ourselves by breathing slowly and evenly.
When you are aware of your breath, your whole life becomes balanced. Even when you find yourself in situations which arouse great anger, frustration, or pain, you can dissolve the disturbance by just being aware of your breathing, slightly paying attention and making the breath calm, slow, and rhythmical.” Tarthang Tulku, Kum Nye Relaxation, pp. 40-41
Warrior R & R Center - A Prototype for Soldiers-
This announcement is very good for our soldiers who are suffering and great opportunities for them to receive care and treatment. I am very proud to be part of this health care work with our Wounded Warriors. We are currently engaged in research to validate what we do with soldiers every day. Our Warrior Restoration & Resilience Center is one of a kind as Gates describes and we are all hopeful that our prototype becomes available to every soldier returning from war throughout the world. I have posted a couple of logs describing some of my experiences with the soldiers. [link]
Jerry Vest, ACSW/LISW
US Army Social Worker & Professor Emeritus
Warrior Restoration & Resilience Center
Wm. Beaumont Army Medical Center, Ft. Bliss
[link]
[link]
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Gates Works to Reduce Mental Health Stigma
by Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
FORT BLISS, Texas, May 1, 2008 – Seeking mental-health care due to post-traumatic stress will no longer be seen as an obstacle to getting a government security clearance, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced here today. Video
Gates announced the new policy after touring the Restoration and Resilience Center that opened in July to treat combat veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The center, part of Fort Bliss’ Beaumont Army Medical Center, uses treatments ranging from group and individual therapy to yoga, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic and hot-stone therapy.
Its goal, officials at the experimental facility explained, is to help troops recover so they can stay in the Army.
Gates told reporters he had an “extraordinary experience” visiting the new center and seeing work under way to help soldiers deal with combat stress.
“They are doing some amazing things here in terms of helping soldiers who want to remain soldiers but who have been wounded with post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said. “It is a multi-month effort by a lot of caring people, and they are showing some real success in restoring these soldiers.”
Gates said he’ll take the idea of possibly replicating Fort Bliss’ prototype program to other posts.
He also noted other techniques being developed in the combat theater to give troops additional tools to deal with the circumstances they face. “These are clearly worth additional attention as well,” he told reporters.
Gates called additional resources and capabilities to treat troops dealing with PTSD just one aspect of a two-part effort.
“The second, and in some ways equally challenging, is to remove the stigma that is associated with PTSD and to encourage soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who encounter these problems to seek help,” he said.
But he acknowledged that not every soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan is getting the treatment they need. He cited an Army inspector general report’s findings that troops often forgo mental-health care because they’re concerned it could prevent them from getting a security clearance and potentially could damage their careers.
Gates cited “Question 21” on Standard Form 86, the government security-clearance form that specifically asks applicants whether they have ever received treatment for mental-health issues.
The question asks if the person has consulted with a mental-health professional or other health-care provider during the past seven years about a mental-health related condition.
Respondents who answer “yes” must provide dates of treatment and the provider’s name and address.
“For far too long and for far too many, this question has been an obstacle to care,” the secretary said.
The Defense Department has been working with other agencies for eight months to strike a balance that enables troops to get the treatment they need and the intelligence community to get the information it needs, he said.
“It took longer than I would have hoped, but it is done,” Gates said. “Now it is clear to people who answer that question that they can answer ‘no’ if they have sought help to deal with their combat stress in general times.”
New language for “Question 21” asks if the person consulted with a health-care professional during the past seven years regarding an emotional or mental health condition. It specifies, however, that the answer should be “no” if the care was “strictly related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment.”
Gates directed in a policy letter dated April 18 that the revised language be used by anyone completing the SF 86 form.
A letter being distributed throughout the military explains the new policy and its rationale.
“Seeking professional care for these mental health issues should not be perceived to jeopardize an individual’s security clearance,” states the memo, co-signed by Undersecretary for Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. and Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness David S.C. Chu.
“On the contrary,” they wrote, “failure to seek care actually increases the likelihood that psychological stress could escalate to a more serious mental condition, which could preclude an individual from performing sensitive duties.”
The letter urges men and women in uniform who are exhibiting symptoms of PTSD to seek help and makes clear that this is not going to put their security clearances or their careers in jeopardy, he said.
“The most important thing for us now is to get the word out as far as we can to every man and woman in uniform to let them know about the change, to let them know the efforts under way, to remove the stigma and to encourage them to seek help when they are in the theater or when they return from the theater,” Gates said. “So this is a very important issue for us.
“We have no higher priority in the Department of Defense, apart from the war itself, than taking care of our men and women in uniform who have been wounded -- who have both visible and unseen wounds,” he said.
Gates called the new Restoration and Resilience Center an example of new approaches the military is taking to provide that care. “This center here is illustrative of what can be done,” he said.
Thirty-six volunteers participating in the program, all diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, receive care that combines group and individual therapy sessions with meditation, yoga, acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic and hot-stone therapy treatments.
“They are all volunteers,” Gates said. “They all come here because they want to.”
Biographies:
Robert M. Gates
Related Articles:
DoD Changes Security Clearance Question on Mental Health
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