Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge Psychosocial Stress Series)

You looking to find the "Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge Psychosocial Stress Series)" Good news! You can purchase Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge Psychosocial Stress Series) with secure price and compare to view update price on this product. And deals on this product is available only for limited time.

   

Product Description

Healing War Trauma details a broad range of exciting approaches for healing from the trauma of war. The techniques described in each chapter are designed to complement and supplement cognitive-behavioral treatment protocols� and, ultimately, to help clinicians transcend the limits of those protocols.

For those veterans who do not respond productively to� or who have simply little interest in� office-based, regimented, and symptom-focused treatments, the innovative approaches laid out in Healing War Trauma will inspire and inform both clinicians and veterans as they chart new paths to healing.

</p>

Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge Psychosocial Stress Series) Review

As a practicing psychotherapist who has personally lived with four generations of combat veterans, this reviewer has read everything available on the subject of wounded warriors, over the past 40 years. This book and its companion volume are unparalleled in value, insight, and applicability. Heady praise, to be sure, for these authors and their contributors, but it is difficult to curb enthusiasm for such a hope filled, meaningful, and satisfying endeavor. Highly user friendly, the information herein can be directly utilized by seasoned professionals, veterans and their families, and by any community members who want practical advice on how to make a difference HERE & NOW...as yet another generation of men and women come home from War. We can change the course of history and not "lose" another generation of warriors to lifelong misery and suicide but...it does indeed "take a village"! The book begins with in depth descriptions of "the 12 most common survival modes that make it possible to survive and function in a war zone, each followed by boxes describing ways in which combat veterans are "bringing it home" as pertains to each mode and how it manifests itself on the home front. This is by Scurfield, Platoni, and David Rabb and could be a book unto itself, perhaps entitled "For Whom The Bell Tolls".

Michael Zacchea describes the battles that veterans face after being discharged from active duty: the history as to whether veterans deserve to be considered a special population with special benefits owed for their service and the struggle for benefits and fair treatment from World War Ito the present day. Zacchea goes on to discuss why and how veterans themselves become involved in advocacy; he suggests guidelines for vets involved in such advocacy and the continuing struggle to achieve meaningful and deserved rights, benefits, and understanding.

John Wilson describes Native American rituals for warriors. He asks the following questions: How is psychic trauma experienced within a culture-specific context? How do different nations, cultures, and community-based organizations deal with trauma survivors, no matter what the origin of their traumatic experiences? How do cultures create, establish, or maintain healing processes, including specific rituals to help the trauma victim regain psychological and physical well-being? Wilson states that it is his belief that cultures across the world evolve or develop their own "tailored" forms of healing rituals. Wilson then goes on to describe absolutely awesome personal experiences after "stopping his scientific, Western, rational, deductive logic" and embracing traditional Native American healing practices for combat veterans. Wilson successfully imparts to the reader the virtually indescribable intertwinings of transcendence and groundedness he experiences, which he translates into creative healing rituals and techniques (described in detail). Most importantly, Wilson will give you hope that even the most damaged, guilt-ridden, "wasted" veterans amongst us can be returned to wholeness, productivity, and happiness.

Sherrill Valdez describes healing ceremonies that assist the veteran returning from deployment, with particular attention paid to distinctive readjustment issues facing the National Guard and Reserves. There are many such soldiers walking among us and working beside us and living on our streets. They are unsung and largely unappreciated because they minimize their discussions of War and their service, and as all men and women who have served on combat, they make every effort to hide their anguish, and sense of alienation from all that was once familiar. Moreover, life is now so fluid and fast paced (in the 21st century) that the returning vet is confronted with changes in family, work, and society at large. Valdez warns that it is imperative that communities "step out" and become proactive in facilitating the readjustment process. How??? Valdez notes, "the families need to feel connected to the community, appreciated, and emotionally supported through all cycles of deployment". Imagine how much easier coming home would be if men and women see this effort made! Making meals, providing transportation, home repair, taking the kids for an afternoon...while dealing with inevitable inner battles over what they experienced during deployment, at least they feel acceptance and belonging and family dysfunction is minimized. The ceremonies described in this chapter can profoundly affect the grieving process, grieving over loss of fellow soldiers, loss of limbs or brain function, loss of identity, loss of innocence. These ceremonies help to normalize the grieving process, thereby preventing complicated grieving, which leads to prolonged misery and hopelessness. If you as a civilian wish to provide meaningful appreciation, not just a handshake at an airport, please do study the ceremonies outlined in this chapter and think through what you can do to let our men and women know that no matter how deep the psychic wounds, they are lovingly embraced and acknowledged.

Stephanie Wise and Emily Nash describe workshops during Project America with The ArtReach Foundation. This reviewer is so struck, as with other contributors, at the eagerness with which the authors openly share their thoughts via detailed descriptions of techniques. Metaphor is easier shown than defined, but simply put it is the meaning that gets expressed in art of all types, including painting, drawing, sculpting, music, dance, and just about any other effort made to express what the soul cannot articulate in words. As the authors state, "creativity reignited old familiar aspects of the soul which many felt had been lost or extinguished by the oppressive inner predation of their traumatic experiences". They note that personal narratives of the "unspeakable" may in time be ready to emerge. While this reviewer has often encouraged "laymen" to use some form of every one of the creative techniques in this book, the bridging of metaphor to deeply felt trauma should be done ONLY under professional supervision.

Ron Caps describes writing, another powerful use of metaphor, as a means of gaining control over traumatic memories via release and reframing. The Veterans Writing Project is about literary writing as in poems, essays, short stories, novels. In VWP seminars, two questions are asked: "Why do we write?" and "What is different about writing the military experience?" Caps gives the answers in this chapter. And as with other contributors, he details how the seminars are conducted. The focus is on learning to control the memories (breaking down) and on bearing witness (rebuilding). Himself a full-time writer (and combat veteran, as are many other contributors) Caps outlines vital points for therapists to consider. Writing is an extraordinarily sensitive topic - the psyche is so fragile, the psychic wounds so fearsome, yet the courage to master the indescribable so admirable. The soul is reclaimed! Soul wounding does not mean soul inaccessibility nor is it impervious to healing.

Janice Buckley & Janet Raulerson describe Heartbeat, a non-profit that offers two unconventional therapy programs for wounded warriors. One involves horseback riding and EAT, Equine Assisted Therapy, and the other involves diving. Even more than other modalities that get the client out of the consulting room and into healing activities, the love and understanding that develops between human and horse is an anecdote to many "relational" ills. The authors note that with horses, "to teach a horse to be calm, trusting, and responsive to an individual, that individual must first acquire those qualities himself". Under the direction of skilled professionals and volunteers, warriors develop or redevelop skills of empathy, sharing, boundary setting, and mutual understanding. Scuba Warriors eventuates in open water scuba certification, with the process incorporating therapy into each activity. In addition to the calming effects of diving, cognitive skills are enhanced, such as problem solving, memory functioning, and interpersonal communication. Both of these programs give back to our wounded warriors' self-esteem, accomplishment, and stress management abilities. If you have the means and personnel and equipment, you could simulate these programs in your own locale. Much of the therapeutic benefit is in the "doing" and not the "analyzing" and is on the present and future, not discussing the past unless the warrior sees fit. These programs work, and work well, as exemplified in brief case studies in this chapter. Step out!

Lori Daniels describes nightmare therapy, which has the benefits of (1) permitting the warrior to "find" and share the emotions connected with the (disguised) core trauma(s) and (2) hopefully eventuating in catharsis and an Action Plan. Recurrent dreams symbolize not only psychic conflict but, as Daniels asserts, a "call to action". Proactive dream work is outlined and discussed in a listing of five objectives, and as with many other techniques admirably detailed in this book, the "Gestalt" is greater than the sum of its parts. The healing the warrior experiences from this modality is (1) a reframing of perceptions of events and (2) the clarification of meanings of actual events. Moreover, if the dream work is done in a group setting, other warriors can benefit vicariously. There's so much here...defining possible trauma triggers, exploring intense feelings of guilt and helplessness, grief, 16 questions that can be used to initiate dialogue about traumatic dreams. Nightmare Therapy is broken down into three parts and should be conducted only by skilled and experienced psychotherapists. It is not for the faint hearted. The last part, The Action Plan, provides real-life applications that will hopefully resolve underlying conflicts and unfinished business.

Mary Cortani describes Operation Freedom Paws, which pairs wounded warriors with canines that are in part, or fully, trained (and training of service dogs is ongoing for the life of the animal) by the wounded warriors themselves. She outlines the benefits of the canine-human bond that is established (18 ways the dogs bring their owners' lives back in balance) and lists these abilities that eventuate: to engage in conversation with loved ones and strangers; to increase memory function; to begin caring/feeling again; to go out in crowds; to be proud again; to believe in themselves again; to accomplish yet another mission. These are generally rescue dogs that are screened for suitability. Warriors participating at the very core level of training their dogs overcome isolation and each dog is tailored to the veteran's special needs/disabilities, whether physical or emotional. Is this yet another way in which the reader can launch a community-based healing process for our men and women who so deserve our involvement in their homecoming experience?

Robert Csandl describes a remarkable program of inpatient non-hospital care for veterans struggling with substance abuse, PTSD, and all other sequelae of the soul shattering experience of War. The program is based on the Therapeutic Community milieu with Trauma-Informed Care modalities. TC is described and clearly, the types of treatments utilized (also described briefly) achieve the ever daunting task of combining spiritual needs (often very unique and difficult for the vet to articulate) with practical relearning of life as a civilian with personal and social accountability. If programs such as Veteran Sanctuary could be operationalized throughout the country, the human devastation that follows the veteran home could be virtually eliminated.

Colleen Mizuki describes mindful-awareness practice to foster physical, emotional, and mental healing with service members and veterans.

Daniel Kirsch describes cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) with Alpha-Stim: mild electrical triage of the brain with war veterans.

Katherine Platoni describes the use of hypnotherapy in the wartime theater (she has been deployed four times to date) with a comprehensive detailing of the essential factors required to produce a hypnotic state, the role of hypnosis in treating dissociation/complex PTSD, and specific treatment strategies that she utilizes involving hypnotherapy. This method should only be used by trained, credentialed, experienced clinicians. Hypnosis has such amazing healing power, and yet has been so abused by "every Tom, Dick, & Harry" that it has been difficult to reclaim its reputation. Many of the OTHER treatment options in this book can be modified for use by regular folks; NOT SO with hypnotherapy! Hypnosis is awesome but should only be used by qualified therapists. Platoni notes that hypnosis is "the uncritical acceptance of suggestions" ..."a roused and attentive state of focused concentration"... and "this technique rapidly taps into the veteran's creative resources". Platoni discusses three phases of intervention: symptom stabilization and reduction, treatment of traumatic memories, personality reintegration and rehabilitation. Once you read this chapter and fully absorb the enormity of the work Platoni does, you will be amazed by her courage and determination, not to mention the lives she has altered.

Lily Casura describes the Healing Combat Trauma Website and how it came to be, a marvelous site with 135 different categories of material, representing everything available in the way of treatment modalities, with hundreds of recommended books of therapeutic interest and additional groupings of first-person narratives from every War.

Seven contributors describe SimCoach: an online intelligent virtual human agent system for breaking down barriers to care for service members and veterans.

Raymond Scurfield and Katherine Platoni describe resolving combat-related guilt and responsibility issues. AWESOME chapter!!!

Mary Beth Wiliams describes an approach that helps veterans impacted by War successfully enter or re-enter the civilian workforce. This innovative approach facilitates veterans in seeking, finding, and retaining meaningful post-War employment.

Stephanie Lanham and Joyce Pelletier desribe spirituality as a means of facilitatiing healing from War trauma.

The book concludes with an Afterward of War Trauma Resources.

Most of the consumer Reviews tell that the "Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge Psychosocial Stress Series)" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge Psychosocial Stress Series) ...