Waging war on PTSD: Mass

I started this blog with the intent of creating dialogue around Warriors and how they might heal themselves.  Having a strong background in military planning, I always took an opportunity to communicate in a manner that my sisters and brothers-in-arms might appreciate.  Well, in this edition of The Warrior Nation: SITREP, I thought I might just take a real big bite out of post-traumatic stress disorder by applying a little "fight fire with fire" methodology.

Pros vs. Joes

 I love football!  Plain and simple!  I grew up playing the sport in grade school, high school, and continued playing right into college at Ole Miss.  I played linebacker and I really liked to "hit!"  Not in a mean, sadistic way, but in a manner that I deemed as "doing the very best I could do."  Some of you reading this are probably wondering what that means and I'd have to add that it's kinda like riding a Harley...If I have to explain it, you'll never understand. Just know it's about being good at what you do.

Detailed Mission Analysis

In a previous blog from my website, we focused on the importance of setting an Objective.  An Objective, as you may recall, is a Principle of War that states we should “direct every military operation toward a clearly definable, attainable, and decisive objective."  Setting an Objective in our civilian lives allows us to focus on the end-state, it creates personal ownership of what we seek to accomplish, and

Observations on Boiling Frogs: Part 3 of 3

In my last blog post, we touched on how hypervigilance, a symptom of PTSD, is manifested in the brain.  From our original metaphor, it is easy to see how a frog becomes comfortable in a pot of water set to boil.  Ultimately, the frog succumbs to the heat and is not able to “get away” from the cause of its ultimate demise.  Likewise, a warrior exposed to continuous combat begins to adapt to his or her hostile environment and ultimately becomes forever on-guard.  As I mentioned at the end of

Observations on Boiling Frogs: Part 2 of 3

In my last blog, I highlighted the symptom and emotional state of PTSD known as hypervigilance.  To go a step deeper into understanding this emotional state, I’d like to present some recent science that helps us understand how the brain works and to present some recent discoveries that may shed some light on future and promising non-drug related solutions.  I believe that non-drug solutions and processes are even more important in treating stress related emotional states than drug therapies, as these modalities focus on the problem and not on the symptoms.  To put it another way, think abou

Improbable

If you watched the big game yesterday, you are quite aware of the excitement that fills the city of New Orleans.  Even as I type this blog out on Monday morning, I am sure the French Quarter is still full of celebration and joy.  As promised last week, I would devote this week's blog to a dominant thought focusing on that game.  Actually, I think yesterday's game can be summed up in one word: improbable.

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