PTSD: NAMB chaplains get biblical training

Today must be the day of my vindication. This is one more article written about the connection between PTSD and the spirit. You would think with what the military knows they would actually see what they know and understand it, but they don't. This is a wound to the soul, the spirit of the warrior and has been documented throughout history. Why is it the military seems all so willing to dismiss all of this when they are treating soldiers with the technology but not the spiritual needs where all of this arises from?

"Psyche means soul" in the words of Dr. Tick, author of War and The Soul. No one seems to know why the DOD and the VA have ignored so much of this. I've made more progress in the last five years than I have dreamt of before. Why? Because after I wrote my book, For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle, I stopped just looking at the spiritual needs I had met by God but saw how the wound set in on our veterans in the first place. I understood that what my husband was saying, was what most of them were saying. I trusted that understanding enough to allow me to talk more freely about the wounded souls. I stopped approaching it as a distant, disconnected teacher and allowed the human to rise up.

When I write about the spiritual needs of healing, I am either ignored or treated to rambling emails about the proselytizing going on in the military instead of reaching out to all of God's children. Non-religious friends of mine cannot understand we are all spiritual creatures, no matter what faith we claim and all of us have the same needed of reconnecting to God, no matter which way we seek it. I don't care what church anyone decides to go to, or what religious group they belong to. That is not my job and is not my place to decide for them. I am simply trying to get them to look at another aspect of being human. A side they have forgotten in all of this screaming out for help.

Right now, to all the people dismissing the spiritual aspect of PTSD, they need to either pay attention from this point on or get out of the way. Ancient people knew better how to treat PTSD than they do but our troops and veterans have been paying the price for their ignorance of the soul and the need to be fed.

Edward Tick's Story
The warrior returns

"PTSD is a soul wound."

Dr. Ed Tick, author of War and the Soul, discusses how ancient cultures dealt with returning warriors, and the modern veteran’s place in society today.
Dr. Edward Tick, author of the groundbreaking book “War and the Soul” and founder of Soldier’s Heart, is a practicing psychotherapist specializing in veterans with PTSD. Ed received his master’s in psychology from Goddard College, Vermont and his doctorate in communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Ed has been in private psychotherapy practice since 1975 and began focusing on veteran’s issues in 1979.

http://www.notalone.com/the-warrior-returns-2065.htm

PTSD: NAMB chaplains get biblical training

Posted on Jul 2, 2009 by Ann Lovell
SEOUL, South Korea (BP)--Chaplain (Major) Ed Choi understands the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Deployed as a U.S. Army chaplain in Iraq for tours of duty in 2004-05 and 2006-07, Choi lost more than 30 soldiers and conducted 18 memorial services. He returned from combat burnt out, angry and frustrated.

"I was on my knees in my living room, crying out to God," Choi said. "I read Matthew 12:18-21, and verse 20 spoke to me -- 'a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.' I knew I needed help, but then my wife also told me I needed help. When she speaks, I listen."

Choi attended the Advanced School for Chaplains at Fort Jackson, S.C., also known as the Captain Chaplain's Career Course or C4. At the Advanced School, he realized that he was suffering from compassion fatigue, and he was diagnosed with PTSD.

"At C4," Choi said, "I realized I was not alone."

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affects approximately 5.2 million people in any given year. The National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder estimates that 70 percent of the general population will experience a traumatic event in their lives. Of that 70 percent, 20 percent are likely to develop PTSD symptoms, which include reliving the event, avoiding situations that trigger memories of the event and feeling numb or jumpy. Those who live and work in dangerous situations are at greater risk. Military chaplains are certainly no exception.
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http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=30826