(This blog was originally posted on July 6, 2014)
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| Photo courtesy of Microsoft |
Some
people become very traumatized by their experiences in a war or while fighting
a war, Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. observed. “Any
time a person goes into an extremely stressful situation, you start to
anticipate the stress or danger,” he said. Even though soldiers receive
specific combat skills, their survival depends on their ability to fight and
kill as well as to deal with the horrors that they have experienced or
witnessed on the battlefield: i.e., the fight/flight/freeze response.
Dr. Kappas
warned that whenever a person represses the stress and emotions (e.g., fear,
sadness, anger) experienced during combat, he or she is vulnerable to suffering
“post-war depression” or, as post-traumaticstress disorder. The Diagnostics and Statistics Manual IV defines PTSD as an extremely complex disorder that includes
psychological as well as physical symptoms of distress. These include: insomnia,
bad dreams or flashbacks of the war experience, explosive anger, survivor’s
guilt and difficulties integrating with or back into society. Job performance
at work may and personal relationships with the spouse/lover, friends and
family may also be negatively affected. Even if the stress is repressed when
the traumatic event occurs, eventually these symptoms surface and must be dealt
with, he warned. “Some guys 20 years out of the Service are fine and then
suddenly break,” the late hypnotherapist warned. “After you survive in the
military/war, if it’s the only thing you know, it can be a shock to face the
real world,” Dr. Kappas said. Treatment for PTSD entails desensitizing the
client to the stress of war and reintegrating the person back into his or her
“old” life, including relationships and work.
On January 1,
2013, I earned a certification to use hypnosis to help people who are
experiencing PTSD to reduce stress and symptoms in order to improve their
quality of life. I use hypnosis, relaxation/breathing and therapeutic guided-imagery techniques to teach these clients how to manage stress. I also employ
cognitive behavioral-therapy techniques and exposure therapy to help the person
separate (un-pair) the association between triggers of fear about the previous
traumatic event and what is going on in their current environment. Because PTSD
is such a complex disorder, I require a referral* from both a licensed medical doctor and
a licensed psychotherapist for me to provide hypnotherapy as a
complementary therapy to alleviate, manage and control these symptoms.
I
would like to thank each of the men and women who have risked and continue to
risk their lives—and those who have sacrificed their lives—to protect and
defend our country. I will not forget you.
*California law allows access by California
residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are
not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The
purpose of a program of hypnotherapy is for vocational and avocational
self-improvement (Business and Professions Code 2908) and as an alternative or
complementary treatment to healing arts services licensed by the state. A
hypnotherapist is not a licensed physician or psychologist, and hypnotherapy
services are not licensed by the state of California. Services are
non-diagnostic and do not include the practice of medicine, neither should they
be considered as a substitute for licensed medical or psychological services or
procedures.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a
certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with
honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
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