We’ve been getting more and more valuable feedback on how our troops are using guided imagery to improve their emotional resilience and reduce symptoms of acute stress and PTSD. And at long last, the word is starting to spread from base to base, vet center to vet center, hospital to hospital, without our having to go sell the idea anew to each place. This has been a long time coming, people!

The Duke/Durham V.A. studies continue apace, some nearing completion, and the exciting results continue to hold steady and even improve as we tweak the imagery intervention.  The summary of three clinical trials, plus a survey, can be found here. We’ll have more to report when the final blood work and MRI studies are in, so stay tuned.  That’s when the journal articles will appear, too.

Researchers R. Bruce Lydiard, Ph.D., M.D., and Mark Hammer MD from the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston SC , are embarking on some important research that targets sleep disturbance in posttraumatic stress.  Their premise is that the first-line treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder - medication (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and cognitive behavior therapy – do not adequately treat nightmares and insomnia. Nor do they feel that there is sufficient awareness in the mental health community of the critical role sleep disturbance plays in PTSD.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to tell you what a huge difference guided imagery has made to me.

Briefly, I was a victim of sexual abuse from age seven to 10. This man (a neighbor) literally pulled me off the sidewalk one day in April and changed my life forever. In winter, he left me alone. But come Spring, there he was again.

It was a couple of years into therapy before I realized why I had always loved winter and sank into depression each Spring.

Question:

Well...an email from Dr. Shealy's outfit today linked me to an excerpt (chapter 10) from Invisible Heroes [ed.note: this refers to a free report that NICABM has been distributing online]...which provoked me into looking the book up over at Amazon...which, despite the glowing reviews, intensified my already burgeoning dismay. The basis of that dismay is my inability to visualize; my minds eye wears a patch. I wasn't always this way; I know the power of "seeing", visualization. I wonder (hope), do you have any recommendations, suggestions for me? Anything that might make your process fruitful for me? (ooops! I submitted this to the wrong place initially; sorry!)

Mike

Hi.

I watched Belleruth today being interviewed on London TV.  I was amazed.  I was abused as a child, from 18 months to 22 years old.  During my twenties, whenever a memory or flashback invaded my head, I used to visualize myself as an adult, rescuing me as a child.  This had a profound effect on me, and also shifted the dynamics of powerlessness.  Although I could not change what happened to me, I did not have to relive the horror in memories or flashbacks.  In time, the flashbacks faded away and did not bother me. I am at peace with my childhood. 

However, 3 years ago, I was date raped, and I am having difficulties. The memories  are not there, although the feelings of terror are.  I suffer terrible panic attacks, and I jump from anger and pain to apathy and not leaving the house.  How do I get past memories I don't have?  Please help. 

Kind regards, Carina

I am a psychologist who works part-time in a high security prison environment.  (I am convinced this job keeps me real.  My other part-time job is in a private practice in a wealthy suburb.)

I want to report consistent success with the Anger & Forgiveness imagery with my men. I would not have anticipated the dramatic and profound responses I have seen in group.  Several men have had breakthroughs that led to changed behavior ever since.  Many have started to feel emotions again (something other than anger) as a result of the imagery experience.  Much pent-up grief and sadness is expressed.  It sits right under the anger.  The group cohesion has grown just from the experience of listening together.

Dear BR and Health Journeys,

My brother witnessed the violence at Virginia Tech.  Since then, when there is news of a mass shooting his mental health suffers.  He gets insomnia, anxiety, short temper and jumpiness during these times. He also gets an anniversary reaction each April that lasts 2-3 weeks.  

I had a terrific, informative chat with Adriana Tarazon, OEF/OIF Psychologist at the Phoenix V.A.  She’s a great proponent of guided imagery (and other mind-body methods), having used hundreds of our CDs with the men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.  As a result, she’s a mind-blowing encyclopedia of practical information about what works for returning troops and what doesn’t. 

Question: 
Hi Belleruth,
Thanks for the info about how guided imagery is helping veterans at the V.A.  I had a chance to share the research today with a V.A. counselor who is finding that spouses need to navigate how to not get lost in the partner's PTSD, and be open hearted at the same time.  Can you recommend something for the second-hand PTSD population? Would you consider creating relaxation/imagery audios to meet the healing and boundary needs of the spouses and children of the returning vets??
Anna