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 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.
 The feedback from the Phoenix V.A. PTSD program has contributed greatly to our ability to advise other programs. Another study has just begun there using our guided imagery for Healthful Sleep to help with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) patients, and we eagerly await those results.
 We also just got an update from the Healing Touch/Guided Imagery study at the Awesome Dr. Mimi Guarneri’s shop at Scripps Hospital. They too are getting very promising early results using the Healing Trauma imagery and  Healing Touch with returning Marines suffering from varied degrees of posttraumatic stress symptoms.
Additionally, we’ve been in conversation with  Bethesda Naval Hospital, learning how they’re combining our guided imagery CDs with state-of-the-art biofeedback to produce strong results with patients suffering from a variety of pain, stress and TBI symptoms. More on this later.  We plan to visit the program and figure out more targeted imagery for these patients.
We’re also looking into introducing guided imagery to various National Guard units, either pre-deployment, as part of their stress resilience training, or as a post-deployment, stress relief strategy. This is frequently a seriously under-served population, and we’d like to take some action there.
And we’re also exploring how to get CDs and downloads into military housing as well, so spouses and kids can take advantage of some simple but powerful stress relief at home, while they’re waiting and worrying and struggling to manage without their loved one, and probably with a lot less income, too.
Transition assistance teams are another place these downloads belong. We’re looking there as well.
And we’ve been approached by several family and vet advocacy sites, to create pages with downloads for them too.
In other words, we’re making good headway and pressing on at double speed now. No time to waste. We know we’ve got an intervention that helps enormously with stress and we aim to get it into the ears of those who can use them, in as many ways as we can.
If you’ve had experience with imagery CDs or downloads for the military – either for yourself or with the people you work with – we’re eager to hear about it. We incorporate what you teach us and keep updating programs that need the information. So please don’t hold back – if something works, we need to know it; and if something is counter-productive, we need to know that too.
Thanks.
Take care.
Belleruth, Cindy & the whole HJ Team
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