Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 is a witty, ironic discussion of the double binds our WWII troops faced due to the military bureaucracy. But here’s the thing: More than 50 years later, this double-bind hasn’t gotten any better. The term Heller coined to describe “no-win” military policies can still be used to describe many of the situations our veterans face as they return home from war. The latest Catch-22 for our heroes? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder stigma in hiring.

In a recent New York Post piece, numerous veterans describe this Catch-22 in blatant terms: If they disclose that they suffer PTSD, the New York Police Department won’t hire them. But if they hide their PTSD from the military (and the NYPD, which receives the military’s medical files), veterans run the risk of losing their health care if the condition gets more severe.

One veteran said he passed the NYPD entrance exam in 2006, before his tour overseas. When he developed PTSD from the fighting and admitted it to the military, they shared that information with the police department. NYPD then disqualified him from serving on the force.

This is where PTSD stigma has gotten our veterans.

Although it’s understandable for a police department to require mental health screenings for officers who may have to use deadly force, that doesn’t change the fact that our veterans are in a devastating double bind. Our veterans still face dire jobless rates,and often turn to addiction or self-harm when they have nowhere else to go for help. Seeking help should be seen as honorable, courageous and an important step in taking care of one’s health; but because of the stigma surrounding PTSD, a veteran wears a scarlet letter as soon as he or she divulges any PTSD symptoms. It’s time for stigma to stop trumping our veterans’ strengths and virtue.

One way to decrease these ill feelings toward PTSD, a condition affecting nearly one-third of our troops is to ramp up public education efforts. Our veterans and their families aren’t the only ones who need to understand what it means to live with this condition; employers and other civilians are a big piece of the puzzle. When we teach employers and the public to understand and accept PTSD as a treatable condition, we are helping our veterans slowly break free from this stigma.

Veterans

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Economists and the media tell us we have just come back from the precipice of the “fiscal cliff.” I posit that we are on the verge of an even more serious crisis, “The Emotional Ledge,” a result of allowing ourselves to believe everything we see, hear, feel and think. This impairs our ability to self-regulate and undermines our emotional and physical safety, well-being, sense of self and happiness.

Like other dystopian authors, Aldous Huxley held a pretty bleak view of society. In A Brave New World, his future looks something like this: We live to consume. We’re brainwashed by advertisements and institutions that make us feel as though we’re free, even as they wipe out any originality and creativity in us. We lack meaningful relationships. We live in a society where art and religion are four-letter words, but where science reigns supreme. Science controls how we live, when we die, and what we look like; we’re all born in labs, adjusted to be exactly how society wants us to be.

Some aspects of this dreary dystopia seem farfetched (after all, we’re not all born in laboratories, and most of us still value deep connections with our fellow humans). But there’s also some fitting forecasting at play here: Our society is becoming more preoccupied with consumption, and technology has begun to rule many of our lives. And advertising and media do play a strong role in how we humans think about the world, which can threaten our originality — if we let it.

Huxley’s view of the future doesn’t have to be our future. Yes, the world is imperfect. There are a lot of negative forces at play. But with the right attitude and approach to life, we can avoid making Huxley’s terrifying vision of society our reality. It’s time to embrace the United States of Amazing.

What is the United States of Amazing? This is no saccharin-sweet view on life, and it’s not a Pollyanna perspective. It’s the art of swallowing the bitter pills that come from life’s disappointments and choosing happiness as a vitamin regime. So, I urge you to explore this brave new world with these Emotionally Intelligent tools in your arsenal:

• Might
• Gratitude
• Kindness
• Passion
• Empathy
• Amusement
• Inquisitiveness
• Curiosity
• Transparency
• Vibrancy
• Authenticity
• Love
• Bravery
• Courage
• Creativity
• Compassion

The outcome is always unknown, but by applying the United States of Amazing viewpoint to your journey, you’ll find the future looks brighter than it does bleak.

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What do Madonna, Matthew McConaughey, and Jennifer Aniston have in common with our veterans?

Harvesting Happiness Lisa Kamen

Yoga. With this celebrity fitness secret now going mainstream, even our veterans are hitting the yoga mat. Why? To treat their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s the latest proof that, sometimes, a harmonious brain-body connection is the best medicine.

With more than one-third of our veterans suffering from PTSD, it’s clear that the go-to therapies — pills and prescriptions — aren’t solving the problem. But interestingly enough, research shows that trauma-sensitive yoga, which uses breathing, stretching and meditation, can help calm the portion of the brain that gets hyper-aroused during a stress episode — no medication required.

If you’ve ever practiced yoga or meditation, this probably doesn’t surprise you. Yoga has been known to have a cathartic effect, unlocking a person’s repressed emotions. And in the case of PTSD, it can help a person shift his or her focus inward, away from the stress and trauma, by triggering the parasympathetic nervous system. Yoga isn’t a substitute for warranted medical care, but it is an integrated, evidence-based strategy that will help people cope, heal, grow and thrive.

In my day-to-day work with veterans, I have seen firsthand how a three-prong Brain-Body-Breath approach helps them turn post-traumatic stress into post-traumatic growth. Here’s how holistic PTSD therapy works:

Brain

The first step in treating PTSD is to help an individual communicate emotions in a safe, constructive way. After engaging in talk therapy, counseling and peer groups, I begin to see our warriors develop constructive tools for grieving and expressing their emotions.

Body

Another crucial aspect of overcoming trauma is to be at ease with one’s body. Through practices such as trauma-sensitive yoga, individuals can train their bodies to use relaxation and awareness as tools when turmoil or stress arise.

Breath

Through proper breathing and mediation, individuals with PTSD can learn to become rooted in the present moment, which will help them overcome PTSD-related trauma episodes that often occur without a moment’s warning. Meditation can also improve a person’s stress release, mood and ability to relax.

This trifecta of wellbeing keeps myself and the veterans I work with balanced, joyful and able to persevere no matter what curveball life throws. This integrated, holistic approach to healing helps PTSD sufferers turn their trauma into growth. And here’s the best part: The only side effects are peace of mind, happiness, and a more centered view on life.

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The New Year is here. For most of us, that means we’re in full-on resolution mode, seeing the year ahead through rose-colored glasses and a prism of unbridled opportunity. Vows to curb our consumption of carbs, pursue our passions, and spend time with the ones we love abound, as we leave 2012 in our dust. As we have bid adieu to 2012 and greeted 2013, let’s take a moment to reflect on the reality of the last 12 months through our veterans’ eyes.

Our veterans had another tough year. Their unemployment hovered well above the general population’s joblessness rate, with 1 in 10 of our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans out of work as of November. Our warriors continue to be stigmatized by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that now grips nearly one-third of our veterans. The military sex abuse scandal at Lackland Air Force Base has resulted in more than 40 women coming forward with heartbreaking stories of unwanted sexual advances by their instructors.

But by far the most devastating issue facing our military personnel is suicide. New data shows that more active-duty soldiers committed suicide than died in combat in 2012. It’s a tragic testament to our society’s shortcomings in treating PTSD.

These issues make each day a hurdle for our veterans, whether the calendar reads 2012 or 2013. But as we jump into the New Year, I propose a different kind of resolution — one that’s not about losing weight, accelerating our climb up the career ladder, or traveling to foreign shores. This year, let’s finally give veteran health care the attention it deserves. Stopping veteran suicide, unemployment and sexual abuse all starts with PTSD. By striving to provide holistic, stigma-free care for our warriors, we can take a large step toward helping them heal their invisible wounds.

Let’s make their priorities our priority. Let’s make 2013 the year of the veterans.

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Tragedy is exactly that: Tragic.  It comes quickly, with heavy impact on the bodies, hearts and minds of those affected by it’s devastation. The recent bombings in Boston have once again brought tragedy to the forefront of our thoughts, and we may all find ourselves grieving at the great pain caused by such a terrorizing act upon the innocent.

Experiences such as this event and others such as the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, are devastating not only for the families and friends of those whose lives these random acts of violence claim, but also on society as a whole.  It is during this time, that we are tested most in the art of resiliency, the ability to transcend the tragic outcome of an unforeseeable event with hope, optimism and action.

Although difficult to process, these three components of moving forward are vital to a healthy response that allows us to process the event like an ocean wave; accepting each new wave of varying emotions as it hits, and allowing the emotion to come and go in it’s own time.  Just as waves hit the beach in a violent storm, thoughts of anger and revenge are to be expected and can best met with proactive action.

Here are five tips for turning anger into positive management of the grieving process:
1. Connect.  Reach out to others who are in your support circle (family and friends) or those experiencing the tragedy with you.  Our instinct is to with-hold our thoughts and process internally, but sharing the physical process of a tragedy through hugs, tears, and verbal expressions with others, is vital to sorting out anger for the management of sadness.

2. Talk. Share your thoughts with others in your support system.  They want to be a part of your grieving and support you in any way they can.  Use them as a shoulder to rely on as you process the tragedy and the loss.  Share your thoughts with them, allow them to hear your thoughts and respond in their own way to be a part of the healing.  Talking out loud offers a sounding board for processing your true emotions and can be a great release from the pressure building in your heart and thoughts.

3. Serve.  If you are a family member, friend, co-worker or neighbor to someone who has suffered a great tragedy, you can find ways to reach out to the party grieving through small acts of kindness; a card, a hug, a knock on the door with a dinner, a call to play babysitter, an offer to pick up some groceries at the store while you are out, an offer to water the plants or even just a phone call checking in.  If you are the one grieving, you will find comfort in a small act of service to another grieving as you break out of your thoughts to be the shoulder for another. A small service goes a long way to rebuilding joy.

4. Breathe.  Remember to keep your body going.  Tragic events can literally take your breath away while adding to the panic you’re feeling already.  Without deep and focused breathing, our bodies remain in a state of panic, which works against the healing that your body is craving.  Before or after talking with someone, as the panic and the pain begins to well up, pause for a deep breath, which can help you process the emotional thought you are forming.
Simply put, breathing deeply helps you exhale everything from pain to tears.

5. Eat Well.  When our body and mind is in shock, we respond different ways.  Sometimes we eat nothing at all, and sometimes we might find ourselves eating nothing but the comfort food we rely on to make us feel better: chocolate, chips, cookies, candy, etc. . .  Our bodies need sustainable foods to sustain the grieving we are undergoing. Try to eat as healthy as possible when the hunger hits. Sliced apples, grapes, yogurt, and healthy whole grains are great items for neighbors to bring to grieving families, and will go a long way in keeping our body’s ability to fight off illnesses while we are in a weakened state, but will keep our minds healthy as we push through the waves of emotion hitting us.

We at Harvesting Happiness offer our sincere condolences to the victims and families affected by the horrific events in Boston, and we hope that these tips will be valuable in helping heal your pain.  Our hearts and minds are with you!

Sincerely,
Lisa Cypers Kamen
Director
Harvesting Happiness

boston skyline image credit

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If you’ve ever found solace in your favorite song, you already know that music can work wonders on your mood. But there’s evidence that the healing power of music goes well beyond that: new research shows that the tempo, movement and dynamics in a piece of music can trigger a unique brain response that can help people overcome physical and emotional trauma. One of the most high-profile music therapy success stories is Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, who credits this creative form of therapy for her miracle-like recovery from the tragic Tucson shooting. Music is therapy, and it’s time we embrace its healing powers.

That’s why Harvesting Happiness for Heroes is so excited to join creative forces with Virginia Beach-based singer-songwriter Bekah Eden. A cause artist with an unbelievable knack for giving voice to emotion, Bekah wrote and produced the song “In Between” to chronicle the struggle of Veterans living with PTSD and other invisible wounds of war. From the first moment we heard the song’s soaring melody, powerful piano line and inspired lyrics, we knew it would resonate with our Veterans, their families, and anyone else living with trauma.

HH4H’s official anthem, “In Between” will be released worldwide this week

premiering on the Seattle-based terrestrial radio station WAVE. A portion of the proceeds from Bekah’s song will go directly to HH4Heroes’ nonprofit programming, which provides stigma-free and mission-driven integrated combat trauma programming for Veterans with PTSD and their families. We know the song will inspire you just as much as it has inspired HH4H and the Warriors we serve. Show your support for our Veterans, HH4H and Bekah Eden by purchasing a copy of “In Between” on iTunes.

Click on the link below to enjoy Eden’s touching tribute to our brave warriors.

In Between

Music heals, but so does action. That’s why HH4H is working with Groupon Grassroots to offer 20 scholarships each in May and June for Veterans desiring to participate in private our six 90-minute weekly Online community program designed to reclaim wellness after war through our R.E.B.O.O.T. program. Designed to reach underserved communities, R.E.B.O.O.T. provides Warriors suffering from PTSD with online integrated combat trauma recovery group coaching sessions to help them overcome their trauma and reclaim their happiness.

For more information on R.E.B.O.O.T, including how to apply for a scholarship, visit our website. And be sure to support our Veterans by purchasing “In Between” by Bekah Eden on iTunes.

The post Music Soothes. Music Heals. Music Helps Raise Awareness By Lisa Cypers Kamen appeared first on Harvesting Happiness.

Originally published in The Huffington Post

When PTSD transfers from the battlefield to the home, this disorder quickly becomes a family affair. So set an extra plate at dinner tonight; PTSD is joining you.

One of the things I hear time and time again is that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is an isolated condition. If you think that’s true, you’re not alone; I used to be one of those people. But when I began working with veterans, I discovered something profound: PTSD affects every person in the sufferer’s life, from spouses to children to extended family to friends. Secondhand trauma is real, and if it lingers untreated, can be just as scarring as having PTSD yourself. For children, the exposure to PTSD is especially toxic.

Children who see their parents struggle with PTSD typically respond one of three ways. Some take on the role of the rescuer, taking on a parental role to compensate for their parent’s difficulties. Other children begin to withdraw when they stop receiving the emotional support they need from mom or day. For a third group of children, the result is secondhand trauma. Through this process, the parent’s horrors become the child’s horrors, and child lives out his parent’s legacy of suffering. Secondhand trauma robs children of their youth, creating a lasting heritage of doubt, mistrust, and a fear of reliving the hurt one’s parent has endured.

Any of these three scenarios can damage a child’s emotional development. That’s why it’s so important to include the entire family in a veteran’s PTSD treatment. By encouraging an open dialogue among family members and their loved one with PTSD, behavioral therapists such as myself can help happiness become part of the healing process. Children can learn to create joy in spite of the challenges by rediscovering playful moments and using that happiness to reengage with the present. As families struggle to regulate amid PTSD, it’s essential that they talk about their feelings and allow space for this joy to creep back in.

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Last week, the Department of Defense announced that women will soon be allowed to serve in combat. There’s been a lot of talk about what this means for women, with some feminists celebrating the decision and others worrying about the harsh reality to come. But what about how women in combat will affect PTSD?

PTSD is an epidemic. It affects American servicemen and servicewomen of all backgrounds, all ages and all military titles. But in recent years, the prevalence of PTSD has increased among our female Veterans, sitting around 20 percent according to the Department of Defense. Among male Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, most sources put the rate somewhere between 14 and 18 percent. But with more women joining the front lines, this rate is bound to increase, and fast. We owe it to our female Veterans and our active duty servicewomen to learn more about how PTSD affects them.

Here’s what we know now: Even after the ban disappears, women may still be less exposed to the front lines. But at the same time, women are much more likely to suffer Military Sexual Trauma, also called Military Sexual Violence. These experiences of sexual assault or repeated, threatening acts of sexual harassment are closely linked to PTSD. In one study of Korean War Veterans, exposure to sexual assault put an individual at a higher risk for PTSD than combat. More than 50 sexual assaults occurred per day between October 2010 and September 2011, and women were by far the most common victims. One-third of our active-duty servicewomen say they have experienced MST.

When women develop PTSD, they often experience different symptoms than men do. Women suffering from PTSD are more likely to develop anxiety and depression than men are. But at the same time, it’s also less common for women to develop the substance abuse and violent tendencies that often plague men living with these invisible wounds of war. No one has discovered exactly why, but many researchers say the differences boil down to the biology of men and women’s brains.

Luckily, there’s a silver lining to the story. Women are more likely to develop PTSD because of MST and their biological reactions to fear, but they’re also more likely to seek treatment. In my experience counseling Veterans, my female warriors tend to walk in on day one more comfortable showing their true range of emotions. My male Veterans also find success with positive psychology, but it often just takes a little extra work to get there. Other data shows that women are naturally more conditioned to be intimate and draw from a larger range of coping strategies.

As the ban on women in combat gets officially lifted, our female active-duty personnel and Veterans will likely become even more susceptible to PTSD. The high instances of trauma seen on the front lines and the significant likelihood of sexual trauma at the hands of military personnel are two critical hurdles for the health of our servicewomen.

Without more concrete research on how women develop and cope with PTSD, our female warriors will continue to face these insurmountable hurdles. The more we know, the better we can serve them.

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In February, we’re told that our minds should revolve around foil-wrapped chocolates, bouquets of flowers and celebrating how much our loved ones mean to us. But we should also remember the military women struggling to return to their civilian lives as mothers, wives and friends. Here are a few of their stories.

Sue was riding through the dusty Afghanistan terrain with her fellow military police when their Humvee hit a trio of landmines. The unexpected, life-shattering blast left her two fellow soldiers dead as they helped her to safety. Sue became the Afghanistan War’s first female double amputee that day. Years later, she still carries the burden of the tragedy. Sue is just beginning to master the use of her prosthetic legs, and she is still overcome with trauma whenever she is reminded of the day her fellow soldiers perished. Struggling with PTSD, Sue turns to her service dog, Lyla, to help her learn to trust and love again.

When Lashonna returned home from dual tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, she could hardly contain her excitement. She was going to see her family for the first time in months, and was craving the comforts of home. It wasn’t the happy reunion she had been hoping for. As Lashonna spiraled deeper into PTSD, her behavior became more erratic, her family less patient. Faced with loved ones who could not relate to her suffering, Lashonna found herself homeless on the street. It’s only through the help of a nonprofit for homeless female Veterans that Lashonna is now moving into an apartment — her first true home since returning from war.

Alicia spent every spare moment away from combat helping the Afghanistan villagers have better lives. One of her proudest moments was building an all-girls school to provide Afghan children with the resources needed to have a stronger community. But once Alicia returned to Rochester, N.Y., community became a foreign word. She rarely left her apartment, grocery shopping in the middle of the night simply to avoid crowds. After months of avoiding the world, Alicia underwent PTSD therapy and embarked upon the difficult task of reclaiming her civilian life.

A marine gunner in Iraq, Mariette was calm, collected and sharp under the amount of pressure most of us could never imagine. When she returned home, the littlest things began to rattle her. Backfiring cars brought back painful flashbacks of her hardest battle days. Once fearless, she found herself afraid of crowds, hyper vigilant and paralyzed by memories of war. She turned to writing and therapy to regain her confidence and courageous spirit.

BriGette is a victim of military sexual trauma. After being raped in the army, she developed a deep mistrust of her male supervisors. This emotional pain didn’t dissipate when she left the battlefield, instead throwing her into a cycle of homelessness and joblessness when she returned to American shores. A single mother, BriGette struggled to provide love and warmth for her child even as her own challenges were becoming insurmountable. Through support groups, BriGette was empowered by the stories of other women. She’s now an advocate for women Veterans.

What do all these powerful women have in common? They each took the courageous step of seeking treatment for their trauma. And if that’s not an act of love to be remembered I don’t know what is.

The post Why You Should Show Our Female Vets Some Love By Lisa Kamen appeared first on Harvesting Happiness.

We all fight battles — it’s one thing that everyone in this diverse, dispersed human race has in common. What makes each of us unique is how we respond to these battles when they arise. For some of us, these battles are physical, for others, they’re emotional. But for many Veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, these struggles deal a blow to both body and mind.

There are few issues more pressing, or overlooked, than the complex challenges Iraq and Afghanistan war Veterans face as they return home from their tours overseas. For too many troops, physical combat on the battlefield turns into a psychological battle as they struggle to transition back into a turbulent American society. Reintegration issues are serious and all too common: Recent Army data states that as many as one-third of Iraq War Veterans returning home from combat experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression, and 14 percent of that group experiences it so severely that they develop significant problems in their daily life, including insomnia, depression, alcohol misuse and violent behaviors. Other Department of Defense data points to an even more dire trend, in which the suicide rate among returning Veterans is surpassing the number of troops killed in action by one each day. PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Assault and Military Sexual Trauma are real issues that afflict Veterans returning to American soil every hour of every day, and they should concern you regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum.

With this in mind, I created Harvesting Happiness For Heroes, a nonprofit organization that provides stigma-free comprehensive services at no cost to returning Veterans and their families, our goal is to heal these invisible wounds of war and aid in the complex process of reintegration. Some of the services offered through the nonprofit include Battle Buddy workshops, family awareness training, online community support, one-on-one coaching services, and retreats to help Warriors decompress from battle and adapt their military skills to civilian society.

Harvesting Happiness For Heroes has recently partnered with the Groupon Grassroots Campaign to help a nationwide audience discover our mission. The beauty of Groupon’s campaign is that it uses collective action for an altruistic purpose. Groupon subscribers can pledge support for the HH4Heroes® REBOOT Campaign initiative in increments of $10, $25 and $120, with each $120 providing six weeks of online programming for a Veteran. HH4Heroes invites civilians to help heal our wounded warriors from the inside-out, sustaining the longevity of our nation’s veterans and strengthening our military reintegration needs.

In the process of launching and managing HH4Heroes® I transcended my struggles by helping others overcome theirs. I hope you’ll join me in this meaningful initiative and do the same.

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