Legion member and Reiki master, Peter Hayward, appeals for a rethink on PTSD treatments
“Three soldiers killed today in Afghanistan by an explosive device while on foot patrol, now for the rest of the news...”
Terrible, terrible news but how many were injured? And, ultimately, how many will go on to suffer post-traumatic stress disorders? PTSD can take years to be triggered, often arriving just when the soldier thought he’d made it back to civilian life.
PTSD is one of the least openly recognised and discussed illnesses suffered by combat troops. After all, it is hardly good propaganda to let the general public know that their heroic troops do ¬– under extreme conditions – sometimes crack and through no fault of their own cease to be effective fighting units. In the 1914-18 war, the problem was solved by firing squad. The public wanted heroes not cowards. General Patton famously entered a hospital and ordered PTSD sufferers back to the front while slapping them about and calling them cowards. He was later to admit that he bitterly regretted his actions.
In the US, nearly 50 years after the Vietnam War, a military psychologist became tired of treating PTSD sufferers with counselling and drugs and losing the battle to keep them in the service.
“I became tired of these men pleading in tears to stop me discharging them against their will, said Dr John Fortunato. “There had to be another way.” He chose a brave and unconventional route, that of a mix of complementary therapies, including yoga, tai chi, Quigong and Reiki. He battled with the US Government for four years, finally winning a $2.2m grant and the use of some WWII Nissen huts at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Success has followed slowly but surely with soldiers recovering sufficiently to even return voluntarily to the front line. Finally, the military chiefs started to recognise the cost effectiveness of the project ($400,000 to train a new marine. $20,000 to restore a tarnished one). But as Dr Fortunato is only too ready to admit these are early days and the project has a lot of growing to do.
Reiki, one of the many treatments at Fort Bliss, is my particular specialism. It’s a non-invasive, yet powerful healing therapy capable of supplying deep relaxation to relieve the most troublesome of conditions. It is one of the fastest growing healing therapies in the world. However, the UK does not use it on its servicemen, citing a lack of clinical trials.
Despite this, anecdotal evidence is coming in from all around the world, as Reiki healers find success in treating sufferers of PTSD, whether it is Bosnia, Croatia, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or here in the UK. I myself have channelled Reiki to sufferers and seen the darkness lift and the relief show on their faces. Yet there remains a stubborn reluctance to move away from established procedures and drugs.
I asked one of my patients, Ben, who served in Afghanistan, to write down his experiences of PTSD and his treatment, which consisted of Reiki and another complementary treatment, sacrocranial therapy.
“My form of PTSD is all about what I saw while I was in the armed forces. It started really in Afghanistan when the UK first went there. The only thing that has ever upset me is seeing the kids live the way they do. I remember being on patrol and an old lady trying to hand us a dead baby which I think had been dead for two weeks but which she believed was still alive.
“Also two year olds being given live hand grenades to drop by our feet when we walked by. I remember clearly a boy which could not have been 2yrs old trying to hand me a 7.62 round. I also remember seeing people hanging from telegraph poles in the street, dead. This was never the problem though, just the kids. Whenever we went to Afghanistan or Iraq, just seeing these young babies begging missing fingers, arms and legs have always stuck in my mind.
“Now that I have been back in the UK, I find it so hard to talk to people or be around people. I wish I was back in Afghanistan or Iraq but I know because of my injuries this will not happen. I have physiotherapy three times a week at my local doctor’s surgery and I have to wait outside if there is a baby or small child in the waiting room.
“If I hear the baby cry I will walk away. Having a long-term relationship would be impossible as soon as my girlfriend at the time would say anything about having babies together I would start to distance myself from her.
“However, since having this treatment I have been able to sit in the doctors waiting room with young babies present. I have also sat with friends’ children and I no longer walk away from kids crying. I no longer need take anti-depressants either. I still have a long way to go but it really helps and it does not harm me the way medication can. I have started to have a ‘normal’ life and can see a future.”
I would argue that we owe it to military personnel and their families to help them eradicate or at least control the nightmares. We can’t bring back their loved ones or the limbs of those mutilated but they should have a life without the hell of PTSD. That is my aim and why I would like to see the UK government invest in new ways to treat PTSD.
If anyone would like further information, please email Peter at
healingvalues@yahoo.co.uk
