The Warrior Nation: SITREP

Some time between 563 - 483 BC, a young Hindu prince named Siddhartha Gautama uttered the phrase, "you will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger."  We now know him by the name Buddha.  Although these words are over 2,000 years old, they are apparently true today.

In a recent investigation, led by scientists from the University of Valencia, researchers analyzed the changes in the brain's cardiovascular, hormonal, and asymmetric activation response (I will explain this in detail in a moment) when we get angry.  What they found was very interesting.  They observed increases in heart rate and rising arterial tension, along with increased testosterone production, and a decrease in cortisol (the stress hormone) production.  Now these findings have always been know for many years, but the measurements were taken, nonetheless.  What I found most interesting about this study were the findings around asymmetric activation response.  Here’s a little background on this phenomenon.

The Man with 2 Brains

As you know, the brain is divided into two halves (hemispheres) and they provide for the following functions:

Right side:

• judging the position of things in space
• knowing body position
• understanding and remembering things we do and see
• putting bits of information together to make an entire picture
• controls the left side of the body

Left side:

• understanding and use of language (listening, reading, speaking and writing)
• memory for spoken and written messages
• detailed analysis of information
• controls the right side of the body

Additionally, we know that in this study, the researchers measured the activity in both of the frontal lobes to gain information about anger.  What they found was something unexpected.  The researchers put it this way:  “Nonetheless, by focusing on the asymmetric brain activity of the frontal lobe that occurs when we experience emotions, there are two models that contradict the case of anger.  The first model, 'of emotional valence', suggests that the left frontal region of the brain is involved in experiencing positive emotions, whilst the right is more related to negative emotions.  The second model, 'of motivational direction', shows that the left frontal region is involved in experiencing emotions related to closeness, whilst the right is associated with the emotions that provoke withdrawal.  The positive emotions, like happiness, are usually associated to a motivation of closeness, and the negative ones, like fear and sadness, are characterized by a motivation of withdrawal.  However, not all emotions behave in accordance with this connection.  The case of anger is unique because it is experienced as negative but, often, it evokes a motivation of closeness," the expert explains.

"When experiencing anger, we have observed in our study an increase in activity in the left side of the brain that indicates a greater activation of the left hemisphere, which supports the model of motivational direction," The researchers lead, Neus Herrero points out,  “in other words, when we get angry, our asymmetric cerebral response is measured by the motivation of closeness to the stimulus that causes us to be angry and not so much by the fact we consider this stimulus as negative.  Normally when we get angry, we show a natural tendency to get closer to what made us angry to try to eliminate it," he concludes.

Fire and Maneuver

As a warrior, this makes perfect sense to me.  If you anger me, I am trained to maneuver, close with, and destroy my enemy.  Additionally, the provocation of anger is something that threatens the things I love and cherish, namely my life, my buddies, and my country.  With this perspective, I believe it is very easy to see why our warriors with “adrenaline poisoning” (a term I coined that fits better than PTSD) react they way they do when they transition out of service.  Ask any veteran “what makes them angry” and you will get quite a long list of items that “piss them off.”  In an earlier post, I even shared with you an exercise I conducted with a group of warriors stricken with adrenaline poisoning.  The list may resonate with many of you, regardless of your military affiliation.  But there is a catch here.

Anger can also be a substitute emotion. By this I mean that sometimes people make themselves angry so that they don't have to feel pain. People change their feelings of pain into anger because it feels better to be angry than it does to be in pain. This changing of pain into anger may be done consciously or subconsciously.

Being angry rather than simply in pain has a number of advantages, primarily among them distraction. People in pain generally think about their pain. However, angry people think about harming those who have caused pain. Part of the transmutation of pain into anger involves an attention shift – from self-focus to other-focus. Anger thus temporarily protects people from having to recognize and deal with their painful real feelings; you get to worry about getting back at the people you're angry with instead. Making yourself angry can help you to hide the reality that you find a situation frightening or that you feel vulnerable.  Take it from me, warriors hate vulnerability.  Inevitably, in an environment that constantly exposes you to adrenaline, it is easy to see how warriors become conditioned to stay in this state of anger.  Now mix in the findings of this study from the University of Valencia and we further define why anger stays with us, meaning it is something that we are motivated to “move closer” to.

Cooling Off

If anger has a physiological preparation phase during which our resources are mobilized for a fight, it also has a wind-down phase as well. We start to relax backtowards our resting state when the target of our anger is no longer accessible or an immediate threat. It is difficult to relax from an angry state, however. The adrenaline-caused arousal that occurs during anger lasts a very long time (many hours, sometimes days), and lowers our anger threshold, making it easier for us to get angry again later on. Though we do calm down, it takes a very long time for us to return to our resting state. During this slowcool-down period we are more likely to get very angry in response to minor irritations that normally would not bother us.  That’s the major difference in civilians and warriors; you’ve spent 15 minutes in traffic and they’ve spent 15 months in a land where everything is trying to kill them.

Who’s running the show?

Whether you read a funny email from a friend, watch a sad news story, or practice a new instrument, the information you receive every day is shaping your emotional response to the world. This emotional response defines your daily decisions, your level of activity and what you eat or drink for nearly every moment of your life. These actions then have a reciprocal effect on how the world responds to you. The core of emotional responses are stored and retrieved from your subconscious. In other words, your subconscious mind, that stores all of your life’s experiences, is running your life.

Take Away

Buddha said it best when he told us, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” I am not a Buddhist, but find incredible truth in his words.  If you need different wisdom, consider Abraham Lincoln, who said, most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

As a Master Subconscious Restructuring® (SR®) Life Coach, I coach a process that gives you simple, powerful and proven tools to take control of what runs your life – your subconscious mind.  To learn more about Subconscious Restructuring® and my practice, look at the powerful results we’ve generated working with today’s wounded warriors.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warrior, out!

Over the past 8 weeks, I have given you several new ways to look at healing PTSD.  In taking this approach, I have received some questions from friends asking about the use of war principles to heal an anxiety disorder.  Well, if you had these same questions, I trust you went the extra step to read the posts so you could see that these Principles provide you a framework and philosophy for approaching this demon that hides inside you and many of our war-torn brothers and sisters.  If you did read along, then I want to thank you for your time.  I would even like to thank you for passing this blog along to others that may be wrestling with this disorder or sharing my blog with someone that you suspect may be suffering in silence.

For the most part, I have attempted to demonstrate how these principles can serve to guide you, motivate you, and even provide you with an outline for action steps of your own.  We covered concepts of knowing your triggers, maintaining advantages, and incorporating several modalities to bring maximum opportunities to your healing process.  With that said, there is still one more principle left to cover and I intentionally saved this one for last; because I believe it is the most important.  If you're ready to push on, then let us begin our critical review of Unity of Command and why it is so necessary.

Unity of Command - For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander

If you are currently undergoing some treatment for PTSD, you have a lot of things going on.  You've probably seen a primary care physician, who referred you to a psychiatrist who prescribes you medication.  Additionally, you are possibly working with a counsellor or social worker with some form of talk therapy.  You might have found a Life Coach to work with.  You may also be involved in a group therapy setting, because it seems to make you feel less alone. If you are also healing from other physical wounds, you may have a neurologist on your team, an orthopedic surgeon may be in your camp, and you might even be working with a physical therapist to regain a better range of motion in your legs or arms.  As you can see, when we begin to count every asset and professional involved with your healing process, the list starts to look pretty long.  So with all those people helping, guiding, and nurturing you have you ever wondered...who's in charge here?

Here's the answer:  It better be YOU!

I'm in Charge here

Take a look at this principle, word by word, and you can begin to see the weight this principle has in your healing, that's right, I said YOUR healing:

Unity

is defined as the "state of being undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting. It is the smallest whole numeral representation. It has the quality of being united into one. Unity can denote a combining of all the parts, elements and individuals into an effective whole. It is applicable to people and objects forming whole notions of any concept. It implies oneness when there is a certain usual division."  So for all the resources, all the medications, all the notes made, and all the tears shed in this undertaking, all things combine to serve a single intention; and that is to make YOU the best that you can be.  Notice I didn't say the same, I didn't say better than, or good as new.  At 51 years of age, let me share something with you...we are constantly changing and there will come a place in all of our lives when we "can't do the things we used to do."  Sooner or later, there will come a time when you will need help at something or you can't do it like you used to; and with PTSD this is one of those times.  As you can see, these are many things coming together to make you whole.  You are the Unit!

OF

is a preposition that suggests ownership, direction, and process.  So, in just the first 2 words this principle suggests that becoming and accepting your best self requires commitment and responsibility.  So who is responsible for this healing?

COMMAND

This is a military inspired blog, right?  Is there any question on what this word implies?  Doesn't it suggest leadership, "where the buck stops", and who accepts responsibility for all a unit does or does not do?  I guess this word also suggests who has the final say, and who sets the pace, and who really is going to make it happen, right?  So in dealing with PTSD, You are ultimately responsible for healing yourself.  You are the commander and your mission is to become the best you can be.  So as a Commander, let's review how the Principles of War apply to your healing Operation:

Are you:

• Using several complimentary (Mass) approaches to your healing?
• Creating an environment (Surprise) of your choosing?
• Setting goals (Objective) that are Definable, Attainable, and Decisive?
• Prioritizing your life to focus (Simplicity) on the most important issues?
• Working daily to strengthen (Maneuver) the parts of the brain that give you greater control over adrenaline?
• Committing minimal effort (Economy of Force) and time to the things that are beyond your control?
• Recording your daily moods and thoughts in order to develop early warning (Security) for your triggers?
• Actively moving toward (Offensive) your healing, rather than waiting for it to come to you?
• Accepting the responsibility (Unity of Command) that healing is ultimately up to you?

If not, why not?

Take Away

If you have questions about how we might work together, know that all my initial talks are complimentary and confidential.  You can contact me through my website located at www.warriorlifecoach.com or you can find me on Facebook at Warrior Life Coach or follow me on Twitter as warriorlfecoach.  Everyday I work with our returning warriors, we are using these concepts and principles...and we are getting results.  I urge you to learn more about this demon we call PTSD and develop your action plan to begin moving toward your Objectives.

All the best and until next time...

Warrior, out!

If you've been following The Warrior Nation:  SITREP over the last few weeks, you know that we introduced the idea of incorporating the Principles of War as a means of dealing with PTSD. In doing this, my hope is to help you achieve a deeper level of thought about how you might go about choosing methods for your healing.  By introducing a single Principle of War, in a series of posts over the next several weeks, I am giving you a new set of criteria that you can use to evaluate the possible courses of action that you choose for your healing journey.

I realize it may sound a bit counter productive to use war principles for healing an anxiety disorder, but allow me the opportunity over the next few weeks to expand this thought and see if this might apply to you or someone you know that might be working to rid their life of this disorder.  If you continue to follow this series, you can save time with future posts by going directly to the bold text highlighting the week's highlighted Principle.  This week we look at the principle of:

Offensive - Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative

The great Chinese warrior/philosopher Sun Tzu was once quoted as saying, "Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack."  This goes the same for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Taking the Offensive on PTSD implies direct and personal action, as opposed to passive defense.  You could think of any pharmaceutical approach that manages the signs and symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, hypervigilance, and mood swings as a defensive approach to this disorder.  Although the medications used in managing these above mentioned maladies can provide you some relief from the underlying disorder, they are not going to serve as a long term solution.  Please understand that I am not advocating the dismissal of any drug regime prescribed by a physician.  My point is to clarify what healing requires, and that is direct action, by you, to move toward new Objectives that you must set for yourself.

As we discussed in last week's post, gaining the advantage over PTSD involves taking the initiative to address the source of the REAL cause for your problems: your brain.  Many people who undergo a traumatic event believe they can handle the problem themselves. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but if this works, it's less often because of what the person did than how our brains normally work. Conversely, if it fails, it's important to realize WHY it didn't work. And the simple fact is, it has nothing to do with how strong your will is or how competent you are.

What I'd like you to understand is that trauma physically rewires your brain!  Your brain actually changes; in that certain parts get bigger and certain parts shrink. This process is known as neuroplasticity.  The changes brought about by neuroplasticity effect your thoughts.  Here's an analogy to make this a little more tangible.

Think of your thoughts as a river. Now imagine that area has a massive earthquake. The shift in the terrain reroutes the river!  That's what happens with PTSD!  Due to the effects of continuous "adrenaline poisoning" or the damage caused to the brain by I.E.D.s, your brain undergoes a physical, as well as a chemical and electrical change.  There is even new evidence that would suggest that not only are our brains physically changed by the concussion of I.E.D.s, but electrical fields are generated in our skulls from the shock waves.

Good News and Bad News

The bad news is, in order to overcome these changes, you have to create even more changes to your brain...but that's also the good news.  These changes are called neural pathways.  Creating new neural pathways is a 3 step process (or offensive operation).

First, you must realize it is possible.

Second, you must develop a "plan of attack."

Third, you must relentlessly execute this plan in a daily, systematic and focused manner.

You may already have a "discharge plan" given to you from a hospital.  If so, I urge you to follow it.  Additionally, you can accomplish these changes through physical therapy, cognitive therapy, and occupational therapy. Try yoga, meditation, accupuncture, tai chi or other martial art.  Completely revamp your nutritional habits and consult a dietician or nutritional specialist.  One of my favorites is Delicious Food Daily run by Clarissa Kussin.

You might even involve a counsellor or coach to establish some new goals for yourself in the areas of education or skill training.  Some of these things may seem strange or wierd to you, but I would remind you that we only begin to learn when we become uncomfortable.  By undertaking new activities, energy starts flowing throughout the brain in different directions to different parts of the brain, thus contributing to new neural pathways and new ways of thinking and perceiving. The more we purposefully think in a different manner, the easier it becomes, and eventually that becomes the brain's new way of automatically thinking. With this understanding it becomes quite apparent why Buddha said "What we think, we become".

Take Away

Healing is an active process.  You cannot wait for it to just come to you.  You must move toward healing.  As a Master Subconscious Restructuring® Life Coach, I work to help my clients develop new neural pathways.  Moving toward the Objectives of Love, Health, Wealth, and a positive Self-Image are the cornerstones of this methodology.  I urge all my warriors to stay on the Offensive against this unseen enemy.  In the offense you will find victory!

Next week, I will post the final installment of Waging War on PTSD using the Principles of Unity of Command...until then,

Warrior, out!

If you've been following The Warrior Nation:  SITREP over the last few weeks, you know that I introduced the idea of incorporating the Principles of War as a means of dealing with PTSD. In doing this, my hope is to help you achieve a deeper level of thought about how you might go about choosing methods for your healing.  By introducing a single Principle of War, in a series of posts over the next several weeks, I am giving you a new set of criteria that you can use to evaluate the possible courses of action that you choose for your healing journey.

I realize it may sound a bit counter productive to use war principles for healing an anxiety disorder, but allow me the opportunity over the next few weeks to expand this thought and see if this might apply to you or someone you know that might be working to rid their life of this disorder.  If you continue to follow this series, you can save time with future posts by going directly to the bold text highlighting the week's highlighted Principle.  This week we look at the principle of:

Maneuver - Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power.

Getting a handle on PTSD can initially seem like an overwhelming project.  Don't get me wrong, I am not here to suggest it will be easy.  What I am saying is that it can be done.  In true Warrior Life Coach fashion, I will tell you that when you have a large project at hand, the best way to approach this seemingly overwhelming challenge, is to start by breaking it down into smaller steps.  I think this is particularly important when we are thinking about Maneuver, because we want to move ourselves into a position of advantage over the main presentations of PTSD.  With that said, let's ALL agree that the first step you need to take in gaining that advantage is that there is something wrong!  You know something has changed about you and you recognize that it is causing you problems, but most importantly you want some help to deal with it!  I say this in light of the latest Pentagon study that was released in April of 2010.  This new report indicated that nearly 20 percent–or one in five returning war veterans–reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression. The study also reports that only half of them sought treatment.  So, if you are reading this blog and are looking for help, for yourself or someone close to you, I commend you on taking the first step to gaining an advantage over PTSD.

The Road Less Traveled

Because PTSD presents with so many different symptoms in so many different types of people, for so many different types of situations and exposures, it might be inappropriate for me to suggest that there is a clear second step.  What I would like to propose is that we look at this part of our Maneuver as a triple fork in the road.  The triple fork looks like this:  one road takes us into Intrusive Symptoms, one road leads into Avoidance, and one road leads into Hyperarousal.  These are the 3 major presentations that support a diagnosis of PTSD.  Ultimately, we will have to walk all 3 roads, but by breaking them down we will gain the "high ground" on this enemy.  You can pick any road you want to start with, but know that all will be covered.  For writing purposes, let's start with Intrusive Symptoms.

In a previous blog post, we briefly touched on the idea of focusing on the things that we can control in our day to day lives.  The use of a To Do list can be a powerful ally in organizing our priorities and serving as a reminder of all we need to accomplish.  Additionally, I'd like to suggest that you incorporate a calendar into your arsenal of productivity tools and use this as a way to record all of the commitments you make in your life.  By commitments, I mean the promises of "time and attention" you make to other people.  Appointments, scheduled phone calls, and interviews are a few examples of commitments to your time.  The point here is not only to record them, but to honor them.  By placing commitments of time in your day, you begin to create the available windows to accomplish your To Do list.  By also adding an area into your planning tool for notes, you can begin to record many activities  that over time, will help you identify your good days from your not-so-good days.  Intrusive thoughts are most likely tied to patterns in your life or some reminding sensation, like a smell or sound.  The point here is to have a means to record your thoughts, so you will be better prepared to walk the road of Avoidance.

Avoidance is a common reaction to trauma.  It is natural to want to avoid thinking about or feeling emotions about a stressful event. But when avoidance is extreme, or when it’s the main way you cope, it can interfere with your emotional recovery and healing.  Emotional avoidance is when a person avoids thoughts or feelings about a traumatic event. For example, a combat medic may try to force herself to think about other things whenever thoughts about death arise. Or, she may stop herself every time she begins to feel sadness about a warrior dying in her care, or focus on something else that makes her feel less sad. She may say things to herself like, "Don't go there," or "Don't think about it."

Avoiding reminders of a trauma is called behavioral avoidance. For example, a warrior may stop watching the news or reading the newspaper because of coverage of the war. Someone who lived in Manhattan might move out of the city after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Assault survivors might go out of their way to stay away from the scene of their attack.  Not all avoidance is bad. It can be helpful to learn ways to focus your thoughts and feelings on things that are not related to the trauma. Distraction is a useful skill that can help you to get on with your daily life after a trauma. It can allow you to go to school or work, or buy groceries, even in the face of difficult life events. Although distraction and avoidance can be helpful in the short-term, they should not be your primary way of coping.  Talking through your emotions with a trained counsellor can be extrememly beneficial here.  Again, when you are planning and organizing your thoughts and activities, you can see how beneficial this can be to focus your mind on where you want it to go  and how useful it serves as a distraction.

The final road used to Maneuver on PTSD covers the ground on hyper arousal.  In my 3 part blog series Observations on Boiling Frogs, we covered a lot of ground regarding hyper arousal and as you may recall, we have spoken about the use of meditation for this condition.  Now before you stop reading this, because you think the idea of just sitting still and concentrating is going to help you, let me first say that meditation is not a new idea when it comes to healing.  Over the past 20 years there has been widespread interest in the use of meditation, with the most publicized and popular technique being Transendental Meditation which began with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1963. It appears that many persons use meditation to reduce physiological arousal, and because of its purported effects on arousal, meditation is used to treat numerous disorders which stem from or involve hyperarousal. For example, meditation has been used to treat hypertension, asthma, inflammation of the gums; drug abuse, alcohol abuse, insomnia, stuttering, and a variety of psychiatric disorders (Bloomfield et al. 1975; Glucck and Stroebel 1975). Furthermore, meditation has been suggested as an alternative to progressive muscle relaxation training.  It also is emerging in the scientific community as a way to reshape our brains.  A recently reported brain-scanning study has found evidence that sustained meditation alters the physical structure of the brain by increasing the thickness of the grey matter.  The researchers, led by neuroscientist Sarah Lazar, scanned the brains of 20 people with long-term experience of meditation, and compared them with 20 other, non-meditating people.  Brain regions associated with attention, sensation, perception and monitoring the body's internal state were thicker in meditation participants than in the comparison group.

Take Away

When attempting to Maneuver on PTSD, a disorder that is controlled through a region of the brain (amygdala) that createsquick and hasty behaviors, you need to harness the power of the brain region (pre frontal cortex) that is able to control the amygdala.  This is the art of Maneuver; placing your strengths against your enemies weakness.  You can accomplish this with mindful activities like:  planning, journaling, talk therapy, and meditation.  Additionally, Subconscious Restructuring® is a great process to incorporate into your healing regimen.  To learn more about all these techniques, come visit me at www.warriorlifecoach.com.

Warrior, out!