WARRIOR COMBAT
Combat stress is a normal reaction to the abnormal conditions of a combat environment. Symptoms can be, but are not limited to, fatigue, loss of concentration, and decreased reaction time. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a diagnosed condition that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event.
PTSD is a very common condition for many veterans after military service. Symptoms can include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress, difficulty sleeping, and changes in how a person thinks and feels.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. The symptoms of the injury can vary.
Mild or moderate TBI symptoms can include mood changes, trouble with concentration, headaches, difficulty with sleep, and reduced motor coordination.
Severe TBI can cause greatly reduced or lack of motor control, greatly reduced ability or inability to speak, and restlessness or agitation.
Exposure to combat and operational stress affects service members in many ways. While some of these effects can be positive, many service members experience lasting emotional scars. Being deeply impacted by what you did and what you saw is to be expected. For some, the psychological and emotional wounds run deep and make it hard to move on and function effectively in various roles (e.g., parent, co-worker, partner, friend).
Neurofeedback (EEG Feedback) is training in brain function based on information derived from the EEG (electroencephalogram). With such training, rapid recovery can be achieved for the relief of PTSD symptoms that include sleep problems, pain, irritability, anger, and rage, as well as cognitive deficits.
The training can also help soldiers recover from drug, alcohol, and tobacco dependency. The training is based on reinforcement of better-regulated brain behavior as judged by the EEG.
The repetition of this exercise for a number of thirty-minute sessions leads typically to improved cognitive function and improved emotional control.
The work is success-oriented rather than deficit-focused. It is a fitness strategy that avoids the jargon of mental health, and suits the soldier's natural orientation toward a training and fitness program.
Veterans who have been through the program have shown tremendous positive benefits. A veteran who had not slept more than 2 hours at a time was sleeping through the night after just 7 sessions, without medication. This same veteran had avoided the movie theater because that was the location of his first flashback. After 12 sessions, he saw a movie for the first time in 8 years. Another veteran was able to save his marriage and family by calming down his anger and his need to control everything. Behaviors that had been appropriate in wartime were destroying his home life. Veterans are getting their lives back with neurofeedback. Even a veteran from WWII found his sleep restored after not having slept well since 1945.
Substantial functional recoveries and even functional enhancements are routine. There is no need to live with nightmares, flashbacks, loss of emotional control, lack of energy, and inability to plan for the future. Even chronic pain can be substantially helped. And if you are suffering physical injuries, your brain should not also be your problem. When it comes to symptoms you have not had before, stop thinking it's you. Start thinking it may just be a matter of your brain, and that remedies are available, at Hadassah Brain Center.