Reversing the Trauma of War

By Phyllis Kahaney & Rachel Epstein

Reversing the Trauma of War: PTSD Help for Veterans, Active-Duty Personnel , and Their Families provides an innovative safe technique called mental imagery to help U.S. veterans and active duty military personnel overcome symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Returning from war, these military heroes often struggle to re-adapt to civilian life. In addition to physical disabilities and pain syndromes, they suffer from emotional wounds such as anxiety, anger, hyper-vigilance and nightmares. Activities of daily living like driving a car, attending social events, or interacting with family, friends and coworkers can be difficult and lead many to isolate themselves. Smells, sounds, and temperatures can evoke flashbacks and automatic responses even many years after their return from war.

Mental imagery helps veterans and active duty individuals heal from war trauma . Imagery exercises, or guided visualizations, are brief, taking only a minute to do. With daily practice, veterans can learn to “rewire” their brains to calm their sympathetic nervous system and permit new adaptive responses to emerge.

Topics covered in this book include both physical and emotional issues such as anxiety and fear, anger, triggers, isolation, depression, guilt, insomnia and nightmares, loss and grief, physical pain, phantom limb pain, concussions and traumatic brain injury, sexual assault trauma, and addictions.

Recognizing that war trauma affects more than the veteran or active duty combatant, Reversing the Trauma of War also provides imagery to help reduce the stress that family members feel as they cope with the fallout from this hidden epidemic.

Additionally, healthcare professionals can use this book as a resource for working with anyone suffering from PTSD. To this end, the book provides background information on mental imagery and the emerging science that supports its use, as well as advanced imagery exercises.