Army uses adventure activities to fight PTSD

[unhappycamper]

Army uses adventure activities to fight PTSD
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, January 7, 2009

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — The Army is using adventure activities such as rock climbing, white water rafting and mountain biking to help soldiers deal with post-combat stress.

The Warrior Adventure Quest program, run out of Outdoor Recreation centers at various locations in Europe, aims to make soldiers mentally tough to withstand post-deployment stress, according to Geoffrey Farrell, outdoor education specialist with the Grafenwöhr Outdoor Recreation Center.

Troops participate in the adventure activities while incorporating a preventive program called Battlemind, developed by the Office of the Surgeon General to build mental resilience in soldiers.

Battlemind is an attempt to prepare soldiers going downrange for what they are likely to see, to hear, to think and to feel. When they return, Battlemind briefings describe combat-related mental health problems and teach soldiers when they should seek support for themselves or for their buddies.

The idea of the adventure activities program is to expose soldiers to somewhat stressful events, pushing them to their limits in a safe environment, and then talk about strategies for dealing with that stress, using their reactions to the adventure activities as examples, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59837

[CoffeeCat]

1. Wow, that is really cool...

I can see how these adventure activities would be very therapeutic.

If you put these post-combat soldiers in stressful situations, which are safe, it could help these soldiers
process some of the stress from the battlefield.

These adventures are a "trigger" for some of the emotions that they've set aside while on the battlefield.
These soldiers need a safe place to release all of that, and I think this is an amazing idea.

The symptoms of PTSD save your life (and your mind) while you're on the battlefield. The condition puts a cork
on extreme trauma and emotions--allowing you to do your job and survive. Slowly releasing that cork is a very
intricate, complex process--and these adventure activities probably help these soldiers lift that cork.

This is a very promising article. :)