SOLDIER'S HEART

It has been over 60 years since the end of WWII and many of the veterans who fought that war are now in their 80's. It won't be too much longer until this entire generation of Americans has passed away.

To date, WWII still stands as the most destructive event of human history in terms of the incredible amount of bloodshed and human suffering that we as a species have ever visited upon ourselves. And the suffering this war generated will continue to live on for generations even after all of the veterans who fought that war have passed away.

One aftermath of this war is the gradual recognition that the effects of war on an individual have long term life consequences both for the veteran and their families that, until recently, were not well known or understood.

Today, the term PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) has entered the cultural lexicon and denotes the pernicious effects trauma has on those individuals that were exposed to repeated life threatening events over which they had little control; e.g., combat. PTSD is a descriptive term that denotes ongoing unpleasant and debilitating experiences during which a person frequently relives a horrific, life-threatening event via nightmares, repetitive thoughts and images, or even acting as if the event was happening all over again.

In their book, Combat Stress Injury Theory, Research, and Management, Charles Figley and William Nash detail the history of combat-related PTSD,

"Combat-related PTSD may be a condition that existed from the start of humankind. The written history of PTSD dates back to the account of Achilles in The Iliad by Homer (800 BCE). More recently in the US, symptoms of PTSD have been described as “soldier’s heart” during the Civil War, “shell shock” during WWI, “combat fatigue” or “war neurosis” during WWII, and PTSD after the Vietnam War. The third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published in 1980 was the first to publish diagnostic criteria for PTSD."

They go on to further delineate the common symptoms experienced by those who suffer from combat-related PTSD,

"After experiencing a traumatic event, the three core PTSD symptom clusters include: re-experiencing, avoidance/numbing, and hyper arousal. The re-experiencing symptoms include: recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event; recurrent distressing dreams of the event; flashbacks; intense psychological distress when reminded of the event; and physiological reactivity when reminded of the event. The avoidance/numbing symptoms include: efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the event; efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that are reminders of the event; inability to recall important aspects of the event; decreased interest in significant activities; feeling detached from others; decreased range of affect; and sense of foreshortened future. The hyper arousal symptoms include: problems sleeping, increased irritability; difficulty concentrating; hyper vigilance; and exaggerated startle response."

Figley and Nash also outline how memories of combat related experiences continue to haunt combat veterans long after the battle is over:

"When a combat veteran returns from the most intense experience of his life, those intense experiences continue to “play” over and over in his mind. However, the more he attends to those thought intrusions, the more intrusive they become. Learning to shift attention away from those intrusive thoughts and into the moment at hand allows those intrusions to lessen, and daily functioning to increase."

Individuals who suffer these symptoms will often attempt to cope with them by learning ways of behaving that have the short term effect of avoiding and escaping from situations and events which invoke them. As a result, high incidences of drug/alcohol abuse and addiction, interpersonal conflict, domestic violence, divorce, depression and suicide are characteristic outcomes for those who suffer from PTSD.

One promising treatment for combat-related PTSD outlined by these authors is Zen meditation (zazen). These authors assert that, ... "when engaged in Zen meditation, patients significantly reduce their sympathetic arousal, even without controlling their breathing or otherwise consciously manipulating their physiology." This ability to reduce sympathetic arousal helps veterans to tolerate intrusive memories and thoughts and respond more favorably to treatment for PTSD.

In addition to the psychological distress outlined above, veterans who suffer from PTSD may also suffer a "spiritual crisis," as a result of their combat experiences according to Figley and Nash:

"The direct spiritual consequence of participation in war has only recently begun to be studied, as has the potential role spirituality may play as a healing resource for those recovering from the war zone trauma. Researchers and theorists about the effects of trauma have suggested that traumatic events frequently call into question existential and spiritual issues related to the meaning of life, self-worth, the safety of life (Janoff-Bulman, 1992)."

The authors go on to state that spiritual practices and activities that are "inward and outward focused," can be incorporated to heal the spiritual consequences associated with combat-related PTSD. Specific recommendations for healing the spiritual wounds of combat involve the following:

"A variety of inward experiential exercises involving meditation, breathing, guided imagery, and silent prayer are appropriate. ... From an outward perspective spiritual practice should include service and work on behalf of others. ... Service for others ... is a way of creating personal meaning and living a life that matters."

Mindfulness-based experiential psychotherapies such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Acceptance and Committment Therapsy (ACT) are a new class of treatment approaches that rely heavily on Buddhist concepts and practices. It turns out that these therapies are deeply rooted in practices that promote prajna wisdom and compassion and have shown promise as evidence-based treatments for PTSD.

As more and more young men and women return from combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, socially engaged Buddhist practices and modern day therapies based on ancient wisdom traditions have much to offer those who have suffered severe trauma in war.

BEARING WITNESS SAVES LIVES

Roshi Bernie Glassman, founder of the Zen Peacemakers; a Zen Buddhist Group whose primary mission is the alleviation of human suffering through socially engaged Zen practice, defines bearing witness as being present with our moment-to-moment experience just as it is without needing to avoid it, amplify it, attach to it, or judge it. It is the practice of simple awareness of whatever is arising in each moment. The practice of bearing witness was first defined by the Sixth Zen Patriarch, Daikan Eno, who spoke of it as the state of mind where there is no separation between subject and object, no space between I and thou, you and me, up and down, right or wrong. Roshi Glassman further defines bearing witness as, "anything we do without separation or denial, - driving a car, cooking breakfast, taking out the garbage - is practice, or bearing witness." It turns out that new research in the field of neuroscience regarding brain function may have uncovered a biological basis for the practice of bearing witness.

In his recent book, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, author Daniel Goleman (he is the guy who put the term "emotional intelligence" on the map) presents evidence that our brain is wired for intimate brain-to-brain link-ups that are the basis of empathy and compassion. It turns out that the brain is chock full of "mirror neurons" which provide us with the ability to intuitively feel what others are feeling. A kind of "neural WiFi" of the brain. It appears from this research that when we are closely attending to another person, listening closely to what they are saying, watching their facial expressions carefully without judgment, etc., we actually feel what they feel. And here is the kicker, when we are closely attuned to another person in this way, we intuitively take action regarding those feelings. But here is the trick ... this innate ability for empathy and compassion, that we all possess, is not activated unless we are closely attending to the other person in an open way. In other words, unless we are bearing witness to them with a mind uncluttered with our own ideas, feelings, worries, images, etc., we will not "see" them.

Author Goleman describes an experiment in his book that demonstrates how our lack of awareness of someone else inhibits our natural ability to be empathic and compassionate. In this experiment, a number of seminary students were told to read the biblical passage regarding the Good Samaritan and informed that at some point they would be asked to walk to another building and give a sermon on this passage. The experimenters had a confederate lay down on the ground between the two buildings where the seminary students would have to pass on their way to giving their sermon on the Good Samaritan. The confederate's role in the experiment was to act like a homeless person who was injured and to call out to the seminary students for help as they passed him buy on their way to giving the sermon. The researchers wanted to see whether or not the seminary students would stop and offer the "homeless" man assistance.

Guess what? Only one in six of the seminary students stopped to help the "homeless" man. Why? It turns out that when we are caught up in our thinking about something, what psychologist Steve Hayes calls "cognitive fusion," the brain's ability to bear witness is bypassed. It's as if your thoughts create a barrier to the brain's natural ability to be present for and help others. It turns out that the seminary students were so caught up in their thinking about the sermon they were about to give that they didn't even notice the "homeless" man: a sermon on being a Good Samaritan!!

Another way of saying this is to acknowledge that to the extent that we are self absorbed, we are not likely to engage our "neural WiFi" and be of assistance to our fellow beings on the planet.

It s no accident, that Zen practice will in-time enhance our natural ability to empathize with others and be of service to them. Zazen (Zen meditation), the core practice of Zen, enhances our ability to be present in each moment with awareness and defuses the power of words, images, concepts, etc., to keep our minds locked-up in thoughts while distracting us from the life that is unfolding right in front us.

Daniel Goleman shares an anecdote regarding an experience he had while studying homelessness in New York City. He was walking through a subway station in New York and noticed a homeless person crying out for help. Literally thousands of people simply walked by this man without stopping to ask him what was wrong. Not being lost in the usual mind dream of self absorption, Goleman stopped to ask what the man needed. As he did this, others suddenly joined in with him. It turned out the man could only speak Spanish and simply needed assistance to help him find his way to his family. Within a few minutes, the man was able to get the assistance he needed.

What is the lesson here? In a world of iPhones, iPods, texting, pagers, etc., etc., we seem to be moving more and more away from our basic connection with the world as it is in favor of an insular cocoon of self absorption where we don't have to be present for the pain of others. In our attempts to "improve the moment" by listening to music through our earphones or constantly chatting/texting with whomever, we are actually contributing to the construction of a world where we don't have to feel for others. A world where we don't have to be present for the suffering that is all around us.

Bearing witness practice can bring us back to this moment. Bring us back to our natural condition of engaged awareness. You may find that by bearing witness, you may end up actually saving someones life someday. And that someone may be none other than yourself.

So let's not just walk on by anymore. Let's look, feel, and help.