Hi, Dan,
I shared your beautiful and heart-breaking description with my former husband,
a veteran of the Korean War, and this is what he wrote. It seemed pertinent
though I don’t know the basis for his statement of facts, I thought it might
help us all understand PTSD better.
He wrote:
. I do have a question regarding his discussion of PTSD being combat related
and part of the perpetrator/victim situation. PTSD is not even necessarily
related to combat. This is borne out by the fact that the suicide rate of
soldiers is actually higher among those who have not been in combat, or even
within a combat zone, than for those who have had that experience. My strictly
anecdotal evidence (plus the suicide rates discussed above) is that the very
participation in the military society (regimentation, command structure, loss
of individual identity and so on) is highly stressful. Further, whether we
like to believe it or not, many of those in the current military had difficult
and unsatisfactory lives before enlistment.
As a separate issue, PTSD may be related to stressful events that may not be
related to a traumatic event but to ongoing stressful situations.
Perhaps you and others might comment on this. Thanks.
Barbara
Barbara Ashley Phillips
Facilitator - Creative Attention Canada
780-465-1721 | www.co-creating.ca | Skype: Chickadeeoncall
From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: September-23-14 5:29 PM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ConstellationTalk] Working with War Veterans & Emergency Services
Personnel
Dennis –
Here in the States suicides among veterans far exceeds combat deaths. The
numbers are astronomical and the rates are increasing year over year. This
includes recent vets and well as older ones from past eras, especially Vietnam
vets.
My work with Constellations has evolved so much in the last two years that it
is hard for me to keep up myself with how my understanding keeps changing. What
is relevant here is my awareness that the Field of a Constellation is not
created by setting up representatives. Rather, the Field is created by the
person, their stated intention and their ancestral lineage (family system). For
example, for a returning combat veteran, the consciousness of their system
members (enemy dead, slain comrades, grandmothers, grandfathers, etc.) are
present and active in the Field whether or you not you put in representatives
for these people.
The same is true for all group members. Everyone walks into a room with their
Constellation invisibly surrounding them. In a group of veterans with PTSD,
before you even begin, the room is packed with traumatic death. One person’s
process can easily trigger another person’s trauma. A further complication
regarding veterans is that their training is antithetical to the fundamental
principles of Constellations. While they live and breathe with the
victim-perpetrator bond, they are not conditioned to accept its existence.
When I work with groups of people with a lot of PTSD in the room, I setup one
or two group processes to help create a strong, healthy , supportive container
for the more traumatic work to come. Working with the model of three dimensions
of consciousness (drop, wave, ocean, as per Franke and Bryson), I would begin
by connecting the group members to their spiritual resources. This can be done
simply by having the group stand, make a large circle and each represent their
own spiritual resource. People can then step forward into a circle of ancestral
consciousness beginning with ancient presences and working forward through
time. I suggest some type of container creation before dealing with the first
dimension experiences of combat and loss.
The healing potential for this work with veterans is immense. I applaud you for
your involvement.
Dan
Dan Booth Cohen, PhD
Free Monthly Consciousness Call <http://hiddensolution.com/services/#freecall>
Seeing with Your Heart: New Frontiers for Working with Love, Relationships and
Consciousness <http://hiddensolution.com/training/>
<http://www.hiddensolution.com/> www.HiddenSolution.com
781-718-7158
From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 1:50 AM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] Working with War Veterans & Emergency Services
Personnel
G'day All,
At the end of Nov. co-facilitating a program called "The Vets Journey Home".
It is the first time in Australia for this cultural adaptation of a successful
USA program which now serves Paramedics & other emergency services as well as
Vets.
I am wondering if any of you have worked with Vets and / or PTSD and have
anything like processes or experiences that you might share.
In discussions with my US piers I am given to understand much of the work is
listening and then facilitating an often powerful and deeply emotional process
for an each individual when they arrive at the place of being ready.
I "feel" there could be some healthy appropriate way to apply constellation
work yet I seem to have a mental block as to how that might be. Unusually for
me I seem to be stuck in the place of "I must get this right for the
participants"....:-)
Sooooo Help please. I'm really interested in what you have to say, even if it
is simply stretching your imagination and general experience to looking outside
the box for something that might benefit these people.
Many thanks
Love, Light and Laughter...Den
Home = 61738433818
Mobile = 61 448744755
Skype = denisfitzpatrick
