A Walk in the Field

We all have experienced war of some kind in our lives. If not in a territorial way, definitely in form of life circumstances and challenges. Given my past research interests rooted in coping with trauma, I have often wondered about a consistent pattern reported by war veterans, across countries. They often say, "There are some who never return." referring to a psychological absence or as if their souls leave them in the war zone, keeping only their bodies alive to face a new world. The space of therapy and healing provided by their respective societies afterwards surely mean well. As expected, a cozy clean office with a therapist holding a gentle smile is what awaits them usually, that is, if they seek therapy at all. As a keen lifelong learner of psychology, I had an additional idea in mind. This is based on how emotions tend to work in relation to context and socialization.

The place of therapy the veterans go to should look like a safe version of wherever they were deployed. Why? While keeping the issue of emotional triggers in mind, such a transition can be made gradually, initially exposing them to what they knew before war as safe and then taking them to a war like terrain nearby which could be a form of battle ground without any threats present. The closest other contexts can be hiking grounds and forests with lot of rugged sparse space marking the area. My prediction is that over time the more they'll be exposed to similar terrain in a new way, the easier it'll get to redefine safety and put their experiences into perspective. If you want to attempt therapy in such a setting, try walking behind them as they walk ahead without any eye-contact, sharing their experiences by will. You'd be surprised how much people share when the lights have gone off or when found walking in the woods behind a person.

Alcohol, bars, low lights isn't the answer because they only act as temporary psychological blinders, often followed by sudden suicides when the emotional suppression become unbearable. For healthy emotional processing, one useful way is to set aside time each day to fully deal with poorly understood emotions by putting themselves amidst these safe versions of a battle like environment, something that may even be built by a town solely for therapeutic purposes.

Afterwards, soldiers can meet other similarly impacted soldiers without telling their names and generate a talking space in which sharing the experience is central, devoid of divulging any other identities.

How can the same be a form of healing to others who may have had other stressful or challenging life experiences? One method that can work for some is revisiting the city or space where you faced a difficult time. This can be planned in a systematic way to ensure the person only visits when psychologically receptive to the idea. In case of war, this isn't always possible, so a similar or geographically closest terrain may be chosen.

Why should this be of any value?

The chances of attributing your experience to a temporary time and state of things is supposed to be higher. For soldiers what tends to be a commonly felt inner conflict is what they did as a duty can sometimes contradict with what they hold as a universal principle (e.g., not killing a woman or child). War, however, doesn't always make us behave ideally. Reparative behaviors are likely to materialize after such clear understanding between individual and roles (e.g., a US soldier impacted similarly taking the financial responsibility of a child in Afghanistan who may have lost both parents). The meaningless suicides by some returned soldiers are often a result of not knowing how to distinguish and correct what you, as a person, considered wrong throughout your life. Therefore, a foundational identity a person held comes under the spotlight, sooner or later. To be fair and to reconciliate, some people kill themselves. Someone has to clearly say why they were kept alive. They were kept alive to live for those who didn't make it, which makes it imperative for them to live more meaningfully -- a role to be followed without thought, as a moral duty.