Symbolic recognition: Ceremony in a treatment of post‐traumatic stress disorder

Abstract

This brief report describes the utilization of a „welcome home”︁ ceremony in the treatment of Vietnam War and other war veterans suffering from post‐traumatic stress disorder. Designed primarily to address the issues of sanctuary trauma and social isolation and alienation, the ceremony drew upon knowledge gained from the study of Native American ritual. Carefully avoiding mimicking such ritual, the principles of affirmation of the worth of the warrior, societal participation and reintegration, and spiritual and existential support were translated into a mainstream cultural format. The significance of a woman leading the ceremony and veteran reactions are discussed.

Exploring the Role of Social Connection in Interventions With Military Veterans Diagnosed With Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Systematic Narrative Review

“…Six main themes were generated reflecting the findings of the 28 identified studies: (i) rethinking the diagnosis of PTSD; (ii) The age of veterans differed between the studies, most being non-specific with regards to age. Seventeen studies included veterans of all ages (Jones et al, 2000;Bensimon et al, 2008Bensimon et al, , 2012Holliday et al, 2015;Azevedo et al, 2016;Beidel et al, 2017;Bergen-Cico et al, 2018;Crowe et al, 2018;Johnson et al, 2018;Murphy, 2018, 2020;Pezzin et al, 2018;Weiss et al, 2018;Bolman, 2019;McLaughlin and Hamilton, 2019;Galsgaard and Eskelund, 2020;Bauer et al, 2021), whereas four studies were age-specific by virtue of the criteria that they sought veterans from the Vietnam War (1961-75) (Obenchain and Silver, 1991;Ragsdale et al, 1996;Johnson et al, 2004;Otter and Currie, 2004) or Post-9/11/Iraq and Afghanistan veterans (Beidel et al, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2017Lawrence et al, , 2019Matthieu et al, 2017;Cushing et al, 2018). Three studies focused solely on female veterans, with two of these relating to rural female veterans who had suffered military sexual trauma (Azevedo et al, 2016;Weiss et al, 2018), and the other relating to a single case study (Trahan et al, 2016).…”

“…The vast majority of studies (n = 21) were carried out in the USA (Obenchain and Silver, 1991;Ragsdale et al, 1996;Jones et al, 2000;Johnson et al, 2004Johnson et al, , 2018Holliday et al, 2015;Azevedo et al, 2016;Beidel et al, 2016Beidel et al, , 2017Trahan et al, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2017Lawrence et al, , 2019Matthieu et al, 2017;Bergen-Cico et al, 2018;Crowe et al, 2018;Cushing et al, 2018;Pezzin et al, 2018;Weiss et al, 2018;Bolman, 2019;Bauer et al, 2021) whilst two were conducted in Israel (Bensimon et al, 2008(Bensimon et al, , 2012, two in the UK Murphy, 2018, 2020), one in Denmark (Galsgaard and Eskelund, 2020) and two in Australia (Otter and Currie, 2004;McLaughlin and Hamilton, 2019).…”

“…Seven studies used a mixed-methods approach (Johnson et al, 2004;Bensimon et al, 2008Bensimon et al, , 2012Beidel et al, 2016Beidel et al, , 2017Bergen-Cico et al, 2018;Lobban and Murphy, 2020), 12 studies used a quantitative approach (Ragsdale et al, 1996;Holliday et al, 2015;Trahan et al, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2017Lawrence et al, , 2019Matthieu et al, 2017;Johnson et al, 2018;Lobban and Murphy, 2018;Pezzin et al, 2018;Weiss et al, 2018;Bauer et al, 2021) and nine used a qualitative approach (Obenchain and Silver, 1991;Jones et al, 2000;Otter and Currie, 2004;Azevedo et al, 2016;Crowe et al, 2018;Cushing et al, 2018;Bolman, 2019;McLaughlin and Hamilton, 2019;Galsgaard and Eskelund, 2020). Within each broad methodological approach a variety of methods were employed; 11 studies employed focus groups or a groupcentric approach (Obenchain and Silver, 1991;Ragsdale et al, 1996;Jones et al, 2000;Johnson et al, 2004;Otter and Currie, 2004;Bensimon et al, 2008Bensimon et al, , 2012Crowe et al, 2018;Murphy, 2018, 2020;Galsgaard and Eskelund, 2020), eight used semi-structured interviews (Johnson et al, 2004;…”

“…These animal-centric studies assessed outcomes via a combination of PTSD, loneliness, and social isolation metrics and group interviews. One study (Obenchain and Silver, 1991) provided Vietnam veterans an opportunity to address social isolation and "alienation" via the affirmation provided through a "Welcoming Home" ceremony, which aided societal participation and reintegration. The efficacy of these interventions appears to be that they focus on improving the overall wellbeing of the veteran, considering the various social and personal contributors to their difficulties, rather than focusing on PTSD symptomology in isolation.…”

Liminality and Ritual in Biographical Work: A Theoretical Framework for Cancer Survivorship

“…Existential psychology interventions also operate on the assumption that meaning-making can be a key element of adjustment to life-changing events, especially for cancer survivors (Greenstein & Breitbart, 2000). In addition, ritual has been used therapeutically to help victims of trauma (Morrison, 2012) veterans suffering from PTSD (Obenchain, 1992;Johnson, 1995), and clients undergoing difficult life transitions such as divorce or bereavement (e.g. Bewley, 1995;Bennett et al, 1987).…”