“War is an addiction; it’s a curse. We have not learned one thing since David, 5000 years ago, slung a pebble at a guy and killed a giant. All we’ve done is invent better pebbles and better slingshots, human to human.” – Jerry Yellin

CBS Radio broadcaster Beecher Martin interviewed author and decorated WW II P-51 fighter pilot Jerry Yellin. Jerry is the author of the new book The Resilient Warrior: Healing the Hidden Wounds of War (2011). The thirty-minute radio interview was released on 20 February 2011 and broadcast on five CBS radio stations in the Florida Tampa Bay area. (Click to listen to the interview.)

Jerry Yellin serves as the co-director of Operation Warrior Wellness, which is a division of the David Lynch Foundation. In the CBS interview he described his wartime experiences and the difficult transition from combat to civilian life. Like other veterans, Jerry suffered from PTSD, which was not then understood. He discussed how his practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique transformed his life.

Besides his personal experiences of the tragedies of war, Jerry spoke about his goals to immediately start treating our military personnel and veterans who are suffering from PTSD. He also discussed the tremendous stresses that today’s military personnel are experiencing and the difficult time they are having transitioning back from combat. Jerry does not want to wait until the US government addresses these issues. He wants to help military personnel and the families of war veterans immediately. Jerry wants US warriors to learn TM as part of their basic training and says the US government could save $15 billion a year if the practice were adopted.

Published in the Sri Lanka Guardian (6 March 2011)

Find the Best Way for Combating PTSD in the Sri Lankan Military

By Jerry Yellin and Dr. David Leffler

In their well-written in-depth article “Combat Related PTSD among the Sri Lankan Army Servicemen” published in the Sri Lanka Guardian (13 February 2011), Dr. Neil J. Fernando and Dr. Ruwan M. Jayatunge assert that the “30 year armed conflict in Sri Lanka has produced a new generation of veterans at risk for the chronic mental health problems that resulted following prolonged exposure to the war.” Their contention is backed by an interview of 824 active duty Sri Lankan soldiers referred to the Psychiatric Ward at the Military Hospital in Colombo. It reveals that: “[f]ollowing the combat trauma in Sri Lanka, a significant number of combatants were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” and that the “affected combatants had behavioral problems, psychosomatic ailments, depression and anxiety related symptoms, self-harm, attempted suicides, alcohol and substance abuse, and misconduct stress behaviors.”

Dr. Fernando and Dr. Jayatunge report “several modes of psychological therapies have been used to treat the Sri Lankan combatants suffering from PTSD including Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)” and studies “are needed to systematically assess the mental health of the members of the armed services who had participated in the warfare.” They point out there “were no published studies of the PTSD rates among the Sri Lankan military personnel” and further argue a “study would give an insight to the policy makers in the military and care providers in the mental health sector to deal with combat trauma in Sri Lanka effectively.” Read the rest of this entry »