Table of Contents
Within military service there are rising concerns on how servicemen and women are mental trained for handing the strenuous tasks of their call to duty. Studies have shown that service members experience unique stressors, such as deployments and frequent relocations that may impact their risk for suicide (Reimann & Mazuchowski, 2018). Mental health physicians are studying new approaches to the issues of mental health and suicide prevention within the military culture. The article of my choice to review was Bulletproofing the Psyche: Mindfulness Interventions in the Training Environment to Improve Resilience in the Military and Veteran Communities by Kate Hendricks Thomas Sarah Plummer Taylor.
Mindfulness is the practical practice of intentionally training one’s mind to be present or in the moment without judgment or, or connection to, what already has happened or what is possible to come. I chose this article because Mindfulness is a philosophy that I have recently been exploring in my own personal study time. The philosophy of mindfulness was introduced to me during a professional development seminar for teachers, based on helping educators assist students within the classroom destress and establish better focus techniques. My review of the article is to show how mindfulness can be adapted into military culture and have a positive effect on the mental health of our servicemen and women.
Purpose
The purpose of the article is to provide programming recommendations based on a review of successful exemplars in treatment settings, the limited evaluation of best practices currently available when working with this priority population in prevention settings, and a cultural analysis of the military veteran community (Hendricks & Taylor, 2015). The article studies how the application of mindfulness can assist in the treatment of mental health issues within military culture. The article is a call to action to inform medical professionals of the health benefits of creating a mindfulness-based training procedure based in resiliency techniques. Mindfulness is presented as new form of treatment that has been shown to be beneficial in recent studies.
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Presenting new ideas is important due that the rate of suicide, cases of depression and post traumatic stress disorders is rapidly growing among our servicemen and women. Establishing new producers can help counteract the problem while establishing new guidelines for counselors to help in crisis situations. Even though there are procedures in place to assist many veterans and servicemen/women decline to participate out of fear of being branded a victim. To combat suicide rates and promote military and veteran mental health, a new approach is required, one that embraces peer education and speaks to a competitive and individualistic military culture (Kobau et al., 2011; Seaward, 2004). This is where the use of Mindfulness practices is used. Mindfulness is used to encourage participates to improve their own way of thinking and calm themselves through unique methods of teaching and meditation.
Impression
Strengths
The article shows great detail of data support as well as, physical applications that will show results if procedures were created and followed. Removing the victim mentally and creating a community of individuals who are educated about the need for understanding stress and mental health, gives individuals a stronger foundation for post traumatic growth. The article explains how Mindfulness is a practice that completes the resiliency theory. It explains that the goal is to give our servicemen/women and veterans another option when dealing with the issue of mental health. Just as applying yoga has become a regiment of training within military culture, Mindfulness allows one to take ownership, again removing the victim mentally, and gives them the tools needed to change the relationship they have within their own thoughts and emotions.
Weakness
The weakness within the article is that it didn’t explain more in-depth what Mindfulness is. It explained greatly the benefits and how it will assist alongside community, resiliency theory and treatments but it did not explain fully what Mindfulness as a whole is. Mindfulness is about retraining one’s brain, and the process requires time and consistency. Mindfulness is also grounded in the philosophy of the Buddhist religion which if not explained might deter someone of a different faith from participating in the practice. It needs to be explained that the western use of Mindfulness is not based in religion or spirituality but about observation of one’s present moment. Giving background information on the practices gives full discourse to the participates and leaves no room for misinterpretation.
Application
This article was one that I was excited to read due that I have started my own personal journey into Mindfulness. Many of the procedures that the article speaks on are ones that I see are coming up in my study. Mindfulness is about paying attention to one’s feelings and emotions. As a Christians, I take the Mindfulness approach to take time to pay attention to God and focus on Him. Many times, due to the stress of life, we forget to go to God intentionally. We may pray but our minds are so distracted most of the times, the pray is rehearsed one that we recite to get us through the day. However, that is not how one should have or build a relationship with God. God wants us to have a relationship with him, even though our suffering. Humans have a negative mental habit of allowing our mind to wonder into the future. Yet the Bible states in Matthew 6:34 “take therefore no thought of the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil theof” (KJV). The application of this scripture is to focus on the moment. Mindfulness gives practical tools on how to settle one’s mind, embrace the moment and focus. This can help when studying God’s word, hearing from Him through chaos and feeling His presence in every aspect of one’s life.
Conclusion
Mindfulness is about paying attention to one’s feelings and emotions. The article studies how the application of mindfulness can assist in the treatment of mental health issues within military culture. The article is a call to action to inform medical professionals of the health benefits of creating a mindfulness-based training procedure based in resiliency techniques. Mindfulness is presented as new form of treatment that has been shown to be beneficial in recent studies. Removing the victim mentally and creating a community of individuals who are educated about the need for understanding stress and mental health, gives individuals a stronger foundation for post traumatic growth. The article explains how Mindfulness is a practice that completes the resiliency theory.
References
- Hendricks Thomas, K., & Taylor, S. P. (2016). Bulletproofing the psyche: Mindfulness interventions in the training environment to improve resilience in the military and veteran communities. Advances in Social Work, 16(2), 312-322.
- Kobau, R., Seligman, M. P., Peterson, C., Diener, E., Zack, M. M., Chapman, D., & Thompson, W. (2011). Mental health promotion in public health: Perspectives and strategies from positive psychology. American Journal of Public Health, 101(8), e1e9.
- Reimann, C. A., & Mazuchowski, E. L. (2018). Suicide rates among active duty service members compared with civilian counterparts, 2005–2014. Military Medicine, 183(suppl_1), 396-402.
- Seaward, B. (2004). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and wellbeing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett
