Hope For Veterans Battling PTSD

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - July 28, 2018 - PRLog -- Many US veterans still struggle with PTSD years after their service in the Middle Eastern wars. An Army psychologist, Connie Louie-Handelman, treated hundreds during a tour of duty in Afghanistan. She's written a vivid memoir entitled "The Hidden War: PTSD on the Front Lines – Memoirs of a Psychologist Treating Warriors at a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan."

Driven by her passionate desire to serve, Louie-Handelman joined the US Army at the age of 56. Disturbed by the high rates of PTSD and suicide among warriors, she wanted to make a difference. After training, she was deployed at a forward operating base in the hot and dusty plains of Kandahar, Afghanistan. There she found soldiers fighting more than the enemies they encountered in the battlefield. The casualty rate from invisible enemies like anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and fear was high.

When improvised explosive devices killed or wounded warriors near the base, she would journey "outside the wire" to units that were under attack. Besides their shattering experiences on the battlefield, Louie-Handelman eloquently describes the suffering of warriors locked in domestic tragedies, with spouses having affairs or wanting divorces, or children going astray.

Louie-Handelman and her fellow mental health professionals faced enormous obstacles as they treated their patients. Basic supplies were scarce and they worked out of tiny spaces where privacy was impossible. Many warriors were rotating through different duty stations and psychologists often had only one session to help them before they moved on.

Besides her conventional psychological training, Louie-Handelman had a "secret weapon" for treating trauma. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) combines elements of cognitive therapy with acupressure, in the form of fingertip tapping on acupuncture points. She describes how she used EFT to treat PTSD, anger, insomnia, depression, and stress. Many of her patients calmed down within a few minutes of tapping and were able to make substantial progress, often in just a single session. They learned EFT quickly and many referred their buddies.

In this lucid and compelling account, Louie-Handelman shares the knowledge she gained while treating 199 warriors over a total of 574 sessions. She went on to become a passionate advocate for EFT as well as working for the Veterans Administration. The experiences of Louie-Handelman and other mental health professionals, as well as its success in over 100 clinical trials, resulted in the VA approving EFT as a "generally safe treatment" in 2017.

Bio: Connie Louie-Handelman worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs at the San Francisco Vet Center as a readjustment psychologist from March 2013 to March 2018. Connie served in the US Army Reserve from March 12, 2010, to February 1, 2015. She was on active duty from May 29, 2011, to July 10, 2012.  She is the coauthor of two fencing books with her husband, Rob Handelman, DC, Maître d'Armes.

Book Details: The Hidden War: PTSD on the Front Lines

Memoirs of a Psychologist Treating Warriors at a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan

Author: Constance Louie-Handelman, PhD

ISBN print: 978-1-60415-268-5

ISBN ebook: 978-1-60415-269-2

Release Date: July 2018

Publisher: Energy Psychology Press

Distributor: Hay House

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-War-PTSD-Front-Lines/dp/1604152680/