The NLP View: Dr. Richard M. Gray Discusses PTSD

What is PTSD?

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects thousands of state and local police officers, armed service men and women and civilians of every description. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a life-threatening event. PTSD  can stem from military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. The majority of people who experience or witness a life threatening event will return to normal given a little time. However, some people will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. PTSD is complicated by the fact that people with PTSD often may develop additional disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other problems of physical and mental health.

What are the symptoms of PTSD?

Although PTSD symptoms can begin right after a traumatic event, PTSD is not diagnosed unless the symptoms last for at least one month, and either cause significant distress or interfere with work or home life. People with PTSD experience three different kinds of symptoms. The first set of symptoms involves reliving the trauma in some way, commonly nightmares and flashbacks The second set of symptoms involves either staying away from places or people that remind you of the trauma, isolating from other people, or feeling numb. The third set of symptoms includes feeling on guard, irritable, and arousal symptoms. The disorder is also associated with impairment of the person’s ability to function in social or family life, including occupational instability, marital problems and divorces, family discord, and difficulties in parenting

How common is PTSD?

According to Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs, an estimated 7.8 percent of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to develop PTSD. About 3.6 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 54 (5.2 million people) have PTSD during the course of a given year. This represents a small portion of those who have experienced at least one traumatic event; 60.7% of men and 51.2% of women reported at least one traumatic event. The traumatic events most often associated with PTSD for men are rape, combat exposure, childhood neglect, and childhood physical abuse. The most traumatic events for women are rape, sexual molestation, physical attack, being threatened with a weapon, and childhood physical abuse.

About 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD. An additional 20 to 25 percent have had partial PTSD at some point in their lives. More than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans have experienced “clinically serious stress reaction symptoms.” PTSD has also been detected among veterans of other wars. Estimates of PTSD from the Gulf War are as high as 10%. Estimates from the war in Afghanistan are between 6 and 11%. Current estimates of PTSD in military personnel who served in Iraq range from 12% to 20%.

Removing the Trauma

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a process by which language is used to reframe, reroute and redesign our memories, understanding and feelings about experience. Based upon strategies for modeling human excellence NLP is a program designed to use language to interrupt and recreate neural pathways in the brain to optimize human functioning. When something reminds us of trauma the brain immediately searches inside itself for associations and then represents back to you what it finds in the way of mental pictures and emotions.

NLP is used to identify the structure of the problem as well as the process that the client must practice in order to maintain the problem. Due to the fact that the issues reside in the client’s mind, it is difficult for the client to escape the issues. For example, if a veteran is experiencing a flashback from an event, including nightmares, s/he is reliving the traumatic event, even though it is a past memory. By utilizing the NLP techniques, the client is able to neutralize the trauma without having to re-experience it.

Meet Dr Richard Gray

Dr Richard M. Gray, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ.  Before his move to academia, Dr. Gray served for more than 20 years in the US Probation Department, Brooklyn, NY. He is the creator of the Brooklyn Program, an NLP-based substance use treatment program which operated for seven years in the Federal Probation System. In recognition of that work, he was co-recipient of the 2004 Neuro-linguistic Programming World Community Award, presented at the CANLP conference in Montreal.  Dr. Gray is the author of Archetypal Explorations (Routledge, 1996), Transforming Futures: The Brooklyn Program Facilitators Manual (Lulu, 2003) About Addictions: Notes from Psychology, Neuroscience and NLP (Lulu, 2008) and co-editor of The Clinical Effectiveness of Neurolinguistic Programming: A Critical Appraisal (Routledge, forthcoming in October, 2012).

He is a regular presenter at national and international addictions conferences and a recognized expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He received his BA in Psychology from Central College, Pella, IA; MA in Sociology from Fordham University, Bronx, NY; and Ph.D. in Psychology from the Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH. He also earned a certificate in Forensic Psychology at New York University in 2002. He is a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming and a Certified Ericksonian Hypnotist. Richard is a member of the Federal Probation Officers Association, the Canadian Association of NLP, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Health and the NLP Research and Recognition Project.

The Interview

Tune in to this segment of The NLP View Radio Show, as host, Donna Blinston is joined by expert, Dr. Richard Gray to discuss his research on NLP as it pertains to PTSD, on November 10, 2012 at 7pm EDT/4pmPST! Stay Tuned!