Aikido and the Care of Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Tobias Weiss, PsyD (Aikido of Cincinnati)

In December of 2007, I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity for a psychologist, to become part of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Anxiety Disorders Division at the Cincinnati VA. Quite unexpectedly, I found myself immersed in a cutting-edge treatment and research program designed to meet the unique needs of an expanding population of veterans. This program is forged in evidenced-based practices and is a culture of innovation lead by Kathleen Chard Ph.D.

One of my first duties for 7-week Day Hospital Program was to lead an anger management group for twelve men. It was during my first experiences with this group that I realized I was drawing more and more on my experiences with Aikido to explain the nature of conflict. After just six weeks on the job, I found myself in Dr. Chard's office blurting out that I would like to coordinate an Aikido group. I petitioned that the philosophy of Aikido is the perfect augment to challenging irrational beliefs and finding stuck points keeping veterans from trauma recovery. The PTSD program primarily engages the veterans through group and individual talk therapy and Aikido would offer a physical way of reinforcing the messages of therapy for those who learn more by doing.

As I write this account, I feel compelled to state that I often find myself in such situations in life entering into an endeavor completely and then improvising the details as I go, but I guess this disposition is somewhat suited for the practice of Aikido. After I described the tenets of Aikido as a martial art committed to finding paths of neutralization for conflict stemming from a sincere desire to defend oneself without hurting others, Dr. Chard responded simply with, "How can I help you make this happen?"

It is at this point that I met with my sensei and Dojo Cho for Aikido of Cincinnati, Charlie McGinnis, and he echoed the sentiment of Dr. Chard. Sensei recognized the potential immediately as an opportunity for Aikido of Cincinnati to volunteer a unique area of expertise to a very deserving population. Sensei volunteered the use of mats, appealed to his loyal instructors, and even loaned the program a picture of O' Sensei. With the assistance of Dr. Chard and the VA chaplain program, I was granted permission to assemble a temporary mat every Monday night in chapel on the residential unit. After every practice, the temporary mat had to be disassembled and stored to accommodate the schedule of services offered in the chapel, but we had a dojo.

The pilot Aikido group began with the women's residential program. I recruited two good friends who are skilled women Aikido instructors, Susan Monroe and Shawn Dansby, to teach the first class of the women's residential cohort while I would coordinate the program and offer ukemi; the female patients quite enjoyed seeing powerful women throw me across the room during demonstrations. Instructors met with many challenges during the course of the group including: recognizing and addressing the ways that aikido might trigger re-experiencing of trauma, working with the medical limitations of the women, and addressing the deeply ingrained tendencies of individuals with PTSD to avoid conflict at all cost. Instructors of the class were asked to demonstrate how to blend traditional teaching with adversity (e.g., teaching techniques that could be done while seated in a chair with a woman who had very limited range of motion in her knees). Feedback from the veterans was overwhelmingly positive and, after six weeks, the veterans and the volunteer instructors felt very connected and recognized progress in the areas of: empowerment, flexibility, awareness, stamina, and coordination.

Building on the success of the women's aikido group, Ralph Stanley and Paul Francis bravely led the first aikido group with 12 men. Many new challenges presented themselves on top of the challenges first seen in the women's group. Instructors blended with limited space (12 men take up more mat than 7 women) and new therapeutic issues (many men held the belief that practicing aikido would result in a complete loss of control which would inevitably lead to anger and injury). The men quickly began changing the class, designed to be active, into a question and answer class with demonstration components without physical practice. This necessitated that the instructors find creative ways of engaging the men and helping them overcome their avoidance (e.g., splitting the men up into two groups and having them answer aikido trivia and demonstrate technique for points).

After each of the PTSD veteran's aikido groups, veterans were given the opportunity to give anonymous feedback regarding their satisfaction. I will let a collection of their comments summarize our findings: "Although skeptical at first this turned into one of my favorite groupsÉIt improved my sense of well-beingÉ It improved concentrationÉ Thank you all for the class. It was greatÉ I never expected to come in for PTSD treatment and find myself in an aikido class, but it tied in great with the message of finding a way of becoming unstuck in my recovery." Due to the unanimously positive response, we are working on ways to maintain an ongoing aikido program in both the men's and women's residential units.

For more information on PTSD or Aikido at the VA please call the Cincinnati VA Medical Center PTSD and Anxiety Disorder Division: (859) 572-6208.