Watsu Massage for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
On this video aquatic therapist Nicola Kapala interviews war veteran Josh on Watsu Massage.
Iraqi war veteran Josh talks about the common symptoms vets experience and how Watsu/Healing Dance Aquatic Bodywork relieves those symptoms.
Wave Academy, USA
Wave Academy, founded by Dave Towe, is dedicated to bringing the powerful healing benefits of Aquatic Bodywork to American military personnel returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Wave Academy is finding that when individuals with PTSD receive aquatic bodywork therapy and watsu massage, the results are often immediate and profound. Reduced stress, better sleep, the ability to think more clearly, minimized physical pain and an overall sense of well-being are just some of the powerful healing effects of treatment on PTSD. When the same therapy is given to family members and other caregivers, they report many of the same benefits, often feeling revitalized and thus better able to support their loved ones in their own recovery process.
Wave Academy Aquatic Program Services are limited to San Diego County at this time.
About Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, sometimes develops following a traumatic event in which the person experienced intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Such events can include rape, assault, combat, kidnapping, or other experiences in which the person was threatened with death or serious injury, or in which the person witnessed someone else experiencing a traumatic event.
People who develop PTSD following a trauma often "re-experience" the trauma, through intrusive images, thoughts, and dreams relating to the event, and sometimes feel or act as if the event is recurring. Often people with PTSD become very frightened, distressed, and/or physiologically reactive in response to cues in the environment that remind them of the event. People with PTSD avoid people, places, and/or activities that remind them of the trauma, and try to avoid thinking about the trauma. Sometimes people with PTSD cannot remember aspects of the trauma.
PTSD is also associated with lowered enjoyment of/ participation in activities, feelings of detachment from others, difficulty experiencing certain emotions or being affectionate, and a sense that one's future is foreshortened. In addition, individuals with PTSD tend to be easily aroused, including difficulty sleeping or concentrating, irritability, hypervigilance, and exaggerated startle response.
To be diagnosed with PTSD, the person must have experienced these symptoms for at least one month. Individuals who experience these symptoms for less than one month are sometimes given a diagnosis of Acute Stress Disorder, which often develops into PTSD.
PTSD often co-occurs with other psychological disorders, such as major depression and substance-related disorders.
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