Veterans Radio is dedicated to all the men and
women who have served or are currently serving
in the armed forces of the United States of America.
And good morning America and welcome to Veterans
Radio. We're so excited to be here and we're
so excited to have you listening to us around
the world. We want to say good morning to all
of our service members here locally and also
as I mentioned around the world. Today's program
is especially for you and it's for your families
also. We're going to be talking about PTSD, traumatic
brain injuries and suicide. The number of suicides
for returning troops is escalating at an astronomical
number. And so we're going to be talking about
that today with two of our guests. Here in the
studio with me is Eric Amberg, a PhD who practices
neuropsychology here in Ann Arbor. And joining
us on the line will be Jerry Yellen, a World
War II fighter pilot who fought his own demons
for 30 years until he learned about Transcendental
Meditation. And so we're going to be talking
about those alternative treatments to this problem
of PTSD and how we're going to be able to help
out our veterans as they're coming home, not
only from the current conflicts, but also from
the past. Many Vietnam veterans, even World War
II and Korea and so forth, are still struggling
with these demons that I like to call them. And
so we're going to have some opportunities to
talk about that today. on Veterans Radio. If
you'd like to get in on the conversation, you
can give us a call at 877 -573 -7825. That's
877 -573 -7825. But before we do that, there's
a program going on here in the Detroit area by
one of our local mortgage lenders, and I want
to bring on from them as our guest for the morning.
And that's Michelle Salvatore. And Michelle is
the Director of Public Relations, I believe,
in hiring for Quicken Loans. And Quicken Loans
in Detroit is holding a job fair next weekend.
And there's a special thing about it. Michelle,
welcome to Veterans Radio. Well, thank you. Good
morning. Good morning to you. So tell me what
Quicken Loans is up to. So we are actually having
a career fair on Saturday, April 28th. It's at
the Confuware Building downtown Detroit. And
from 10 to 11, we'll be meeting with U .S. veterans
and members of military families. It's just another
way that we'd like to recognize and support the
service of active members of the armed forces,
the veterans, and the families. And all of those
have served in our nation. Well, I think this
is a great opportunity for some veterans that
are looking for work, and it doesn't necessarily
have to be from the current conflicts. Especially
in Michigan, there are a lot of people looking
for work. and the idea that they can come down
a little bit earlier than the regular population,
I think will definitely be to their benefit.
Yeah, absolutely. We're really excited about
it. Is there anything that they should bring
along with them? I would say make sure you have
a couple copies of your resume. Our recruiters
are ready to go. We're hoping to start extending
offers on the spot, so they'll actually even
be able to talk to some of the hiring leaders
for the different areas of the company. It's
truly a career fair like like they've really
never seen. It's not, you know, the typical career
fair where you go in and there's lots of companies
and people kind of sitting behind a table. This
is interaction with our team leaders right there
on site in our building talking about positions
that they are hiring for. So they're kind of
having a mini interview right then and there
and then they talk to a recruiter. It's really
a lot of fun and really gets us involved with
everybody who's there. What kind of job opportunities
are you talking about? All areas of the company,
technology, operations, mortgage banking, really
anything that you can think of that a normal
company would hire for. There is really more
to quick amounts than what most people think.
Most people think of us only as a mortgage company
that all we do is sell loans. And the reality
is that there's really so much more to us. We're
a technology company. We're a marketing company.
We're really a people company. We really give
back to our clients. We're looking for individuals
who are really passionate and motivated to help
and learn and make a difference, both with Quick
& Mounds and with their clients. Well, it sounds
like a great opportunity for everybody in the
Detroit area, but especially for veterans. So
again, that is... Give me the date and the time
again, please, Michelle. Absolutely. It's Saturday,
April 28th in the Compuware building at 1050
Woodward Avenue. And from 10 to 11, we'll be
meeting with U .S. veterans and members of military
families. And if they want to apply online, they
can go to quickenloanscareers .com or you can
always reach out to us directly on our 800 number.
It's 1 -800 -411 -JOBS. Okay. Michelle Salvador
of Quicken Loans. Next Saturday, you guys out
there, men and women, there's an opportunity
for you to go on down to Detroit, the Compuware
Center. Sounds like a good opportunity. Thank
you so very much, Michelle, and good luck. Thank
you. Thanks for having us. Okay. My pleasure.
Thank you. All right. So those of you out here
that are looking for work, head on down to the
Compuware Center and Quicken Loans. And I was
just reading their information that they sent
me. It says one of the best companies to work
for. So good luck. to all of you out there. We're
going to be taking a break right now and then
we're going to be coming back and we're going
to be talking with Jerry Yellen about Transcendental
Meditation and ways that we can help you or a
family member deal with some of their issues
that they brought back with them from their service
around the world. The Marine Scholars Program
covers the total cost of attending Ave Maria
University by combining resources from the Ave
Maria University Marine Scholars Funding, federal
financial aid entitlements, and the GI Bill.
The benefits are granted for the duration of
the recipient study at Ave Maria University contingent
upon good conduct and good academic standing.
The Marine Scholars Program is open to all reserve
and active component Marines and other combat
veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation
Iraqi Freedom who have honorably served our country.
Please visit us online at www .avemaria .edu
or call the Assistant Director of Admissions
at 239 -280 -2552. You helped us. Now let us
help you. Semper Fi. We're back on Veterans Radio
and I just wanted to read a headline from the
New York Times from last Sunday. It says, an
American soldier dies every day and a half on
average in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans kill
themselves at the rate of one every 80 minutes.
More than 6 ,500 veteran suicides are logged
every year, more than the total number of soldiers
killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since
those wars began. This is a subject that we feel
is very important to talk about. The VA just
came out with another announcement later last
week, and that is that the Department of Veterans
Affairs says it's increasing its staff of mental
health workers by roughly 1 ,900. The VA secretary
announced the plan on Thursday saying that the
government must make sure all veterans have adequate
access to healthcare. The department plans to
add roughly 1 ,600 clinicians and about 300 support
staff to an existing mental health staff of roughly
20 ,000. The department says it will begin recruiting
immediately. We're not going to talk about traditional
treatment for PTSD and TBI today. We're going
to be talking about what I call alternative treatments.
And one of our, we've got two guests joining
me in the studio right now. is Dr. Eric Amberg,
who practices neuropsychology here in Ann Arbor.
Dr. Amberg, welcome to Veterans Radio. Thank
you. Nice to be here. Joining me on the line
right now also is from Fairfield, Iowa, is Jerry
Yellen. Jerry is a World War II fighter pilot
who had his own problems after World War II.
For 30 years, until he discovered Transcendental
Meditation, finally found something that helped
him out. Jerry, I want to welcome you back to
Veterans Radio. Nice to be here, Dale. Thank
you. I wanted to remind our audience that we
talked with Jerry, I guess it was two years ago
now. Jerry is a writer and I met him through
the Military Writer Society and he wrote a story
about his experiences at Iwo Jima and also about
his experiences dealing with his PTSD and he's
got a new book out. which I have not had the
opportunity to read, and I hate to admit that,
but it's entitled The Resilient Warrior. And
Jerry, I want you to kind of tell me a little
bit about how you got involved with TM. Well,
I was enlisted in the Army Air Corps two months
after Pearl Harbor at the age of 18, and I graduated
from flying school at the age of 19 as a fighter
pilot and joined the 78th Fighter Squadron. in
Hawaii and on March 7, 1945, I flew a P -51 onto
Iwo Jima. I saw the remnants of 28 ,000 bodies
and 90 ,000 people fighting on eight square miles
of land, flew 19 missions over Japan, had a leadership
position, shot down four Japanese airplanes.
And one day, the war ended and I came home and
I had nothing. I didn't have any buddies, I didn't
have any purpose in life, I didn't have any mission
to do, and I didn't have any education or background,
and I had an addictive behavior for 30 years.
And then my wife learned Transcendental Meditation,
and I learned Transcendental Meditation, and
I got my life back. It's not an alternative medical
procedure, it's not an alternative. that warriors
have used for years, for 5 ,000 years. And in
2010, a young friend of mine committed suicide,
and I started Operation Warrior Wellness with
the David Lynch Foundation, and we're helping
veterans all over the United States learn Transcendental
Meditation. We all know what a computer is. We
all know that if you have a virus in a computer,
takes away the virus. Well, stress is the virus
of the operating system of the mind, the brain,
and stress causes violent behavior and depression
and aggressiveness and despair and suicide. And
transdental meditation reduces stress. That's
about the best thing I can say. We're in a national
crisis right at this moment. On May 3rd, meditation.
The government is spending $15 to $18 billion
a year on antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs
that don't work. And for $1 ,000, $1 ,000, one
time, one fee. It sounds like a great program,
Jerry, and it's Operation Warrior Wellness, and
you can just go to their website, which is OperationWarriorWellness
.org, and it's an encyclopedia of information
on there to help people find out where the classes
are available, what direction that you're going
in and trying to raise awareness of this, and
also gives you the opportunity to support them.
It's interesting that what you were talking about,
and I was talking with Dr. Amberg earlier this
morning about the way that they traditionally
treat PTSD is in a lot of cases that they just
throw drugs at you. That's it. And that ends
up masking I think a lot of the real problems
that these men and women are having. And that
what you're doing and what Dr. Amberg is going
to talk about later on, is that you're looking
at it from the entire body, not just a mental
issue. Yeah, it's a mind -body thing, but I was
in Camp Pendleton on Wednesday. I spoke to 75
or 80 members of a wounded warrior battalion
at Camp Pendleton. All these guys have mental
wounds and physical wounds, and we're going to
start a whole group of people. This is big stuff.
It's been around for a long time. We have 30,
40 ,000, 50 ,000 people who can teach Transcendental
Meditation all over the country. We make it easy.
It's five hours or six hours of instruction over
a period of four or five days. And it's something
that you have for yourself. Everybody knows what
his own experience is in athletics. what you
think, it's how you think. Transcendental Meditation
is not a psychology or a religion or a belief
system. It's a tool of how the brain works, how
the brain thinks, and you learn to get into the
zone 20 minutes a day, twice a day, and you get
the relief from this. 20 minutes a day, twice
a day, you go from the surface level of thought
to the deeper level of thought, and you get relief
from stress. Scientifically, $28 million worth
of research by the National Institute of Health
over the last 30 years. The science is there,
the knowledge is there, our willingness to do
this is there, and we can help. Anybody wants
to get in touch with me, just go to Operation
Warrior Give me a name. Give me a place. We'll
get somebody in touch with you, and if we can
give you a scholarship, we will. I think that's
a great opportunity, Jerry, and just to remind
everybody that you can give us a call today.
If you have a question, just call us here at
877 -573 -7825. That's 877 -573 -7825. I want
to bring Dr. Amberg on. here for a minute to
talk about a little bit of your treatment. I'm
going to strike the word alternative from my
vocabulary for a while, but you are doing something
also that involves the entire body and not just
the mental part. Could you kind of explain what
it is that you're doing? Well, what we have is
an integrative medical approach that looks at
the body's system, recognizing that when people
experience trauma, every part of their being
is affected. In medicine we have specialties
like neurology and endocrinology and immunology
and cardiology. Without the recognition that
all of these systems are always in constant communication
and trauma is like dropping a boulder into the
water and seeing everything affected. So it's
really a three -part area of integrative medicine.
One part is biology. The second part involves
what we refer to as the gift that we all have
or the DNA imperative that we have to achieve
a direction and a purpose in life and that in
order to do that we have to recognize that we
do have a gift and it does have to become workable.
If we're involved in combat for a prolonged period
of time we get waylaid and we don't achieve that
purpose and we get stuck in a place that goes
round and round like a broken record. The third
part of it is the spirituality part and that
people have lost contact with their inner spirit
or life force or soul and what we've just been
hearing about is how do we make contact with
that spiritual component regardless of what we
refer to it as and so if we do it with PM or
other forms of spirituality we are coming in
contact with that life force that is essential
for our survival and our sense of well -being.
Well, how would you, when we were talking earlier,
you went through the VA system, I mean you worked
through the VA system, so can you kind of tell
me how you came to this idea of what you want
to do? Well, on a previous broadcast, we had
talked about the notion that people suffer. And
there was one gentleman that I had known at the
VA who had significant PTSD since World War II,
and it was at Normandy. And he never got broke
loose of it. Again, that broken record went round
and round, his stress was there, his depression
was there. But he also had the DNA mandate. This
was his sense of imperative that we all have
a uniqueness within us that allows us to achieve
a state of self -realization or actualization.
Some of us are geared towards a carpentry, some
maybe mechanics, some maybe medicine, maybe some
lore that makes us feel alive and gives us purpose.
This gentleman had carpentry and so when we introduced
him to the things that he really felt positive
about before in listening and got back to it,
that was a great relief to him. He got involved
with his spirit also at the same time. And within
three to five months, his PTSD became highly
manageable and he was able to be discharged from
a place that he had been for probably 30 years.
You talk about, you know, as I mentioned, you
have worked in the VA system and that you were
more of a traditional psychologist, psychiatrist
prior to this enlightenment, I guess you could
say, that you went through, and that that's continued.
I mean, if we're going to hire 1 ,600 more technicians
and clinicians, and so forth, it sounds like
it's going to be more of the same. Yeah, what
happens with PTSD is that the part of the brain
that deals with survival called the amygdala
and the part of the brain that deals with memory
called the hippocampus become locked in place.
And it doesn't take much for the system to keep
on going round and round and round. If all we
do is counseling, then all we're doing is talking
about sensory impressions and we're not dealing
with the other things that are going on below
the surface. We have in place a way of measuring
biologically how the system has become aberrant,
how it's become awry. And we can look at those
numbers and say, yeah, these people are very
high in adrenaline -releasing hormones that puts
them at risk for homicide or suicide. Otherwise,
it's just personal testimony. And we can't deal
with that level of fluctuation simply by talking
about it or as we had talked about earlier. giving
medications to subdue it, but rather than to
treat the process of what's going on below the
surface. Ninety percent of what we are is below
the surface and below our awareness, and that's
where the trauma lies. And certainly things like
TM can help us to move the spirituality into
the foreground and the biology into the background,
but the biology still exists. And we need to
address the three -part process of dealing with
this. You mentioned earlier when we were talking
about how a simple blood test, I don't know how
simple it is in my mind, a simple blood test
can show these different levels of what they're
called to our audience out there. We're trying
to keep it simple so I can understand it too.
is that by measuring these different things inside
of our blood that you can determine some of the
issues that might be going on there. That's correct.
There are areas that are measurable that will
show depletion, which is what happens when we're
doing something over and over and over again.
We get depleted. Other areas are agitated and
we look at ratios of one system compared to another.
We can say that this person is at high risk.
We can flag this person. As soon as they come
back from deployment and say, look, we need to
talk about some things that are going on, which
may even be low awareness of the individual.
The person might not even be aware of the stress
that he's under. He may not be aware of the fact
that he's also in a great deal of pain, but that's
not being addressed because, quote, we define
it as a mental disorder. There are so many things
that are going on below the surface that we have
to come to the foreground with so that these
high numbers of suicide And people who are brought
before the Veterans Court for Homicide or things
like that can be properly addressed. Well, you
mentioned, you know, that... Dale, can I interject
for a minute? Sure, go right ahead, Jerry. You
know, psychology and psychiatry requires the
complete, complete attention of the patient and
the cooperation of the patient. We know that
there are half a million, 500 ,000 people military
suffering from post -traumatic stress disorder.
The VA doesn't have enough people to treat it.
We got started in Camp Pendleton because a psychology
department called the Marine Counseling Service
and the Deployment Service had a number of their
counselors see the effects of Transcendental
Meditation. Transcendental Meditation is something
that you have for yourself. It doesn't require
any visit to anybody. It doesn't require your
cooperation with a psychologist. It just requires
you to sit quietly, to learn a word called a
mantra that has no meaning and how to use that
word to get into the deeper, deeper silences
of self. And that silence of self is a healing
power. It's not spiritual. It's not biological.
It's not anything other than self -help for the
individual. It doesn't require you to talk to
anybody. It doesn't require you to take any medication.
It doesn't require you to do anything but to
sit still for 20 minutes a day and meditate.
It's the only thing that I know of that helped
me. I had no soul for 30 years. I was married.
I had four children. was my addictive behavior.
Couldn't pass a golf course, just like a guy
who drinks can't pass a bar. And Transcendental
Meditation made me into a better human being,
20 minutes a day, twice a day, sitting quietly
and getting in touch with myself from the deepest,
deepest level of self, my own consciousness.
And we can teach this for seven, for a thousand
dollars. all over the country. We don't have
to retrain anybody. We've got the people are
in place. The willingness is in place. We don't
have all the funding we need, but we're working
on that. Big time. It sounds as though there
are a lot of different things going on out there
and that's what's so fascinating to me. You mentioned
earlier, Jerry, that there were some people at
the VA that, as you put it, they were going to
come out. supporting TM and that it was, it's
kind of interesting to know that the VA itself
is willing to look at these different types of
treatment for people. And as you mentioned, that
they can just help us out. I think it's going
to be incredible. And I know we're coming up
on a break here and how much time? Okay, I got
about a minute and a half as I look at my clock.
I need you to just slide over a little bit so
I can see it. Anyway, we're talking about different
types of treatment here. We're talking about
transcendental meditation. We're talking about
physical treatment for emotional problems. We
had a caller. Well, actually both of you kind
of touched on this, but I'm going to ask back
to you, Dr. Emmer. We've only got about a minute,
and I know we won't be able to draw. I'm going
to hold this until we get to the other side of
our break, I think. We're talking with Dr. Eric
Emberg and we're talking with Jerry Yellen about
different treatments for PTSD, traumatic brain
injury, and how you come to peace with yourself.
And I think that that's something that's really
important. And if you want to get in on the conversation,
you can give us a call here at Veterans Radio
877 -573 -7825. So make sure that you do that.
We'll be right back. You're listening to Veterans
Radio. The Medal of Honor is the highest award
for valor in combat given a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States. There have been
over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest
award. This is one of them. Chaplain Joseph O
'Callaghan administered to the wounded and dying,
led firefighting crews, and directed the jettisoning
of live ammunition from his stricken ship. O
'Callaghan was serving as chaplain on board the
USS Franklin when that vessel was fiercely attacked
by enemy Japanese aircraft. Calmly braving the
barriers of fire and twisted metal to aid his
men and his ship, O 'Callaghan groped his way
through smoke -filled quarters to the open flight
deck and into the midst of violently exploding
bombs, shells, rockets, and other armament. With
the ship rocked by incessant explosions, with
debris and fragments raining down and fires raging
in ever -increasing fury, he ministered to the
wounded and dying, comforting and encouraging
men of all faiths. He organized and led firefighting
crews into the blazing inferno on the flight
deck. He directed the jettisoning of live ammunition
and the flooding of the magazine. He manned a
hose to cool hot armed bombs rolling dangerously
on the listing deck, continuing his efforts despite
searing, suffocating smoke which forced men to
fall back gasping. O 'Callaghan inspired the
officers and men of the Franklin to fight heroically
and with profound faith in the face of almost
certain death and to return their stricken ship
to port. The Medal of Honor series is a production
of Veterans Radio. And we are back on Veterans
Radio today and we're talking about PTSD and
trying to eliminate some of the suicides that
are going on with our returning troops and of
course our veterans from previous conflicts because
the numbers are just astronomical and again I
want to read from the New York Times that just
said that More than 6 ,500 veteran suicides are
logged every year. Every year. That's more than
the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan
and Iraq combined since these wars began. And
we're talking with Dr. Eric Amberg and with Jerry
Yellen about different types of treatments that
are available to help people cope with the post
-traumatic stress. And we had a question from
one of our listeners. I'm going to address this
to you, Dr. Amberg, first. In essence, what is
your spirituality? I don't want to get into the
religion part of it, but you mentioned that you
thought that spirituality was really important
as part of this treatment. Well, if we look at
what the Bible talks about as the body being
a temple, and that temple being very exquisitely
designed and integrated, that we have to recognize
that whether we are spiritual or even one has
a physics as a notion, that spirituality is an
extremely important part of what we are. It's
something that we can't define very well. Is
it light for us? Is it soul? But it is something
that's totally integrated in terms of what the
body does. And if we leave that piece out, then
we're just dealing with biology, which is only
one third of the situation. Jerry, how about
your... relationship with spirituality well that's
that's a loaded question I know and I'm sorry
to here's here's here's what I believe here's
what I've been led to believe by my life experiences
I fought the Japanese the Japanese were my hated
enemy they I watched bombers thousands of bombers
drop thousands, hundreds of thousands of tons
of bombs on Japan. Not once did I ever think
that there were human beings on the ground. They
were Japanese. I saw the remnants of a fight
on Iwo Jima where 7 ,000 Marines, I saw the body
parts, I saw 21 ,000 body parts from Japanese
and for 30 years I hated them. Then I learned
Transcendental Meditation in 1975. And then in
1983, I was asked to go to Japan and I never
wanted to go to Japan, not a place to visit,
not human beings. My wife, Helene, wanted to
go to Japan and we went to Japan. We were in
Kyoto and she said Robert would really love Japan.
Robert was the youngest of our four sons. He
was a senior at San Diego State University. So
we gave him a homestay visit of 16 days and he
went to Japan in 1983. graduated college in 1984,
didn't know what he wanted to do, so he took
a year to teach Japanese, to teach the English
in Japan, one year contract. Then he went in
1984, he hasn't come back yet. He met and married
the daughter of a kamikaze pilot who lived through
the war because he was sent to China and didn't
have any missions over there. I have three Japanese
grandchildren, three, one twenty -two, 120 and
116. They're my family. Their background, their
religion, their culture, completely different
than mine. They are my family. I've come to the
conclusion that all human beings are exactly
the same. So I have no belief in a higher power
of a religion. I have a belief that we are all
part of nature. Important to the natural world
we all make babies the same way and that's been
going on for Since human beings came into life.
We all have the same operating system if some
baby is born in China of two Chinese parents
and has raised in America and takes on the culture
the language the dress the education of America
might look Chinese might be Chinese by birth,
but he's American and all of us are exactly the
same. If you take away some of the things that
are going on today, religious -wise, you'll find
that we, as human beings, are all exactly the
same. We need three things in our lives, something
to do, someone to love, and something to look
forward to. That's all we need. We all need food.
We all need sleep. We all have sexual desires
because that's nature telling us we have to propagate.
That's the only purpose of our life is to recreate
ourselves. So I'm going on my lecturing now that
I am an individual who's part, not of a religion,
but a part of the entire world, part of nature.
And that's the way I live. That's the way I feel.
Spirituality, I'm a very, very, very spiritual
person. I've written several And the Black and
Canteen is the story of 23 Americans who were
killed on June 20th, 1945 in a midair collision
over Japan in two B -29s. And a Japanese man,
Hiroyosuga, buried him, buried these guys in
a common grave next to the 2 ,000 citizens that
the bombers killed. And he did that because he
believed that we keep coming back. as we die.
And if you didn't have a proper burial, these
guys would come back as warriors again and again
and again. That's a belief system. I don't have
that belief system. What I believe is this. Those
who perform acts of kindness without expectation
of reward receive the greatest reward of all,
immortality. It isn't about doing good, forgetting
something. It's about doing good because it's
the right thing to do. You're listening to Veterans
Radio here, and if you've got a comment that
you'd like to get in on the conversation, give
us a call at 877 -573 -7825. I want to go back
to you, Dr. Amberg. You talked earlier at breakfast,
we were talking about when people go into the
hospital or get home from overseas, if they're
hurt, they go through two doors. One door is
physical and the other door is mental. That's
correct. And that you think that everybody should
be going through the physical door. That's correct.
And I wanted you to kind of, in layman's terms,
so that we can all understand it, Jerry mentioned
something about everybody being the same, basically.
And there's a conversation that I heard or a
speech I heard by a brain doctor. which obviously
is not working for me right now, neurosurgeon.
And he's talking about when he opens up the brain
to work on whatever, they're all the same. He
can't tell if they come from China, America,
wherever it happens to be. And I think that that
sounded like something that you were talking
about, that we're all, ideally we're all wired
the same, but sometimes those wires get short
out and that results in some problems. That's
correct. Because when we have trauma, the balance
of what we are is disrupted chemically, electrically,
organ -wise, and so when we have trauma, it's
all physical. Now, as I said before, what we
refer to as the mental is just the upper layer
of what the brain is processing, and so then
we call it mental, but it's still a processing
system that's going on in the brain that's really
revealing all of what's going on below the levels
of awareness. So when we're talking about biology,
we're talking about the fact that we all have
biological systems that are in certain cases
of balance or imbalance, but on the trauma, it
really moves out of balance. And so that's why
we hurt, that's why we suffer. There are different
ways of addressing it, but we should not be addressing
it as a mental or physical. And that's a danger
we do. If we create the idea that this is a mental
disorder, this is a physical disorder, Then we're
taking the body system and saying, well, this
is not real, this is imaginary, and this is real
so we have to treat it differently. If we were
to give everyone the respect of recognizing that
all individuals have biological conditions that
need to be addressed, and of course meditation
is a great way of addressing it because it takes
that component and moves it into the foreground
and takes the biology and moves it more into
the background. but they all have to be addressed
or otherwise these addictions are still present.
Well, you know, I've always been a fan of Shakespeare
and he's always talking about these humors, you
know, that their ill humor or their humors are
out of balance and it sounds like that that's
something that you were talking about. We've
had Rick Briggs on our program in the past and
he's with the Traumatic Brain Injury Association,
I think it is, of Michigan. Yes. And we've talked
about that. So many of the symptoms of TBI are
similar to PTSD, or it sounds like there is a
combination of the two going on there. And you
have mentioned that the idea is that if we can
treat them physically, many of those post -traumatic
stress disorder symptoms will go away. Yeah,
artificially we create these terms like PTSD,
TBI, instead of just looking at one issue, the
body system has gone aberrant. And if we can
recognize where the changes have occurred and
address them, then a great deal of relief can
occur because now the person who has experiencing
this is not going to sit down and talk about
problems, but they're going to be part of a program
that teaches them how they need to deal with
this aberrant system, much the same way as we
teach a diabetic how to deal with diabetes. Diet
-wise and other kinds of lifestyle changes have
to occur. And here the person feels empowered.
They're not feeling pacified, not a passive person
receiving counseling or medications. They're
acting on their condition. And it's this very
act of empowerment that creates change. And part
of empowerment may be the meditation part, of
course, because that's something they can use
to increase their state of empowerment. Incidentally,
on a biological level, we have known that with
meditation, TM or otherwise, that there are changes
in EEG. There are changes in... EEG? EEG, which
is the brainwave activity. Okay. And so we see
a healthy EEG emerge with meditation. We also
see changes occurring in chemistry with meditation.
So it does fall into a realm that it's also measurable
and it's very powerful. I think what's interesting
you mentioned earlier about how you're able to
measure some of these humors in our body and
how you can control them as you mentioned by
diet or exercise or minimal medication. That's
correct. You know, trying to get away from the
medication as much as possible, I think, sounds
like. Well, we're trying to move into the area
of self -empowerment, that people can understand
the nature of their condition, what needs to
be done. For example, people who watch a lot
of violent movies are just going to keep that
level up there. People who do things that heat
the addictions just keep that system fully active.
So if we say you've got to change that, and these
are the things that we can do to make change
possible, diet -wise, lifestyle -wise, getting
involved in the imperative that we talked about
before, learning techniques that have to do with
spirituality, which is different from religion.
It's not a thought process, but it's a doing
process. It's, as Jesus said, get into a closet
and pray, to feel the inner stillness, however
we choose to achieve that. We're coming up on
another break and when we come back on the other
side, we'd like to have your comments out there.
So give us a call at 877 -573 -7825. We're trying
to figure out how can we help? Do you know somebody
out there that needs help? Do you know somebody
out there that you think is suicidal? Give us
a call. We'll try to help you out. You're listening
to Veterans Radio. And we're back on Veterans
Radio and we're talking about PTSD, Transcendental
Meditation. all types of different treatments
for these problems that veterans have when they
return. I wanted to give out a phone number here.
It's a veteran's crisis line. If you know somebody
that you think is having trouble or having problems
or you think may be suicidal, give this number
a call. It's 800 -273 -8255. That's 800 -273
-8255. And then it says press one. And this is
a Veterans Crisis Line which will get you the
ability to talk to someone right away. On our
program today is Jerry Yellen who is responsible
for an organization called Operation Warrior
Wellness and that's at OperationWarriorWellness
.org. And Jerry, how do people contact you directly
or do they go through your website to get some
help? Well, they can contact me directly. They
can send me an email, Jerry. at operationwarrior
.wellness .org or jerryatlisco .com. I'll respond
to them. They can go to the David Lynch Foundation
website. They can go to operationwarriorwellness
.org website and they can contact us. Go ahead.
No, no, go ahead. All right. I was going to ask
if I'm in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Can you direct
me to someone specifically in this area that
can help me out with TM? Absolutely. Right in
your community. I think that's important. And
again, I go back to the idea that the VA is looking,
and not necessarily the VA right now, but both
of you are working with representatives from
the VA and trying to get these other programs
into the system if possible. The government is
hard to deal with. The government has people
who believe in what they're doing from the religious
side. There are people who think that Transcendental
Meditation is a religion, it's a cult, and it's
none of those things. And the government is trying
to cut back on money. We have to look to the
citizenships, we have to look to the corporations.
big insurance companies. There's a lot of research
that Transcendental Meditation improves the health
care, just as Dr. Eric says, improves your health
care, it improves your health, it takes away
stress, which stress causes heart problems, it
causes addictive eating, it causes high cholesterol,
stress causes all kinds of problems, and if we
can take away stress... insurance companies to
do things. We're looking to major funders, major
companies who have benefited financially from
the 18 years that we've been fighting this war.
Wars are very costly. Wars are very profitable
for some people. So we're looking to the citizenry
to take care of the citizens. When I fought,
10 % of the country fought in World War II. We
were 16 million people. as soldiers and sailors
and marines and airmen. And today we have 3 ,000,
3 million people, 1 % of the nation. 99 % of
the nation has benefited from what those 1 %
have done. And we have to take care of the 1
% in a much, much more meaningful manner than
we have up until this time. Absolutely, absolutely.
We've got a caller on the line and I'm going
to kind of preface her question. This is Joan
from Dearborn Heights, and Joan's question was,
how do we revamp the entire medical system to
shy away from prescription drug use? Well, you
can't do that. That's an impossibility. My son
is a researcher, a scientific researcher, medical
doctor. Drugs are about money. Drugs are about
making money. And they're in business. There's
no altruism in business. They have a mission.
in life to take care of their shareholders, to
make money and drugs is a big profitable business.
It's not going to go away. The lobbyists for
these companies are huge. The lobbyists for the
military industrial complex are huge in Washington.
You have to change the whole political system
and that's not going to work. Yeah, we are going
through evolution. I think that the understanding
of integrative medicine coming forward will begin
to change the orientation. It has done so in
some major medical schools, looking at the entire
body as opposed to just specific areas. If we
do that, then we begin to treat the areas of
aberration as opposed to trying to medicate symptoms.
If we recognize that symptoms are a message from
the body... and we try to kill the message then
we miss out on where the message is coming from.
And I think there is a change in the medical
education of looking at things more integratively.
Joan, I know you're on the line and I know that
you are, you know, I think the idea of getting
away especially from the prescription drugs that
are strictly for mental problems would be a great
advantage to those people who are taking those
drugs, don't you? I'm just concerned that the
medications could repress what Dr. Anberg is
saying, that he's trying to get down to the root
of what's in the soul and to bring it out. And
I think when you're constantly giving drugs to
people for decades, how are you going to let
these problems surface and how will you actually
really be able to treat them? I agree. They're
shaking their head and I know Jerry does the
same thing. Thanks Joan for giving us a call.
Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. We're working
on it. Thank you. Thank you so much, all of you.
Thank you. Dr. Enberg, you are working out in
Western Michigan with the Michigan National Guard,
the TBI, and you mentioned General Fausson. Can
you tell me a little bit about the program that
you're doing with them? Well, we're trying to
develop a program that actually is out here.
using the concept that I've talked about, the
integrative medicine, the spirituality and the
mandate to try to help people to move away from
this whole concept of mental disorder and to
move back into the notion that we are a physical
entity with a variety of components. I think
the main thing we have to look at is how do we
get away, I think the main issue that threatens
a great deal of people with PTSD and suicide.
It's a belief that they've got a mental condition
that's untreatable and it becomes hopeless. We
have to create a sense of empowerment with veterans
to recognize that it's not hopeless, that they
don't have to continue to feel themselves getting
worse and worse to the point of imploding. That's
the basic reason why I got into this program
four or five years ago, to try to deal with the
whole issue of suicide and to try to create the
understanding. That it's not a sense of powerlessness,
which is what has been created with this counseling
and medications But to create a notion that they
do have power and that if we begin to work with
their sense of power We can override a very very
difficult condition It sounds like both of you
and Jerry I'm going to go back to you are talking
about self -empowerment and taking control of
your of your own life and and your own thoughts
Yeah, I like I like what saying he's on the right
track, but the research has all been done. We
have a product. It's maybe not the only product,
but it's a very, very, very powerful good product
called Transcendental Meditation. It sounds like,
as you mentioned, that both of you are headed
toward the same direction, let's put it that
way, and that you're offering these veterans
something that's going to be able to help them
rather than drugging them up and labeling them
as you know, whatever they've been labeling them
as over the years. And I think, you know, the
TM thing, it sounds fascinating to me, and it
certainly is something that I'm going to look
into. And again, also with Dr. Amber, he's got
some things that I want to look into also, because
I think that both of you have, you're pushing
that envelope out there and letting people know
that there are options. So we have to move away
from the idea of patient -doctor and into the
notion of student and facilitator. And however
we want to do that, once we get away from the
idea that doctor's orders and patient follows,
which doesn't work at all, it has to be something
where the person is actively involved in their
own recovery. Things happened, a lot of unplanned
things that affected the entire system, and people
have to know that there is hope out there. There
are things that they can do. to make a difference,
and we have to have facilitators, not doctor's
orders, that will help make that difference.
That sounds great. How would people get a hold
of you if they have questions? Well, they can
go to our website, which is, if you Google LRS,
Life Reclamation Systems, they can go online.
It's a website that's being developed. So they
can come in there with questions and we will
be able to answer their questions. Okay. And
Jerry, how, and you mentioned how they could
get ahold of you through operation warrior wellness.
Yes. Correct. And I think go ahead. Operation
warrior wellness, one word .org. Uh, there's
a lot of information there. There's a great amount
of information in there. And I really encourage
those of you who are looking for different ways
of. of solving problems is to look on their website
or go to Amazon and look for Jerry's book, The
Resilient Warrior, Healing the Hidden Wounds
of War. You can download a chapter from the book,
which I did, and it's fascinating, so now I have
to go and get another book to read by Jerry Yellen,
which is okay, because he's a good writer and
I enjoy what he writes, and I think that, Jerry,
that you're really on to something and I... I
wish you the best of luck and I look forward
to seeing you at some of the military writers
meetings and maybe a little bit sooner that I
might have to make a trip back through Fairfield,
Iowa. Come on back. You know, I had a pure purpose
in war as did every soldier, as does every soldier.
And now I have a pure purpose in my life at the
age of 88 to make sure that the veterans who
have stretched out who have been serving. went
through. That's my pure purpose. I understand
entirely Jerry and eight years ago we found Veterans
Radio for pretty much the same purpose. There
you go. This is what we do. We want to make sure
that these men and women never ever are left
behind again and that we're going to do everything
we can to make sure they get the treatment that
they deserve. Thank you very much. You're doing
a great job. Thanks a lot. Thanks Jerry. Thank
you for being on Veterans Radio. Okay. Thank
you. Dr. Amber, I want to thank you so much for
being on Veterans Radio. I know that we want
to talk some more again after the program, some
of the things that you are interested in doing,
what we want to try and do together. But again,
I want to thank you so very much for being on
the program and helping us understand what's
going on out there. Thank you very much for this
opportunity also. And I really do pray that people
who have listened can look at other alternatives.
That's the option, folks. That's what we want
you to do on Veterans Radio. Our job is to bring
you information the best that we can. That's
the program for today. Next week, Dwight Zimmerman
is going to be back on again with his At Ease
program. So we encourage you to tune in next
week to talk with Dwight and his guests. And
until then, it's our honor to serve you. You
are dismissed. All views and opinions expressed
on this program are not necessarily of Veterans
Radio or this station. Veterans Radio is a production
of Veterans Radio LLC.