Hector Garcia: We train soldiers for war. Let's train them to come home, too
هيكتور غارسيا: نحن ندرّب الجنود لخوض الحروب، فلندرّبهم على العودة إلى الوطن أيضاً
Hector A. Garcia has spent his career as a frontline psychologist delivering evidence-based psychotherapies to veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Full bio
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and got shot up in every one.
وأصيب بطلق ناري في كلٍ منها.
بسبب حالته الطبيه
shrapnel in his body
الأجهزة الكاشفة للمعادن.
he suffered from nightmares,
to help mitigate human suffering,
أساعدُ في تخفيف المعاناة البشرية،
has been the suffering caused by PTSD,
هو هدفي على مدار العشر سنوات الماضية،
just wasn't there.
وجود إلا مؤخرا.
and gave generic group therapy,
وأخضعناهم لعلاج نفسي جماعي شامل،
about your experiences."
وحاولوا نسيان ما مررتم به."
wilderness retreats --
والعلاج القائم على المغامرات البرية --
temporarily relieve stress,
من حدة التوتر،
PTSD symptoms over the long term.
اضطراب ما بعد الصدمة على المدى البعيد.
that we can now eliminate PTSD,
القضاء على اضطراب ما بعد الصدمة،
has been able to show,
get rid of symptoms and which do not.
من التخلص من الأعراض و أيها لم تتمكن.
many of the very same training principles
تستخدم إلى حدٍ بعيد نفس مبادئ التدريب
in preparing its trainees for war.
في إعداد مدربيها لخوض الحرب.
since before we were even fully human.
حتى قبل أن تكتمل إنسانيتنا.
from using stone and sinew
انتقلنا من استخدام الحجارة والقوة العضلية
and devastating weapon systems imaginable.
تقدمًا وتدميرًا التي يمكنُ تخيلها.
to use these weapons,
هذه الأسلحة،
training methods.
our warriors to fight.
محاربينا على القتال.
of the modern-day combat veteran,
قتال المحارب القديم في العصر الحديث
have not been as good
immersed in conflict,
من الصراعات،
in our evolutionary history,
من تاريخنا التطوري،
how to come home from war,
إلى الوطن بعد الحرب،
in far more peaceful societies,
we, especially in the United States,
في أمريكا
our warriors through advanced training,
ضمن برنامج تدريب متقدّم،
anywhere on the globe
what this must feel like.
كيف يكون شعورهم.
firefight in Afghanistan
في أفعانستان
they found themselves
to their kid's soccer game.
الخاصة بأطفالهم
I've heard to describe that experience.
لوصف هذه التجربة.
spend countless hours training for war,
في التدريب للحرب،
on how to return to civilian life.
على كيفية العودة للحياة المدنية.
PTSD treatments require repetition.
اضطراب بعد الصدمة التكرار.
Mark-19 automatic grenade launchers
قنابل "Mark-19" الآلية بكل بساطة
here's some ammo and good luck."
وحظاً موفقًا".
and in specific contexts,
وعلى نطاق واسع
and engaging their target
without even thinking,
conditions you can imagine.
والتي يصعبُ عليكم تخيلها،
for training base treatments.
المبنية على التدريب.
is cognitive therapy,
of mental recalibration.
the world is calibrated
more dangerous environment.
onto a peacetime environment,
في بيئة آمنة،
about dangers that aren't present.
التي لا وجود لها أصلًا.
dangers in civilian life; there are.
في الحياة المدنية.
of encountering them
في الحياة المدنية
to turn off caution completely.
أن يوقفوا حذرهم تمامًا.
to adjust caution
in a bad neighborhood,
مع العائلة؟
ليكونوا عقلانيين بقوة،
the actual statistical probability
here in peacetime America.
هنا في أمريكا في وقت السلم.
those recalibrations stick.
is exposure therapy,
effective treatments out there.
في هذا المجال.
by giving him exercises,
going to a restaurant,
والذهاب إلى المطعم،
where he could scan the room,
on a makeshift weapon.
in the Marine Corps,
his anxiety ratcheted down a little bit,
ينخفضُ قلقه تدريجيًا،
and then a little bit more,
how to sit in a public space
في الأماكن العامة
of his combat experiences,
لتجاربه الحربية،
no longer generated any anxiety.
تحدثُ له أي قلق.
to return to those experiences
لتلك التجارب
a year after treatment had finished,
than erasing a memory.
their traumatic experiences,
تجاربهم الصادمة،
or as painful as they once were.
كما كانت من قبل.
like they just happened yesterday,
وكأنها حصلت بالأمس فقط،
better place to be.
it may not work for everybody.
قد لا يعمل الأمر مع الجميع.
how can you help me?"
إذا لم تكن هناك؟"
to civilian life,
somebody who's been there.
for operations on the battlefield;
في ساحة المعركة،
that you can imagine,
where I have just felt my heart break
treatments work so well,
بشكلٍ جيد،
it puts back even more,
عاد وخزّن المزيد من القوة،
with his grandchildren,
مع أحفاده،
with his own children.
مع أطفاله.
is that after 43 years of suffering,
بعد 43 سنة من المعاناة،
of intense training to get his life back.
ليستعيد حياته.
that I have left on this Earth,
المتبقية لي على هذه المعمورة،
younger veterans don't wait
المحاربون الشباب
to have survived war
للنجاة من الحرب
to live your life well.
to get the training you need
الذي تحتاجه
human suffering caused by war
الناجمة عن الحرب،
yet as a species.
in our sons and in our daughters
التي نصنعها في أبنائنا وبناتنا
the energy level, the value
ودرجة القوة والأهمية والقيمة
to come back home to us.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Hector Garcia - PsychologistHector A. Garcia has spent his career as a frontline psychologist delivering evidence-based psychotherapies to veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Why you should listen
Hector A. Garcia is a psychologist with the Valley Coastal Bend Veterans Health Care System and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.
In his work as a researcher, Garcia examines barriers to PTSD care, masculine identity and its impact on PTSD treatment-seeking, and how occupational burnout impacts PTSD care providers, who daily hear detailed accounts of trauma. As a teacher and scientist, he explores how evolutionary psychology and biology have influenced human tendencies toward violence in religion.
Garcia's groundbreaking book, Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression, reveals how human evolutionary history has left us prone to religiously inspired bloodshed. In particular, he explains how men's competition over evolutionary resources -- especially sexual primacy and territorial control -- has too often been projected onto notions of God, resulting in religious warfare, the oppression of women and ecological devastation. His regular blog on Psychology Today examines the evolutionary psychology of violence, politics, religion and our everyday lives.
Hector Garcia | Speaker | TED.com