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That practice is the opposite of what we learn to do in combat situations.

Curtis Thompson (US Army, 1968 - 1969) talks about what PTSD treatment was like.

Transcript

One of the symptoms that is addressed

with this therapy is persistent reiterative thinking

about something that's distracting you as well

as probably pretty unpleasant.

And with the mindfulness, teaching a person to focus

on another matter, something that comes from some

of the meditation philosophies or even religions,

so you might experience in mindfulness being asked

to eat a raisin or a piece of candy but instead of chewing it

and swallowing it in three seconds,

this might take five or ten minutes.

And you might be coached into focusing

on the very tiny details about how that's happening.

In my mind, that practice is the opposite of what we learn to do

in combat situations where we force ourselves

to not feel an itch, to not recognize a scratch,

to barely understand hunger or thirst

because those distractions away from what we perceive

as danger might be lethal.

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