Police Brutality: Time to Heal
Whether a police officer facing protests or the store clerk fearing COVID-19, Transcendental Meditation can help us re-united ourselves.
Police Brutality: Time to Heal With The Transcendental Meditation
by Dr. Scott F. Terry and David Shapiro
Our lives around the world and in the United States these days has many stressors: the COVID 19 pandemic, police violence, the resulting protests, stress of unemployment and the immense financial burdens accompanying the actual limited income, relationship challenges in lock-down, or problem of the nonexistence of relationships, being more on one’s own, with amplified risks of mental health breakdown and drug abuse that might accompany household confinement.
In our political arena, reflected in the media, a yawning division is seen between parties fighting for control of the nation.
The horrible death of Mr. George Floyd on May 25 from the brutal action by four policemen in Minneapolis, many activist groups have made protest demonstrations across the United States, even while COVID-19 ravages the land. We may have seen the problem, but do we know the solution?
There are many possible practical attempts to achieving a solution. In this article, we will look at one unique stress-reduction tool, Transcendental Meditation, which has over 350 peer-reviewed studies (TM.org) showing a broad range of support for both prevention and stress reduction.
It is often stressed that leads police to over-react to the challenges of their job. As with health care first responders, the stress can build up year after year in police, creating high levels of anxiety or post-traumatic stress. Some policemen are simply in the wrong profession and should be removed. However, in many cases, a well-intentioned officer can become overwhelmed by daily pressures and stressful events and begin over-reacting.
One police officer, a woman who asked to remain anonymous, faced many murders, deaths, many types of violence for years and ended up with trouble sleeping, horrible dreams, anger, a drinking problem, high blood pressure, feeling numb, always worried and fearful. After years of service and stress, she was diagnosed with PTSD by a mental health professional.
She tried many drugs, but they made her feel numb, or some of them had adverse side effects, such as losing her hair
Then, she heard about Transcendental Meditation, read a book about it, and decided to learn it.
The Transcendental Meditation, she was able to sleep better. “I had fewer dreams about the incident and police, and I felt I was able to talk about it without getting too upset. I just felt more myself.”
“When I was meditating, I felt at peace.”
“I felt as if I had fewer flashbacks. That feeling of being on high alert and waking up at 3 in the morning and checking out the entire house or feeling jumpy any time I heard a loud bang: that went away.”
“I was drinking less alcohol. I felt a lot calmer around my kids and husband.”
To prevent the develop-up of stress and to lessen stress when it does build up too high, the most effective, rapid, and side-effect free modalities should be made available to police across the nation. Common inner tools include gold standard Prolonged Exposure and cognitive behavior therapy. Pharmaceuticals, which are less effective than psychotherapy, may also be used.
There is also a wide-ranging of complementary and alternative protocols that have been shown in scientific studies to be extremely effective and have minimal or no adverse side consequences.
In the light of the need for treatments to help roughly 66% of U.S. Veterans are not coming out of PTSD with psychotherapy (Jama, Aug. 4, 2015). Nowadays, many groups are investigating alternatives, including the use of horses and dogs to provide companionship, adopting a new diet and exercise routines, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and different types of meditation. The U.S. Government has gone so far as to devote 25 million dollars to test insertion in the head of a chip that would soothe an area of the brain that may be associated with PTSD.
A well-documented protocol for reducing stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the Transcendental Meditation technique (THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION ). According to one study, the 2018 research study in Lancet Psychiatry, TM is at least as effective as Prolonged Exposure (P.E.) without risking re-exposure to the traumatic events. The research showed that whereas 40% of veterans showed a significant reduction in PTSD with P.E., at least 60% of veterans who were THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION practitioners showed a significant decrease in this chronic and debilitating mental condition.
Besides, regular THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION procedure has been shown to structure toughness and resilience, thus helping to maintain lower levels of stress in our lives.
The Transcendental Meditation practice is a genuine, quickly learned procedure that offers profound rest to body and mind and thereby begins to overturn the accumulation of stress within the practitioner. Studies show THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION can alleviate high blood pressure and insomnia.
A police officer who is calmer would be able to think more clearly and be less on edge, therefore he will be better equipped to spontaneously implement techniques to defuse a potentially explosive situation, rather than to escalate it. The manifold health benefits of THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION practice can reduce work hours lost and increase overall efficiency among law enforcement and police officers. If Our veterans of foreign wars with PTSD can find rapid relief from stress through THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION practice, how much easier will it be for police to find inner peace and become models of community support?
By choosing to practice THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION on daily basis, not only can the police take control of their lives and no longer over-react to challenging situations, but anyone who applies THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION regularly decides to cultivate a more settled mind, one less reactive to the many external stressors, and more able to enjoy the progressive possibilities that arise for progress for themselves and their society.
A police officer who applies THE TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION not only reduces the probability of receiving PTSD or lessens the PTSD if he or she has become highly stressed, but he experiences Post-Traumatic Growth if he has been in distressing situations. Not only do anger and violence diminish and sleeplessness and disturbing memories of past strains fall away, but one begins to understand the nourishing qualities of oneself and others. One becomes happier and more creative. Over 350 peer-reviewed studies show an extensive range of enhancements beyond Transcendental Meditation. These are measures Called Post-Traumatic Growth. (TM.org). Now the demands of the job and of life stimulate the police officer or anyone to make even larger improvements without collecting stress.
All of us, whether a policeman facing daily challenges under stress and needing to stay calm and act properly, or the store clerk helping customers every day but fearing that he or she is getting or giving others CoVid-19, or the family staying at home and unable to enjoy the company of so many of their friends, need a tool to become less stressed, calmer and more capable of finding the best in each day, even as the world vigorously changes in front of our eyes, like tempestuous waves in an ocean storm. Here is a tool to help us re-united ourselves and the nation.
Click HERE to Connect with your Daily Horoscope on OMTimes!
You will also enjoy Transcendental Meditation: A Solution for the Opioid Epidemic
About the Authors
Dr. Scott F. Terry, Ed.D., M.A., IL.-L.M.F.T., IL.-L.C.P.C., IA.-L.M.F.T., IA.-L.M.H.C., Ch.T., and AAMFT approved supervisor. With 25 years of practice as a doctoral level clinician, supervisor, professor, clinical and executive director of five large mental health organization practices, including the Ardent Counseling Center, and a radio show.
David Shapiro, M.A. Philosophy, B.A. cum laude chemistry, the founding President of PTSD ReliefNow and its African PTSD Relief projects and Alliance for PTSD Recovery (both are 501C3 charities)
