Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 is a witty, ironic discussion of the double binds our WWII troops faced due to the military bureaucracy. But here’s the thing: More than 50 years later, this double-bind hasn’t gotten any better. The term Heller coined to describe “no-win” military policies can still be used to describe many of the situations our veterans face as they return home from war. The latest Catch-22 for our heroes? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder stigma in hiring.

In a recent New York Post piece, numerous veterans describe this Catch-22 in blatant terms: If they disclose that they suffer PTSD, the New York Police Department won’t hire them. But if they hide their PTSD from the military (and the NYPD, which receives the military’s medical files), veterans run the risk of losing their health care if the condition gets more severe.

One veteran said he passed the NYPD entrance exam in 2006, before his tour overseas. When he developed PTSD from the fighting and admitted it to the military, they shared that information with the police department. NYPD then disqualified him from serving on the force.

This is where PTSD stigma has gotten our veterans.

Although it’s understandable for a police department to require mental health screenings for officers who may have to use deadly force, that doesn’t change the fact that our veterans are in a devastating double bind. Our veterans still face dire jobless rates,and often turn to addiction or self-harm when they have nowhere else to go for help. Seeking help should be seen as honorable, courageous and an important step in taking care of one’s health; but because of the stigma surrounding PTSD, a veteran wears a scarlet letter as soon as he or she divulges any PTSD symptoms. It’s time for stigma to stop trumping our veterans’ strengths and virtue.

One way to decrease these ill feelings toward PTSD, a condition affecting nearly one-third of our troops is to ramp up public education efforts. Our veterans and their families aren’t the only ones who need to understand what it means to live with this condition; employers and other civilians are a big piece of the puzzle. When we teach employers and the public to understand and accept PTSD as a treatable condition, we are helping our veterans slowly break free from this stigma.

Ellen Langer is a Yale PhD, Harvard Professor of Psychology, and artist. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and three Distinguished Scientist Awards, the World Congress Award, the NYU Alumni Achievement Award, and the Staats award for Unifying Psychology, and has authored eleven books and over 200 research articles on the illusion of control, perceived control, successful aging, decision-making, to name a few of the topics. Each of these is examined through the lens of her theory of mindfulness. Her research has demonstrated that by actively noticing new things—the essence of mindfulness—health, well being, and competence follow. Her best selling books include Mindfulness; The Power of Mindful Learning; On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity; and her most recent book, Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. To learn more about Ellen and her work, visit: www.ellenlanger.com  

 Find your Happiness with Lisa Cypers Kamen every Wednesday at 9 am PST/12 pm EST on www.toginet.com/shows/harvestinghappiness ! For more information, visit Lisa’s websites, www.hh4heroes.org,  www.harvestinghappinesstalkradio.com , and http://harvestinghappiness.com 

Our nation has had a heartbreaking few days. The tragedy at Sandy HookElementary School has left Connecticut, the United States and the world overcome with grief. As the nation struggles to provide solutions amid this latest instance of death and destruction, gun control has dominated our discourse. But I propose we focus on the person holding the gun, not just the gun itself. Mental illness can’t be taboo any longer.

Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine and other mass shootings are analyzed time and again as isolated events, but there are a few traits these tragedies typically share. One of these is mental illness in the gunman’s medical history. Although nothing is confirmed yet in the Connecticut massacre, there are reports that Adam Lanza may have suffered from Asperger’s, and these have taken over the media. All this speculation brings up two issues: How do we ensure that individuals who need help receive it? And in the wake of such tragedies, how do we protect mentally ill individuals from facing even more stigma than they already do?

The answer to both is integrated wellness.

Stigma follows mental illness like a shadow. Studies have shown that this stigma, whether through verbal slurs, job discrimination, or inadequate health insurance coverage, deters people from seeking out the help they need to turn their trauma into growth. With 26.2 percent of Americans suffering from mental illness each year, and 6 percent living with one classified as severe, it’s time to approach this issue with compassion, humanity, and an open mind.

Stigma-free care for the mentally ill isn’t about prescribing pills. It’s not about getting them back to a predetermined “normal.” It means taking an overarching approach to wellness that addresses an individual’s needs on an emotional, physical and mental level. Treatment is offered without judgment or expectations, instead letting the individual’s needs guide the process. Stigma is left at the door.

Another way to reduce stigma is simply to develop new, compassionate tools for accepting others. With kindness, empathy and good social connections to guide us, we can diminish the stigma and approach others with a non-judgmental, understanding heart. You’ll be surprised how many problems this new approach to acceptance will solve.

A perfect mental health system won’t prevent every mass shooting from occurring, and neither will the most stringent gun control laws in the world. But by working together to reduce the stigma toward mentally ill individuals, we can give people the treatment and acceptance they need. And that will make the world a safer, happier place for all of us.

As founder member, singer, art director and video director of Dance Music super-group Faithless, Jamie has been part of continued run-away successes in music since the Faithless greatest hits album became the fastest selling dance album of all time in 2005.

Jamie now holds creative master classes throughout the year to help others emulate his own success. ‘Transforming Shadows’, ‘What About You?’ and ‘What About Us’ are workshops which provide a highly accessible concoction of light humour and love, designed with the use of his own genius music to spark both professional and personal breakthroughs. Jamie also speaks and performs at conferences, events and festivals all around the world.

The Daily Telegraph said: “”A polite warning; prolonged exposure to Jamie Catto could blow your mind.”

To learn more about Jamie and his work, visit: www.jamiecatto.com

Find your Happiness with Lisa Cypers Kamen every Wednesday at 9 am PST/12 pm EST on www.toginet.com/shows/harvestinghappiness ! For more information, visit Lisa’s websites, www.hh4heroes.org,  www.harvestinghappinesstalkradio.com , and http://harvestinghappiness.com 

Lately, I’ve been completely captivated by the concept of Living Out Loud. Don’t worry: it’s not another one of those wishy-washy ideas dreamt up by a warm and fuzzy idealist. Living Out Loud is a concrete thing, and I’ve seen its healing power. It goes like this: Each of us has the power to confront the emotions that are keeping us from happiness, and by doing so, we can transform that negative energy into motivation for living with passion, excitement and fearlessness. And one of the best ways to let out repressed emotions is through the art of Spoken Word, poetry performed onstage and has strong ties to storytelling.

That’s why I teamed up with Ret. U.S. Army Sgt. Denoh Greer, educational specialist Joe Brightman and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Malibu to host a Spoken Word Pilot Program exploring fear and trauma. During the seven-week workshop, middle-schoolers from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Malibu shared their experiences with bullying and their emotions about it. Working in a virtual classroom with Denoh and Joe, the kids turned their emotions into deeply personal Spoken Word dialogues. They presented their spoken word pieces during the TEDxMalibu 2012: Living Out Loud = LOL conference in Malibu, and I could tell every member of the audience was as impacted by these presentations as the kids were.

Although there are different levels of fear, we all experience it, sometimes numerous times within a single day. Fear has the unique ability to hold us back from Living Out Loud — hence Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous quote, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” As a positive psychology coach working to heal Veterans’ invisible wounds of war, I was especially interested in exploring the common threads of the inner (emotional) and outer (battle) war experience. It would undermine the seriousness of combat and PTSD to compare it to the daily fears civilians face; however, my work with the Boys & Girls Clubs demonstrates the power of Spoken Word to help people of all ages overcome their negative emotions regardless of the source of their trauma or fear.

“Harvesting Happiness Through Spoken Word” inter-woven with Sgt. Denoh Grear’s “Pieces of PTSD” project is just one of several inspiring presentations that took place at the TEDxMalibu 2012: Living Out Loud = LOL event at the Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue. During the daylong event, numerous speakers shared stories to mtoivate each of us to live every day with audacity, fearlessness and positive energy. Some of the highlights included talks from author Agapi Stassinopoulos, Olympian Greg Louganis, film producer Adam Leipzig and Dr. Benjamin La Brot, 2012 CNN Hero of the Year Nominee. If you attended, I can guarantee you walked away feeling more in tune with your emotions and more inspired to start Living Out Loud.

Originally published in The Huffington Post

I present my gratitude manifesto. Before the pumpkin pie satisfies our collective sweet tooth, before the tryptophan in the turkey makes us sleepy, before the world starts counting down the minutes to Black Friday, let’s stop to reflect. I hit pause on my increasingly fast-paced life to express thanks. Gratitude. For our bodies, that carry us each day. For our liberty. Our free will. Our ability to live our lives as we want, to change our lives in an instant, to hold our happiness in our hands. I feel the deepest possible gratitude for our troops. For our soldiers and their loved ones, who make the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, who fight for our well-being, for our freedom. We may not always agree with the crusades they are asked to take on, but even in that there is liberty, in the right to disagree, and that is gratitude-worthy. I was reminded just a few short weeks ago how grateful I am for the right to vote: in an election, in my daily life.

I am eternally grateful for family, friends, colleagues and invisible fans. For the ones who I am privileged enough to hold close, and for the ones I love from a distance. I express thanks for what we consider basic, food and shelter, which Hurricane Sandy again reminded us are not that basic. I am thankful for having enough food, enough shelter, enough gas, enough heat, enough electricity, enough transportation, enough, enough, enough everything.

Let us show gratitude for our love, empathy, compassion, strength of heart and ability to look, listen and hear what is said and that which is unspoken. Now is the time to honor our intuition, our sixth-sense, our moral compass, our inner true North, our souls, our spiritual practice (whatever that looks like). Thank you God – God as a noun, verb, adjective, action, or myth. Because we are lucky to have the right to believe, or not to believe.

Thank you universe, for the universe: the moon, sun, stars, planets and great mysteries of our galaxy and beyond, both seen and unseen. Thank you, feelings of wonderment and awe, for making me feel forever young. Thank you hope, optimism, courage, strength, resilience and belief in all possibilities – you carry us, even in the darkest, most difficult and uncertain of times.

I urge you to take a moment and express your thanks like I just did. It will feel all the more meaningful when you do.

Jane Ekayu is a trauma counselor for former child soldiers of Joseph Kony and founder of Children of Peace Uganda, a nonprofit which works to heal and empower these youth through psychosocial therapy, creative arts therapy, education, and empowerment programs. Since 2004, she has helped over 3,000 of these children rehabilitate and return home to their communities. Ms Ekayu also travels around the world to raise awareness on the issues of child soldiers and post-war rehabilitation.  She has captivated audiences in schools, universities, community groups, human rights organizations, political embassies, and in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. To learn more about Jane and her work, visit: childrenofpeaceuganda.com

Filmmaker Cynthia Travis has worked in Liberia since 2003, where she’s developed innovative grassroots approaches to conflict resolution with her non-profit organization everyday gandhis.  Her most recent film, THE FIGHT TO FORGIVE, follows former child soldiers who were forced to fight in Liberia’s brutal civil war. THE FIGHT TO FORGIVE teaches that perpetrators of violence have an extraordinary capacity as peace builders. With an academic background in human development and creative writing, and a professional life in mediation and conflict resolution in vulnerable communities, Cynthia believes that storytelling is a powerful tool in conflict resolution.  To learn more about Cynthia and her work, visit: www.everydaygandhis.org and www.thefighttoforgive.com

Find your Happiness with Lisa Cypers Kamen every Wednesday at 9 am PST/12 pm EST on www.toginet.com/shows/harvestinghappiness ! For more information, visit Lisa’s websites, www.hh4heroes.org,  www.harvestinghappinesstalkradio.com , and http://harvestinghappiness.com

Kirsty Spraggon is a Talk show host, Speaker, Life Liver, People lover, Founder of Konnection Global, and Executive Producer of Kirsty TV.

Kirsty TV is about the power of sharing stories. As an interviewer she holds hearts in her hands as her guests share their most personal and vulnerable stories. She believes when people share their stories they heal themselves and others.

Find your Happiness with Lisa Cypers Kamen every Wednesday at 9 am PST/12 pm EST on www.toginet.com/shows/harvestinghappiness ! For more information, visit Lisa’s websites, www.hh4heroes.org,  www.harvestinghappinesstalkradio.com , and http://harvestinghappiness.com

Lisa Cypers Kamen Harvesting Happiness

By Lisa Cypers Kamen, Harvesting Happines 4 Heroes – Originally published in The Huffington Post

There’s an unspoken war going on within our military, and it’s not just happening on the battlefield. This silent conflict is imperiling our female soldiers in all the places where they should feel safest: on the base, in training, and in the company of their fellow service members. A military sexual trauma epidemic is sweeping across our armed forces, and one third of our female military personnel say they have fallen victim to this invisible wound.

More than 50 sexual assaults occurred per day between October 2010 and September 2011, with women being the most common victims and high-ranking men the most likely perpetrators. If there’s any doubt of the seriousness of this growing issue, just look to Lackland Air Force Base. At the Texas base, where every Air Force recruit receives training, more than 40 women have come forward with heart-wrenching stories of unwanted sexual advances at the hands of their instructors. The first instructor embroiled in the Lackland scandal was found guilty of raping one female recruit and sexually assaulting numerous others. A dozen other male instructors face charges and investigations. And with each passing day, more cases of MST are surfacing among women who until now have concealed their trauma out of fear.

MST is an unspoken war in which our women are pitted against a culture that says they’re to blame. The brave female veterans I work with describe a numbness that radiates through every aspect of their daily life, preventing them from experiencing emotions freely. They share stories of sleeplessness and shame. And they explain how the belief that they “asked for it” permeates through every discussion with the military officials tasked to tackle the MST problem. Without an avenue for emotional healing, these strong women who have given so much are left to cope alone.

But there’s a path to healing in this unspoken war: open discourse. By listening compassionately with a nonjudgmental ear, positive psychologists can help our veterans navigate the tough waters of MST and other emotional wounds of war. I’ve seen the pain turn to hope as these women acknowledge their strength in surviving assault; it can happen, but it takes mutual openness and a commitment to cutting out the stigma. It would take a lifetime to change the military’s culture toward women, and that’s why we need to provide our sexually traumatized veterans with immediate support and treatment.

When word hit that the nationwide joblessness rate for September was 7.8 percent, with 114,000 new jobs created, you could almost hear a collective, if measured, sigh of relief. But as the United States dips below 8 percent unemployment for the first time in almost four years, one group is still stuck in the unemployment quagmire: Nearly 11 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war Veterans were unemployed as of August, and among the 18-24 age group, the figure is closer to 1 in 4. That’s right: Nearly 25 percent of our young Veterans are unemployed.

Our young Gulf war II-era Veterans are facing job woes more dire than the national population has faced at any point in this unemployment catastrophe, including in October 2009, when the U.S. rate of 10 percent hurled the country into crisis mode. But as the national joblessness rate begins to show signs of a rebound, the Veterans job crisis has gone unanswered: A bill that would have created jobs for our military personnel was recently killed in Congress, leaving the men and women who fought for America overseas to fight for jobs on American soil.

So what’s a nation to do? Our collective goal should be to welcome our Veterans back into the workforce with empathy. The first step is to reverse the PTSD stigma that follows our Vets on every job interview and during every office interaction.

We’ve all heard stories about returning Veterans who snap and act violently when their PTSD flares up; each sound bite or headline normalizes these extreme cases in our nation’s consciousness. With these stories shaping our view on PTSD, it’s no surprise that in a 2010 Society for Human Resource Management poll, nearly half of the groups’ members state that PTSD poses a hiring challenge.

To erase the stigma, Harvesting Happiness 4 Heroes has implemented its Return to Duty Corporate Training program. Through the program’s one-day workshops, employers learn to communicate effectively with returning Vets. They receive crucial training on the physical and psychological challenges our warriors face, and gain the tools needed to help our Veterans apply their military skills in the workforce.

Steady jobs will renew our troops’ self-worth, fulfill their sense of duty to society, and give them strong roots that will help them transition into civilian life. And the benefits go both ways: When employers look past the stigma and help Vets re-enter the workforce, they allow society to grow from our troops’ skills, talents and desire to do good. If that’s not a good hiring decision, I don’t know what is.