The center uses treatments ranging from group counseling to Reiki massage, a technique to balance the body's energy flow.
techniques he has learned and the kindred souls he has found make the symptoms -- anxiety, panic, depression and flashbacks -- a little easier to live with. The massage has helped soldiers massage sleep, Fortunato said. Biofeedback is another form of treatment, employing FORT BLISS -- In Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Edward Wood woke to the sound of gunfire and went to sleep with it. "Something was always going on. It got monotonous," said Wood, who served in Baghdad's Sadr City in 2003 and 2004, when insurgents regularly attacked U.S. soldiers. Staying alive required a state of hyper-vigilance. Wood survived combat, but when he left Iraq he could not turn off his warrior's intensity.
He was in the first group of soldiers who were treated for post-traumatic stress disorder at Fort Bliss' Restoration and Resilience Center, which opened about 18 months ago. In all, the center has admitted 110 shell-shocked veterans with the idea of helping them reduce stress and continue their military careers. Two graduates are back in combat zones, serving with distinction, said John Fortunato, a clinical psychologist who founded the center. Of the center's 80 graduates, 64 percent have been classified as "fit for duty," he said. Thirty others are still going lihui090603 the program.
