Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group

Levy Family Episode 2 Levy Family Episode 2 Program Transcript FEMALE SPEAKER: I want to thank you for getting me this Levy case. I think it’s so interesting. Just can’t wait to meet with the client. MALE SPEAKER: What do you find interesting about it? FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, he’s just 31. Usually the vets I work with are older. If they have PTSD, it’s from traumas a long time ago. But Jake, this is all pretty new to him. He just left Iraq a year ago. You know, I was thinking he’d be perfect for one of those newer treatment options, art therapy, meditation, yoga, something like that. MALE SPEAKER: Why? FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, I’ve been dying to try one of them. I’ve read a lot of good things. Why? What are you thinking? MALE SPEAKER: I’m thinking you should really think about it some more. Think about your priorities. It’s a good idea to be open-minded about treatment options, but the needs of the client have to come first, not just some treatment that you or I might be interested in. FEMALE SPEAKER: I mean, I wasn’t saying it like that. I always think of my clients first. MALE SPEAKER: OK. But you mentioned meditation, yoga, art therapy. Have you seen any research or data that measures how effective they are in treatment? FEMALE SPEAKER: No. MALE SPEAKER: Neither have I. There may be good research out there, and maybe one or two of the treatments that you mentioned might be really good ideas. I just want to point out that you should meet your client first, meet Jake before you make any decisions about how to address his issues. Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group

Make sense? FEMALE SPEAKER: Yeah. © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 1 Levy Family Episode 2 Levy Family Episode 2 Additional Content Attribution MUSIC: Music by Clean Cuts Original Art and Photography Provided By: Brian Kline and Nico Danks © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 2 Levy Family Episode 3 Levy Family Episode 3 Program Transcript JAKE LEVY: We’d be out on recon in our Humvees, and it would get so hot. We used to put our water bottles in wet socks and hang them right outside the window just so the water would cool off of a bit, and maybe then you could drink it. Man, it was cramped in there. You’d be drenched, nowhere to breathe. It’s like riding around in an oven. And you’d have your helmet on you, 100 pounds of gear and ammo. I swear, sometimes I feel like it’s still on me, like it’s all still strapped on me. FEMALE SPEAKER: How many tours did you do in Iraq? JAKE LEVY: Three. After that last recon, I just– There were 26 of us. Five marines in the Humvee I was in. I remember I was wearing my night vision goggles. We passed through a village and everything was green, like I was in a dream or under water. And then there was a flash, bright light just blinded me. There was this explosion. I can’t– I can’t-FEMALE SPEAKER: It’s OK, Jake. Take it easy. I understand this is difficult. There’s something I;d like to try with you. It’s called exposure therapy, and it’s a treatment that’s used a lot with war veterans, especially those struggling with anxiety and PTSD. JAKE LEVY: Exposure therapy? FEMALE SPEAKER: Yes. It’s to help someone like yourself to confront your feelings and anxieties about a traumatic situation that you’ve experienced. It’s a-It’s meant to help you get more control of your thoughts, to make sense of what’s happened, and to not be so afraid of your memories. JAKE LEVY: Put that in a bottle and I’ll buy 10 cases of it. Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group

FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, one part of it is learning to control your breathing. And when you practice that, you can learn to manage your anxiety, to get more control of it, not let it control you, to protect yourself. Do you want to try it? JAKE LEVY: Right now? FEMALE SPEAKER: Sure. JAKE LEVY: Why not? © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 1 Levy Family Episode 3 FEMALE SPEAKER: OK. Well, I know this sounds crazy, but a lot of people don’t breathe properly. And it really comes from bad habits. When they inhale and exhale, all the effort is here in their chest and shoulders. And the problem with that is you get a really short, shallow breath. And that really increases the stress and anxiety in your body. Instead, a more natural breath should always involve your diaphragm, right here in your abdomen. When you breath in, your belly should expand. And when you breath out, your belly should fall. OK? JAKE LEVY: OK. FEMALE SPEAKER: So, let’s practice. Close your eyes. Now, I want you put one hand on your abdomen and the other across your chest. Good. Good. Now, I just want you to take a few breaths, just like normal. What are you feeling? JAKE LEVY: I feel my chest moving up and down. But my belly, nothing. FEMALE SPEAKER: OK. So that’s what I was just talking about. That’s OK. Let’s try this. I want you take a breath. And this time, I only want you to allow your abdomen to expend when you breathe in and to fall when you breathe out. OK, let’s try it. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. You feeling better? More relaxed? JAKE LEVY: Yes. FEMALE SPEAKER: And the more you practice it the easier it will become. So when you find that stress and anxiety coming on, just do your breathing. You can keep yourself from getting swept by all those bad thoughts. OK? JAKE LEVY: Yes. Thank you. FEMALE SPEAKER: So, do you want to try to go back to what you were telling me about before? JAKE LEVY: I can try. It was night. We were out on recon. It was my third tour in Iraq. © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 2 Levy Family Episode 3 Levy Family Episode 3 Additional Content Attribution MUSIC: Music by Clean Cuts Original Art and Photography Provided By: Brian Kline and Nico Danks © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 3 Levy Family Episode 1 Levy Family Episode 1 Program Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] FEMALE SPEAKER: You’re not dressed? You’re going to be late for work. Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group

MALE SPEAKER: I’m not going to work. I’m sick. FEMALE SPEAKER: Of course you’re sick. You’re hungover. I don’t want the boys to see you like this. Go back to bed. MALE SPEAKER: See me like what? I told you, I’m sick. FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, what do you call it when someone is sick almost every morning, because they drink every night while they sit in the dark watching TV? MALE SPEAKER: You calling me a drunk? FEMALE SPEAKER: What do you call it? MALE SPEAKER: I call it, leave me the hell alone. FEMALE SPEAKER: Baby, you need to stop this. It’s tearing us up. The drinking, the anger– you’re depressed. MALE SPEAKER: You said, for better or worse. FEMALE SPEAKER: My vows don’t cover this. You were never like this before. You’ve changed. I want us back, the way we used to be. MALE SPEAKER: That way is dead. It died when I went to Iraq. Levy Family Episode 1 Additional Content Attribution MUSIC: Music by Clean Cuts Original Art and Photography Provided By: Brian Kline and Nico Danks © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 1 Levy Family Episode 4 Levy Family Episode 4 Program Transcript FEMALE SPEAKER: So do you want to try to go back to what you’re telling me before? LEVY: I can try. It was night. We were out on patrol. I remember it was so hot packed in our vehicle. Suddenly there was an explosion. We got tossed into a ditch. And somehow I made it out, and I could see it was the Humvee behind us. It’s whole front end was gone. It had hit a roadside bomb. Our vehicle had just driven past it, just mistriggering it. But not them. They didn’t make it. FEMALE SPEAKER: Remember how we practiced. Slow your breathing down. Inhale and exhale from your abdomen. LEVY: Thank you. FEMALE SPEAKER: And just take your time. Whenever you are ready. LEVY: So the bomb went off. I managed to get out. I had my night vision goggles on. And I could see the Humvee, the one that got hit. It’s whole front end was gone. And there’s this crater in the road. And inside it I could see– I could see Kurt’s– our platoon Sergeant, he was lying there everything below his waist was gone, blown off. And he was screaming. Screaming like nothing you’d ever heard. And then h e was looking at me. And he was screaming for me to kill him. To stop his suffering. He was yelling, please. Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group

Please. And someone tried putting tourniquets on him. But the ground just kept getting darker with his blood. And I was staring into his face. I had my rifle trained on him. I was going to do it. You know. He was begging me to. I could feel my finger on the trigger. And I kept looking into his face. And then I didn’t have to do nothing. Because the screaming had stopped. He’d bled out. Died right there. And all I could think was I’d let him down. His last request, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t put a bullet in him so he could die fast not slow. FEMALE SPEAKER: I can see and hear how painful it is for you to relive this story. Thank you for sharing it. Do you think this incident is behind some of the symptoms you’ve been telling me about? LEVY: When I go to sleep at night, I close my eyes, and I see Kurt’s there staring at me. So I don’t sleep too good. That’s why I started drinking. It’s the only way I © 2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 1 Levy Family Episode 4 can forget about that night. So I drink too much. At least that’s what my wife yells at me. We’re not doing too well these days. I’m not exactly the life of the party. I left Iraq 10 months ago. But Iraq never left me. I’m afraid it’s never going to leave me alone. Levy Family Episode 4 Additional Content Attribution MUSIC: Music by Clean Cuts Original Art and Photography Provided By: Brian Kline and Nico Danks © 2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 2 Levy Family Episode 6 Levy Family Episode 6 Program Transcript FEMALE SPEAKER: I know three of you did tours of duty in Iraq, and the others in Afghanistan. So I just wanted to follow up on that, talk about how you’re adjusting. [MUSIC PLAYING] MALE SPEAKER 1: You say adjust to, but there’s no adjustment. You’re just thrown back into your life like you’re supposed to pick up where you left off, but that’s a joke. Two years ago, I was dug in, pinned down by 50 Cal sniper fire, just praying the chopper would get me out alive. Now, the hardest part of my day is standing in the grocery store trying to decide if I want yellow or brown mustard with my hot dogs. JAKE: Nah, two six packs or a case. FEMALE SPEAKER: You find that you drink more than you used to? JAKE: Why not ask him if he finds he’s eating more hot dogs than he used to? BILL: You know why? JAKE: Why is that? Oh great, Buddha. BILL: Because I’ve been where you are. You talk about booze like it’s some joke, but nobody’s laughing. You can’t get adjusted to anything when you’re trying to get loaded. JAKE: I guess you won’t be joining me for a drink at the bar later. I was going to buy. FEMALE SPEAKER: No, that’s a good point, Bill. Sometimes we do things to avoid dealing with unpleasant feelings, like adjusting to life back at home. JAKE: What do you know about it? Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group

Give me a break. Back off, or I’ll make you. B ILL: I drink too much too. But I’ve had enough of you mouthing off. JAKE: My wife’s had enough of me too. She’s the reason I’m here. We never used to fight. I never used to drink so much, but now I can’t stop myself from doing either. FEMALE SPEAKER: So why do you drink too much? © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 1 Levy Family Episode 6 BILL: It’s the only way I can shut it out, images of what I saw over there, horrible things that no one should ever have to see. I wake up some nights and I hear mortar rounds coming in. And I reach for my helmet and my weapon, but they’re not there. So I freak out. And then I see pretty curtains. TV’S on. And then I remember I’m at home. I realize I’m not going to get blown up after all. FEMALE SPEAKER: Thanks for sharing, Jake. You make a good point. It can seem a lot easier to self medicate rather than face the fears, the bad memories that we have. So what do you think? What are some other things, maybe, you do to avoid the challenge to being a civilian again? Levy Family Episode 6 Additional Content Attribution MUSIC: Music by Clean Cuts Original Art and Photography Provided By: Brian Kline and Nico Danks © 2017 Laureate Education, Inc. 2 …Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Group