In the same 2015 CNN video mentioned previous, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells the story of a veteran, John Thurman, who survived the 911 attack on Pentagon and who was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). John tried everything, including drugs and sleeping pills, but it was eventually yoga that helped him to get over his PTSD by reducing his mind chatter, achieving mental sharpness and focus, and eventually heading towards mental stillness. John benefited from yoga so much that he took a teacher training class and eventually left the Army and pursued yoga fulltime. Now he teaches a weekly yoga class at the Pentagon with 40-50 participants with a mix of active and retired military as well as civilians. The Department of Veteran Affairs estimates that 20% of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. In a move to cut down on prescription health medications, the US Veterans Health Administration has started incorporating yoga into alternative therapy programs to treat PTSD.
This case is an example of intervention at all four levels. The first level is John using yoga to take him out of the bottom of the cliff, the stress induced disorder PTSD. Similarly, the US Veteran Health Administration incorporating yoga to treat PTSD is also intervention at level 1 by getting people out of the bottom of the cliff. The 2nd and 3rd level is John teaching yoga at the Pentagon which helps people who are experiencing stress related symptoms (level 2) or those who live in stressful environments (level 3) to manage stress better so they don’t fall to the bottom of the cliff or don’t fall at all. It even operates at the 4th level as yoga helps people to get into a more peaceful and accepting state where they are less prone to the harmful effects of stress but rather accepts stress as a part of life and even thinks about stress as something helpful.
