The Rite of Return: Coming Back from Duty-Induced PTSD

The Rite of Return: Coming Back from Duty-Induced PTSD is written for men and women in law enforcement, first response, and the military who are struggling with duty-induced PTSD. In a field-guide format, it presents an overview of a proven treatment approach adapted specifically for this population. The book offers clear teaching on PTSD and its effects on the brain. It also provides practical training in containment techniques for increased control of symptoms and motivation for battling the tendency to isolate. The successful case outcomes described throughout the book give substantive hope for recovery from PTSD. The message throughout is that duty-induced PTSD cannot be resolved in isolation or by reading self-help books. The author’s depth of knowledge and scope of experience evident in every chapter draws the reader confidently into places where the clinical generalist cannot tread. Karen Lansing's understanding of duty-induced PTSD goes beyond a simply clinical perspective. She has been trained in public order, ridden extensively on patrol, done 48-hour tours of duty with firefighters, and has resided and trained alongside special weapons teams on military bases. She has “kitted up” and been stuck into flashpoint sectors in “exotic places” with tactical advisors in troubled regions. The benefits emerging from that cross-pollination of disciplines are apparent in the author's respect and understanding of the specific clinical needs of Warriors and Rescuers. It's seen in her identification of and clinical protocol for the treatment of a rare but deadly post-shooting symptom that she refers to as transitory shooter's apraxia. The benefits are also clearly seen in the clinical outcomes of those featured in this book. The Rite of Return presents a powerful argument that PTSD need not lead to an end of mission or tour of duty, or to a lifelong injury. Instead, case account after case account indicates that Lansing's treatment approach leads to quite the opposite: officers consistently emerging stronger. These outcomes are confirmed throughout the book by the testimony of SPECT brain images before and after treatment. Accompanying them are accounts of subjects after treatment responding successfully to incidents very similar to those that had culminated in their PTSD. These unsung heroes recovered, becoming more competent, more tactically skilled and more mentally resilient than they had been prior to its time-limited, but significant, intrusion into their lives. Reading between the lines of this book, it's apparent that careers and lives have been saved because of the author’s innovative approach. The only regret is that so many have been lost to the devastation of untreated or ill-treated, duty-induced PTSD. The publication of The Rite of Return couldn’t be better timed. Karen Lansing, LMFT, is a Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. An international speaker and trainer, she consults and trains clinicians, police officers, commanders, specialist weapons teams and security advisors in areas of conflict including Northern Ireland, the Middle East, post-conflict Eastern European countries and the United States. She specializes in treating PTSD that develops in the wake of lethal contact and officer involved shootings and all duty-related types of trauma.