Over two million Americans served in the Vietnam War. Forty years later, tens of thousands of veterans still suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But a groundbreaking approach provides hope for these psychologically wounded former warriors, as well as for veterans of more recent wars.
Healing A Soldier's Heart follows the courageous journeys of four Vietnam veterans, all suffering from severe PTSD, who return to Vietnam to face the demons that continue to haunt them and hopefully heal their PTSD. Under the guidance of pioneering psychotherapist Dr. Edward Tick, the vets visit their actual trauma sites – the places where they fought and killed their former enemies, or saw their friends and comrades die.
The film provides an unforgettable, transformative journey through what Dr. Tick calls “their second, this time, willful descent into hell.” It carries viewers into the hearts and minds of the four veterans and their families, as they experience forgiveness and compassion from their former enemies. Through first-time contact with Vietnamese culture, the four vets are led to a new state of awareness and spiritual peace.
Healing A Soldier's Heart traces the veterans’ gradual shift from terrorized nightmares, drug abuse and attempted suicides, to healed warriors – with profound lessons for PTSD-suffering younger veterans from the more recent wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. The film is a powerful story about the long-term, psychological effects of war, and of the reconnection of the human soul through Dr. Tick’s innovative therapy.
About Edward Tick, PhD
Edward Tick, Ph.D., is Founding Director of Soldier’s Heart: Veterans’ Safe Return Programs. Honored for his groundbreaking work in the healing of veterans and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dr. Tick has been a psychotherapist for 38 years, specializing in working with veterans since the 1970s. The Department of Defense now uses his pioneering work and he is the U.S. Army’s 2012 trainer for its annual Chaplain Sustainment Training in PTSD. He is the author of Sacred Mountain, The Practice Of Dream Healing and the award-winning bookWar And The Soul.