Bill at his POSTER station – November 21-23, 2016
At the conclusion of this posting, I will publish the 400-word ABSTRACT paper that I submitted to The Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) in March of 2016.
The Abstract was peer-reviewed by staff at CIMVHR and accepted for presentation at the national FORUM in Vancouver November 21-23, 2016. The Abstract has been published in the FORUM Journal for the 2016 event.
Under the title, The INTENSIVE JOURNAL® Method, A Structured, Professionally Facilitated Procedure for Therapeutic Healing from the Stress of Trauma” Bill Israel manned the 7-foot poster facility amid 64 other “poster presenters” at this national conference.
In addition to a significant number of programs and research projects on varied treatment therapies for military veterans and their families, the INTENSIVE JOURNAL® poster was one of a few “new” modalities and approaches for treating the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of those suffering the effects of trauma.
The peer-reviewed ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION FOR CIMVHR FORUM 2016
The INTENSIVE JOURNAL® (I J) method for therapeutic healing of traumatic stress.
Hypothetical premise
The I J process is a structured, self-help journal method created by Dr. Ira Progoff (1921-98). The method is premised on a hypothesis of holistic depth psychology which he developed subsequent to his years of post-graduate studies with Dr. Carl Gustav Jung. The I J process was developed and refined by Progoff in the course of his 30-year practice as a researcher and psychotherapist at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, USA. The current International website address is www.intensivejournal.org
Operational definitions for holistic, depth, and psychology:
Holism: Whole entities (systems) are greater and more dynamic than the mere sum of their component parts.
Depth: The quality of one’s inwardly perceived self-understanding. Perception of self-derived from one’s empirical life experience, including elements of which are non-cognitive or unconscious.
Psychology: In contrast to a conception of psychology as a descriptive (analytic or diagnostic) science, Dr. Progoff describes it as an evocative discipline. This “evocative” process stimulates a natural, holistic sense of self, inclusive of an evolutionary, creative, inborn healing capacity of the human psyche.
Dr. Progoff’s hypothesis integrates the research and thinking of Alfred Adler, MD; Carl Jung, MD; and Otto Rank, MD; in their varied, alternate conceptions of the function of the psyche. In contrast to a traditional Freudian conception of the psyche operation that is reductionist and subject to diagnostic analysis, the integrated works of Adler, Jung, and Rank postulate the psyche function as an open-ended, historic, and creative source of regenerative human growth potential.
The program entails a professionally facilitated journal writing process, done in small group workshop sessions of 12 hours duration over a two-day period. The Journal Workbook writing is private, structured, and undertaken in a safe, quiet, meditative environment. The hand-written journal and the reflective process begin with conscious (‘surface”) personal life experiences. The writing then progresses toward more “transpersonal” and non-cognitive sources of holistic and healing creativity as per intuition, dreams, and meditative twilight imagery.
This program is appropriate for adults experiencing behavioral, spiritual, and psychological effects of trauma, including Adverse Childhood Experience (re: ACE research). It is appropriate for military personnel and adult family members.
Clinical outcomes are measured through self-reporting of clientele regarding improved self-esteem and self-control, family and social relationships, life work, hopefulness, and meaning of life.