Work as it appears on screens large & small (& little sound waves).
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Day 13: #BlueMind Challenge
Surfing, PTSD, Jim Morrison and masculinity
Posted on Jul 3rd, 2014We are in Paris today, sharing Blue Mind at Shakespeare & Company. It's the anniversary oif Jim Morrison's death in Paris in 1971.
Somewhat fittingly it seems appropriate to share Nick's new research. Just after this poem from Morrison:
Drugs sex drunkenness battle
return to the water-world
Sea-belly
Mother of man
Monstrous sleep-walking gentle swarming
atomic world
Anomie in social life.
How can we hate or love or judge
in the sea-swarm world of atoms
All one, one All
How can we play or not play
How can we put one foot before us
or revolutionize or write.
Around the world "Blue Mind" research continues to grow, giving us more useful insights into how water helps build stronger bodies, healthy minds and better brains. Some new research by Nick Caddick and his team at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, UK to be published soon in the journal Sociology of Health & Illness focused on post traumatic stress (PTS) in veterans and considered the efficacy of surf therapy as a path to the development of positive masculine traits and better health.
"Just being out by the sea is good in itself, being in it is far better,
and learning how to ride waves doesn’t compare with anything."
~ Mathew, Northern Ireland veteran
This is of particular interest as we know that many people could benefit from complentary therapies and we have worked to support several organizations in the U.S. including Operation Surf (VIDEO) and Heroes on the Water who will find this research immediately helpful.
"To sum it up, it's the best medicine I've ever taken"
~ Kevin, Heroes On The Water
Van Curaza and Martin Pollock from Operation Surf and Butch Newell from Heroes on the Water have particpated in Blue Mind Summits in past years and their work is aslo featured in the Blue Mind book.
Here's Nick explaining this research himself:
Abstract
This article uniquely examined the ways a group of male combat veterans talk about masculinity and how, following post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they performed masculinities in the context of a surfing group, and what effects this had upon their health and wellbeing. Participant observations and life history interviews were conducted with a group of combat veterans who belonged to a surfing charity for veterans experiencing PTSD. Data were rigorously explored via narrative analysis. Our findings revealed the ways in which veterans enacted masculinities in accordance with the values that are cultivated during military service. These masculine performances in the surfing group had important effects both on and for the veterans’ wellbeing. Significantly, the study highlights how masculine performances can be seen alternately as a danger and as a resource for health and wellbeing in relation to PTSD. The article advances knowledge on combat veterans and mental health with critical implications for the promotion of male veterans’ mental health. These include the original suggestion that health- promoting masculine performances might be recognised and supported in PTSD treatment settings. Rather than automatically viewing masculinity as problematic, this article moves the field forward by highlighting how hegemonic masculinities can be reconstructed in positive ways which might improve veterans’ health and wellbeing. A video abstract of this article can be found here.
Nick Caddick, Brett Smith and Cassandra Phoenix. In Press. Male combat veterans’ narratives of PTSD, masculinity, and health. Sociology of Health & Illness Vol. xx No. xx 2014 ISSN 0141-9889, pp. 1–15. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12183
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