Page 468 - Total War on PTSD

synchronization with one another for the experience to occur as intended. If they are moving through the composition at different speeds, the result is noise, not music; they need a conductor to follow. Eye-ear co-ordination is developed as learning occurs. Standardized eye and ear tests check eyesight and hearing separately but fail to determine whether they are properly integrated. Testing of the brain’s conductor is missing.
When working with Soldiers who had been in the Gulf War, they would tell me stories of how a flash of something in their peripheral eyesight could trigger a memory from their past. The relationship between the eye and other sensory systems, including body movement and coordination were fascinating. The Soldiers had emotional and visceral reactions to various sensory stimuli that other people showed no reaction to at all. How could I, as an optometrist, selectively activate their brains to mute the reaction? Each person had unique tolerance and stress levels; could my mathematical background be helpful?
Teaching other healthcare professionals about the crucial role the retina plays in comfort began in the early 2000s. Eventually, the Mind-Eye Connection as moved into a larger office in Northbrook, Illinois, to meet the different needs of patients. The décor was chosen to be relaxing and simple, exuding a feeling of home, rather than a sterile- looking doctors’ office, and to be calming for the hypersensitive patients with anxiety. The newly established Mind-Eye Institute has a much broader goal of being able to treat more patients nationally and globally, training a worldwide network of optometrists to have neuro-optometric testing with the 21st Century viewpoint. Now, in 2019, we are expanding into yet a larger facility. The ability to help others is increasing!
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