In her article Martial Arts Training is Changing the Lives and Futures of At-Risk Youth, Rebecca H. Martin, M.Ed., cites various case studies where youth have bettered their lives through martial arts training. Here are some of the stories…
For the first three years of her life, Annie was raised in a tent in the woods by her mentally ill mother. When Human Services finally removed her from this environment and placed her in foster care, she had never seen a roll of toilet paper or a piece of chocolate. Suffering from a variety of Mental Health issues, emotional abuse, and extreme neglect, Annie was placed in the care of foster parent, Renee’, in suburban Montgomery County. Annie had absolutely no social skills, could not play simple games which required directions, had unpredictable screaming fits, and could not accompany her foster mother along on ordinary daily routines, such as a trip to the supermarket. Renee’, a Second-Degree Black Belt in Karate, asked herself, “How can I give this child the ability to become a ‘normal’ kid?” Shortly after, Renee enrolled Annie in a Martial Arts program … The changes in Annie were amazing and immediate. In this structured, safe, nurturing, and family-style environment, Annie flourished. Within two months after starting her training, Annie had acquired some socialization skills and a new sense of reality; this was accomplished not through fear, but through clear expectations and mutual respect. She developed social skills, discipline, self-esteem, and a true value of self-worth. … Today, Annie is … a “normal”, high-achieving student, and also has the confidence to assist her instructors at her [martial arts] school.
Ms. Martin includes the stories of Jake and Tom, who suffer from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Tourette’s Syndrome respectively.
Jake was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and was placed in foster care at nine months of age due to extreme neglect and malnourishment. Jake never learned how to cry, for his first cries drew no response. At an early age, he still had absolutely no self-awareness, short term memory and task problems, Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder, and was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. After starting a Martial Arts program (“Little Dragons”–for the very young), he can stand still, has more self-control and awareness, can remember his phone number and can complete a complicated series of detailed instructions.
Tom was placed into child services at an early age and was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome, Anxiety Disorder, and a significant problem with aggression towards peers. After six months of Martial Arts training, Tom is motivated for self-advancement, can better handle his frustrations in emotional situations, has more self-control, no longer exhibits aggression or bullies other children, has markedly less anxiety, and has much fewer behavioral problems in school.
Another story is about more-than-painfully-shy Carey-Anne.
Carey-Anne was not a product of abuse or neglect. She came from a loving family; however, Carey-Anne was extremely shy. She identified peers and teachers by their shoes. After a year of Marital Arts instruction, she has taken it upon herself to go alone to Florida to participate in a Martial Arts competition, is outgoing, and assists others in Martial Arts classes.
Martin makes an interesting conclusion: that the reason for the success of these martial arts programs is that they take a holistic approach to health and that they require the “patient” to take action in his own healing, rather than simply take medication regularly and passively allow the medications to do the healing.
The above documented case studies of the therapeutic benefits of Martial Arts training, when combined with typical psychiatric interventions and medications (i.e. antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, etc.) is like the “perfect marriage of East and West”. Even with the best of treatment plans and numerous clinical treatment options that clients are exposed to, measurable or life-long results remain idiosyncratic and difficult to define. Unlike the Eastern Holistic approach to health, which focuses on the physical and spiritual well-being of a person, Western medicine’s psychopharmacological methods depends upon healing to take place in the darkness of the molecular level; therefore, asking very little of the client other than to “take the medication as prescribed and we’ll see what happens.” If healing does indeed take place, children have very little, if any, awareness of what is taking place; therefore, in truth they have no sense of ownership or control of the results. When successfully combined or replaced with Martial Arts therapy, children are able to approach this healing and the subsequent self-awareness as meaningful, therefore reinforcing control over themselves and their treatment itself. The Martial Arts provide a foundation for motivation to sustain their new found internal and external awareness of their own behaviors.
Finally, she leaves us, posing the question:
Could this become a new paradigm for clinicians and doctors alike which can truly be said to usher in “Holistic Health” as opposed to a one-dimensional bandage which so many in the health profession are aware of while hoping to find an alternative method?
*The above case studies are true and documented. The children’s names have been altered to preserve privacy. –RHM
Rebecca H. Martin, a career teacher who has taught elementary school within the Lower Merion, Philadelphia, and Lansing, Michigan School Districts, is now a Recruiter for the Children’s Mental Health Program of the MENTOR Network, a national human services and therapeutic foster care agency. Mrs. Martin lives with her husband and three children in Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She is currently creating a research and tracking system to help at-risk youth achieve through the Martial Arts.
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