Dr. Edward Tick, PhD

Edward Tick, PhD is a nonfiction writer, poet, transformational healer, holistic psychotherapist, educator, consultant, and international journey guide. He is an internationally recognized expert on the military, veterans, PTSD, Viet Nam, and the psychology, spirituality, and history of global trauma, warrior traditions, and military-related issues.  

For over 40 years, Dr. Tick has worked to heal the invisible wounds of war and violent trauma. He has conducted trainings, retreats, and workshops across the country and overseas. He has trained staff, taught and worked with wounded warriors at major Department of Defense and Veteran Administration facilities, at colleges, universities, hospitals, health care and community centers across the country and overseas. Defense Dept. and VA facilities use his pioneering work, and he has served as the U.S. military's subject matter expert trainer on PTSD and Moral Injury for the past decade.  

Dr. Tick has been distinguished, visiting, and adjunct faculty at many colleges, universities, and advanced educational centers, including U.S. Military training facilities, Pacifica Graduate School, National Hospice Association, and Jung Societies, and presently at Southern Connecticut State University. He brings the lessons of healing from severe trauma,  from survivors directly impacted, to the general public—all of us—experiencing crippling dimensions of global trauma on a daily basis today.  

Dr. Tick is honored for his groundbreaking work in the spiritual, holistic, and community-based healing of veterans and other survivors of severe violence who suffer Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) and moral injury. He has published breakthrough books in this field, including the award-winning War and the Soul. Dr. Tick’s work introduced the ancient concept of soul wounding, and how to heal it, to our modern military, veteran, and trauma studies worlds. In addition to War and the Soul, Dr. Tick is the author of the nonfiction books Sacred Mountain, The Practice of Dream Healing, Wild Beasts and Wandering Souls, and Warrior's Return, including the audio book Restoring the Warrior’s Soul, which is narrated by Dr. Tick himself. Dr. Tick has also published almost 200 scholarly, professional. and popular essays and articles in psychology, trauma studies, poetry, literature, philosophy, mythology, humanistic, classical, and Vietnamese studies. Dr. Tick’s works have been translated into Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, Bulgarian and Japanese.  

Dr. Tick’s poetry collections include The Bull Awakening and The Golden Tortoise, along with many more published works of poetry. Dr. Tick affirms that poetry is the language of the soul. He has published poetry collections on both Viet Nam and Greece, conducts poetry and literature readings and exchanges in both countries, and has translated their poetry. He uses poetry extensively in healing and international reconciliation practices, and for exploration of the hidden dimensions of psyche and culture. Dr. Tick was editor of Voices: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy, the Frontiers of Psychotherapy book series, and poetry editor for Outpost and other little magazines.  

Since 1995, Dr. Tick has led more than 20 pilgrimages to Greece, teaching ancient traditions and the use of myth, poetry, tragedy, literature, and philosophy for deep soul exploration. Dr. Tick also conducts original and groundbreaking work in the Ancient Greek tradition. His book, The Practice of Dream Healing, is a classic in depth psychology. It offers the most comprehensive modern account of ancient Asklepion dream-healing practices and the Western origins of medicine and psychotherapy, and their applications to holistic healing today.  

An international journey guide, since 2000 Dr. Tick has led annual reconciliation and healing journeys to Viet Nam. There, he facilitates meetings, ceremonies and rituals, philanthropy, encounters with counterparts, poetry exchanges, and other practices that bring forgiveness, understanding, mutual honor, and deep and lasting healing to veterans and civilians from both countries, and all factions of the old war.  

Dr. Tick’s deepest devotion is to the unfolding and restoration of soul as a meaningful and living concept in our personal and collective lives. Only by healing the sacred core of life can we transform our wounded world and ourselves. Poetry and writing are among the greatest tools we have for this sacred work.  

Dr. Tick co-founded the nonprofit Soldier's Heart, Inc. with his partner Kate Dahlstedt, and for 13 years served as its director from their national offices in Troy, New York. He now consults internationally on these issues.