Local Veterans Talk About Experience With P.T.S.D.

With all the media attention on our veterans with PTSD, it's a wonderful thing. They are finally talking about it and understanding that it's a wound and nothing to be ashamed of at all. The question is, why are so many other veterans still ashamed that others have been wounded by this? Is it because they don't understand it? Is it because as the previous post, they think the rest of the country views them all as either having PTSD or psychotropic? My guess is that they don't understand it at all.

These are the same men and women they served with, fought next to, depended on for their lives and the same ones they knew they could count on to be there for them in the heat of battle. This they forget about. When their "brothers" end up wounded by PTSD, their battle is still going on but some butt heads decide they'd rather suddenly be ashamed to associate with them just in case someone else thinks "they're nuts too." One day they will understand that it is not the fact the media is reporting on PTSD that is the problem. The problem is them because they would rather walk away from a brother in need of help than help them. Pathetic.

PTSD is not a guaranteed anything. It is not guaranteed they will commit crimes any more than it's a guarantee they will be so destroyed by it they no longer want to live. If you ask the generals with the courage to admit they had PTSD and got help to heal, they will explain that one to you. It is not suddenly they are so dysfunctional they need to be institutionalized either. If they had a clue they would know that PTSD has all different kinds of levels and outcomes but the uniting factor is how much support they get to heal. We lost too many Vietnam veterans because they were not supported to talk about what was going on and felt they had to hide it. Had the media been interested or able to even get them to talk, we would be a lot further in getting the public to understand it, but it is what it is. For those with no understanding of what PTSD is and feel they are being looked at as if they had it, they need to either understand it or shut up about it and let the grownups deal with healing the wounded.

I marvel at the people joining in walks for breast cancer. Do we assume they all have it? No, we assume they have compassion for the women suffering from it.

NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness have walks as well. Do we assume they are all mentally ill? No, we assume they also have compassion.

Some people work in drug rehabs but we don't assume they were all drug addicts. Just as some people work with veterans but are not veterans. We just assume they have compassion for them and care about them. It's really time the dimwitted get out of the way and stop trying to get the rest of the country to stop taking PTSD seriously just because they managed to come home fine.

To the men and women veterans speaking out, you are courageous and marvelous. Because of you, many more will no longer be ashamed of being wounded or afraid to seek help. Because of you talking about this, more families will understand it and less will fall apart. Because of you, fewer and fewer will feel so hopeless to the point where they think suicide is the only way to end their own pain.

Local Veterans Talk About Experience With P.T.S.D.


Posted: 9:02 PM Apr 30, 2009
Last Updated: 9:10 PM Apr 30, 2009
Reporter: Christine Kennedy

It is the unseen battle wound, but one that can no less impact a veterans life for the rest of his or her life. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sure, you've heard of it, but to really hear what it's like to live with it is something quite different.

From the Vietnam War, to Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, to Operation Iraqi Freedom men and women here in the east are suffering from P.T.S.D.... Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Don Overton Heads up a local support group for vets suffering from the stress disorder. You could say he's got a double whammy. During the time he served in Desert Storm/Desert Shield he lost part of his hand and his vision, but he says the worst injury he received was the invisible battle wound also known as P.T.S.D.
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Local Veterans Talk About Experience With P.T.S.D.