If you or someone you know is living with PTSD, what kind of treatments do you or do they find most helpful?

2017-06-19T08:15:11-04:00

Therapy, group therapy, medication, alternative treatments? Please share what has worked for you or others you know in managing PTSD.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jun 19 at 2017 8:20 AM

2017-06-19T08:20:56-04:00

I was diagnosed with a mild form of PTSD, I found talking to family and friends helps a lot, it's not good to keep it bottled up, my wife is a great help.

Response by SGT Joseph Gunderson made Jun 19 at 2017 8:21 AM

2017-06-19T08:21:10-04:00

This might be the only time that you ever hear me talking well about the VA, but I have found that just being able to sit down every so often with my therapist and just rant and get everything that is weighing on my mind out goes a long way to improving my state of mind. It allows me to go back out into the world and function just fine without any recourse. Then, when I need to vent again, I go back to the VA and get it all out. It is impossible to be able to share everything that goes on in your head at one time. Sometimes things just come to you out of the blue and it sticks with you until you can talk about it. That's what helps me.

Response by SFC William Stephens A. Jr., 3 MSM, JSCM made Jun 19 at 2017 8:34 AM

2017-06-19T08:34:40-04:00

There many different treatment but I went through a year at WTU and in my book THE MIRROR that I'm working on I explained the process of my PTSD.
take read!

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) WASH, DC

On 31 October 2008, 20 years and 21 days ago, I said my farewell to my family, my career and my love. It was the life I longed for and would never look back on because I was a broken warrior that could not serve my country anymore. After numerous combat missions and peace keeping deployments to the Middle East, my final tour was to start a new chapter in life as a retired veteran and soon to become civilian. I stood on the parade field at Fort Meade, Maryland as the Old Guard retired a few of us. My little girl watched the ceremony in which she can remember today as her father and her superhero say goodbye to the United States ARMY.
I look back today and try to remember my steps from being 19 years old when I left for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, to my final days in Iraq helping the ARMY write for the Center of ARMY Lessons Learned (CALL), and to my last ribbon placed on my uniform for my retirement ceremony. I will never know what my future could have been if I had accepted that 5th combat tour. Where would I be today? Would I be that Command Sergeant Major I always dreamed of being with my peers today? Or would I have died because of getting into a situation I could not have handled due to the PTSD getting so bad.
I believe that I took the right road because I’m here today writing my story and I have a little girl I can share my experiences with so she can pass it down through her generations. Even though there are some who want to forget the nightmares, every day I experience reminders of being in a combat situation or flashbacks of those days. The best thing to do is talk to someone or to write about it.
That brings me to the Warrior Transition Unit at Walter Reed ARMY Medical Center in Wash, DC. Something was just not right when I returned back from Iraq on my last deployment. I wasn’t really there for combat and I didn’t feel safe either because we didn’t have much protection while we were there. The leadership was more interested in getting the data or the book finished and out of the Area of Operation than having concern for our SAFETY I guess. I felt rushed in the current situation. Over all, it did turn out to be a successful operation and we got credit for the book. Some officers got more credit than others in their career and it seemed they got more credit than we did. But I guess that’s politics in the military.
I guess it was a few months that I had been back from Iraq and I was waiting for the Master Sergeant Board results to come out. My Sergeant Major called me into his office and sat me down to tell me that he didn’t think I was ever going to make it to MSG because this rating period I was going to get a 2 block on my Evaluation Report from him. I looked at him in shock because I had just redeployed from Iraq and he didn’t even send a note or visit the five of us while we were there. As a special team, I thought for sure this was my punch ticket. I guess there are always career killers in your career. I couldn’t say anything but decided to take leave for a while. While I was on leave, I came down on assignment for my 5th combat tour to deployment to Afghanistan. Knowing what my SGM told me, I had a long talk with my wife. I told her that I knew we were having problems and the PTSD was getting worse. I found that there were programs to help soldiers with PTSD, so I went to the doctors and they evaluated me. I was told to go see a doctor at Walter Reed Army medical Center. In late 2006, I was diagnosed with severe PTSD and they recommended treatment at WTU. I reported back to my unit with orders assigned to WTU in Wash DC. My CSM was so mad that he told me I would never make it anywhere in my career again and he would see to it. I knew my career was over because once I gave the ok for treatment all my rights as a soldier were gone. I was like a genie pig and I was under control of the WTU. I had to move into the barracks and stay there for 1 year for treatment or until I was ready to come home to my family.
At first, it was as if there was nothing wrong with you as all your body parts are intact. You’re walking around seeing soldiers who come off the battlefield all blown up with missing limbs or blind or just not quite normal. But me, I have PTSD which is hidden and people just look at me like I’m SFC/E7 with some problems. It is a lot different when you get to the Psychiatric Department and you meet the group you’re going to be with for the next year. No one has rank or a last name. They just have a first name and everyone is in their own little shell, kind of like shell shock at first. No one talks to anyone unless you’re infantry. The infantry guys have some special bond and they just click with each other. They like to talk about killing shit and people in Iraq. At first, we did a lot of sitting and waiting for the doctors to call us, talk to us, and ask us how our day was. There were times when we thought about killing ourselves or felt suicidal. It was the same stuff every day. But, then we started therapy as a group, and this is how we bonded. Some days, people in our group talked about things that were on their minds or something they saw while they were there. Sometimes, it took them a whole year to come out of their shell. I won’t disclose a lot of information because most of this I want to keep private out of respect for the group I served with in the WTU. I guess you could say they took me back in combat with their stories and pictures they drew and shared with us. I wish I could say I kept in touch with them, but I haven’t. We all went our separate ways because we wanted it that way. Someday, I hope some or one of them will pick up my book and read it because you or the group will always be on my mind. If it was just cutting out pictures from magazines or listening to music to describe how you felt about yourself or light therapy or just talking to one another in the waiting room.
While I was there I learned that PTSD was not just a battlefield disease. PTSD comes in different forms as I learned from the many stories in my group. That’s one reason why I am trying to send the message out to everyone to let them know PTSD is a real thing and a slow killer. It is a hidden killer. It’s sad that a lot of us have it and will not speak up about it. We are too proud of ourselves, think we are better than others, the VA is too far or we just don’t want the support. Kids, soldiers, NOCs, officers, family members, grandparents and combat veterans all could have this. We never know who could have this hidden killer living inside us.
I don’t know where I would be today without treatment. I do know that when I was at the WTU it was difficult to talk to people because when the injury is not noticeable people don’t look at you like a fallen warrior. I noticed the guys and gals in wheel chairs got a lot of special treatment and I saw this doing job fairs and special events. We were outsiders and because we have PTSD, we are left out of the crowd. I experienced this while I was in the WTU when I went to the gym. People looked at me like, “Why are in this gym and what’s wrong with you?” When you talk to someone, they have a better understanding where you’re coming from and what your purpose is in life. If we don’t tell our story the people are not going to understand our treatment and the VA is not going to help us. I have to admit that the best assignment I ever had was where people take care of people at the WTU. The soldiers, NCOs, and officers who volunteered for the assignments or worked at the WTU, put their heart and soul into helping our wounded warriors put their lives back together and get on track. For some it was just a stepping stone, but others I could tell they did every day in their lives and they were there for a purpose. I didn’t always agree with all the programs they had, but I have to agree with the command and control they had because it helped me to do so much more after therapy. The nice thing about WTU was all the big job companies were right there. I mean major companies like the Department of Defense and etc. were they to support the wounded warrior if needed. A lot of these soldiers got their break here after the service. At night I could not go home to my family I work on my resume. My resume skills were not the best so I looked at other resumes on line or buddies resumes I served with and they helped me because they knew my career was over.
The situation I found myself in made me fight for my security clearance. I didn’t do anything wrong and saw no reason to lose my security clearance because I served my country well. I just had PTSD! I fought and won because that’s the only thing I had left to help get where I am today in life. I tell I did not sit on my butt; I started to get to the job fairs, and met a few people. I started NETWORKING and found that NETWORKING was the key to my success in life. I met a few gentlemen from a Department of Defense Agency and they asked me to do an internship with them while I was assigned to active duty and the WTU. Let me tell you, these guys took me under their arms and trained me to know what I know today and I will never forget the mentors in my life. I wish them the very best in their successful careers. PTSD can be a doormat in your life. For me, I’ve worked in an office environment and have been going to counseling every month. I have been talking to people about my problems to help cope with my demons. I don’t have bullets flying at me or people removing me from my combat positions. I don’t think my PTSD got any better when I got home to my family because I just could not get along with my wife. PTSD has taken me away from my family and I live alone dealing with my demons myself at night.
It’s good that I have a nice place to come home to at night to relax. I don’t have to worry about extra work, college work, or all kinds of bills and paperwork piling up. I sometimes write to express my feelings, but most of time I’m watching TV or I am on social media seeing what’s new. It’s great that I can wake up, go over and have breakfast with my father ever day in the morning, and relax. I drive to work, do my job, and protect the people that have to protect in case something happens in the real world. People believe in me and know that I will take care of the situation before it becomes a problem. While they are working, they never have to worry because I have it under control. The world has many different problems but PTSD is just one of them. I’m happy I have the friends that I can sit down with and talk to them about my problems. If you have a problem, I hope what you read beyond these pages will help you cope with your demons. As I stood on that parade field for the last time on Halloween, I wondered, what is my next step and where is this all going to take me? At least, I can look back and say it’s been one HELL of ride! I won’t miss any of it and I never go back again because my life was spared for some reason.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 19 at 2017 8:38 AM

2017-06-19T08:38:38-04:00

Unfortunately, very little. My uncle suffered trauma for years before it was diagnosed. He died of Agent Orange before he could get the help he needed.

Response by PO1 Aaron Baltosser made Jun 19 at 2017 10:16 AM

2017-06-19T10:16:26-04:00

For me personally it involves tasks that I can focus on the small details. Reloading ammunition can be done in a very fast way using a progressive reloader. I find that I need to move slower, using a system on occasion that focuses on one part of the task at a time. A quiet environment helps me tremendously. I have to have most of the sounds around me shut off in order to think about getting some sleep. I don't sleep deeply sometimes at night because I'm not gifted that way. Being retired, I can occasionally catch some more sleep during the day. Being retired helps, that option is not available to everyone dealing with this. I have an understanding spouse, who is now familiar with the term 'extra sounds' as in what are all of those extra sounds I keep hearing. She's been really good with keeping the additional sounds down when I'm really feeling it. Some therapy for me has been going in crowds when I don't enjoy it. The way I do that is by choosing an activity I do enjoy like riding a motorcycle, and going into a crowd like the rally at Sturgis, SD with a couple hundred thousand other people that enjoy it. It's been 10 years since my last deployment. I still work on these things daily. Perhaps one day they will be of such minimal impact I won't have to. That is my goal.

Response by SGT Todd Miller made Jun 19 at 2017 10:39 AM

2017-06-19T10:39:35-04:00

Dirt Therapy. Growing things sounds stupid but it helps me.

Response by SPC Sean Slaughter made Jun 19 at 2017 12:03 PM

2017-06-19T12:03:31-04:00

My wife is a professional counselor as well as an OIF Vet like me and she always swears by Somatic Experiencing and CBT for PTSD with Veterans because we respond better to both types of therapy.

Response by SP5 Sam Hollis made Jun 19 at 2017 11:20 PM

2017-06-19T23:20:54-04:00

Group therapy sounds odd ,BUT it's light brain storming in the civilian community. Personally it is tearing down the brick wall around you so you can "feel" again. To many of us block the pain, guilt, and trans that takes place every time you pull that trigger !!!

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 20 at 2017 7:46 AM

2017-06-20T07:46:00-04:00

Find the next task, the next objective, the next milestone. Research is showing that Meaningful employment can be a cornerstone to stability and turning PTSD into PTS G (Growth). Chasing passions, knocking out tasks, and driving on to the next have proven great ways for individuals to get a handle on all aspects of their lives which helps them ultimately deal with PTSD. (Disclaimer: This is research that I have read in a few dissertation papers on the related subject)

Response by LCpl Christopher Curtsinger made Jun 21 at 2017 8:49 AM

2017-06-21T08:49:07-04:00

To help me, with PTSD,I learn my triggers and stresses. The doctors at the VA have been helpfull. PTSD is a battle you have to fight it. Get to the heart of matters. Many of us cover our problems up with drugs or work or sleep. I did for years. My faith has helped and having a good support network is great when dealing with PTSD. cognitive therapy is great. I know nothing takes the guilt away and the milatary is a crazy life, however at the end of the day we all had a job to do and some of the stupid mistakes we made or situations we where in was part of growing up. That's my take for what it's worth.

Response by 2LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 11 at 2017 7:38 PM

2017-07-11T19:38:53-04:00

I volunteer at an equitherapy group that works with veterans and there's been some good change. The main issue is getting them to show up on a regular basis.

Response by SGT Hutch Dubosque made Jul 15 at 2017 1:19 AM

2017-07-15T01:19:38-04:00

First stage = Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Second Stage = Cognitive Behavior Therapy
With a "1-2" punch of both therapies followed by routine "tune-up's" is what worked best for me. The Prolonged Exposure was done in a 90-day Residential Program and the CBT was done as an outpatient. There were other ancillary therapies wrapped around these two major ones and have been ongoing for over five years with great results.