Page 61 - Total War on PTSD

return home numb, unable to access their emotions even at times when they would like to do so. When emotions do arise, they will often cause the Veteran to feel anxious and uncomfortable. These feelings can be channeled into irritability and anger to escape more vulnerable feelings. Combat Veterans are often resistant to seeking treatment, as they believe this indicates they are “weak” or “broken.” There is a stigma in the military surrounding being diagnosed with PTSD or a mental health diagnosis, as well as Veterans fearing that it will jeopardize their careers if it is discovered they are struggling with symptoms. Combat Veterans will almost always have a preference to see a counselor who has a history of being in the military themselves, as they believe civilians will not understand or relate to what they have been through. Because there are limited mental health counselors who have a military background, it will often take considerable time for civilian clinicians to gain rapport with combat Veterans who do seek treatment.
Despite these barriers and multitude of symptoms combat Veterans experience, in general they tend to be a very resilient and motivated group of individuals when they do seek treatment. There are several evidence-based treatment protocols for PTSD, including therapies such as Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), just to name a few. If you read even a basic book on the treatment of PTSD, you will readily learn that the avoidance of feeling anxious or of distressing memories only perpetuates PTSD and leaves the combat Veteran stuck in their symptoms. Many combat Veterans will leave environments or situations when anxiety arises, as associated emotional and physical symptoms have previously been a danger indicator overseas and arose when life-threatening events were occurred. Although the Veteran may now be in a safe environment, this overwhelming flood of anxiety and fight/flight (increased heart rate, feeling hot/flushed, adrenal drop, increased breathing patterns, muscle tension, visual/hearing changes, etc.) symptoms can feel intolerable and cause the individual to leave relatively benign situations.
When a combat Veteran first presents for treatment, it is imperative that they, along with their family members, are educated regarding their symptoms of PTSD and that these symptoms are normalized as a natural reaction to experiences that outside the typical range of human experience. Educating them on the nuances of how trauma can impact them emotionally and
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