By James Dao / The New York Times The act of killing is as fundamental to war as oxygen is to fire. Yet it is also the one thing many combat veterans avoid discussing when they return home, whether out of shame, guilt or a deep fear of being misunderstood. But a new study of […]

Military Experiment Seeks to Predict PTSD By Alicia Chang / Associated Press Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images. Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing […]

The Sensitive Soldier: Can US troops be rewired to be impervious to trauma? In the wake of Fort Hood, Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum launched a groundbreaking program to eliminate PTSD. By Gail Sheehy / The Daily Beast “How am I going to get people to focus not on tragedy, but on resilience?” Brigadier General Rhonda […]

Here’s some powerful testimony from SSG Eddie Black, a veteran of the Marine Corps (Desert Storm) and the Oregon National Guard (OIF2) about his return from combat. Eddie now gives free talks for veterans on PTSD. You can email him here.     “When I got back from Iraq, all I wanted to do was go […]

By Craig Cole & Lynn Salsi In a May 2008 “Washington Post” article, “Official Urged Fewer Diagnoses of PTSD,” staff writer, Christopher Lee reports on the Veteran’s Administrations attempts to give less Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnoses to veterans in order to save money. (C. Lee, Washington Post) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is is […]

The last three times my husband deployed, we really didn’t have any trouble quickly getting back into the grove of things when he arrived home. Perhaps it was because we were younger, had less things to worry about and he didn’t have as much responsibility and stress as he did in his fourth deployment. I’m […]

I read a great editorial today on the need for military leaders to admit suffering from PTSD. (It’s pasted at the end of this post.) As you can guess, this is an issue that I have a deep connection to. When we were together, I used to celebrate every time Paul got promoted. Every time […]

Here is part of a post from Susan Katz Keating about watching her father suffer PTSD. It’s powerful – and recognizable for many of us who have loved ones suffering post-combat. You can read Susan’s blog here. I awakened late to the sound of violent pounding on the front door of our home in Riverside, California. By […]