PTSD In Veterans

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is very common in veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affair (VA), 20 out of 100 veterans who served during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have been diagnosed with this disorder. PTSD is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident or sexual assault. The statistics given were from veterans who have seeked medical attention. However, there are so many that have not been diagnosed. A subject many people do not discuss are the after effects that the families of these veteran’s face when they try to resume their lives. Although my husband has never really spoken …show more content…
It has been a difficult ten years of our lives although, my husband is not completely back to normal he has somewhat found peace with himself and has been able to do things with us he felt he could not do before. Our family has made many adjustments just to make sure my husband is able to transition to his new civilian life. Many of us do not understand what our significant other goes through while in combat, we expect for them to come back from war unaffected. Although if they do come back unaffected, people would still question their mental health. We currently live in a society where war is uncommon as it is in other countries. When it comes to the topic of PTSD and veterans, most of us readily agree that most veterans suffer from this mental health disorder. Where this agreement usually ends however, is on the question of spouses who are not equipped to deal with what veterans are going through daily. As a wife of a veteran who served two tours one too Operation Iraqi Freedom his second too Enduring Freedom, and know suffers from PTSD I have learned to be patient and understanding of what he is …show more content…
Although our time back home was not an easy adjustment for him we worked through the hardships and tried to help him as much as I could. He always wanted to return to school and get his degree, he was seeing doctor at the VA but all they would give him were anti-anxiety and depression prescription. When he would take them, he felt drowsy and did not want to get out of bed, so there were days that he would not take them he wanted to live a normal life. While he attended school many times he called to ask me to pick him up and drive him to the hospital as he felt he was having a heart attack and all it was were anxiety attacks. Although, he continued school he felt as if he was not going to be able to accomplish this goal so he decided to apply to become a border patrol agent. While going to the interview and screening process since he was disabled due to PTSD he was told he had to get a psychologist to approve he could own a weapon. As a result of, this we decided to seek help from a local psychologist who he would see in a weekly basis and overall helped him with his anxiety and gave him exercises to try so he was able to be in large crowds. Nonetheless, he was deemed able to carry and own a weapon, but unfortunately, he was not hired by the U.S. Customs Agency.
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