If you recognize several of the symptoms in your own or some loved one's behavior, and are ready to admit (or nearly admit) that you or they suffer from PTSD, what should you do?
PTSD is a problem that cannot be solved on one’s own. Very few PTSD sufferers have succeeded in pulling themselves out on their own. At the very least one needs the support of a few close (and very tolerant and understanding) friends, the kind of friend who is prepared to listen when you ring him up at four in the morning to tell him that you feel like putting a .45 in your mouth because it’s the anniversary of that contact in the bush, or whatever. Such friends are invaluable, but scarce. Secondly, when it comes to asking for support and help, most PTSD sufferers feel that there is no point in even beginning to talk about these things to one who has not gone through the same experiences. In other words, the PTSD veteran can only open up to someone who has also been a soldier and experienced combat. That cuts out most psychologists.
In the USA after the Vietnam war, the returning veterans came home to find that no one was interested in hearing about their problems. They were ostracised by society. Furthermore, no one knew about PTSD. It had been conveniently forgotten during the years since the second World War.
Left to their own devices, some of them got together and with the help of a few enlightened psychologists formed their own "rap-groups". This proved to be the salvation of thousands upon thousands of men, who until then had been suffering alone, usually totally unaware that there were others who had exactly the same problem, and often driven to drugs and alcohol as the only means of deadening the pain. Not only these men, but also their wives, children and families were the victims of PTSD. It is not easy to live with someone who suffers from this syndrome. Today, the "Group", and group "self-therapy" in one form or another, is being used in the USA and all over the world as the best method of helping men and women who suffer from PTSD. You may not be able to help yourself, but several in the same position, working together, have a far better chance of getting the job done.
What is "Group"? It’s very simple. Several veterans get together and agree to meet at regular intervals, perhaps once a week or once a month, to talk about their experiences. Not the hero stories, the kind of stories they might tell in a bar, but the stories that they have probably never told to another human soul. Things that one cannot bear to think of, that one perhaps is ashamed of, that one often has difficulty in remembering (the brain is clever at repressing things which might cause too much pain). This story-telling should take place without alcohol on the table; the idea is to face one’s problems, not avoid them. One at a time each veteran tells his story to the others, perhaps several times, each time getting deeper, nearer to the core of the problem, to the traumatic heart of the pain. That kind of story-telling heals, not necessarily immediately, but with time.
How to form a group? Get in touch with other veterans. Talk to them. Discuss symptoms listed on this site. Ask them if they recognise themselves. Suggest that you meet regularly to talk about the War, and what happened. Decide to meet, either in each other’s homes or, if this causes family problems etc., in some neutral location.
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