How Veterans Can Overcome Trauma & Empower Themselves

Research shows that as many as one in five veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While this mental condition often plays a leading role in the high number of homeless and unemployed veterans, mental health resources for veterans are increasingly available. By taking advantage of these opportunities, veterans can get the help they need to empower themselves and find success, despite the trauma they have suffered. These following five tips provide key information on how veterans can cope with PTSD, enabling them to pursue their personal, educational, and career goals.

 

Recognizing the Signs

It is normal for veterans who have experienced trauma through combat or personal assault to have negative feelings and reactions. PTSD occurs when a person’s responses to trauma, such as anger or guilt, fail to subside. If you are feeling stuck in the constant cycle of reliving a traumatic event, you may be suffering form PTSD. In addition to re-experiencing trauma through flashbacks and nightmares, those suffering from PTSD tend to avoid places and activities that may trigger memories of a traumatic event. This avoidance is understandable, as triggered memories can lead to intense emotional distress, which frequently manifests in physical ways, such as sweating, nausea and a rapid heart rate. Veterans with PTSD may also turn to drugs or alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate.

 

 

Reconnecting with Educational and Career Goals

One of the most devastating symptoms of PTSD is the looming feeling of hopelessness. This is why it is important to reconnect with the goals you once had. While finding motivation to pursue your goals will be difficult, resources such as scholarships for veterans, vocational assistance programs, and career counseling are available to help you take this step. Veteran-friendly institutions will support you by transferring military experiences into college credit and assisting you with your transition into student life.

 

If you are service connected at 10 percent or higher for any disability through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), you may also receive assistance through the Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Program. This service offers comprehensive vocational evaluations to help determine your most valuable skills and assets. If you are not currently service connected through the VA, but are within one year of discharge from military service, you can receive free assistance through the Education and Career Counseling Program, by submitting VA Form 28-8832 to the VA Regional Office in your home state.

 

 

Finding the Best Treatment Option for You

PTSD treatment is available through VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) across the country. If you honorably completed active-duty service or were in the Reserves or National Guard and completed a deployment to a combat zone, you are eligible for PTSD treatment through a VAMC. If you received an honorable discharge, the VA may still grant you the right to medical treatment or you may request a character of discharge upgrade through the Department of Defense.

 

The VAMC will provide you with a one-on-one mental health assessment, and from there, you and your counselor can decide the best treatment option for you. Group therapy may be something that fits your needs, or perhaps individual counseling is the better option for you. Whatever you choose, the VA has resources available to give you the treatment you need. Research also shows that unconventional treatment, such as exercise, participating in activities you enjoy, being outdoors, or adopting a dog, can bring relief from PTSD symptoms and help you return to a feeling of normalcy.

Joining a Support Group

Participating in a support group with other veterans who have been through similar trauma can serve as a great supplement to your PTSD treatment program. Connecting with those who can relate to what you are experiencing is a way to meet new people and to feel less alone in your struggles. You may also learn new ideas of coping with daily stresses and triggers from people who have been in your shoes. You can search for support groups in your area, or if you feel that you are in need of immediate assistance, you can call the Veterans Crisis Line (1-800-273-8255, extension 1).

 

 

Opportunities for Helping Other Veterans

Another great way to recover from your traumatic experiences is to help other veterans through volunteering or starting your own veterans outreach organization. Focusing your energy on helping others can reduce anxiety and give you a renewed sense of purpose. Consider starting a program that will educate the community on PTSD or a veteran’s organization that will offer classes on how to cope with trauma. By helping other veterans, you can empower your life while giving other veterans the tools to improve their own.

 

Living with PTSD can be overwhelming, lonely and a significant roadblock for veterans who have suffered trauma. Fortunately, through treatment, goal setting and reaching out, veterans with PTSD can overcome the trauma they have faced and lead fulfilling lives.

 

 

About the Author:

Mary Winter is a contributing writer and has worked with veteran PTSD patients for the past 15 years.

 

Image by The U.S. Army from Flickr.com

Categories: career counseling, Career Goals, Empower, Mental Health, nbsp nbsp, Overcome Trauma, ptsd treatment, service connected, support group, traumatic event, treatment option, veterans

Could You or Someone You Love Be Experiencing PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become an increasing mental health concern over recent years. Unlike chronic stress, which can develop from a number of lifestyle factors, PTSD is caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events. The anxiety disorder affects your wellness after you’ve gone through military combat, a serious road accident, a terrorist attack, a natural disaster (such as severe floods, earthquakes or tsunamis), being held hostage, witnessing violent deaths or a violent personal assault, such as sexual assault, mugging or robbery.

 

It’s not hard to see how such events might affect your sense of wellbeing, and this is why up to 30% of those who go through traumatic events experience PTSD symptoms. These can develop immediately following the event, or can come on later, whether that’s in a few weeks, months or even years. The major difference to note is that PTSD develops in any situation where you feel extreme fear, horror or helplessness, where as situations that are simply upsetting – such as divorce, job loss or failing exams – do not bring on PTSD symptoms. You may find that your symptoms are less noticeable for long periods, which is known as symptom remission, but these periods are often followed by an increase in symptoms. Or, you may find your symptoms are severe and constant. But what are the symptoms of PTSD?

 

1. Re-experiencing: This is the most typical symptom of PTSD and causes you to involuntarily and vividly relive the traumatic event. Be it from flashbacks, nightmares or repetitive and distressing images or sensations, these constant reminders  of the traumatic event can bring on distressing memories which cause you considerable anguish.

 

2. Avoidance: As re-experiencing can really take its toll on your wellbeing, many people with PTSD try to avoid being reminded of the traumatic event. Whether people, situations or circumstances resemble or are associated with the event, you will try to avoid these things in order to push the memories of the event out of your mind. You probably don’t like talking or even thinking about the event in detail, but will repeatedly ask yourself questions that prevent you from coming to terms with it. You may, for example, keep wondering why this has happened to you and what you or someone else could have done to prevent the event.

 

3. Hyperarousal: This is the technical term for feeling “on edge”. You may be very anxious most of the time and find it difficult to relax if you’re struggling with PTSD. It may be hard for you to concentrate, sleep or control your outbursts of anger and irritation, as you are constantly aware of threats and easily startled.

 

4. Emotional numbing: As with avoidance, you may try to deal with your feelings by trying to not feel anything at all. This emotional numbing means that you detach or isolate yourself from others, and may often experience feelings of guilt. The people around you can think you’re deep in thought and withdrawn, and you may have also given up on pursuing the activities that you used to enjoy.

 

5. Other symptoms: There are many symptoms associated with PTSD, which include;

• Depression, anxiety and phobias


• Drug misuse or alcohol misuse


• Sweating, shaking, and dizziness,


• Chest pains


• Headaches


• Stomach upsets


• Relationship problems


• Problems in the workplace

 

If your child has witnessed a traumatic event, he or she can also experience PTSD. The symptoms of this are often similar to those that an adult might develop, but you should look out for sleeping troubles and frightening and upsetting dreams. You may also find that your child has lost interest in activities that they used to enjoy, and is experiencing physical symptoms such as headaches and stomach aches.

Categories: Avoidance, emotional numbing, experience ptsd, Hyperarousal, ptsd, ptsd symptoms, traumatic event