Quote:
Originally Posted by greenscousegal Thanks heaps. Well, I thought I might add that I hope 'we' had a bit of a break through. I had previously mentioned PTSD to the friend and got a hostile reception. In fact, no contact/speaking etc. But my Inbox is now full of photos taken 15 years ago in combat. Mind, just photos and a comment about how hard it was to make the album. Small steps and patience. |
Wow that sounds huge!


I'm going to repeat myself here: I came home from Iraq 3 years ago. when I started realizing that some of my behaviors and things that were troubling me in life were directly related to ptsd. the thing is I had
NO CLUE. I work in mental health and have learned about and worked with sufferers of ptsd.
since I have been in treatment i have learned that this is very common. the coping mechanism one uses to cope with combat is to stuff all of the feelings that one would consider normal deep deep down. then when you get home you remain in sort of a limbo until those feelings get processed.
this is a normal reaction to trauma. I remember thinking over there "wow this should be more scary than it is. I wonder if i'll be dealing with this when i get home?" the good news is that it is very very treatable. the bad news is that they say that it is a terminal illness if left untreated. sometimes by suicide but more often by the effects of stress on the body or by substance abuse.
sounds like you have opened the lines of communication. get in there and convince him to give therapy a try!

it took me a lot of proding from my wife.