Veterans with PTSD need their hotlines staffed with good listeners. BUT, they also need medication and therapy and not just group therapy to help them find their way out of the woods.
PTSD is at the very least debilitating and it is definitely deadly. PART of what is going on is a brain chemistry imbalance. Those deadly thoughts are all effected by brain chemistry. In order to diminish the deadly thoughts is to change the brain chemistry. The brain chemistry surrounding PTSD is NO ONE'S FAULT. It exists and it needs treatment and that treatment has no alternative.
Medication is frequently not enough. When brain chemistry shifts, the person may feel better, but, until their LIFE EXPERIENCE changes for the better their thoughts will be somewhat stuck. So, the person surviving PTSD needs to speak to a therapist one on one in order to move forward. Group therapy can be an added enhancement, however, identifying with the PTSD rather than the movement forward among group members is not where recovery lies. Recovery lies along the future and a better life.
Celebrations of birthdays, as well as religious holidays and traditional military holidays, are very important. Simple things that say "thank you" to veterans struggling with life can make a huge difference. Homelessness is not acceptable for any veteran. Homelessness is survival and locks them into their disorder. They need treatment and they need to be rescued from their past, especially if they are stuck in a thought pattern that doesn't SERVE THEM. That means removing drug addiction and alcoholism, which is a method of SELF-MEDICATING.
The recovery of veterans with PTSD is very complicated when one realizes what is going on with their mind. BUT, the American people are up to this and it is possible. Rescuing the men AND WOMEN suffering from PTSD is important and should not be shunned. Their lives are why the USA is and always has been the greatest country in the world. We have a debt to them and it doesn't stop at making sure they return to their families and lives at home. The debt to our military is a lifetime commitment and one the country needs to take seriously.
When a veteran is down on his luck there is usually a good reason and it simply is not acceptable.
