TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Hamilton Center has dedicated the month of June to raising awareness about the specifics of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
Hamilton Center’s goal in raising awareness is to hopefully avoid some of the misconceptions about the diagnosis. One of the things frequently assumed is that PTSD only pops up in combat veterans, but that isn’t the case. PTSD doesn’t affect everyone the same way, either.
“Some people may come back from combat just fine, without any PTSD at all,” said Steven Neice, a veteran who is also the coordinator for Hamilton Center’s Military Veteran Program. “While others come back with cases ranging from mild to severe. Some also suffer from survivor’s guilt.”
Neice defines survivor’s guilt as someone who survives an incident where they lose people and feels guilty that they were the one who continued living.
“They think they should have died with them,” Neice said. “Maybe they didn’t go out on a mission because they were sick or injured, and something bad happened.”
With the holiday coming up, Neice highlighted that explosions can be a common trigger for those suffering from the diagnosis more than other times of the year.
“With the Fourth of July coming up, it can always be a big thing, especially with the big mortars often shot off,” Neice said. “Sometimes even things as common as a car door slamming can be a trigger, or in Terre Haute, when they set off noises to scare away the crows.”
Neice also talked about Improvised explosive devices, and how even things that resemble them can be enough to impact a person.
“In a class I teach, a video I show includes a veteran talking about driving his car and seeing a paper sack or something in the road that looked like an IED,” he said. “He swerved into the other lane out of habit and got pulled over. He didn’t tell the police officer why; he just apologized.”
Neice also discussed that type of behavior is commonplace. some combat veterans don’t want to admit their condition or seek assistance. Though Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can be effective in treating PTSD, as well as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
“Someone who completes the program and uses medicine normally has about a 90 percent recovery rate,” Neice said. “It’s tough, though, because there is still a stigma in the military regarding mental health. People don’t want to admit there’s something wrong.”
The news release from Hamilton Center states that some who don’t deal with their diagnosis have been known to become suicidal or abuse drugs and alcohol. The corporation currently has 62 patients referred to it from the Veterans Administration for PTSD assistance.
Other life events besides military contact are also likely to cause PTSD. Some examples could be experiences of abuse, traffic accidents, job loss, or natural disasters.
“Everybody who goes through treatment is not going to be 100 percent cured,” Neice said. “They have to find that new normal, because combat and traumatic life events change people irreparably.”
For information on HCI’s treatment programs, call (800) 742-0787.
