PTSD Is Not Always Combat Related

Johnathan came into session upset that his family feels his problems that brought on his Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is no different than anyone else’s issues and minimizes his fears. Johnathan struggles himself with his PTSD diagnosis because it was not caused by combat. Johnathan’s PTSD came from an incident that happened while he was in the Army but did not come from what everyone expects. Johnathan’s PTSD came from a vehicle accident that happened during training. Johnathan discussed how the Humvee he was riding in rolled down a mountain while he was serving at Ft. Wainwright Alaska. The accident occurred on the bombing range on the back side of Ft. Wainwright, they were alone while driving from one location to another and it took hours for someone to find them. Johnathan was stranded in the Humvee for hours beside his troop who was killed in the accident.    

Johnathan states his spouse; Evelin and his family don’t understand or want to understand what he is going through. Johnathan disclosed that he feels his family looks at his issues as no reason to have PTSD because people have automobile accidents every day.  Johnathan’s family don’t see his PTSD as anything different, they struggle to understand why Johnathan suffers and others don’t who have been in an auto accident. Johnathan’s family makes him feel invisible and refuses to make concessions for his PTSD and just looks at him as being weird. Johnathan was not married or have children while he was in the Army and struggled the rest of the time he was in; he has been dealing with the loss of his troop since the incident. Johnathan began to drink heavily causing him to fall out of favor with his command causing more issues. Johnathan’s family did not know him before the accident and never knew him without his PTSD.

Johnathan recently realized through counseling that he has been going throughout life accommodating his PTSD. Johnathan found job’s that allow him to feel safe with his PTSD which helped hide the PTSD symptoms. But his family continues to not understand. Johnathan feels the sacrifices he has gone through has been unnoticed because his family feels his PTSD is not valid because it was not due to combat. He believes his family looks at his incident as just another automobile accident. Not the fact that he was stuck for an extended time with a dead troop beside him in the Humvee. Johnathan has stopped talking to his family about his triggers because they blow them off and don’t take it seriously. With his family blowing off his triggers Johnathan feels invisible.

One of the biggest things I see in our veteran population is people discounting the sacrifices of those who’s military service’s PTSD did not involve combat. It appears to most people, even combat veterans, that those who did not deploy should not look at their PTSD as the same as a combat veteran’s. The people around Johnathan discount his experiences because they believe Johnathan’s automobile accident is no different than the thousands of accidents that happen in the country every day. What his family does not understand is auto accidents cause more PTSD than combat… it just not talked about. Johnathan continues to struggle with his PTSD because his family discounts his experiences casing him to feel invisible and helpless.

For questions or comments, you can contact me at afterdutyvets@gmail.com or visit my website at www.afterdutyvets.com, and subscribe to my YouTube channel After Duty Vets or like us on Facebook at After Duty Vets.