PTSD

I was at the bank "chatting up" the loan officer when he told me about his son, a Iraq veteran who suffered from PTSD. The son went to the V.A. to seek medical attention but was turned off by what he saw. He saw the older vets sitting in the halls with amputations and drooling on themselves and he RAN out of there. His father eventually got him to go back to the V.A. but his father told me "it didn't end well".

For the rest of the day I felt so bad,I thought of all the Tx.'s I could have done with him. Maybe some leather work, something so he could get his aggression out, a journal, so he could express his feelings.

There has to be other options for families with a loved ones suffering with this disorder. So, I hit the world wide web looking for information. I found this staggering statistic "only 1 in ten vet's who enter treatment for PTSD in the V.A. actually COMPLETE the program". The military in the last few years have created programs that are directed at reducing the stigma in receiving services for mental health problems. There are many websites dedicated to our "warriors" so I have included one for you to see.

There is this new treatment for soldiers with PTSD, it's called Virtual Reality Technology, it takes the solider back to the actual "traumatic event" so they are able to work through the issues safely with a professional. I've attached an actual session of a soldier using this new technology.

I believe this is a new field that is opening for OT professionals, we need to educated our elected officals on OT and how we can change and maybe save lives of our soldiers.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/virtual-worlds/health-healing/a-soldiers-therapy-session.html

http://www.realwarriors.net/