Study finds PTSD may not be cured by Trauma-Focused Therapies.

I've never a war movie since I came home in '67. I went to the movies when Apocalypse Now came out and left within 30 minutes. It was the dumbest, most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. War movies depress me and piss me off at the same time for the stupid acting and scripts. I've never seen bullets make sparks when hitting plastic, like a Corvette.

All I do is pick out all the things that are wrong, uniforms , weapons that never run out of ammo.

MSgt Curtis Ellis - Interaction of the group is often more powerful than what the therapist says because we have the PTSD and we can relate to the military. Case in point about stress: I told the group how I dealt with stress. Imagine we are at the firing range and targets pop up which are stressors. The far away targets I can't hit I forget about them, the close ones I hit. The group being all veterans understood this. We don't need some therapist randomly spewing what they think is wrong about us.

This is a good thread!

When I went through back in the dark ages, my classes were five days a week, from 0800 to 1600, for six months. Then there was a second session I went through that was the same six months, five days a week. After that was alumni counciling, if you wanted to continue in the process. I did for a while, but wasn't getting much out of it, so I stopped going. Also, the councilors were changing all the time and I got tired of telling my story over and over.

The crucial element for me was identifying my PTSD symptoms instead of swirling symptoms in order to create plans on how to fight the symptoms.

That's pretty much what the mental health people did for me. At first, it was all of my feelings wrapped into one. As I went deeper into the program, I began breaking my thoughts and actions into different parts to work on.

SSG John Caples, I went through that program. I went 16 weeks. The first 8 weeks was in a large group of about 15-20. Then another small group session for 8 weeks. They helped me tremendously. I still have thoughts about when I was in Vietnam, but not anymore nightmares. If you are drinking, stop. Liquor doesn't help. It makes it worse. One thing I did learn is that help is out there, and IF YOU, want to be helped, you have to take the first step. There are others in those sessions who are just like you. Nobody is going to come to your house and ask if you need help. You have to go to them. So, it's up to you. There are many here in RP, men and women, going through what you and I are going through. They have seeked help because they know, nobody is going to reach out to them, and offer help, except another vet. If you were offered to participate in the PTSD program, and you turned it down, you made a mistake. Do you realize how many vets, with your same problem, are trying to get that help? Yes, it sucks to be the suck, but it doesn't have to be that way the rest of your life. It's totally up to you brother. Talking about it on RP, is a good first step, but you need to walk that extra mile in your boots with others who walked that same mile, and did something about it. Good luck and God bless. BTW, everything capitalized in a message, is yelling. So, it looks like to me you are crying out for help. You came to the right place to get started, but it doesn't end here. Go for it. It's a win, win situation for you. Remember, it takes a real warrior to reach out for help,when they know they need help. Keith

I appreciate your concern, I went through the Cpt. in 2009 , I still suffer from these bouts of anger, depression, anxiety, every thing they have offered me I have accepted to do, and have been there getting the help I need. I just cannot be in that kind of environment and no I do not drink nor do I do drugs accept what the Va. gives me and that is 5 meds for the anxiety, anger, depression, and the night terrors. and the other meds for high blood pressure, heart disease, bulging herniated disc. and high cholesterol.