When psychologist first began attempting to define and diagnose the set of symptoms we call now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), they referred to the condition as “Soldier’s Heart“. The name punctuated the physiological, psychological, and emotional effects of this painful condition. Today, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has identified that 8% of men and 20% of women who experience trauma, may develop PTSD. In order to educate the public on PTSD, the V.A. has declared June 27th PTSD Awareness Day. Take a moment today to explore resources about this condition, and the ways it affects our veterans and communities.
Resources within Pinal County Libraries:
Battle Ready: Memoir of a SEAL Warrior Medic
By Mark L. Donald
“Donald joined the Marines to escape a dysfunctional home after high school. Over the course of his career, he developed into a tough warrior, a Navy SEAL, a medic, and a physician’s assistant. He’s traveled the road from student to instructor and from training in the waters off Coronado to the deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan. He was a reluctant hero, who saw comrades and friends killed in action, who saved many more, and who came home a changed man. He details those firefights, his struggles with PTSD, and how he found the help that he needed through the love and support of family, fellow SEALs, and service organizations. This book is similar to Service: Lone Survivor, a Navy SEAL at Work by Marcus Luttrell.
VERDICT An entertaining inside look at the psyche of special operations warriors, this book will be of interest to those who enjoy military memoirs, with an emphasis on special ops and military medicine, along with a side look at PTSD and its issues.”
– Library Journal
The Invisible Wounds of War: Coming Home from Iraq and Afghanistan
By Marguerite Guzman Bouvard
“Invisible in their suffering, an estimated 4,300 Iraq and Afghanistan vets have returned with crippling post-traumatic stress disorder, writes Guzman Bouvard (The Path Through Grief). A resident scholar at Brandeis’s Women’s Studies Research Center, she calls for Americans to recognize the plight of male and female soldiers, unveiling the heavy psychological cost vets and their families continue to pay. One RAND study found as many as 19% of soldiers may experience traumatic brain injury, possibly overlapping with PTSD and depression. Yet 57% never got an evaluation, much less treatment, from a doctor. Along with the lack of health care, Guzman Bouvard also reports on the loss of those vets whose pain became so unbearable that they took their own lives—men like Noah Pierce, who “succumbed to the hidden wounds of PTSD,” his mother plaintively wrote. Still, programs are beginning to publicly acknowledge the isolation and pain, including an exhibit of photos in Wisconsin called Always Lost: A Meditation on War and a Home Base Program in Massachusetts that addresses the needs of vets and their families. Guzman Bouvard reminds us to properly honor the sacrifices of our war vets while providing care for them and their families.”
– Publishers Weekly
Other titles to consider –
Life After the Military: A Handbook for Transitioning Veterans By Janelle Hall, et al.
After the War Zone: A Practical Guide for Returning Troops and their Families By Laurie B. Slone and Matthew J. Friedman
Additional Resources:
Pinal County Veteran’s Resources
United States Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD
National Institute of Mental Health – “What is PTSD?”
The Discovery Channel’s Stuff You Should Know Podcast – Episode “How PTSD Works”
PCLD blog 