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I couldn't have someone embrace me... because I didn't know if they were going to hurt me.

Chris Antonio, US Army 1999 - 2007, talks about how his PTSD affected his loved ones.

Transcript

The effect that it had on my family, my wife,

it was, I was withdrawn.

I used to be able to be affectionate and able to be embraced,

and I wasn't able to for quite some time.

I couldn't have someone embrace me or anything like that

because I didn't know if they were going to hurt me or not.

So, if I kept you with an arm's length, I knew that

I had a fighting chance if you were going to hurt me.

It was very hard, I ended up divorcing my wife and

moving away from my family and everyone that I knew.

I had to put some distance between myself and my loved ones.

And I try to fly back periodically to see them,

but I just had to put some distance between us.

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