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I did cognitive behavioral therapy …

Diana Franz (US Army, 1981 - 1984) talks about what PTSD treatment was like.

Transcript

I did cognitive
behavioral therapy

and that was a huge
breakthrough for me.

My therapist at the vet
center and I discussed

different options
for approaching

the work that I
needed to do.

And CBT,

hinged on

sitting
down and writing

about your
traumatic experience.

I kinda made a
bargain with myself.

I took a four day weekend

and I went out of town.

And I took a legal
pad with me.

And the deal was that
before I came home

at the end

of that weekend, I would
have my story written down.

On the third evening,
I had written 13 pages

in that legal pad,

all leading up to the
traumatic event.

The traumatic
experience that,

and didn't even touch it.

I was just not able to
get to that point, so.

The final morning I got up
and took the pad with me

when I went down to
breakfast and

spent a couple

of hours down by the pool

and started
writing the truth.

Once I read the narrative
to my therapist,

it was like I had just
stepped through a doorway,

out of that shadow and
into some light.

A weight was lifted off
my shoulders.

It was so hard, it was
one of the hardest things

I've had to do in my life.

But it was worth every
bit of it because it was

taking me down the path
that I needed to go.

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