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I thought everybody else was screwed up and I was fine

John Paul, US Marine Corps, 1966 - 1969, talks about why he didn't ask for help with his PTSD right away.

Transcript

I didn't know I had PTSD.

Back in those days, nobody
really knew what PTSD was.

Actually, I didn't think
there was anything

wrong with me.

I thought everybody else
was screwed up and

I was fine.

But as time went on I
learned that

my behavior, things
that I was doing

in my life were
causing problems.

And not just for me, but
people around me.

People that I worked for,

people I went to
school with,

people in my family,

old friends

that were not
friends anymore.

The whole
combination of things.

Self-destructive
behaviors mostly.

Alcohol.

Experimental street drugs.

Self-medicating.

Participating in
increasingly

more dangerous activities,
shall we say.

I guess you could
almost say

that I had my own death
wish going on.

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