Transcript
I started my practice in 1973
when the Vietnam War was winding down,
so I was one of the first to develop programs
and treatment programs for Veterans, Vietnam Veterans,
and I can tell you, we didn't know very much in those days.
PTSD didn't become an official diagnosis --
the name PTSD didn't even emerge -- until 1980,
so we were treating Veterans
with what we called "Post-Vietnam Syndrome."
There was no scientific evidence about treatments
in those days, and occasionally I see a Vietnam Veteran
who tells me he or she came to the VA back in the '70s,
they got some treatment, didn't work, never went back.
You know, that was a long time ago, that was 40 years ago.
There's been a lot of work on treatments in those 40 years.
We have medications that have been tested.
As I said earlier, they have FDA approval.
We have these two very, very powerful
psychotherapy approaches, and what we find,
actually, is a number of Vietnam Veterans
who've never had treatment are coming in.
So all the Veterans who are coming in for treatment are not
younger Vets who've been in Afghanistan, in Iraq,
and in contiguous areas, a lot of older Vets are coming in.
Sometimes the older Vets are coming in
just because the stuff they see on the television
is reactivating, it's a traumatic reminder.
They're all traumatic stressors,
when a movie's made, et cetera.
Sometimes they come in because they've retired,
and so using their work as a kind of escape or avoidance
of their symptoms is no longer an option.
I can tell you that Veterans who've had their PTSD
for decades, who've never had adequate treatment,
coming in for treatment now is a good idea.
It's never too late.
So please don't think that what I've been saying
is just about younger Vets.
It's about any Veteran, it's about any person.
It doesn't have to be a war-related trauma.
It can be a sexual trauma, it can be a motor vehicle accident,
it can be these terrible tornadoes, and floods, and earthquakes.
Don't wait.
It's never too late, and our treatments are very effective
no matter how old you are.