Let me start by talking about medications...

We have a number of treatments for PTSD.

Let me start by talking about medications.

We have two medications which are approved

by the Federal Drug Administration

as indicated treatments for PTSD.

We have a number of other medications which work rather well.

They're safe.

Most of the effective medications we have

right now are antidepressants.

These are not just for depression, they're complicated drugs

that work on a number of different systems in the brain

that seem to be involved in PTSD as well as depression.

People sometimes worry that the medications

are going to make them different than who they are.

Actually, that's precisely the wrong conclusion.

The purpose of the medication is to help you regain,

reconnect with the person you used to be before the PTSD,

to get past the anxiety, the arousal, the irritability.

All the things that you don't like about yourself

because you have PTSD, when the medication works,

it really corrects that.

We have other treatments which are, frankly,

at this point in time, more effective than medications.

They're psychotherapy treatments.

Two of them are, one is called Prolonged Exposure therapy,

the other one is called Cognitive Processing Therapy.

They're available at all VA facilities, and many civilian

practitioners and military practitioners are also able

to provide them, and they, again, are very, very effective.