Transcript
People are afraid that others will think less of them
if they acknowledge having a mental problem
such as PTSD, and that is a reality.
I think what you have to do is you have to weigh
your concerns about what other people think
against your concerns about what your life is going to be like.
Are you going to risk losing your marriage because
you're worried about what your neighbor's going to think?
It's a tough decision for some people,
but I think you need to make those decisions.
Same way with your employer.
Frankly, many employers have become very enlightened,
and one of the good things about the wars that we've had
is that the general public has gotten a lot more sophisticated
about PTSD, not only that it may happen
to Veterans of the war but that it's very treatable.
And you may be surprised that your employer
may encourage you to get treatment.
In larger companies employee, assistance programs are there.
There is indeed a concern for people who are still
in the military that their records may be made available
to the command, and that's true.
However, the military has made great efforts to
help people acknowledge their PTSD, to get them treatment --
we've been training a lot of military
psychiatrists and psychologists --
and to reinstate them in their careers.
Quite frankly, more often than not, rather than being
a career ender, getting treatment for PTSD
is really the start of a better career where people
can acknowledge where they've been and can move forward.