Do any of you have a significant other who was in Vietnam and suffers from PTSD I would like to talk with you about some of your experiences. My partner has recently gone for vetren's benefits, and they are really focusing on this . I have always known as thatwas my speciality with my clients in private practice, however It was in severe ritualistic sexual abuse and I have been raped myself .

The Combat PTSD is different however, the more he hears about it the more it takes days to get him back. Any other experiences?

Wow, donette, I lived in St. Joseph for 6 years. I just moved from there to Colorado 6 months ago. Since St. Joseph is a relatively small city, maybe we actually know each other? I was dx w/ PTSD in regards to sexual abuse. I am sorry to hear about your SO and Vietnam experiences. Love and Light, Lynn

Donette, I wish I could help. Hopefully someone will jump in and shed some light.

I think a friend who died recently from complications of a disease contracted in Viet Nam had PTSD, but was never treated for it. He was on the front lines and had recurring nightmares.
Following the trauma of the OKC bombing, I was involved in an EMDR experiment which helped me tremendously and I wanted him to try it, but we couldn't find anyone who would do it.
When his condition worsened and he was unable to fly, we took a long train ride which I thought might be similar to EMDR. I tried to lead him back into the trauma of his illness and Viet Nam as we passed through the country side as they do in EMDR. I was amazed at how he was calmed and even his physical condition improved as we went along. A lesion that had been diagnosed malignant before we left was completely healed when we arrived.
I have posted before how I am convinced that EMDR works by tricking the body into believeing one has escaped the trauma. I am even more convinced after our recent driving trip to Washington, D.C. I needed that trip to heal from the trauma of my friend's death and from a recent surgery. I truly believe it helped.
I've done some research on EMDR and as far as I can tell, it has no known adverse effects. Maybe it would be helpful for your husband. Maybe I can help with anecdotal info if you need it.
smile

this was many years ago, but my (late) husband had a very difficult time after returning from Viet Nam

we had a party at the house once and the music was playing and people were talking and laughing and drinking and i dropped a frying pan off the cabinet in the kitchen --- well everything got quite out in the living room and when i went out to check it out -- everyone was staring at Jim hiding under the coffee table -- shaking like a leaf -- i had to turn off the music and have everyone go outside and i got under the table with him and just held him until he came back

another time i was sound asleep and the next thing i knew i had a hand over my mouth and was being pushed to the floor next to the bed -- he kept whispering in my ear to be very still and quiet -- they were watching -- finally he came back to the present

he never had a chance to get over it -- he was killed on his Harley by a drunk driver in 1976

my heart goes out to the both of you donette !!

This is so terrible and such a constant reminder that war is hell. My exhad problems left over from Viet Nam as well, not sleeping, being paranoid of strange noises and shaky from loud ones. He seemed to improve on his own with time however butg he didn't see much combat either and was further back in the lines. I feel so bad for our brave soldiers...

Lion and donette, I'm so sorry to hear this. I've never researched it, but have certainly heard about the mind trauma caused by war.

Donette, have you researched Amazon? I would think there should be some helpful books. Especially considering the latest war. If not, there's certainly an audience in need.

My heart aches for all the kids who are coming home traumatized.

[ June 26, 2005, 08:31 AM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

Tahnk you for your replies I am so sorry about your loss lionpaw I know there is alot of reading material out espcially on the last wars, my son was in both and return fromt he Navy in March,

Vietnam has had so much impact that I think that they are really gearing up knowlegdge and benefits to those who are serving now.

I would like to keep hearing from people who knew someone in Vietnam and expereinced PTSD . Dale is 6 years older than me so I really wasn't exposed to it too much as they had stopped sending people . I have to be careful as if he talks too much about it I "lose" him for a while . He can qualify for benefits but he is afraid of the stigma attached. I really pretty much know what to do since I have delt so much with PTSD in my practice but this is different as your partner gets resistive to therapy and sometimes you just don't feel right about it . I have seen much damage casued by thraepy also and I am scared to let him go to someone who doesn't know how to prevent "flooding" I say things like. If you were my client , this is what I would do"

I know he is better because he lives with a therapist daily and we work together. It makes it even harder since I have had some serious incidents of my own. but talking with others helps it really does

Viet Nam wasn't like any other "war" we've been in - people back home called these men "baby killers" and spat on them when they would return home -- the drugs and lack of supervision were unbelievable -- our boys were sent to protect Shell and Mobile Oil companies oil fields -- not free a people

Jim watched a town of women/children and old men fight off the VietCong for 3 days before the village fell -- and the army did nothing because their orders were to protect the oil fields near by -

He drove the gas trucks back and forth to the front lines -- without backup -- one day a lady threw her infant under his truck wheels as he rode through town and then put a claim in for our government to pay her for it

He was sitting in his tent playing cards one night and one of the guys stood up to stretch and a bullet blew the top of his head off -- a sniper

and all this happened without the support of the american people - he tried to join the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and was told point blank they didnt consider Viet Nam a foreign war and he was not welcome

so no matter what our feelings are about Iraq -- our soldiers are there and we should back them 110% --

at least the government -- and i'm sure it has more to do with the media coverage now that wasnt around in Viet Nam -- is aware of the PTSD in our soldiers and they try to help before it gets too bad

Dear Lionspaw

With regard to the vets and Viet Nam, although I am Canadian I felt that the soldiers in Viet Nam were very brave indeed. Although, I did understand the peace movement for what it was...a backlash against government, basically saying the kids were done being cannon fodder, I do not believe the soldiers should have been treated the way they were.

Soldiers, especially kids had no knowledge of what they were getting into. No real training, especially for the geography of Viet Nam....guerilla warfare....

What I find reprehensible is the fact that those boys received so little training before going in country. I was just a little girl but I still remember all of the photos that were on the front pages of the Toronto Star everyday of that war.

The shame, if there is shame does not belong to the soldiers but to the upper echelons...the decision makers who treat soldiers like cattle...by numbers, only investing in them with a minimum amount of dollars. Because that's what it gets down to ...the money...you can fight for your country but don't expect a red cent to support you while you're doing it!

If a country is going to war...all bets are off...that is war....you outfit your boys to keep them alive....and you damn well know what you're doing because in war there are no rules...there's just dying and living.

Personally, I don't agree with war because ultimately nobody wins...its a game played for high stakes and it isn't the citizens that benefit...no matter what you're told because in every country somebody wants power and that's the beginning of the trouble.

In Iraq you've got racial and tribal hatred and somebody wanting a piece of the action...the political pie...it isn't about people, it's about whose going to be the big boss... Terrorists are in Iraq and they're being accused of destablizing Iraq..isn't that just another special interest wanting to be boss..Iraq is a police action just like Viet Nam was a police action, a police action in the middle of a civil war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam.

No country can intervene in a civil war and win...it's impossible, especially when the foreign citizens of that country aren't backing you....which is somewhat like Iraq...the soldiers do not know who the enemy is...so a)how do they protect themselves and b) how do they come home safe especially when they're told to keep on sweeping alleys with bombs and it never ends...the bombs keep returning to the same alleys and roadways.. AND the armoured vehicles that were supposed to go to Iraq are over 7 months behind schedule...where's the government on that...?

You've got the National Guard over there in Iraq and the Reserves...they don't have a clue what they're getting into.. and they do not understand why they are fodder for an enemy they can't see...doesn't that sound like Viet Nam...

Remember Cambodia and Laos...that was an opium war...didn't have a damn thing to do with Viet Nam...special ops...protecting the HMONG natives. Why? OPIUM! How does that grab you!

Afghanistan, another opium war....warlords fighting over opium...

With regard to post traumatic stress...the energy the Viet Nam vets brought back was the energy that lived in Viet Nam...that does not belong to the Vets and they don't have to carry it out of a sense of duty....why ? a) because their government didn't give a hoot about them.

You have to understand energy....it is an element in itself...there are many kinds of energy with regard to what we experience.

What we personally experience...we take on that matrix of energy because we believe it belongs to us...we feel horror, guilt, fear, trauma...sensory overload or sensory deprivation...they are all energies and as we are energy beings...without understanding the fact that we are sophisticated quantum atomically structured beings...we have no understanding of energy and its effect with regard to our emotions, our minds and our sensory systems.

I dealt with the energy of death for 10 years...I understand the energy...the horror of it...and how it felt but I also came to realize that the energy is a separate entity, an atomic grouping of a low vibration of electrons and their structured quantum energetics. Basically, it's an energy that has very little light in it, that's what death is...and the vets are carrying that energy stuck in their sensory and the energy that governs their minds.It's a magnetic response and resonance factor.

If the Vets could understand energy as a separate entity from themselves, their minds would have an easier time in returning to peace.

You cannot fight a negative energy with negativity, or trying to face it...because you reassociate with the original messed up energy
and the game just starts over.

Another thing that the vets are dealing with is self-forgiveness for a) what they had seen and b) what they had participated in. The mind would fight it all...why? Because they had no other choice...they were there and had to make do...with no training, no mental preparation....they do not deserve the shame that was thrown at them, and the only forgiveness necessary is their own love for themselves...loving themselves enough to forgive the past.

The problem with citizens of a country that can't face their vets...is because they are afraid of the dark corners within their own minds...it's an unconscious thing...the mind itself will do anything to protect itself from horror and atrocity, even denying their own soldiers, especially in the sixties....the consciousness of people over thirty in that era was very low indeed worldwide.

With regard to the vets,the horror of Viet Nam and the torture techniques of the Viet Cong would terrify any mind..you do anything to survive.I am also aware some of the soldiers were part of horrific acts..again you become what is there...the energy of war that governs, even the most horrific acts...because that is war!.

WAR IS WAR! WHEN YOU COMMIT TO WAR....ANYTHING GOES...THAT'S WHY WAR IS SO REPREHENSIBLE TO BEGIN WITH....there are no rules ...there are no answers but the governments worldwide don't want you to see that...so newspapers are sanitized.. War is just death, and if you're lucky you live and then you come home and you face the civilization you were willing to give your life for and that civilization has no idea what you experienced...and it doesn't like war,,,so it condemns the soldiers because they couldn't make war look pretty, so that their sensibilities wouldn't be offended.

The public needs to know the truth about war....and not see it dressed up as some political slogan...it's dirty...it's degrading, it's one hell of a lie to the people...the citizens...any war....why? Because war is just a power grab for something....Always has been...always will be!

And until politicians in all our countries finally realize that all they are doing is perpetuating fear...making decisions based on fear...war will always prevail...because of the minds of men and their fear of lack...their need for control...whatever that control is.

Fear..ladies that's all it is...the fear that begins a war! Where is the strength! Where is the truth! Where is peace! So the soldiers never have to live and see what they have seen again!They deserve more.

With love and great respect for all of the men who left their families down through time, to protect something they didn't even know they were protecting...a politician's or warlord's fear I commend you for your courage. You deserve to heal!

Real truth is always hidden because of fear! Get to the real truth...that's what the vets have to face...the truth that they are not at fault for having been forced to be part of a police action that was draped in lies.

Truth...that the beauty still exists in their hearts and their love, no matter what they feel or what they believe...

I am aware of the atrocities of war in Viet Nam and Iraq...but like I said..when you go to war...anything goes, and be prepared for that and accept it because you get the whole ball of wax, it can't be prettied up...because war is a lie to begin with...a nasty horrific energy and all manner of atrocity lives within the energy of war!

With great respect to the boys who left a country to serve, not knowing what they'd be serving...God Bless...you left with good hearts...innocent hearts...may you always remember that...and remember it's still there...the innocence ...you just have to peel away the layers of fear that really belonged to the men who started the wars! The politicians!

With love
Leigha