MILITARY MATTERS: Psychologists and veterans in Augusta helping others with PTSD

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WTVM) – June is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month, and health experts in Georgia are working to break the stigma around seeking help for the invisible wounds.

Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta are no stranger to PTSD. They say it’s treatable but requires focused treatment.

“We have resources across the spectrum of care from self-directed, maybe an app that might help someone deal with stress all the way to intensive weekly appointments for outpatient therapy,” said VA Augusta clinical psychologist J. Richard Monroe.

Will Martin, an Army veteran forced to not let emotions get in the way, says PTSD affecting his personal life was a sign to take action.

“It kind of spilled over to my relationships are negatively impacting that I wasn’t very good at communicating what I needed, or, you know, what I was really feeling,” said Army vet Will Martin.

The program helped him tap into his trauma and start to recover.

“It doesn’t eliminate it,” Martin said. “But what it does is it gives you the wisdom and knowledge and tools and figure out how to navigate it and not let it negatively impact your life.”

That is why Martin wants to break the stigma.

He said, “I grew up in a very blue-collar environment and military environment where if you went to go see a shrink, quote, unquote, that was a sign of weakness and a waste of time and money. And I experienced the exact opposite of that.”

According to the National Center for PTSD, the disorder is more common in veterans than civilians.

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