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Paul Nelson reportingThe U.S. military is experimenting with a method of helping soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.). This method helps soldiers relive painful situations from the battlefield.
The trauma of war can be difficult for any returning soldier to overcome. Steven Allen, the VA Hospital's post-traumatic stress disorder clinical team coordinator, says, "P.T.S.D. is really a disorder based on fear, and all treatments for P.T.S.D. that are effective look at trying to confront that fear."
Allen says, for some patients, getting over P.T.S.D. requires patients to remember and imagine what gave them the trauma in the first place. He says this cognitive treatment can work better than FDA-approved medication.
"For folks that have completed that treatment, they report significant reductions in P.T.S.D. symptoms; and those symptoms tend to stay down as well," Allen said.
Lately, researchers have been experimenting with a new tool to help veterans relive traumatic events. Allen explains, "Using virtual reality is a promising area for helping people in dealing with fears and particularly with P.T.S.D."
It's called "Virtual Iraq," and so far, it has not been used in Utah.
Utah Department of Veterans Affairs executive director Terry Schow says he can relate to how soldiers might feel coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. "Even when I came back, for a period of time afterwards, sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I know on occasion I would scare my wife because of the fact that I would jump up and want to go for my rifle or something like that," he said.
Schow served in Vietnam. He says many Vietnam veterans are feeling a second wave of P.T.S.D. He says, "They're concerned about their sons who they knew would be going to Iraq or Afghanistan."
Schow says Utah has had one of the highest percentages of guardsmen reservists sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, and 30 to 40 percent of them may come home with P.T.S.D. He says there are only two vet centers in the whole state to help these soldiers.
"I'm certainly advocating we need to have at least two more -- one for northern Utah, one for southern Utah -- so these centers are a little bit closer to the homes of these veterans," Schow said.
Schow says many veterans don't get treatment out of fear it could dash their hopes of furthering their career in the military, which Utah military officials say won't happen. He says some veterans without treatment end up killing themselves.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
