LVMAC Tidbit — New Edition of PTSD Booklet Available

To meet the demand, a reprinting of Stephanie Laite Lantham’s Veterans and Families’ Guide for Recovering from PTSD is now available upon request at no cost to those who want to learn more about PTSD and want to know how to help a loved one or a friend.  The booklet has also proven unexpectedly useful to the local judiciary and municipalities as well.

“The Guide” was at one time distributed by the Military Order of Purple Heart (MOPH) to the VA Vet Centers in all 50 states. That’s how it came it first came to our attention.  We believed booklet could fulfill an additional, special need in our community if tailored to it. Fortunately, the author was willing to work with us.

Consequently, LVMAC substantially revised the ‘Resource Guide’ in the back of the booklet in the last edition to emphasize family-friendly and local resources.  With this new printing, seventh edition, we  update that section to  keep it current.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be successfully treated if help is sought, yet a problem has long existed in getting those who suffer into treatment and using the services available. It may not be the veteran who first seeks help but a friend or family member who reaches out on behalf of the military person or veteran. The story of a father, mother, spouse, or friend driving an unknowing veteran to the door of a VA Clinic or Vet Center and walking him or her inside is not an “urban myth.”

And this psychiatric disorder claims other victims indirectly. Symptoms of PTSD create stress. As a result, family members and anyone closely connected to the person with post trauma symptoms may suffer their own symptoms such as anxiety and depression. They too may be in need of comfort, support, counseling, and possibly treatment.

Since LVMAC believed more must be done locally to educate family members and friends of both married and single military service members and veterans in recognizing the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how to properly respond, it has used this booklet as one tool to help achieve that objective.

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As of 23 November 2013