PTSD when the shell breaks and healing begins

Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal
Timothy Sanders, left, talks with Scott Ferguson, assistant service officer for Kansas Veterans of Foreign Wars, during Saturday's information fair at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center.


Vet tells story of recovery
VA information fair in Topeka shines light on available services
By Julie K. Buzbee
Special To The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, November 04, 2007
Timothy Sanders grew up in the aftermath of the Vietnam era, playing GI Joe in his Chicago neighborhood.

But nine years in the Army, including tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, shattered his childhood illusions and much of his adult life to date. Sanders, 32, said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and endures nightmares, flashbacks and anxiety attacks.

He was one of about 25 veterans who attended a welcome home information fair Saturday for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom troops, veterans and their families at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka.

When Sanders got out of the military in 2005, he didn't seek help with problems adjusting to civilian life in Missouri, where he was living. He tried to cope on his own.

"I really wasn't too well informed when I left the military about what to do," he said.

Richard Selig understands the dilemma that Sanders and other veterans go through upon their return from war. Selig is the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom program manager for the Eastern Kansas Health Care System, which sponsored the information fair.

"You're hyper-aroused, you're hyper-vigilant," Selig says of troops. "Even if you wanted to pay attention, you really couldn't. When they come back from a combat zone, a lot of them are going to want to isolate."

Sanders, who was part of the ground force invasion in Iraq, said he isolated until his PTSD became so unmanageable that he ended up as a patient in Colmery-O'Neil's stress disorder treatment program.

"One thing about PTSD is you isolate," Sanders said. "In this program, I broke out of my shell."
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