Dr. Phil Show focus on PTSD veteran

I thought this was going to turn out to be a "feel good story" when I started to read it. A wife reaches out to a celebrity psychologist, gets on the show twice and is handed gifts. That notion ended as soon as I read that Jerry Talton did what he was supposed to do, but the VA didn't do what they keep saying they are doing.

Talton was not treated the way he needed to be treated and Dr. Phil is paying for him to see a psychologist. After he had gone to the VA for help, he was on the verge of suicide. Now I'm angry.

How can it be that for the last few years we've read story after story of how the VA was spending more money on PTSD and hiring more and more mental health professionals to take care of these veterans, then read that when they do show up for help, they don't get it?

Couple get help from TV host

‘Dr. Phil’ to feature Taltons in 2 shows this week

By Jason Morton Staff Writer

TUSCALOOSA Desperate for treatment to what he believes is post-traumatic stress disorder, Jerry Talton reached out to an unlikely place: Dr. Phil McGraw.

But what began as a show to shine a light on the military’s perceived lack of treatment for its mentally wounded soldiers became much more.

Before Talton and his wife, Rose, left Los Angeles, they were asked to return to the Dr. Phil studio for one more taping.

Believing this show was to be an examination of Christmas spending in a weakened economy, Rose Talton sat stunned in the audience when Dr. Phil revealed the true nature of the show.

He was giving away presents, and the Talton family were to be among the recipients.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time of the year,” said Rose Talton, 26. “He was sincerely compassionate and angry ... it wasn’t just a put on.”

In 2005, Jerry Talton spent a year in Iraq performing what some consider the most dangerous job in Iraq — monitoring a heavily-used travel route for improvised explosive devices.

When he returned home in January 2006, Talton, now 29, knew something was wrong.

“When I first got home, we went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries ...,” Jerry Talton said, “and I started freaking out.

“We had to leave — we couldn’t even buy groceries.”
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