Study hopes to help veterans in a different way

Local study hopes to help veterans
By Alysa Landry The Daily Times
Posted: 03/01/2010 12:00:00 AM MST


FARMINGTON — A duo of behavioral health specialists is soliciting help from area combat veterans in a study of the role of therapy in healing from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Roy Harrington, a Marine diagnosed with the disorder nearly 20 years after serving in the Desert Storm conflict, is spearheading a conversation he hopes leads to specific changes in the way mental health professionals and the military view stress and trauma.

"I didn't know what the heck was wrong with me," Harrington said of the diagnosis. "I was crying all the time. It was affecting my job and my relationships. It just didn't make sense."

Harrington hopes by listening to other veterans' accounts of trauma and the emotional aftermath he will better understand the kind of conversation needed to prevent the disorder and heal those who already have it.

"Therapy for PTSD is all the same," he said, "but the practice, the approach isn't appropriate. You have to be able to go in there and know the other person will understand where you are coming from as a veteran."

Part of the solution may be pairing veterans with other veterans, Harrington said. Another piece could be better training of nonveteran therapists so they can find common ground. The goal is to isolate the trauma as an experience, not as something that defines a person, Harrington said.
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