PTSD Veterans finding healing with strings

LOMA LINDA: Guitars provide path to health
Guitar lessons at the VA center can help veterans cope with the emotional scars of their service
Press-Enterprise
BY MARK MUCKENFUSS
STAFF WRITER
Published: 04 November 2012

Terry Moorer said playing the guitar is the only therapy that has made her feel better. Jeff Allen said his memory has improved.

And for Ben Juarez, the faces that haunt him disappear only when he is focused on the guitar, making music.

All three veterans are students in Guitars for Vets at the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda. The program, started a year ago, provides guitars and music instruction for veterans who have been referred by the center’s behavioral health department. Students get 10 individual half-hour lessons over 10 weeks. If they complete the course, they receive a guitar of their own and can participate in group sessions with other graduates.

Music therapy, started in the early 20th century, is used widely in mental health settings.
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