Houston VA Puts Focus on Female Veterans PTSD Through Art

Houston VA Hospital Hosts Art Exhibit Showcasing Paintings By Female Veterans
Houston Public Media
AL ORTIZ
POSTED ON MARCH 31, 2017

Lopez is in the process of being discharged due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and says painting has been therapeutic in her journey to cope with the horrors of war.

Texas has the highest population of women veterans in the country and doing artistic work is one of the strategies some of them use to ease the transition to civilian life.

The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center has hosted an exhibit this month showing some of their paintings.

Natalie Lopez, a San Antonio native, is the author of one of the pieces.

Actually her painting, which is titled “Forever unfit puzzle” and depicts a soldier in distress, was one of 10 that won a nationwide contest organized by the Veteran Artist Program and the VA’s Center for Women Veterans.

“Painting helps me release stress, just like the gym for most people,” Lopez, who was deployed in Afghanistan in 2007 and Iraq in 2008 and is now stationed in Abilene, told Houston Public Media.
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