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| The Invisible Wound - PTSD by Chris Dupee |
A friend of mine Cpl Chris Dupee has just released a video today speaking out about PTSD and I have to say it is one of the most powerful videos I have ever watched. I know many soldiers personally who are struggling with symptoms of PTSD but afraid to seek help for it as they have a fear of being seen as weak. I hope this video by a fellow soldier may encourage them to get the help they need.
There's bravery that happens every day on the battlefield and then there's bravery like this that happens when our soldiers return. Thank You Chris for speaking about PTSD and I really hope the message that "It's ok to ask for help" and "You are not alone" gets out there.
I'm proud to know you and proud to call you a friend.
If you would like to contact Cpl Chris Dupee you can do so on his Facebook page for Military Minds
So moving. What a brave bloke. So true that we're told to 'Suck it up, Buttercup'. No difference in the British Army.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few options available too, EMDR Therapy ( http://www.emdr-therapy.com/) and EFT (http://emofree.com/).
ReplyDeleteAmerica needs to do more for our soldiers coming home. I wish I was closer to starting my nonprofit for soldiers but it is still a few years away. Thank you to all of you who have served this country for your sacrifice and bravery. I hope you all find the programs you need to make life better for you. You are all my heros. Thank you. Rosemary Recore
ReplyDeleteI'm a Nam vet I was there for tet in 68 at danag.
ReplyDeleteI still suffer from depression, anexity and hpervillengence which I take meds for. The memories are still there however there not as painful as they once were. War changes people FOREVER I try to coexist with it with the help form GOD..Seek help from the VA and other vets..
Thank you for stepping up and speaking out! You are a brave soul leading a great pack of men and women!
ReplyDeleteI think this video is awesome. THere are a lot of people who really don't know what their options are. God Bless you.
ReplyDeleteI am also a Viet Nam Vet and have just started treament for PTSD I wish I could have seen this when I was younger, but then i felt as tho no one cared what I went thru in country. Now I have a wife who cares and helps me thru the bad stuff.
ReplyDeleteit doesn't make you weak to ask for help
Hi, I also suffer with PTSD. I am working on a documentary because of it being ignored. It's called, A Sylent Scream~ A Veterans cry! I am also bringing it to Stage through a Stage Play because I want people to see it up close and personal. I am really going through so much and it's as if no one believes it or takes it serious.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris for speaking up om this important and deadly subject, so many suffer from it and they don't know what is wrong with them, this is sad but please everyone who may feel this way reach out for help...Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that everyone in the Military has done to protect this country...IT IS TIME WE STEP UP AND HELP ALL OF YOU...
ReplyDeleteWith tearss I Thank You!!! All You Brave Men & Women... Though I Was not allowed to serve I Still Feel The Need To alute You All.!!! And Though I Wish You Where Not Needed,,, I Am Glad You Are Here!!! And May You Be Here To Tell Your Grand Children And Just Maybe,,, They Wont Have To Serve... There is room here to learn... And People Willing To Teach... It's Not Weak... It's Just Another Course In Life!!! :')
ReplyDeleteI am not a vet but I also suffer from PTSD and I am just so very thankful for this video and courage to come out and make it. I am so thankful to the brave men and women who have risked their lives and sacrificed so much for us... Americans. It is because of your courageous and awesome united force, I will always be thankful and proud of every soldier. I wish there was more awareness of how painful and scary it is for someone that suffers from this just to understand and to support not shun....there is hope and I have hope and compassion for anyone that suffers from this and to me you are my biggest hero's. There is nothing funny about this. When you see something on T.V,. that takes you back to a certain moment and your world starts crashing down or hear a noise like a fireworks going off and again....brought back to a traumatic event that took place in your life, I don't want any pity but a little understanding and empathy for every single person that suffers from this,,,, if you will would be nice.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
J.A.
Hi, Thank you for making this video. It is good to let us that haven't served know what you go threw for us. I thank you and all who served and still serve for your sacrifice.I will never forget that all of you have done this for our freedom. GOD BLESS all of you.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say, There is nothing I can do or say to take away your pain or stress. But I do want to thank you for your service to our country! I support all of those who are serving!
ReplyDeleteThank you and your families for your sacrifice!
Thank you Chris for making this video to help others understand what so many of you go thru. And to help those others who are going thru it to know they are not alone.
I ask God's Blessings on all of you!
Billie
My son warned me before he deployed to Iraq...Said he wouldn't be the same..He would never be the same. He called it "coming back retarded." Didn't know quite what to think, and I knew better than to expect something. Just tried to focus on being prepared for anything. Spent 4 years while he was in Military (was Honorably Discharged few months ago) listening to his well trained line "I'm ok...I got this." I'm not one to doubt, but I had to do a little "mom" investigation on these phrases. Didn't get my info from books or online.. Had some good ole vets help me out in so many ways. Always thought my son was just trying to protect me and my emotions...After his tour of duty, however, I found out the truth. He was trying to protect me from him. He was diagnosed with TBS and PTSD. Most civilians don't realize our soldiers don't and cannot sleep..A depravation, that no matter how long they've been home or out of the military, never stops. That alone is enough to make a soldier toxic with bad dreams, night sweats, racing minds etc. It is indeed cunning and baffling for any normal minded person to understand. When I hear of a soldier whose been home and out of military for a couple of years committing suicide, it's because, as you say, though he looked and acted normal on the outside, his inside was like being trapped in a burning car with no way out. No way to escape that kind of pain..so they end up ending it. Not necessarily with the intention of killing themselves...but rather killing the excrutiating pain. It is indeed a "silent" killer..I wish I had an answer..Medication may cover it up for a while, but it's a temporary fix often leading to addiction. I pray to God for our soldiers..for they endure more than we can imagine. Thanks for your video. People need to know the truth..from the "Inside out" of a soldier...God Bless.
ReplyDeleteFrom the wife of a soldier who is suffering with PTSD...I just wanted to say Thank You for speaking out about this! Thank you for making others understand the effects this can have on someones life, and the lives of those around them. Stay strong and thank you for everything you have done!
ReplyDeleteThere is help www.tendertalk.org
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that you have and will be saving a tremendous amount of life's. It had to have taken a massive amount of courage coming out the way you have. Willing to take the brunt for all Soldiers who are also battling a horrendous amount of pain and suffering.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Marine Corps brat, I saw my Dad go through an excruciating amount of PTSD from the Vietnam War; Which didn't actually happen until 25 years after the war had ended.
My Dad spent the last day's of his life in a desolating world of Agony. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, he had severe and crippling hallucinations, that were terifying just to watch.
I saw my Dad go through sheer hell the last 6 months of his life from PTSD; When he finally agreed to see a doctor after months of my relentless begging, not only was NOT much offered to him, but it also had been too late.
The damage that had happened to his body from going through a type of Agony that NO ONE should ever have to know, had became too weak and too frail to fight any longer.
He quietly passed away in his sleep on Christmas Eve 2005. God finally gave him the relief that he so desperately needed, and took him Home to be with Him.
From watching my Dad go through this, I learned that Soldiers hold a very deep and intense Pride not only in their hearts, but with everything they have in them. It's a Pride that civilians couldn't possibly understand; And though it's extremely honorable, it's also what can keep way to many Soldiers in a lonely world of painful Anguish. Ashamed to ask for help, Afraid of being portrayed as weak; Too many of them succumb to the torture of PTSD.
We as Civilians need to get the word out -that it's never EVER shameful NOR embarrassing to ask for help; That it is US that desperately NEED them to get the help they need because living a life without them would be agony for us.
My Dad could still be here, living a peaceful life as he watched his Grand Baby's that he loved so much grow up. I could still have my Dad who was my Hero.
Cpl Chris Dupee; God BLESS You for everything that you have done; For your sacrifices during your Tour; for the pain you are and have been enduring after the war; I thank you from the bottom of heart. My prayers are with you as you continue your fight, and please never forget, how much you have helped countless men and women who would have never gotten the help they needed had it not been for YOU. You are a HERO.
It's OUR turn to protect our Soldiers who have risked their lives protecting us. - WE HONOR YOU.
Hey Chris well done mate, keep yelling loud and long and maybe just perhaps some of our mates will hear and take some positive action to be treated, and not fight a second war within themselves leading to suicide. It is a long road to recovery but in the end it is worth the hell and torment, shit and mayhem just to have a happy family again.
ReplyDeleteA Fellow Vet
As I spoke with a young man who worked at the photography studio where my daughter took her senior graduation pictures, we somehow got into a discussion as to how he had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because I suffer from depression, and am very candid about it, I asked him if he suffered from PTSD. He told me that he did, and when I asked if he was going to to therapy for treatment, and he replied that he went twice a week, I felt a swelling of proud for this person, who had not only served our country, and said there were things that he'd seen while overseas that he would not even tell his father about, but that he had confided in me something so personal. So many of our soldiers are afraid that they'll be frowned upon for seeking help. PLEASE, if you suffer from PTSD, you deserve all the help that you can get. THANK YOU, IN SO MANY WAYS, TO ALL OF OUR SOLDIERS FOR CARING ABOUT, AND STANDING UP FOR, THE U.S.A.! We believe in you!!
ReplyDeleteThe mind can be damaged so easily, and people just regard it as crazy, instead of taking any effort to understand the cause. I'm 90% disabled, 70% is PTSD. I now serve other veterans as a chapter service officer for the DAV. I volunteer my Wednesdays helping veterans receive the benefits they deserve ~ more than half the vets I help suffer from PTSD.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see that there are people out there who care. My daughter's grandfather committed suicide many years after the Vietnam War. Some people believed he did that for other reasons but I truely believe he couldn't deal with the PTSD that he suffered after coming home from the war. I heard the story that saved his life so he could come home to his family. It is that story I feel caused so much trauma for him. Even though he is not related to me, I am the only one that goes to his grave to clean it and I will someday tell my daughter about how brave he was up until his death. Its truely sad that no one had any idea what our soldiers have gone through and what they are still going through after they come home.
ReplyDeletePTSD is a lonely world! I am 90% disabled with unemployability. 70% is for PTSD. I also developed Major depression disorder that has triggered suicidal thoughts and twice i have been on the brink of following through with my plan. I have found help and am taking a variety of meds to keep me on a sane track. I dont know if it is time or the medications i take but things get a little easier. If you suffer from PTSD or THINK you suffer from PTSD, SEEK HELP! Only fellow veterans and those who have PTSD can understand what you are going through. You have to let someone know that your suffering.
ReplyDeleteI shared this video on my FaceBook page for wider distribution. Good luck to all sufferers.
Thank you so much for sharing this. The man that I have loved for 6 years has PTSD but will never admit it after he came back in 2008 he was so very different. It changed our whole relationship and even now that we are not together I still love him and hold on to him. He holds onto confusion not facing it. Even with his retirement coming up I know nothing will change. I'll gladly post this in hopes that it might be passed on by family and he may see it. Bless you for being just who you are.
ReplyDeleteGood Video, still ashamed to be called weak minded but I am about to explode at some points. Their are good days and bad days, the anger is very hard to control on those bad days. Sorry great video have a nice day.
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ReplyDeleteGreat video! hope all will get past the "suck it up and move on" attitude and get help, because it exists and it does help. Just to hear a brother in arms talk about it will surely help. Keeping it bottled up inside just lets it fester and get stronger. The strong thing to do is to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not a vet. I'm the daughter, sister and wife of a vet. I think the best gift of all would be for us to share this with a vet we love, and encourage him or her to be strong, and ask for help. One fewer suicide, one more able to sleep without nightmares, one able to finally rest inside and out is my desire for ALL vets. You already proved yourself on the battlefields. Please accept the help that is offered so you have a better life after your service. God bless you, Becky Toney
I want to say thank you for making this video and reaching out to so many people that do suffer from PTSD. Even though I do not have it there are many people that I have known and that are still around that have it and God bless you with this.
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