PBS will air a show called "Veterans of PTSD" tonight, on "Now," with David Brancaccio -- familiar to many listeners of "Marketplace." Streaming video will be available after the show airs. Click for a link here. You can also learn more about Matthew Zacchea, featured in the program, in this earlier article on PTSD and veterans, from US News & World Report last year.
About the show:
Bouts of fierce anger, depression, and anxiety that previous generations of soldiers described as "shell shock" or "combat/battle fatigue" now earn a clinical diagnosis: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. But the relatively new medical label doesn't guarantee soldiers will get the care they need. NOW looks at how America's newest crop of returning soldiers is coping with the emotional scars of war, and some new and innovative treatments for them.
In the show, we spent time with Iraq War veteran Michael Zacchea, a Marine lieutenant colonel who trained Iraqi troops and led them in the battle of Fallujah. Haunted by the violence he saw there, Zacchea and other soldiers diagnosed with PTSD now face what could be a lifelong struggle to leave the horrors of war behind and reclaim their once-peaceful lives.
In a side note: do you notice how much of the decent reportage on PTSD and combat trauma -- indeed, on veterans issues in general -- is coming from listener-supported public radio and television? While bloggers and others complain about what the mainstream media does and doesn't cover, I hope someone is paying attention to this trend -- the good information is still out there, it's just a question of where you look.
Speaking of which, she said somewhat peevishly, we've been blogging about this topic for almost two years now -- well ahead of the current "surge" in popular interest. That said, there can't be enough interest given to this topic, to help heal those who are struggling with it/suffering from it. Though frankly this topic should have been on our minds since Vietnam -- or maybe the Civil War, where it also was an issue. And undoubtedly since combat began.
