A Navy Veteran Is Determined to Find His Own Way Through PTSD—Without VA

[Tony]

I struggled to keep a job. I started using my GI Bill for nursing school, just to end up too depressed to continue. I felt, and sometimes still do, like any day now I’ll just wake up back on the ship.

After a year or so, I couldn’t take it. I tried VA. The first psychiatrist I saw diagnosed me with PTSD like it was the common cold, dismissing me with an Ambien prescription. It helped, but I was afraid of becoming dependent, so I never refilled it. Other therapists were quick to push religion, which doesn’t align with me. Aside from that, their help was mostly handouts and suggestions for activities like equine therapy.