Category Archives: PTSD

Michael’s Story: A Family’s Recovery From a Rare Neurological Illness

19 Feb 2015

In 1999 Sandy Levine’s husband Michael Fairhurst was rushed to the hospital due to a rare neurological illness. As an award-winning television producer, Sandy started recording Michael’s illness and recovery for three reasons. First, she thought he probably wouldn’t remember much of what happened, and that someday he may be interested in seeing it. Second, it gave her something to do to help keep her sanity. And third, as a producer, she knew someday – assuming Michael lived –it would make a damn good story.

Military Life is Stressful on All Concerned; Efforts To Help Often Fall Short

15 Feb 2015

The military has never been a particularly family-friendly career. (Thus the old saying that if Uncle Sam had wanted you to have a family, he’d have issued you one.) Yet 44 percent of military personnel have children, and families serve, too.

After PTSD, More Trauma

28 Jan 2015

Going in for therapy at a Veterans Affairs hospital is a lot like arriving at a large airport in a foreign country. You pass through a maze of confusing signage.

I Have PTSD … So What?

26 Jan 2015

I have PTSD. We all know what it is, Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder. I am one of millions who are affected by it each and every day. Millions of men and women who have varying symptoms yet manage to maintain a normal lifestyle. I, along with my cohorts, have been classified as a potential powder keg just waiting on that spark to set us off into a murderous explosion of ire. This is not the case as I am just as normal as you.

PTSD, Police Altercations, and the Case of the Vietnam Veteran

23 Jan 2015

The video has been watched more than 1 million times on YouTube alone. Vietnam veteran Andrew H. Brannan was stopped while driving nearly 100 mph on Jan. 12, 1998, on a deserted road in Georgia, and quickly lost his temper with Sheriff Deputy Kyle Dinkheller after the officer asked him to keep his hands out of his pockets.

Sleepless in Salem

19 Jan 2015

A bit like a luxury car, traumatic brain injury comes with a full complement of accessories. Not accessories like heated leather seats or a fully decked out sound system designed to sweeten your ride.

Major Study of Bereaved Military Families Underway

19 Jan 2015

With his wife and child close at hand, Army Maj. Chad Wriglesworth battled skin cancer for more than a year before dying at age 37. “It was long and painful and awful,” said Aimee Wriglesworth, who believes the cancer resulted from exposure to toxic fumes in Iraq. Yet the 28-year-old widow from Bristow, Virginia, seized a chance to recount the ordeal and its aftermath to a researcher, hoping that input from her and her 6-year-old daughter might be useful to other grieving military families.