Army Veteran Credits Mental Health Treatment With Saving Her Life
Being a member of the LGBTQ community, I always struggled to find a therapist that could understand both those challenges that I experienced, as well as the challenges of PTSD from combat scenarios. my name is Chloe. I am an Army Veteran and I served as an Infantry Officer and a Military Intelligence Officer between 2006 and 2022. Being an Infantry Officer was probably the best job I ever had. I don't think there's really anything that like prepares you for leadership more so than leading soldiers. I was leading a platoon out at a remote outpost. The area that we were in had a lot of IEDs, so I got hit by one smaller one that fortunately didn't injure anyone, and then I got hit again five days later by a much bigger one that injured myself and several members of my team.
Like, serving in the military while also dealing with gender dysphoria was difficult, as well as dealing with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury. Just everything really compiled on top of each other, definitely, and then finally, President Obama removed the transgender military ban, so that allowed people to transition or join the military if they were transgender and serve openly. I transitioned on active duty, and I guess things were going well and then President Trump put the ban back into place. There was definitely a feeling of betrayal when that happened.
I retired during COVID, so there was a lot of things shut down, and it was just like after this long career, I got a folded flag delivered in the mail. I don't know, it was just very like anti-climatic ending to an otherwise pretty long career. Between my PTSD and my traumatic brain injury, my depression and anxiety, I found myself in a position where I was having suicidal ideations, and I think my mental health at that time impacted a lot of areas of my life. I reached out to the Wounded Warrior Project. I went to the two-week inpatient therapy program because I was at a point where I was ready to take my own life. It's probably the best thing I ever did, and it saved my life.
Through therapy, I've learned to really work through the logic of some of the assumptions I have about myself and the situation that I'm in. I was officially diagnosed with major depressive disorder, anxiety, traumatic brain injury. For me, like being authentic and sharing my whole self and my identity with my healthcare provider is important because it impacts my life. Everyone has their own unique challenges.
I'm a really big sports fan. I grew up playing sports, watching sports. I've got friends that I watch different teams with, and I think it's important to have some sort of activity that you do with others. Since I began mental health treatment, I've seen an improvement in relationships with friends, coworkers, family members. If nothing else, it's really taught me when I need to step away, take time to myself, or establish boundaries that I hadn't before. For me, like addressing mental health and seeking treatment became easier the more I did it, and I think it was so hard at first because it wasn't a part of my like, normal healthcare regimen. I'd encourage any service members or Veterans to treat their mental health the same way they treat their physical health, and make it a normal part of your routine.
