I started coming out of my shell

I started coming out of my shell

Jessie:

I just finally went to a good friend of mine that used to work for the VA and she told me, “Yeah PTSD.” I said, “I don't know what that is.” When she told me, I said, “There is no way.” I said, “My dad and my uncle and my grandpa all went to war and they took it like a man, how come I can't?” That was the way I looked at it. I am too much of a man for that to have affected me this way.

So I was in denial until finally I just didn’t have anywhere else to go. She guided me towards the veterans’ administration, had me lined up for an examination with a psychiatrist.

We had groups where they tried to get us to talk it and when it would come to my turn I would say, “No, I don’t have anything to say.” Finally after so many years, I was able to start contributing a little bit to the group. I started coming out of my shell. My house was in ruins. I started fixing it up a little bit, and slowly I got more motivation to do things.