Anger management therapy turned things around

David:

My name's David. I was in the US Army. I was in Korea. When getting out of the military I really didn't think I had any issues. I really thought everyone else had issues. As it relates to me taking care of what I had to take care of and not really understanding that there's a difference between the military culture and the civilian culture. Finding employment; having the skills to find viable employment to take care of your family along with all the other daily issues of living. It could be a difficult time. My wife pretty much told me, “Hey, you need to get some help and you need to get it soon or we're not going to be together.” So, with that being said it was time for me to look at some of the issues that I was having and some of the adjustments that I was having to then begin to seek some treatment for anger or for any type of maladaptive behavior.

I really didn’t want to go but when I started to talk with my primary care Physician and he began to tell me certain things that could help me then I started to utilize some of the things that were available for Veterans within the VA. I’ve done some one-on-one therapies. I’ve done anger management therapies. I’ve done group therapies, but what was most helpful was the anger management therapies because you sit in the group therapy and you have different individuals who talk about their issues and how we use our experience and understanding to help each other to deal with whatever the issue might be and we look at in doing it from a practical point of focus along with the Psychologist.

Within the VA there are a lot of individuals who are seeking some of the same services whereas you can build bonds, if not friendships, with those individuals to help you process through. My wife has said that I’ve handled things better; I’m getting better. You can air out what’s really going on inside of you so then you can get the help that’s necessary.

Start with the VA. Start with the VA; start with a Social Worker. If you don’t know anyone down there then, do have new buddies, right? Go together; get together and go down there and say, “I just want to talk with someone about whatever your situation is.” You never have to do anything by yourself so let’s not try and do anything in life by ourselves. There’s help out here and we need to take advantage of it.