a warrior is another warrior's mental peer... psycology needs to acknowlege that?

Question

as a vet, a warrior, and a VA out patient, i would apreciate yor feedback to that observation

Answer 1

I've thought about that, I kind of want to specialize in PSTD, but wondered what I could really offer someone who had seen the insane **** one sees in Iraq.

A little bit of background, this PTSD interest is actually survivor guilt from my time in the military. I’m aware of it, but that doesn’t change it. I spent a lot of time sacrificing for my troops, and when they started to get deployed I got held back, and eventually kicked out on a medical. Some of them have been killed or wounded. The people I knew in the military who were combat vets of the first Gulf War, or the people I talked to who were returning from the war, all had a very haunting manner of relating to their experiences, and it scared to me to see a dimension of my long term friends that I didn’t have any idea existed. So I thought about all that and couldn’t help myself but ask could I really offer anything useful?

Ultimately I decided that I could, that it isn’t the experience it is the ability to feel compassion. That is, the ability to put myself into their positions and understand the psychologically damaging aspect of war, most importantly the abject terror that permeates ever aspect of existence. I don’t know that I am right, or that I will ever even get a chance to find out if I am right. So, does a warrior need a warrior to understand? A psychiatrist who has also suffered from PTSD, no they need something even more impossibly rare, they need someone who is able to understand other people, regardless of their background and feel compassion for them and their situation. Although a like background would certainly help, I don’t think it is a prerequisite for communication and understanding.

I would also add that US psychology is permeated with a morals and ethics in a very unscientific like manner. And I bet a lot of psychologists bring that same attitude in with their military clients and consequently judge their actions when it is not their place to judge.

Answer 2

Yes, we need to learn from each other, rather than compete to be better than another. If one warrior meets another, they should learn from each others accomplishments, and teach each other to acheive what they have acheived, rather than try to outdo the other. What a wonderful world that would be. That's a true warrior.