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Veterans Given Access to Alternate Treatments for PTSD

Art, music therapy, group meetings, and writing are just a few of the alternative types of therapy used to treat soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While the standard counseling and prescription pill regimen works for some, it does not work for all. This is why alternative therapies are so very important when treating conditions like PTSD and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), both of which raise more questions than answers much of the time. Veterans disability claims related to these two conditions are sharply on the rise, which is why the more treatment available the better.

Approximately 20% of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. According to a recent study of veterans living in the San Francisco area, and reported by KalNews, only 10% of veterans with PTSD will seek help at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center or treatment facility.

The San Francisco VA is now offering a new type of therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). This therapy couples traditional talk therapy with physical stimulation. At its very basic core, EMDR therapy will help the patient locate the image in their mind causing their distress and couples it with the thoughts they have about that image that is causing their misery.

Once patients can combine those two things together, bilateral stimulation is added, which is usually a series of "taps or tones or eye movement." By doing this, patients "free up" the brain and begin "free association," meaning they just let their mind wander. Wherever it ends up is then usually the topic of conversation.

Despite positive results being reported for the therapy, doctors and clinicians remain baffled as to what occurs in the brain, neurologically, to produce those results. Almost nothing is understood about how PTSD operates, which makes new therapies very valuable.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.