Veteran talks about stress disorder
By Meghan Walsh, Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
“I didn’t have issues. There were just stupid people around me doing stupid things,” Eddie Black told about 50 people at Southwestern Oregon Community College on Tuesday night.
That’s how Black felt when he returned home from serving in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2005. Other soldiers from his company were getting divorced and drinking heavily. They couldn’t control their anger. But Black was “peachy keen.”
In reality, the U.S. Army Infantry and Marine Corps veteran was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Like many veterans, however, his own perceptions of mental health and cultural stigmatisms prevented him from seeking help.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Is this what it’s like to be pregnant and have all those horBetween 2000 and 2006, 1,066 male Oregon veterans committed suicide. That averages about 3.7 deaths a week. Yet, PTSD only recently has been brought to the forefront of society’s consciousness.
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Maybe you can see better that PTSD is not new just because it's now news.
That's the bulk of the problem here. Wishing people like me were listened to that long ago will not bring back a single life lost, a son or daughter, a mother or father. Praying people like me are finally listened to may save lives in the future but what about today?
