Author: PTSD among veterans often goes untreated -- here’s why

Around 20 veterans commit suicide per day nationwide, and military-related post-traumatic stress disorder is frequently a factor.

Husband and wife Marc and Sonja Raciti worked on a book together about combating PTSD with the goal of helping other veterans understand what’s happening when they experience trauma. “I Just Want to See Trees: A Journey Through PTSD” is about Marc’s experience as an Army veteran struggling with trauma and his journey from realizing he had a problem to finding healing.

People can return from serving in the military and experience PTSD whether or not they’ve been injured, Marc and Sonja explained on Thursday’s “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson.” Veterans without injuries tend to ignore trauma because it’s not tangible damage, and they can feel sad, guilty and angry without understanding why.

Kris Cruz talked about his own experiences as a veteran with PTSD and how he had to go through therapy and pinpoint certain sensations that would immediately take him back to his time serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. His particular triggers for anxiety attacks were the smell of Big Red gum and the sound of a helicopter, both of which were strongly associated with traumatic moments of being under fire.

To see more from Doc, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson” weekdays 6–9 a.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.