Anne Woods with the non-profit group Hope for the Warriors believes military spouses need to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder when their loved ones return from service. She wrote a powerful essay about the topic for Huffington Post, which you can read here.
Woods says her group often talks with military spouses who say their returning husband or wife seems like a stranger in their own home, refusing to acknowledge the negative emotional impact of being in a combat zone.
Hope for the Warriors has put together a program to help treat the entire family for PTSD or other problems stemming from deployment. It's called the Family Reintegration Program, and Woods hopes it becomes a model for the way military spouses are treated in the future.
Dr. Michael DeFalco, PsyD of The Military Wellness Program at Holliswood Hospital and one of the founders of the Family Reintegration Program, says:
What do you think? Should the entire family be treated when one member is suffering?
