Before you can start dealing with PTSD, you have to recognize that you have it. While this is a necessary precondition for recovery it is not a sufficient one. Being honest with yourself and acknowledging that you have a problem is great. Being open to help with that problem is what separates the recovering veteran from the one who is still stuck in the past.

Perhaps you do not need this manual. Congratulations! Perhaps you are so strong and resourceful that without help and without any guidance you can solve your PTSD issues all by yourself. If you are that man or woman who has overcome PTSD single-handed please e-mail me at once. I will do all I can to share your secret with your brothers and sisters who avoid crowds and loud noises, still have those nightmares, drink too much, love too little, have a fuse as short as a nano-particle, and set a new record for the vertical leap when someone touches them unexpectedly on the shoulder from behind. I have been there, done all of that, and have the scars to prove it.

The following observations, hints, suggestions, and friendly chatter are my own. I have no special qualification in mental health or counseling, although I have had the benefit of some really exceptional practitioners who have helped me enormously in the struggle with my own demons. What I can and do offer you is a few insights gathered from one man's fight to reclaim his life from a series of blind alleys and dead-end streets. My lessons are written in blood. My purpose in writing this is to spare you some of that bloodshed.

The manual is very much a work in progress. It was originally published in March 2009, and chapters or other materials are added as they are completed. I welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement. If you are moved to submit something, please read the info provided at the Contact button, or simply send an e-mail to: comments@ptsdsurvivalmanual.net

I wish here to thank and acknowledge the help and support of my brothers and sisters in the various PTSD groups I have participated in at two VA Treatment Centers, and of our counselors, my therapists, my friends who stuck by me, and my loving family, all of whom have helped me profoundly in pursuing my own recovery and in the preparation of this website.

Will Henry