News From the Cause
Learning to live again (REGISTER-GUARD, EUGENE, OR)
February 28, 2011
Oregon Army National Guard Master Sgt. Jeff McDowell of Eugene thought he was fine in 2005, after he returned from a year of combat in Iraq, but his wife knew better.
McDowell, then 41, couldn’t sleep, was quick to anger and often found himself feeling anxious, especially when out in public, worried that other people were a threat to his wife and their two children.
His wife, Shelly, said, “ ‘You need to go and talk to somebody,’ ” McDowell recalled .
He saw a mental health counselor at the Eugene Vet Center. Other visits followed and, the next year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed McDowell with post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder that can affect people who have been through traumatic events, including combat.
McDowell, who now lives outside Veneta with his family, said the counseling helps him manage his anxieties, but he knows other veterans who aren’t doing so well.
“They are holed up in their homes,” he said. Click here to view full article
