After being abused when I was a child, moving many of times, going through my parents divorce, and being raped as a teenager, I could hardly sleep, and began having panic attacks all the time. This lead me to see a therapist who helped me work through my past which I kept a secret for years. I was finally feeling better until overwhelming stress and sexual harassment at work pushed me over the edge and I was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was absolutely awful. I didn't want to do anything, go anywhere, and was terrified of anything related to my job (of which I had to leave on doctor’s orders). It's almost been a year and things have improved, but it's astonishing what this can do to a person. I've found therapy very helpful, along with medicine, plenty of sleep, light exercise, keeping a journal of how I feel and trying to make small goals for myself. If I could do anything differently, I would have spoken up a lot earlier, and not have pretended everything was fine until I couldn't take it anymore. Published: September 11 ::

My husband came back from Vietnam with PTSD and was diagnosed with anxiety. What helped him the most was writing and rewriting his experiences (at least five drafts on a typewriter) into a memoir (Chickenhawk). It moved nightmares and intrusive thoughts and memories into his past. It didn't cure the PTSD, but it made life more bearable. A few years ago, he also started on Zoloft, which helped with his depression that I consider a natural result of PTSD's emotional numbing. Refuse your feelings and you will get depressed. Published: September 11 ::