Veterans turning to poetry to heal their war wounds

[unhappycamper]

Veterans turning to poetry to heal their war wounds
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, December 21, 2009

When Army Spc. Matt Ping returned to the States after 16 months isolated in the mountains of northeast Afghanistan, he felt cut off from his new surroundings.

And the nightmares scared him.

"I was having these intense bad dreams at night, mixing my childhood memories with Afghanistan — like machine-gun towers set upon the roof on my grandmother’s house," he said.

But he was reluctant to seek traditional therapy from a Department of Veterans Affairs facility.

"It’s all prescription-based — Ambien and Zoloft solve everything," he said. "I didn’t want that."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66798

[CTyankee]

1. As someone once said, "Art always saves you."

I turn to music and poetry in bad times...and I find that statement true...