Outside the veterans’ community and the operational stress injury clinics, civilians may be dealing with a stress disorder, but, from the outset, the military is already very much misunderstood. Post-traumatic stress disorder is poorly understood. It is important to mention the Desmond family from Nova Scotia; they asked for help but did not get it.
Situations like that occur in all the provinces. This is because people have not been made aware. There is a lack of respect and understanding. As a caregiver, I can tell you that, when we seek care, we are often asked why we brought the person. We are told that they are doing very well and that they can go back home. Those people then return to their fortress, all alone, and have no one to complain to about their difficulties. That’s the result.
There’s not enough awareness among doctors. We live in a society where people are heavily and dangerously prescribed medication precisely because we do not understand what is happening to them. We are putting people to sleep and killing them from the inside, then we get offended when they switch to medicinal cannabis and suddenly start having meaningful emotions or undergo a course of therapy that works because they are no longer zombies.