About PTSD and Music Programs
Two music programs, Guitars for Vets and the Healing Box Project, have recently moved to the Truman Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. These two programs are designed to teach new coping skills and offer support to veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or any other mental illness.
Though post-traumatic stress disorder is more common among veterans, anyone can live with this mental illness. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website, PTSD is a “mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault.”
The symptoms of PTSD are unique for every person, but may include reliving the traumatic event through memories or nightmares, avoiding situations that may remind him or her of the event, feeling irritable or uneasy, or struggling with negative thoughts or feelings. These symptoms may cause other problems for an individual, including: depression, conflicts with relationships, anxiety, drinking or drug problems, or difficulties with employment.
Every individual handles the illness in his or her own way, whether through counseling, medication, additional therapeutic options, or nothing at all. The Truman Veterans’ Hospital offers various programs and treatment options to veterans, including two music programs.
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One of the programs, Guitars for Vets, is a national organization that provides guitars and music instruction to veterans through local chapters. According to the Guitars for Vets website, more Vietnam War veterans have committed suicide due to mental illness than the number that died in battle.
For this reason, music instruction and therapy is becoming a more popular treatment option for veterans from any time of service, not exclusively Vietnam War veterans. In the class, veterans learn how to play the guitar alongside veterans who have been through similar experiences. And, while the programs are not taught by therapists, the classes offer veterans a chance to engage in peer support therapy, while learning a new coping skill to fight his or her own illness.
Because of these opportunities, the founders of Guitars for Vets have realized that veterans gain more than coping skills from these programs, but also the determination to pursue other activities, and become more engaged in his or her community.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is not an overwhelmingly common mental illness, but experiencing some form of trauma is not rare. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website, 7-8% of the U.S. population will eventually experience PTSD in a lifetime.
10 out of every 100 women and 4 out of every 100 men will experience PTSD. Additionally, the National Institute of Mental Health claims that the onset for PTSD is at the age of 23. Therefore, it is not an extremely common mental illness, but it does affect a portion of the population.
The charts below provide additional statistics about veterans who are affected by the illness.
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While neither Guitars for Vets or the Healing box Project are taught by licensed music therapists, the instructors and members continue to experience the healing power of music. Tom Williams, the guitar instructor for the Guitars for Vets program, has seen a noticeable change in veterans struggling with PTSD as they go through the 10-week program. Williams shared a story about a group of veterans from Iraq that struggled with post-traumatic stress.
Williams said that a few of these veterans would start to shake and break out into a sweat during the class, because they were reliving their memories from their time in service.
"By the tenth week, they were rocking out and having fun. It really gave them a coping mechanism that they didn't have before that brought their attention into the now, and away from focusing into the past and their post-traumatic stress," Williams said.
Williams, and other music program officials at the veterans' hospital, believe that the therapy of music is a unique option. The veterans' hospital provides a multitude of services to patients, and many with PTSD, but the hands-on coping mechanism that the music programs provide is a tool that veterans can take with them for the rest of their lives; all they need to do is pick up their guitar.