PTSD

PICS is an array of symptoms and health problems that can arise when a patient undergoes critical care for an extended period of time

Female veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder were 44% more likely to develop ischemic heart disease than were those without PTSD

'It’s very heartbreaking for the soldiers,' says UCLA Health psychiatrist Bruce Kagan who leads an outpatient PTSD clinic for the Veterans Administration

“I was part of a female engagement team, and we were helping an all-girls school that had been blown up by the Taliban rebuild,” recounts Yoland Poullard, an Army veteran who came to Operation Mend for help with her survivor’s guilt. “I was transitioning to Kabul when my team went [...]

“When I lost my arm, I felt like I lost my identity,” admits 46-year-old Darius Johnson, who was an infantryman and squad leader in the United States Army. “My first sergeant stepped on an IED, detonated it and took my arm in 2011. After that, I went straight into work [...]

“After 22 years of being around numerous explosions and jumping out of airplanes, it finally caught up to me,” reflects 51-year-old Tad Steckler, who was an Army engineer dealing with explosives and demolition. “Before Operation Mend, I was easily irritated, lacked an ability to focus, and couldn’t remember things. I [...]

This summer, UCLA Operation Mend took another step toward removing barriers to care for warriors by giving their children the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles together with their families. Children of patients participating in the intensive treatment program this past July were enrolled in the UCLA Recreation Summer Camp [...]

When it comes to helping a veteran with PTSD, families too often tend to focus the majority of their physical, emotional and mental resources into taking care of that person, inadvertently creating an imbalance that can both constrain the veteran’s healing and further stress the family. Dr. Jo Sornborger, director [...]

Clare Suomi and her family volunteered to become an Operation Mend Buddy Family back in 2009. In 2016, after lovingly caring for five warriors and their families, Clare happened upon a job opening for a Buddy Program Coordinator and knew it was perfect for her. Clare, who quickly earned [...]

“I left the Operation Mend program in a much better place mentally and spiritually. You really do feel better when you come out of it,” says U.S. Marine John Kob, who went through UCLA Operation Mend’s intensive outpatient treatment program for PTSD and TBI, offered in partnership with the [...]