Weavers Story Bank

Caring for my husband, who is a veteran with PTSD

Caring for my husband can be particularly stressful, as he has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his time in the army and now a Borderline Personality Disorder. At times it got so bad that I threatened to leave. I was dealing with so much like him threatening to kill himself, he even attempted at one stage and I was forced to call an ambulance and the police. His diagnosis resulted in him losing his job and this just compounded his feelings of being demoralised. After this episode he was hospitalised for a time, he blamed me for ending up there. I was so relieved when he voluntarily chose to go to the Repatriation hospital for a time, and thank God we had got in touch with DVA. They sourced him the right counsellors, got him the right diagnosis and onto the right medication. This also helped me to make sense of so much of our life and marriage. They even organised an Occupational Therapist to visit our home, who started doing some mindfulness with him. In fact I would encourage anyone who is eligible to get support from DVA to do so, they have done so much for us even down to installing a door bell that flashes so he can see instead of hear it. These little things all help both of us to feel independent in all of this.