How do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?

My boyfriend was in the military, and now because of bad memories shakes in his sleep, and has nightmares. What can I do to help him?How do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?I'm almost certain that your boyfriend is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It's quite common among Service Members who've experienced combat but it's definitely not limited to those in the military. I did a paper on this subject for my psych class. There are so many resources online. I recommend you google PTSD and see what you find. I'm sure you will find the help you need. The poster above me is definitely correct when he say it takes time. I wouldn't push the issue until he feels ready. Good luck.How do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?
Just be there to comfort him. If it keeps getting worse maybe a doctor could help. How do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?get him to talk about the dreams. talking takes the air out of them. otherwise it is easy to have the things running around in the subconscious only to come back out again because they weren't aired out to begin with.
get him a hypnosis voucher and see how that'l help:D:DHow do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?Chances are he will not feel comfortable talking to you. Don't take it personal and do not bug him for answers encourage him to get with another Vet preferably a councilor. The VA has helped me a Vietnam Vet, it took me 20 years. The sooner he can feel safe to talk to someone the better. be patient with him and love %26amp; support him. He also needs to know he's not alone an not going crazy.....

Good luck and my love to you..C How do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?
Lots will depend on what he went through.

Sometimes the nightmares are just caused by what he might not have done as much as anything else.

Do not push him to talk, but let him know if he wants to talk, he can talk to you, and when he's ready, he will.

That said, it may take years before he's ready to talk and the nightmares stop. (it did me!)
Overcome it together, and ask him to share it with you. If the problem still continues, you could try seeing a doctor? Psychologist? How do I help my loved one who suffers from nightmares after being in the military?
The first thing he needs most you have already started doing. You care about him. Also you want to help him deal responsibly with the pain he suffered in the service. This might sound like a minor thing but for a man coming home from such a painful gut wrenching ordeal to be supported by one you love is important.



You must be ready yourself however. Your boyfriend has likely looked at the naked horror of life and death. Your boy friend's heart has both witnessed and chronicled man's inhumanity to man while serving in Iraq. There is nothing more horrific than the things your boy friend has lived through.



You must be prepared for many emotions to wash over your boy friend as he readjusts to life here in the world. You boy friend has seen life and death play out before his eyes in beastly ways and manners that would scar the best of us. Your boy friend has been stressed to a level that has likely altered the chemical relationships in his brain forever. The human brain and mind were not designed to operate in extreme fight of flight mode for the extended periods of time that are common in military service.



Now that your boy friend is back home, those altered chemical relationships in the brain that once helped your boy friend survive seem frightening and out of place. The brain suffers in its private chemical hell after long term exposure to thingsone see's and adjustments one makes during combat. Not only that chamicals that cause stress, depression and other very real mental disorders are likely running rampant making life itself painful for a returing Iraq Vet.



What makes matters worse macho US culture suggests a, "Real Man" does not admit he his having mental problems. Even when severe mental problems mental problems result from combat some war hardened veterans are too overcome by shame or a responsibility to family to seek qualified help. You must be ready for the day when he might say things to you in a flash of anger that he might not mean. You must prepare yourself for flash backs where your veteran boyfriend might relive his wartime experience in his mind. This flash back event seems entirely real to the war vet at the time.



You love your boy friend but you will not be able to help him all alone. You will need the support fo your family and his. You will likely need to help him understand that he needs some professional help if his mental pain continues. He having been in the service has been the rock on which freedom rests for our country. Now that he his home from war he needs his family of which you are part to be his rock. A military vet who has the consistant love and and honest support of his family has the best chance of resuming a more normal life in the fullness of time.



You must prepare yourself for the fact that in some minor or major ways your boy fright MIGHT and I stess MIGHT NOT ever be the exact same man you knew and loved before he went to war. However potent as the exposure to war is your boy friend will hopefully always be in large part the man you fell in love with. You must prepare yourself for a long journey back to normalcy with your boy friend. Not all vets take a while to readjust but to be prepared is best for both him and you.



Only doctors specially trained hin helping vets returning from Iraq can help him medically and psychologically. Vets of other wars like Veitnam would also be a great source of advice that could help him vent, cope and readjust to life in the world. He might not want to talk to you about his war experiences. Remember you are the one person he holds most dear and despite his pain he his love for you makes him extremely protective of you. You are his safe harbor. You are his peaceful quiet place and he needs that place in his heart more than ever now that he has returned home.



Finally thank you for being there for him. I am honored that he went to Iraq to fight for us all. I am sad that he is suffering but it is my fervent hope his suffering will be short and his success and peace of spirit will be soon upon him.