This is a very valuable book for those trying to learn how to deal with post traumatic stress whether from military deployments or otherwise.
A book alone, can never fully replace the value a dedicated professional brings you but if you are looking for a decent overview of the process of healing and recovery this is a good start.
There are several steps you can take on your own during your process to rediscovering stability and equilibrium in your life. Though somewhat Army centric, the author effectively outlines the issues faced by all service members and their families undergoing this type of thing. He also gives valuable advice on what you can do to take positive, concrete steps toward making it through the highly stressful and even sometimes traumatic struggles faced upon returning back home. ( )

As a 2-tour Iraq veteran, former combat infantryman, paratrooper, and fire team and squad leader; and as a current master's level psychotherapist specializing in military and veteran populations, I felt this book fell short of what it could have been.

Polytrauma and multiple medically elusive symptoms are hallmarks of those of us struggling most after a return from OEF/OIF/OND. I think the authors did well to acknowledge the symptom clusters and to ignore the technical definition of a syndrome (consistency is the key--"PDS" as described by the authors is any several of 10 or more common symptoms, but no specific 3 or 4 are most common, hence not a true syndrome). I think that dismissing the technical definition is the best part of the book, allowing the authors to segue for the vet reader between symptoms he or she may not recognize as being part of and connected to the other things they do notice.

I think the book missed the mark, though. As a therapist with some several hundred hours training through DoD, VA, and other educational systems directly about combat trauma, PTSD, TBI, MMUS (gulf-war syndrome), agent orange and other environmental hazards. . . and with equal training in different modalities of therapy, I still found myself struggling to engage with the content, and it used some terminology and VA/DoD psych lingo that I found unnecessarily technical even for my level of training. Yet the book ostensibly is addressed to the patient.

Were this book directed at providers, it could have been much more manualized in methods to present information to clients, models for treatment groups, and more specific types of administering information.

It alternated from stating, overstating, and then restating the obvious to launching into very complex and esoteric concepts that I had trouble keeping up with. It was not consistently accessible.

Finally, the copy-editing was poor. Addressed for a group who, like me, spent years in the Skinner Box of the military learning to pay attention to detail, the typos, misspellings, and grammar flubs which always appear in draft became really distracting.

But the authors needed to pick an audience and write for the audience, it presented a fairly narrow therapeutic philosophy (a philosophical therapy) as a panacea, and the writing lacked flow.

The redeeming feature is the step-by-step exercises. The therapeutic exercises for a reader to do on his or her own are clear, simple, have proven efficacy, and are presented so that anyone who follows the instructions will do them correctly.

Still, I would not recommend the book to a client because the rest of the content is too thick.

They should write a treatment manual so that I can distribute handouts of the exercises to my clients or a self-care daily-dozen type smart-card or pocket reference book of exercises for clients to take.

There's a gold mine here, the authors just didn't hit a vein this time. ( )

This book begins by eliding all types of combat related symptoms as "Post-Deployment" related syndromes. The purpose is to have as many veterans as possible become involved with their own military or civilian acclimation to non-battle zones.
This book may unintentionally over promise due to the subtitle: A Six-step Mission to Health. Health is relative and may take years just to come to terms with the severity of the injuries. Blast head trauma may never be able to be overcome totally. Overcoming Post-Deployment Syndrome can sound like erasing all forms of PTSD related difficulties. In actuality, the book is a basic guide, the most basic, about how to begin living again with a focus on forming healthy personal habits. The checklist seems obvious but is still worthwhile to have people read. Go to a psychiatrist, go to a medical doctor, begin an exercise regimen, eat healthy foods, use the VA resources, keep a journal, build a personal library of music, build a personal reflection space. The most important phase is to give yourself, as a veteran, permission to care for yourself and your own well being. Whereas before the mission always took priority, now the (ex-)soldier is the mission. This is a very good book for anyone looking for a place to start. Unfortunately, the book’s chapters are not straightforward as they do not list six steps as chapter headings. The six chapters referred to in the title begin at chapter 5 and are amended by a summary conclusion. The text font is very small and the illustrations are few, though good. I did not find the index helpful to navigate the book. The book resources list is good but I would probably have to find them to purchase as so few actual public libraries exist nowadays. There are many books which are memoir in form but do not take a global approach to mental and physical health for returning soldiers. Overall, I congratulate the authors for taking their time to assist any veteran who may find this book helpful. The literature in this area will be enlarged but not soon enough. ( )

This book will be an asset to those who use the tools provided to heal from PTSD. Presented in a six-step framework, the process is presented in such a way that one can begin at one step, and move on as the healing begins. Understanding your body's symptoms, discovering your strengths, applying healing principles,reestablishing normalcy,integrating health into your life and then resuming eh productive mission are the steps listed, and are designed to complement and supplement, not replace what might have already been started for the healing of trauma from deployment(s).

The only problem I had with the book was that those needing this book are labeled 'warriors', and I'm sure it is used to emphasize the military aspect of this wellness program and for those to whom the book is directed, but as a professional counselor, I've treated many for PTSD who were NOT warriors, just damaged individuals who survived an impact that left scars on their emotional make-up.
For those whom this book was especially written, it is a good tool and would be a great gift to anyone returning from deployment; for the rest of the reading public, it has some great advice but the military labels will not be helpful; for those in the military helping community, it is an essential book for their library. ( )

I thought this is a helpful book and I will try and impletement some of the thinking and exersizes into my work. I do not think I would recommend it to veterans though as I had a hard time reading it and Im a mental health professional.