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Finding Ways To Cope With PTSD...

Since 2004, I have been struggling to find ways to cope with PTSD and have been fairly successful of late.  I still have to contend with it every day, but I am a stable and contributing member of society.  It is my fervent hope and desire that every veteran struggling to get by find methods that help them rediscover the joys of living.  Here's what I have done to learn more about myself and coping with PTSD:

Wartorn - the HBO Documentary

I was interviewed for this documentary.  Due to reasons outside of my control, only a short snippet of the interview was used.  It was an exhausting and cathartic experience for me.  The only beef I have with this documentary is that it doesn't send out a message of hope to those who suffer silently.  This is why I wrote an op-ed piece that was published on Veteran's Day, 2010.

Life With PTSD - A Story of Warning

If you are interested on learning more about how I have struggled since I returned home, click on the link above to read the op-ed I wrote for HuffingtonPost.com.  I sincerely hope that others can take something from what I have been through so that they can avoid some of the mistakes that I have made over the past few years!

A Personal, Private Purgatory

I was profiled in the Lehigh Valley Business Journal for the work the nonprofit is doing to help veterans enter the entrepreneurial community.

Robbie Aversa's Interview with musician Phillip Phillips

I wrote a blog post about how much Phillips' music helped me calm down and fall asleep after a bad bout of nightmares.  It went viral with his fans on Twitter and resulted in the Avera interview where I was given the opportunity to tell Phillips personally how much his music meant to me.

Wartorn Article in AMVETS Magazine

I was afforded the opportunity to be part of a follow-up story about the Wartorn documentary.  This article is the result.  I am glad that I get to send out a message of hope to all of their readers.  Thank, AMVETS, for this wonderful opportunity.

My First Attempt to Articulate on Paper What I Had Gone Through

I wrote this paper in the fall of 2004 for a Short Stories class.  I really struggled with this assignment.  I had yet to reconnect with who I was.  This was a particularly painful period for me and it shows in the writing.

The Advent of Hope (written by Max Harris in September 2003, Iraq)

It is hard to see the good things in life
  when all I have seen has been death and despair.
  Not many have seen It to understand...
  to understand that optimism amounts to naiveté.
  I had forgotten that even if unable to see the source of the light
  A person can still be blinded by its reflection refracting off the surface of his life's dreams shattered.

Reminded of this, to what or to whom does one give allegiance?
  To Love?  It hurts.  To Apathy?  Who cares?

In times like this come the pinches
  when all is forgotten of listless humanity.
  Not many have seen It to understand...
  to understand that violence begets violence and love begets -- Hope?
  I had forgotten that even if unable to make whole a shattered reflection
  A person can decide to look up, take a deep breath, and step into It,
  Submerging self once more to be baptized by Life.