As Nightmares Resurface, More Seek Counseling : War Anniversary Opens Veterans’ Old Wounds

Vivid media coverage marking the 10th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War has unearthed nightmares among veterans and prompted a significant increase in the number seeking counseling for emotional problems.

Officials at Veterans Administration Outreach Centers and at private counseling facilities reported Tuesday that in the last two weeks, contacts from veterans have increased between 15% and 60%.

“We can’t put a precise number on it yet, but there’s a general increase across the nation, and some of the offices are being flooded,” said John Scholzen, a VA information specialist in Washington.

“When they dedicated the (Vietnam War) Memorial two years ago, there was a similar response. A reaction like this is fairly common when something comes along to rekindle memories.”

‘Guilty for Coming Back’

Roger Melton, director of the VA Outreach Center in West Los Angeles, said a lot of veterans had buried feelings “that the war had no purpose, that nothing was achieved, that they are guilty for coming back alive when others didn’t . . . . “

“It’s painful to bring these issues back to the surface,” he said. “But if you repress them--keep bottling them up--the pressure increases until it explodes, usually in some sort of self-destructive behavior.”

Bill Rigole, a counselor at the VA Outreach Center in Northridge, said many of the men contacting his office are learning for the first time that many of their problems--”marriage troubles, inability to sleep, recurring anxieties”--may stem from Vietnam.

Frank Walker, 41, said he had problems when he got back from Vietnam--plenty of them.

“I was working in a General Motors plant in Dayton,” he said. “I couldn’t stand the noise, the people crowding around me.

“And the dreams. I had a hell of a lot of dreams, and they were bad. I’d been in graves registration over there, dealing with the bodies, and that’s what the dreams were about. Bodies. Parts of bodies. Death.”

Now Helping Others

Walker said his emotional problems forced him to quit his job and seek the help of a therapist. A year later, “squared away,” he moved west, determined to help other veterans. Today, he serves as director of the VA Outreach Center in South-Central Los Angeles.

The veterans contacting the center in recent weeks usually don’t mention any personal problems when they first walk in, Walker said, “but once we start asking them questions, they start telling you about the nightmares, about the tension.”

Depending on the nature and severity of his problems, the veteran may receive individual counseling or may be directed to a “rap group” that includes about a dozen veterans and a trained counselor. Therapy usually lasts eight to ten weeks.

“The counseling lets the veteran own up to what his difficulty is,” Rigole said. “The result is usually the closure of his unfinished business . . . . There’s an end to the depression, an end to the guilt. An end to the recurrent nightmares. And an end to the intrusive thoughts that have been plaguing him--the scenes of battle, the loss of friends . . . . “

“The big thing,” Walker said, “is that he starts feeling good about himself again.”