Letters: Options on Syria

Re “A soldier’s wife,” Sept. 8

On a beautiful Sunday morning, I read The Times’ front-page article about the widening attack plans for Syria and was emotionally overwhelmed. Then I read the story about the wife of an Iraq war veteran struggling with alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This was a story well written. There are no words to express the depth of outrage, love and compassion I feel for this family.

We need more exposure of the ugliness that war creates as we continue on this path of human destruction, as we have for centuries.

Dee White

Capistrano Beach

Sunday’s long article about Candace Desmond-Woods and her husband Tom was heart-wrenching. Their story is being played out in countless households.

It’s too bad that the article didn’t mention some of the treatments available to those with PTSD. It’s good that Woods went through alcohol rehabilitation, but it can be challenging for PTSD sufferers to stay sober if the underlying trauma is not treated.

Conventional wisdom says there is no effective treatment for PTSD, but conventional wisdom is wrong. Meditation, art therapy and various relaxation and exercise techniques can help a sufferer step down from anxiety attacks and other symptoms. And eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs and in numerous studies as an effective treatment.

I sincerely hope Woods and his family are on a durable path to healing. I wish them the very best.

Liz Schiller

Pasadena

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