LibraryScenariosWhy emotional numbness persists after military training
Scenario

Why emotional numbness persists after military training

My therapist keeps asking me about my feelings but in the Army feelings got people killed and I do not know how to turn that part of my brain back on.

Hypatia
Online
The coach is replying

More people experience this than they realize.

What we've seen

The successful suppression of emotion required for survival can become so thorough that accessing feeling becomes genuinely foreign and threatening.

Ideas that help explain it
Worth thinking about

“Where Are You with Veterans & Military Families?”

If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.