168: The Warrior's Dilemma with Dylan Bender on Change It Up Radio with Paula Shaw

Change It Up Radio

In this episode of Change It Up Radio, Dylan Bender joins me to talk about the difficulties that veterans experience when transitioning from the warrior culture of the military and reintegrating back into civilian life after returning home.

My guest today, Dylan Bender, is a readjustment therapist with the Veterans Health Administration Vet Centers program who works with active duty, and veterans transitioning back into the civilian life after combat deployment. He has been working in this area for 10 years and has over 20,000 clinical hours in working with combat veterans and their families readjusting after combat. Among the many people that Dylan has worked with, he was my dad's therapist for three years at the VA, which took my dad from a man who suffered with PTSD for 66 years, to someone who's now functioning beautifully with no remnants of those PTSD symptoms.

Dylan joins me today to discuss the challenges that military men and women have when transitioning out of the military and reintegrating back into civilian life. He talks about the influence of behavioral and existential conditioning, the three biggest issues that a warrior struggles with after leaving the military, and the impact that war and this transition has on a veteran’s mental health. Dylan also explains what reintegration stress is, the many uncertainties that veterans have to grapple with post-deployment, and how all of these factors contribute to the suicide epidemic among military men and women.

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