Combat Related Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD 
a resource and recovery guide
By Cheryl Lawhorne and Don Philpott

The beautiful thing about Combat Related Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD is that it puts in a nutshell information and help that all too often fills volumes (then confuses sufferers and delays treatment).

Yes, it's dry. No, the editors didn't capitalize "Marine". The latter being far more offensive than the former. Still this is a no-holds-barred, picked-apart look at the two illnesses, from the moment they present, till, in the ideal case, they are being productively treated and the families aided.

Quite wisely, the authors chose Jeremiah Workman to write the forward. There may be no one more trusted by Marines of this war regarding PTSD, and it completes the circle of writing to include a warrior, an expert writer of such subjects (Philpott), and an expert practitioner (Lawhorne) - who is also a Marine family member.

It is my experience that when someone suffers from PTSD, putting the mental confusion into question form is an excruciating barrier to help.

Combat Related solves that issue nicely. My favorite chapter is number 4 because although it is scientific in voice, it really clears up how PTSD is diagnosed. The reader is perfectly capable of understanding that there are interviews and scales and checklists which help determine the severity of symptoms. Thinking about their own symptoms in such terms is tremendously validating for the sufferer and their loved ones. And ultimately the writers qualify that an expert needs to perform these for accuracy; but just knowing how it comes together removes the scary psych mystery of it all.

Then again, maybe my favorite chapter is number 6 because it directly addresses suicide, depression, abuse and addiction - and not over hundreds of pages - but with brevity.

Some portions of the book are written by experts in that very specific subject, such as "Helping Bereaved Military Children," on page 226, which was written by two physicians and a doctorate of philosophy. I find it unusual and in excellent judgment that the writers allowed such authorities the license to display their knowledge directly. And that particular subject is near and dear to the vast majority of patients.

The book is so specific to the current state of affairs, our military, recent combat, recent science and present resources (chapter 11, possibly the most valuable portion) that it will need to be revised in a very few years. All the better. Suffering families need cutting-edge information in this age, and this hardcover book is that, and an excellent comfort and companion.

Combat Related is a true field guide - and ideally would be distributed as such.

Meriwether Ball, Editor