As a new generation of soldiers return from combat and are confronted by the internal conflicts brought on by the stress of war, the military, mental health professionals and artists are collaborating on ways to give "wounded warriors" creative tools for processing and expressing trauma. In Colorado Springs, Colorado, the Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group runs an 11-week art therapy program for Fort Carson soldiers suffering from physical and psychological trauma.
This is the first time art therapist Kim Le Nguyen -- who herself suffered significant trauma as survivor of wartime Vietnam -- has led a group where her students are experiencing combat PTSD. In the heat of war, soldiers undergo intense trauma over a very short period of time, she explains, and they do not have time to address their emotions until they return to civilian life. She says the nature of the work of the military also does not lend itself to timely emotional processing.
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