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Healing invisible wounds: A Vietnam Veteran’s journey through PTSD and recovery at VA Salt Lake City

Scott Tabish, a Vietnam War Veteran, holds a framed photo from his time in service.
Scott Tabish, a Vietnam War Veteran, holds a framed photo from his time in service.

By Gregory House, Public affairs specialist

June is PTSD Awareness Month, a time to recognize the unseen wounds of trauma and the courage it takes to seek healing.

For one Vietnam War Veteran who struggled in silence for decades, healing began at VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. 

Army Veteran Scott Tabish left Vietnam in 1972, going from combat zone to home in just two days. For years, he retreated and withdrew from family, friends and a community he felt no longer understood him. 

“None of us in my unit thought we would make it back home,” said Tabish. 

Long after the combat had ended, the trauma lingered. 

After coming home, Tabish didn’t talk about what he’d seen or felt. Like many of his fellow service members, he was expected to adjust back to civilian life without complaint. But that adjustment never came easily. Symptoms caused by his PTSD continued to interfere with his relationships, work, and daily life. 

 

“Back then, there was no such thing as PTSD that I was ever aware of,” Tabish said. “It was just memories that we didn’t want to remember.” 

 

For years, he believed these struggles were just part of life. It wasn’t until decades later when a friend admitted to having PTSD that Tabish and his wife looked up the symptoms and found that he experienced many of those exact symptoms. 

 

“My wife said, ‘all these years, I felt like it’s been my problem like I’ve made you have the feelings that you’ve had with anger and withdrawing and things like that,’” Tabish said. “So, I thought I’m going to check with the VA and see if this is what’s going on.” 

 

Tabish was skeptical at first, wanting to avoid medications due to his history with drugs and alcohol, so his care team put him in a Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) program. CPT, which deals with the changes in a person’s thoughts and behaviors since experiencing trauma. 

 

“Wow, my eyes were opened. It was amazing,” Tabish said. “There was a lot of hard work that goes into it every week, but as I did that, I was able to see things that I hadn’t seen in 50 years.” 

 

At VA Salt Lake City’s PTSD Clinic, he was met with compassion and understanding. The clinic’s team includes mental health professionals trained specifically in trauma-focused care for Veterans. 

 

According to Dr. Tom Mullin, the PTSD Clinic program manager at VASLCHCS, when PTSD was first listed as a diagnosis, a lot of the treatments were about avoidance and trying not to think about trauma. 

“We found, over decades, that isn’t helpful,” said Mullin. “a lot of our work is trauma focused, which means if something is very difficult to talk about, we actually need to talk about it. If you’re staying away from public spaces because you’re feeling exposed or scared, we need to get you out there so you can adapt to this.” 

 

Mullin acknowledges that this type of treatment is not easy.  

 

“There’s not really a magic bullet for this,” Mullin said. “We ask our Veterans to do some hard work, and we can see the strong benefits of that.” 

 

Mullin continued to say that after this evidence-based therapy, more than half of the Veterans who complete their treatment have reduced symptoms or have eliminated their PTSD altogether. 

 

Now stable and thriving, Tabish encourages others to reach out, no matter their age or era of service. PTSD isn’t a sign of weakness, he says. It’s a natural response to extraordinary circumstances and recovery is possible. 

 

“If there is any advice I could give to someone, it would be to please look at this opportunity, because that’s what it is,” Tabish said. “Don’t wait 50 years. If there is an opportunity to prevent what I’ve gone through with my family, this is it.” 

 

Each year, the PTSD Clinic at VA Salt Lake City Health Care System serves around 1,000 Veterans from every generation who are seeking healing from trauma. Whether the wounds are recent or decades old, it’s never too late to begin the journey toward peace. 

 

The Utah Hospital Association produced a video to help tell Tabish’s story and show how CPT and other evidence-based therapies help Veterans at VASLCHCS 

For more information or to get connected with mental health services, talk to your primary care team or visit https://www.va.gov/salt-lake-city-health-care/health-services/mental-health-care/