PTSD Is a Public Health Issue — Not a Private Matter

PTSD is a public health issue. Yet for some reason, our government doesn’t treat it that way.

One soldier, in her statement to the press, even described PTSD as “an administrative issue.” Imagine that—something so devastating reduced to paperwork.

Cutting Veteran Affairs Canada’s services is a colossal step in the wrong direction. Just as concerning is the lack of education about what PTSD really is, and how it manifests long after war.

The Complexity of PTSD

PTSD is complicated and requires specialized training.

Unfortunately, many treatments are marketed as manualized, “one-size-fits-all” programs—12 sessions packaged neatly for research outcomes. But trauma is not a neat or linear process.

These programs were originally designed for measurement in studies, not for actual healing. Trauma lives in the body and the brain. It cannot be healed on a tidy timeline.

Why Manualized Programs Fail Soldiers

The government uses these programs to measure outcomes and decide financial resources. This is fiscally convenient, but devastating for soldiers.

• Trauma treatment is unique to each individual.
• Substances are often used to numb flashbacks, nightmares, and racing thoughts.
• Healing cannot be reduced to middle-class models of therapy that exclude substance abuse or complex trauma.

Time-limiting therapy perpetuates the myth that PTSD is a private matter, not a public one. If only soldiers or survivors of sexual abuse could be healed in 12 sessions! But this is simply not reality.

PTSD, Triggers, and Suicide

PTSD is never simple.

A present-day trigger may connect not only to a wartime memory but also to childhood trauma or adult trauma. Every person’s history is unique, layered, and tied to culture, biology, family background, occupation, and social support.

To suggest PTSD was not the cause of these soldiers’ suicides is irresponsible. Soldiers returning home face overwhelming symptoms while trying to navigate family life, culture, and reintegration. These symptoms are debilitating—enough to take anyone out.

Suicide is indeed complex. But dismissing it as simply “complicated” without addressing PTSD as a factor keeps this crisis in the shadows. And in that complicity, the myth of PTSD as a “private matter” continues.

A National Crisis, Not a Private Struggle

Let’s be clear: untreated, severe PTSD is linked to suicide. The research shows it. Soldiers and veterans are dying, not because they are weak, but because they are suffering from an untreated public health crisis.

Canada—you can do better.
Let’s stop undermining the severity of this crisis. Let’s stop pretending it’s private. And let’s finally give soldiers the care, resources, and respect they deserve.

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