Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
PTSD: Road to Recovery: One Soldier's Story is a non-fiction self-help book written by Bob Bray. Bray is a veteran who has written a number of books and workbooks for adults who have suffered with Attention Deficit Disorder and PTSD. Bray had ADD as a child, and his family background was far from optimal for raising a child with his issues. When he was a young man, he enlisted in the military and served for four years. He had been selected for officer's training but left the military after getting word that his infant son had died from crib death while he was away on exercises. Bray found it difficult as a veteran to find work while he was waiting for admission to the police. He was a policeman for fifteen years.
Bray shares his experiences in the military and discusses the impact the co-dependent nature of military service has on those who serve. Someone trains you, cares for you, tells you what to do, and how to behave to avoid discipline or punishment. Leaving the military is often impossibly difficult for veterans as they no longer have that authority figure controlling their lives. Add to that the nature of the training a military person gets, and the ingrained instinctual and sometimes violent response to perceived threats or challenges can render an ex-service person, police officer or emergency responder unable to cope with functioning in a non-combative environment. Bray was able to change his past-focused existence into one where he's in the present through therapy, study and prayer. He shares his experiences in order to help others.
Bob Bray's non-fiction self-help book, PTSD: Road to Recovery: One Soldier's Story, is written in an easily accessible and conversational style. Bray is blunt and, at times, brutally honest, in his assessment of his problems with ADD and PTSD. His story starts out with a recovered painful memory of a picnic gone terribly awry and the resulting loss of trust in his parents, and I could feel the pain of that memory even though it was from long ago. Bray gives his reader much to think about, and his book will be invaluable to anyone who's served in the military or has a relative or friend who did. I would also recommend it to anyone who's harbored a suspicion that they might have ADD or is troubled with flashbacks or painful childhood memories. Bray also includes an extensive bibliography of recommended readings that he discovered as he worked his way to well-being. PTSD: Road to Recovery: One Soldier's Story is most highly recommended.
Reviewed By Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite
PTSD Road to Recovery: One Soldier's Story by Bob Bray is a from-the-heart account of what it is like living with PTSD, and how one can be affected by it without having been on a battlefield. I have been very interested in reading books about PTSD, my father being an army man through and through, and the books we encounter are very clinical in nature. We very rarely come across a book that tells you what it is really like to live with PTSD. Since the author, Bob Bray, dealt with it day in and day out, I could feel that he was speaking from experience and so his words became a voice that I could recognize and understand.The book talks about PTSD in a way that a sufferer and a survivor will relate to and this is what makes the book so special. And he is not simply ranting and moaning about how his life is affected by PTSD; he talks about the causes, signs, symptoms and how PTSD becomes a big factor in addiction of all kinds, and treatments for these ailments that come from this ordeal.
