Teesside veteran hopes to break the stigma around PTSD
Pete White is sharing his story
A Teesside veteran is urging people in the military to go to their doctor as soon as worries start to form about their mental health.
Pete White, who is from Billingham, was diagnosed with PTSD in 2023, 6 years after leaving the RAF, which is less than the average of 13 years according to charity 'Combat Stress'.
He said: "My son, who's now four, when he was a baby he might scream and cry and that would bring back certain memories of things that happened in Afghanistan. These days as challenging as being a parent can be at times, that just doesn't happen anymore.
"I might be driving my car and I might pass a certain type of military vehicle and it would not just ruin my day, it could ruin my week or my month and set me back months on my recovery journey.
"I was losing a lot of sleep and when I was sleeping, I had really horrific nightmares. I was feeling just generally very low, empty and worthless. I was feeling very angry.
"When eventually I was told this could be related to what happened in Afghanistan, that means that you can say 'OK. I feel like this because of that.'"
He added that he ignored signs he may have had PTSD because of conversations he had in the army: "There was a mindset of 'if you weren't shot at, or if you didn't shoot anybody else, then you can't have PTSD.' I didn't fit into either of those things."