Mysteries of Mental Illness

Ryan Mains and PTSD

Clip | 2m 29s  | Video has closed captioning.

Army Veteran Ryan Mains has struggled to accept his diagnosis of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), because of the stereotypes and the stigma that he saw as being associated with mental illness. But having been a medic on the front lines in Iraq, he had seen things that haunted him, and his every life became increasingly difficult as intrusive thoughts began to alter his behavior.