A Stranger In My Bed : 8 Steps to Taking Your Life Back From the Contagious Effects of Your Veteran's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Combat-related PTSD and its effects on families that support wounded warriors is a growing concern throughout the world. This is a topic that few truly understand, and even fewer know how to help and support the veterans and families who are suffering.

A Stranger in My Bed addresses these hidden topics and strives to provide empathy, compassion, education, and increased societal support for spouses and families who are facing the devastating effects of living with their veterans’ PTSD. Tools and support are provided for those caring for our veterans to give them strength, hope, and wellness for their future.

The unique five-part format uses story, education, and a self-help program to promote knowledge, compassion, and caregiver wellness. The story provides an intimate inside view of what PTSD looks like in a real-life family. The comprehensive, easy-to-read educational sections provide a wide range of topics on PTSD, including the effects on both the veteran and their families. The self-help program provides tools and skills to promote wellness and healing for caregivers and offers resources for ongoing support beyond the book.

A Stranger in My Bed takes you inside Debbie Sprague’s life for an intimate view of a love story disrupted by the invasion of PTSD—thirty years after the Vietnam War. The cycle moves from love to fear, anger, and despair. Stories unfold of her husband’s battle with PTSD, displaying typical behaviors, triggers, and moods. Those familiar with this world will be comforted: “That sounds just like my life, and I thought I was the only one.” Others will find a new awareness: “I had no idea it was like that.”

You will watch a family and marriage almost be destroyed by the contagious effects of PTSD. Yes, PTSD is “contagious”—the family can take on the symptoms, even to the point of full-blown PTSD. Debbie was one of those people.

When she finally sought help, two different therapists advised her to get a divorce. Walk away from her husband? He was only nineteen when he fought for his country. What if we all walked away?

She chose to stay and stand by her values, next to the man that she vowed to love, honor, and care for in sickness and in health. And it almost destroyed her.

With God’s help, she received strength to overcome her fear and anger. She became compassionate and forgiving to her husband. But most of all she learned to cherish the life God had given her by regaining her health and happiness, realizing it was necessary to have the physical and emotional strength to care for her husband.

As Debbie began to discover resources and find solutions for her problems, she found that many other people were suffering as well. She realized sharing those solutions was her life purpose—what she had been preparing for her entire life. Debbie’s gift to you is A Stranger in My Bed:  8 Steps to Taking Your Life Back From The Contagious Effects Of Your Veteran’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.