An exploration of how UK veterans diagnosed with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder experience therapy

Abstract: This research aims to fill this gap in the literature by asking veterans diagnosed with combat-related PTSD to describe and explore their experience of therapy. Six male participants were recruited on a voluntary basis from Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity specialising in the care of veterans’ mental health. All participants served on a full time basis for the Armed Forces in a combat role and have since been diagnosed with combat-related PTSD by a Combat Stress psychiatrist. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews lasting around one hour. Analysis of the data was conducted using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), an inductive method which aims to explore and understand how a phenomenon is experienced from the perspective of those involved.