we're kicking things off with our story of inspiration a veteran shares how
music helps him with post-traumatic stress disorder
Ryan Shannon first joined the Navy almost 10 years ago training to work as
a Submariner I was really excited to move my career long I was the first in
my my family to join and I was just excited to get there one day when the
submarine he was serving on was docked for upgrades of fire started on a nearby
submarine Ryan rushed to help put it out I remember pulling people out that I
thought were dead nobody died that night which was a miracle in itself the fire
eventually was put out but after that day Ryan began to notice some changes a
fire truck would drive by the apartment we were renting and I'm instantly out of
my chair making sure they're not going to bake it there's this weird
subconscious fear that all right I'm gonna have to go do this again you know
it's like hyper-vigilance you're ready to go Ryan was diagnosed with PTSD PTSD
post-traumatic stress disorder is a condition that some people develop after
experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event they develop chronic symptoms
intrusive thoughts of a traumatic event this avoidant behavior such as you know
kind of withdrawing from from social situations withdrawing from people
avoiding certain situations that remind you of what happens also you know
negative alterations in mood when we're as clinicians looking to provide a
diagnosis of PTSD these symptoms that I mentioned do have to persist for at
least a month and just started getting worse and where it's more story I didn't
want to be that version of me anymore I wanted to be the old version of me so
the only change I could see is the thing about suicide and things
it's not me you know this is a treatable condition we can reduce symptoms to the
extent that people can return to something that looks very close to their
baseline of functioning Ryan worked closely with his medical team but
ultimately also found that listening to music was making a big difference when
he struggled
I can throw this song on and I connect with it and I it pulls me back out of it
and then I take my headphones off and I can stand up again and I can go to the
store now and I can go to hang out with my kids here to play in the backyard
Ryan began to utilize music to motivate himself to get back to exercising and
his regular routine the change was a noticeable one I found I was motivating
myself to get off the couch and to get moving my PTSD triggers were happening
things like that I was finding that music was behind everything to make that
stuff go away you know PTSD is something that you know the
behaviors related to it actually isolate people and therapy even adjunct
therapies and alternative complementary therapy approaches will actually help
people expand that sphere of connectedness which is really important
to combating PTSD while some other health issues led to the end of Ryan's
military career he knew he wanted to continue serving others I think that's
where the the seed was planted for for the music our explanation that's what
I'm trying to do is help people manage it our goals and our mission is to
provide free musical instruments free professional tutoring or technique if
you already have an instrument and then free music going experiences
occasionally words don't do justice to describing or expressing a person's
reaction to a traumatic experience and sometimes the expressive therapies music
therapy for instance can be a very important conduit for that person to
really start exploring their reactions to a traumatic event or a series of
traumatic events through his foundation Ryan hopes others living with PTSD will
be able to find therapeutic value in music just as he did I save one person
from if I can send somebody to their favorite bands concert and they don't
have to think about anything for that night except for being there and
then I've done what I came to do you know and I'm telling you right here as
somebody who's been to that that blackness and there is a light and you
can get to the light if you or someone you know is struggling with PTSD and is
having suicidal thoughts you can reach the National Suicide Prevention lifeline
at one eight hundred to seven three eight two five five