Resource Discovery: Therapeutic Children’s Book for Understanding PTSD

By Christina Herron & Kacy Mixon, PhD

We’ve discussed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) prevalence and effects on couples in regards to Military Families. This week’s featured resource is one that parents and professionals working the military families can use with younger children struggling with understanding their parents PTSD.

Why is Dad So Mad? uses the point of view of a mother and child, with the mother helping her child wrap their mind around his military father’s struggle with PTSD. It illustrates the father’s PTSD symptoms of flashbacks, yelling/anger, lack of sleep and forgetfulness. The book helps explain PTSD to the child and reassures the child that his dad still loves him very much no matter how different he acts.

“Just know that both Mom and Dad LOVE YOU and EACH OTHER more than anything. Sometimes life isn’t perfect, but we are a family and we will stick together and LOVE each other forever.”

Seth Kastle is a retired Military Veteran with 16 years of service. He wrote the book, Why is Dad So Mad?, to help explain his PTSD to his children. Kastle was motivated to write the book after discovering a lack of resources for servicemen to utilize when explaining their PSTD symptoms to children. He is in the process of writing his second book, Why is Mom So Mad? to help mothers explain service related medical disorders to their children. Kastle lives in Kansas with his wife and children. He is currently a Professor of Leadership at Fort Hays State University.

This post was written by Christina Herron & Kacy Mixon, PhD, members of the MFLN Family Development (FD) team which aims to support the development of professionals working with military families. Find out more about the Military Families Learning Network FD concentration on our website, on Facebook, on Twitter, YouTube, and on LinkedIn.