Sharjuan Burgos is taking a leap of faith, skydiving with the Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Team. But it’s nothing compared to the leap the retired Army major took when she sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder after deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The hardest part for me was seeking mental health treatment the first time,” Burgos told CBS News. “Sometimes making that first step into a facility or even just seeking treatment is the hardest thing you’ll ever do.”
Nearly 12% of female veterans experience PTSD — almost double the rate of their male counterparts, according to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Women also have higher rates of depression and eating disorders, according to Military Medicine. In 2018, the suicide rate for female veterans was almost twice that of women who did not serve, RAND Corporation found.