War can be traumatizing for soldiers returning home and readjusting to everyday life.
Des Lawe, junior psychology major, hopes he can work to help soldiers coming back from war after he graduates from NIU.

Lawe wants to practice clinical psychology and help people with mental illnesses, which could include soldiers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“War is one of the most traumatizing events a person can experience, especially urban warfare like in Iraq,” Lawe said. “Some soldiers cannot transition back into a peaceful life back at home and suffer lingering emotional and mental stress.”

Lawe, an Oak Lawn resident, plans to volunteer at a veteran’s hospital in Chicago and to assist in the mental health ward. He hopes the experience will help him in the future to formulate treatments.

His inspiration to help soldiers is rooted in his own personal experience.

“I have a strong interest in psychology and I come from a military family,” Lawe said. “I was actually born on a naval base in Groton, Conn.”

If Lawe does not get a chance to help soldiers recover, he wants to enter the field of sports psychology to help athletes cope with the large stage they are put on. He cited the recent statement by former running back Herschel Walker, who says he suffered with multiple personality disorder from playing football.

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