Color and healing

Abstract

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects approximately 20-30% of Veterans. It can be very mild with little effect on the person to debilitating depression and suicide. Some of the symptoms Veterans with PTSD may experience are: depression, flashbacks, inability to sleep, re-experiencing the event, recurring dreams of the event, and many others. In the United States we have an opportunity to give back those who have served the US with honor. We have the ability to create spaces and environments to help heal our returning Veterans who are afflicted with PTSD. By utilizing individual colors and interaction of colors we can create healing spaces to help Veterans reintegrate into society. Vet Centers' primary mission is the treatment of Veterans with PTSD and sexual truma. Currently there is not a Vet Center located in the Gallatin Valley area for treatment of Veterans living here. Color is performative. Color will react to the environment in which it is placed. The ways in which color will react are many; including how natural light interacts with color, how color interacts with artificial light, how color reacts with reflectivity of materials of the built environment, the placement of the colors in a built environment as well as the attributes of the colors themselves.