Through his charity organization, an Eastern Iowa veteran uses music to help others deal with PTSD

Central City, Iowa – A veteran named Dennis Horyna visits the American Veterans Post 37 in Central City on a weekly basis in order to instruct guitar tuition.

Horyna stated, “I’ve been playing the guitar for the past half a century.”

After serving in the Marine Corps, he has converted this interest into a sort of rehabilitation for his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

When I joined, I was 17 years old. During the years 1977 to 1984, I was a member. As Horyna put it, “Beirut veteran.”

According to him, playing his guitar has always been a way for him to sustain himself.

When asked about it, Horyna stated, “It’s whatever’s on my mind, whether I’m sad or happy or whatever, you know, [I’ll] just kind of start strumming and don’t ever really write anything down.” “It only helps a great deal, and it diverts my attention away from the negative thoughts.”

He said that he was unaware that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for a number of years. Horyna has recently joined a peer support group, which has provided him with a newfound sense of belonging to a community.

“With post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), comes a great deal of anxiety, a great deal of depression, and a great deal of isolation,” said Horyna. I believe that we are more helpful to one another than to anything else. Our group has gotten very close-knit, and we have become quite close-knit as a whole.

In that environment, he was introduced to Guitars for Vets, a charitable organization that uses music to assist veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In the beginning of this year, he begun the second chapter in the state of Iowa.

Horyna remarked that the benefits that pupils receive from this are just astounding. But what’s more important is that a significant number of the time, the teachers claim that they benefit more from it than their students do.

With the help of fundraisers held throughout the year, he stated that veterans are able to receive free lessons and a brand new guitar at no cost.

According to Horyna, he is striving to expand the new chapter, and he has expressed his desire to assist additional veterans in healing through music, just as he did.

Horyna stated, “It’s not just about the music,” and she was right. It’s all about the relationship that you can build with them.