Connecting the Dots Between PTSD and Substance Use

Chris Muscle, a firefighter and former Marine, opens up to Dan Degryse about the collision of PTSD and alcohol use within the culture that taught him to push through everything on this episode of Mental Health Monthly. What started as “just drinking” slowly exposed deeper trauma: combat deployments, years on the job, and a life built around control. Treatment wasn’t linear. He went in for PTSD and didn’t recognize his alcohol dependency until later. Medication, relapse, shame, ego, and the fear of what others thought all played a role.   This conversation between the show's hosts digs into how brain injury, repeated exposure to trauma, and firehouse drinking culture overlap. It challenges the idea that strength means silence. It questions one-size-fits-all treatment and argues for real evaluation, reassessment, and accountability. Most of all, it offers something practical: daily effort and brutal honesty. It requires a willingness to stop caring about reputation long enough to get better. Recovery isn’t dramatic. It’s consistent. And it’s possible.