The device is used for microcurrent neurofeedback therapy, a treatment that retrains brain activity and reduces symptoms of PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
JACKSONVILLE, Texas — A therapy device used to treat veterans with post traumatic stress disorder was stolen over the weekend in Jacksonville, potentially limiting services for hundreds of East Texas veterans.
The device, valued at about $25,000, is used in microcurrent neurofeedback therapy — a treatment designed to help retrain brain activity and reduce symptoms of PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
David Thomason, a Marine Corps veteran, said the equipment was taken from his vehicle while he briefly stepped away in a Jacksonville parking lot.
“I know we’ve helped hundreds of vets with it,” Thomason said.
Thomason said the device is part of a therapy system that uses extremely small electrical signals to help the brain regulate itself and recover from trauma.
“We’re helping the brain to be able to heal,” Thomason said. “We’re assisting it and going back to where it belongs, to fire, the way it needs to be firing, to work, the way it needs to be working, so that people can function.”
Thomason said the device was stolen from his vehicle while he stepped away to pick up supplies.
And the device itself is difficult to use without specialized training and software.
“They’re not going to be able to go and sell it to just anybody, because nobody knows what it is unless they’re trained to do what we do,” Thomason said. “So they have taken away my ability to help more and more vets.”
The therapy is offered at several East Texas locations, including Camp V, a veteran resource center that serves hundreds of veterans each month.
Retired Air Force veteran Travis Gladhill, executive director of Camp V, said he has personally benefited from the treatment after struggling with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries following six combat deployments.
“I started becoming less anxious and less abrasive,” Gladhill said. “Definitely started having less outbursts, anger-type issues.”
Gladhill said the therapy has helped many veterans regain stability in their personal and professional lives.
“He didn’t just take this item from a single person,” Gladhill said. “He took this item and this treatment from hundreds of military veterans.”
Thomason said the therapy program is funded largely through grants from the Texas Veterans Commission distributed through Camp V. His organization is also establishing its own nonprofit to help sustain the program long-term.
Thomason said he is asking whoever took the device to return it, promising no legal consequences if it is brought back voluntarily.
“If somebody will let us know and get it back to us, no questions asked, I won’t press charges,” Thomason said. “But if it goes through the channels and law enforcement finds it, then it’s felony theft.”
Anyone with information about the stolen device is encouraged to contact local law enforcement or Camp V.