FOX 5 Special: The War at Home

A new and potentially groundbreaking medical experiment is ongoing in Georgia which aims to bring peace to service members who come home from the war. Researchers at Emory Hospital are tracking the brain scans of service men and women to help them deal with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

When Donnie Apted came home from the war, he dreamed he would come home to a happy life with his wife and two sons. For two years, that happy life was just a dream for Apted.

Apted served with the National Guard in Iraq during a violent period in 2004. Apted was stationed just north of Baghdad.

"We were getting hit just about everyday with mortar fire," recalled Apted.

Like so many men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Apted unintentionally brought terror and anguish back home with him. Apted's condition made the life he returned home to almost unrecognizable.

"I had rage, issues with rage, and you would ask anybody that knew me before I left they would say, 'Donnie, he was laid back,'" said Apted.

"So I always felt like I was trying to make up for that or trying to cover for him or make excuses for him being the way he was," said Apted's wife, Kari.

Things took a turn for the worse more than a year after Apted returned home. During dinner one evening, the family dog snatched a piece of pizza from Apted's son's hands.

"And he screeched. And I lost control and I went in, and I pinned my dog to the ground and I was just wailing on her. And it was like I couldn't control myself," Apted.

Apted sought help from an experimental treatment at Atlanta's Emory Hospital after therapy and medication both failed to treat his PTSD.

The experimental treatment is called mindfulness based stress reduction and it is being tested on other service men and women who suffer from PTSD. The treatment incorporates meditation and relaxation techniques. Instead of trying to forget memories of war, patients are taught to handle their emotions when those thoughts arise.

"What's important is developing a new relationship to these symptoms, so they change, so they're not as scary anymore," said therapist Kaye Coker.

Coker, the lead investigator in the study, said brain scan images show the treatment can work. The treatment is a potential breakthrough. Some estimates claim as many as 20 percent of Iraq War vets have PTSD.

"We don't have a treatment that is uniformly helping most of the people most of the time," said Dr. J. Douglas Bremmer. "I think it's possible we could be getting better results than we've had with previous treatments."

Apted called the breathing techniques he learned in the treatment a life-saver.

"Sometimes I'll still get startled by something, but I'm aware enough to catch it early on and say, 'that's what that was, it's nothing else,'" Apted said.

Some of the peace dreamed of after the war has returned to Apted's family.

"We're sort of new and improved, I guess. We've been through hell together. And we've made it through the other side," said Kari Apted.

Researchers said the number of troops returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD is about the same as it was during the Vietnam War. The disorder is better diagnosed these days.

Apted said his father served in Vietnam and his PTSD went untreated until just a couple of years ago.

For more information on PTSD and where you can find help, go to FOX 5's PTSD Information Page .