Nightmares. Flashbacks. Rage.

Peter Coe of St. Charles has heard it all in his 26 years of working with ex-military men and women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Any typical reactions to returning home from combat I work with,” Coe said.

After returning home from serving in Vietnam, Coe went to the University of Chicago, where he earned a Ph.D. in human development. For more than two decades, he has had a contract with the Veterans Administration to treat combat veterans with PTSD. He is also in private practice in St. Charles and Sycamore.

“I wasn’t in combat but I do know what the country looked like and smelled like,” Coe said. “It gave me a leg up to participate in the program. It also helps me relate to the veterans.”

The natural tendency for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their wartime service is to avoid talking about their experiences altogether. Often, returning soldiers will use their own coping mechanisms, such as drugs or alcohol, to ease their depression and anxiety.

“When it comes into their consciousness it evokes a tremendous amount of fear,” Coe said. “They don’t want to re-live it.”

But avoidance of the feelings only perpetuates the disorder, he said. His solution: Encourage his patients to open up about their experiences.

“The stories of what happened are talked about again and again,” he said.

These days, Coe is counseling many soldiers returning from the Iraq war who are trying to ease back into civilian life.

But his care for veterans extends beyond his practice.

A decade ago, he helped found the Veterans Service at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, dedicated to members, friends and family who have served their country in the military.

On the weekend closest to Veterans Day each year, the church services focus on remembering all who have served.

Adam Robersmith, associate minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, praises Coe for his service.

“He is incredibly dedicated to helping people feel and be well,” Robersmith said. “Particularly those people who are coping with some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder or other types of experiences that make it difficult to be comfortable in their daily lives. His dedication to that is very, very strong.”

Robersmith describes Coe as thoughtful and caring.

“He spends a good deal of his time in service to the communities that he loves,” he said. “It’s a real testament to who he is and what he believes in.”