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In the latest episode of “Sheepdog and Shepherd,” Spiro Demetriadi discusses the heart of a crisis gripping law enforcement, veterans, and first responders, tackling the challenge of post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD.
Demetriadi is a former Army National Guard infantryman who later served as Director of Military and Law Enforcement Combatives, training officers and service members in defensive tactics for 25 years. But today, his mission has shifted from physical combat to what he calls spiritual combat.
After a painful divorce that left him living alone, he said he fell into depression. “After a week, I kind of snapped out of it, and I said, Look, I got to apply what I know, being a Christian and God and the Holy Spirit inspired me to help myself.”
That process became a four-year effort to create an online course called “Spiritual Combatives,” and later a book titled How to Kill PTSD Before It Kills You.
Demetriadi is direct about the stigma that still surrounds trauma in the military, law enforcement, and first responder communities.
“If you are struggling and you have post-traumatic stress disorder, or you think you do, or you're depressed because of trauma in your life, you need to speak to somebody. Don't be embarrassed,” he said.
He compares PTSD to a physical injury in martial arts.
“Are you embarrassed if you have an injury? No, because you do martial arts, this just comes with the deal,” he said. “So you're not weak. You are putting yourself out there unlike anybody else. So please speak up and get some help.”
He says he has already received messages from veterans who credit the book with saving their lives.
“I've got two verified private messages that it saved to veterans’ lives,” he said.
Demetriadi believes the struggle is not only psychological but spiritual.
“Spiritual warfare is conflict being waged in the invisible, spiritual world that's manifested in the visible, physical world,” he explained. “Spiritual combatives is the process of close quarters battle being waged by you against the enemy that wants to utterly destroy you.”
He warns that many officers train for physical confrontations but never prepare for spiritual ones.
“Do you know what to do if the spiritual fight takes you to the ground?” he asked.
Negative thoughts, despair, and hopelessness are not random, he said. “It's Satan and his demons vying for your attention. Who do you listen to most? Like, what channel God FM or Satan FM.”
The first step, Demetriadi says, is honesty. “People dismiss it, don't know about it, or laugh at it, but it's real,” he said of spiritual warfare. “And it's our choice to decide what we think about all the time.”
His message to officers, deputies, firefighters, and veterans is clear. Trauma does not make you weak. Silence is what makes it dangerous. “Please speak up and get some help.”
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