“I was hearing voices…I was angry and irate,” he says. “People don’t understand. They treat you like a freak, like you’re an outcast.”

At the time of his release from the military, he was single. “I wasn’t capable of having a relationship at that time.”
As for sexual drive, he had none. “When you’re depressed, it’s gone. There’s nothing.”

Dougherty’s tale is reflected by a growing body of research that suggests around a third of post-9/11 veterans are likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction or other sexual problems.