Battlemind study leaves too many questions

by
Chaplain Kathie

There has been something bothering me all week about the post I did on Battlemind. The word "reported" has been nagging at me. Given the fact suicides and attempted suicides have gone up, reports of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering in astronomical numbers, tells me that this program has not worked, but it's not just what I think. It's what they think that causes the concern.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?
Among soldiers who returned from Iraq and participated in "Battlemind Training," fewer reported sleep problems, and there were less-severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, compared with soldiers who had received either no post-deployment mental health training or a briefing about stress, according to research psychologists with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Battlemind begins by telling the troops they can toughen their minds to prepare for combat. This is the biggest problem of all because anything the instructor says after this point is pointless. Once this message is delivered the serviceman gets it into their brain conscience that if they end up having mental health problems after this, it's their fault because they were not tough enough to prepare their brain.

There are several questions that need to be asked if we are ever going to understand how the military can claim Battlemind is a success when all evidence points to it not working.


How many units use Battlemind?
What is the suicide rate of soldiers in each unit?
What is the attempted suicide rate each unit?
How many times are the soldiers interviewed?
Are they interviewed with questions that verify truthful answers? (In other words, trick questions that if they answer a question one way, they answer it another way later.)
Are they tested along with the interview? (This is important because of the stigma associated with PTSD and the reluctance to admit they have a problem.)
Does the military track these soldiers at regular intervals to see if PTSD symptoms present later? ( This is another important issue because many times PTSD symptoms do not surface right away, are mild or combat veterans are able to "stuff" the trauma until a secondary stressor hits and they go over the edge.)
Are families interviewed when the soldier comes home?
Are families interviewed at regular intervals after?
Are soldiers records tracked when problems arise with domestic violence, divorce, arrests, homelessness or a host of other issues PTSD is usually the root of?

This is just a start of questions that need to be answered to know if Battlemind really works or does more harm. The program itself has some good points but once the message of mental toughness is delivered, they are apt to take away it's their fault and deny they have a problem. Telling them they can train their brain adds to the stigma of being wounded.

There are two obvious results pointing to the need to toss Battlemind. One is the rise in suicides and attempted suicides. The other is the fact there are many other programs units are developing on their own. The Montana National Guard is using their own program and it has been so well produced that President Obama intends to take it national. If Battlemind worked, then there would have been no need for something else.

PTSD comes with a series of complexities. I would really like to know all these answers if I am ever going to change my mind about the usefulness of this especially when the BBC did a report with our troops in Afghanistan showing that there is 11 1/2 minutes of Battlemind training within two days of briefings they receive after they arrive in theater. Think of being exposed to all that is crammed into their brains in those two days and the tiny fraction of Battlemind begins with telling them if they don't toughen their brains, they'll end up with PTSD.
web sitehttp://www.namguardianangel.com/


"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

"He went to Fort Lewis to kill himself to prove a point,"

"He went to Fort Lewis to kill himself to prove a point,"
by
Chaplain Kathie

" 'Here I am. I was a soldier. You guys didn't help me.' "

Those were the words Josh Barber's widow told a reporter in the article below. That's the real issue here. For all the talk about what's being done, no one is talking about what does not work and may in fact cause more harm than good. What good does it do to tell wounded veterans we're doing this and we're doing that but they still don't get the help they need? As for the "programs" they have in place, some are good but some are bad but they still use them. We don't know why they do and the widows, well they only know they sent their husbands into combat expecting they would be taken care of if they were wounded but they end up with a stranger needing help that never seems to come in time.

If anyone other than the government said they had a program that would cut down the number of PTSD cases, attempted suicide and successful ones, would you really believe them without proof? Wouldn't there have to be years of clinical trails and scrutiny from psychologist and psychiatrists from around the world before they even began to offer the program?

RELEASE #2008-01-04-1 Jan. 4, 2008

‘BATTLEMIND’ PROGRAM SEEKS TO HELP SOLDIERS DEAL WITH COMBAT EXPERIENCES
By Susan Huseman
U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart Public Affairs Office
STUTTGART, Germany – Every Soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives“Battlemind” training designed to help him deal with combat experiences, but few know the science behind the program. Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research's U.S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe visited Patch Barracks here to explain the support and intervention program to an audience of medical, mental health and family support professionals.

The Battlemind system includes separate pre-deployment training modules for Soldiers,unit leaders, health care providers and spouses. Psychological debriefings are given during deployment and upon redeployment. There are also a post-deployment module forspouses and several post-deployment modules for Soldiers. Not every Soldier who deploys is at risk for mental health problems; the main risk factor is the level of combat experienced, Adler said.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a Soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post traumatic stress disorder, depression,anger and relationship problems. When Soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.For those in the medical community, “Our challenge was how to develop interventions that can get at all these things,” Adler said. “How do you develop a mental health training (program) of some sort that's going to prevent that eventual increase over time?“We realized we needed to develop some kind of alternative,” Adler continued. “Therewas no existing mental health training that made sense for these sets of questions. It’s not like there was something ‘off-the-shelf’ in civilian literature that would begin to address this.”

Post-deployment health briefings didn’t specifically target Soldiers going into combat and coming back with adjustment challenges, so researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research began to define their objectives for a mental health training program. Adler said the team needed to develop something that was “going to make sense for different phases of the deployment cycle.”“For example,” she said, “the existing mental health brief (at the time) was the same for pre- and post-deployment. That doesn’t make sense. The challenges are different.”“Secondly,” she continued, “we wanted to make sure it was integrated. If we tell somebody something at (pre-deployment), we want to make sure whatever theme we’regoing for or concept we’re trying to communicate, it’s going to connect with the same information that we’re going to talk about at (post-deployment).”The result? “Battlemind,” a term used to describe combat readiness that the researchers felt was appropriate for the training they were designing.

Adler called it a Soldier’s inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat with courage, labeling it “resiliency.”The Battlemind system is built on findings from surveys and interviews given to Soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, many of the researchers themselves have deployed.The research team gathered Soldiers’ accounts of specific events and incidents, turning them into teaching tools that warriors can relate to. “Some of these stories tell more than any briefing ever could,” Adler said.The first Battlemind product was a mental health post-deployment briefing. It quickly became a training system supporting Soldiers and families across the seven phases of the deployment cycle.

As part of her presentation here, Adler discussed various challenges in developing arelevant pre-deployment mental health briefing for Soldiers.“You have 45 minutes -- maybe an hour -- to tell Soldiers, before they deploy to Iraq, something about mental health,” she said. "What are you going to tell them? You don’t want to sugar-coat it, but you don’t want to teach them a whole lot of new information right at a time when they are focused on the task ahead of them.”The researchers first chose to identify the reality of combat and deployment. It may sound rudimentary, but earlier research found that soldiers were not telling other Soldiers what to expect.

Soldiers didn’t want to sound as if they were bragging, Adler said. Pre-deployment Battlemind tells Soldiers what they are likely to see, to hear, to think and to feel while deployed by describing the worst-case scenario.For the post-deployment phase, Battlemind addresses safety concerns and relationship issues, normalizes combat-related mental health reactions and symptoms, and teachesSoldiers when they should seek mental health support for themselves or for their buddies.The researchers realized that this post-deployment briefing, the original Battlemind, was not enough. The Soldiers they talked to were raw, edgy and angry. Another training program, Battlemind II, was developed to be given three to six months into redeployment.The system reemphasizes normal reactions and symptoms related to combat and“Battlemind checks,” which are signs that indicate mental health support is needed.“If you’re still carrying a weapon around with you during the three- to six-month postdeployment phase; ... if you’re still looking around for snipers; if your sleep is still really messed up; these might be signs that your transition is not going smoothly,” she explained. “These are signs that you need to get help."

The problem with Battlemind is that it does not work because of the mixed message they are giving.

Psychiatr News May 4, 2007
Volume 42, Number 9, page 2
© 2007 American Psychiatric Association

Professional News


Combat Stress Should Be Considered Preventable, Manageable
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/9/2
Aaron Levin
The stresses of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan need to be seen in a context that is broader than just that of PTSD risk—a context of resiliency and recovery
Soldiers returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan often bear the psychic scars of battle, but a closer understanding of their experience can help reintegrate them into civilian life and avoid overpathologizing their conditions, said two clinicians who have studied and treated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"We need to move from an obsession with PTSD to focus on combat stress, injury prevention, and management," said Charles Figley, Ph.D., a professor at Florida State University's College of Social Work and director of the university's Traumatology Institute and Psychosocial Stress Research Program

Figley spoke at a conference on mental health needs of returning soldiers and their families in Columbia, Mo., sponsored by the International Medical and Educational Trust at the University of Missouri.

Calling wartime trauma "combat stress injury" would place it in the same light as other war wounds: preventable and manageable, if sometimes irreversible, said Figley.

However, prevention and management must begin early, he said. Troops should acknowledge the likelihood and fact of injury beginning in boot camp. Before they are wounded, troops believe they are invulnerable and even after physical injury, often deny they are hurt. To a soldier, injury, whether physical or psychological, is a source of embarrassment. They have to move from denial to needing to talk about their injuries, said Figley. click link above for more

I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist but in a sense that makes me more qualified to understand what all this mumbo jumbo sounds like to average people. First they are giving the impression that PTSD can be "prevented" but they have yet to understand why some are wounded by PTSD and others walk away. (More on this later) So how can they claim it can be preventable if they don't even know the detail? It's either one out of three, which happens to be the percentage most professionals go by or one out of five, which gets tossed around a lot but no one seems to know exactly who gets signaled out when traumatic events strike. In order to prevent it they would have to prevent humans from being exposed to traumatic events all together.

The "manageable" part, yes that is possible but that comes with knowing what it is, being treated for it and finding the best way to live your life living with it. No small task but it is possible.

I need to stress here that Battlemind is not a total bust. It does have a lot of good points like trying to make sure they get the point across this is nothing to be ashamed of, along with some other points but the problem is this information comes after this part.

"Battlemind is the Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity with courage. Key components include:
Self confidence: taking calculated risks and handling challenges.
Mental toughness: overcoming obstacles or setbacks and maintaining positive thoughts during times of adversity and challenge."

They actually think that you can just make your mind tough enough to handle it! What kind of a message does this send? Do they really, really think that it's only those with weaker minds? After all this is what they are telling the troops at the same time they want to deliver the message there is nothing to be ashamed of.

I tell the story often of how one of the visits to the Orlando VA, I was talking to a couple of Iraq veterans. One was a Marine. He was a tough looking Marine until he began to cry and apologized for it. I had on my Chaplain shirt so he knew who he was talking to but he still felt he needed to apologize for showing emotion. When I told him that it was actually good for him to release some of his pain at that moment he told me that I didn't understand. "I'm a Marine. We're supposed to be tough enough to take it." It took a lot of talking before he understood that he did his duty and was tough enough to get through having his life and his buddies lives on the line until they were all out of danger before he even began to think of what was going on inside of him. This is what Battlemind does. It tells them their minds are not tough enough. This damages them more than anything else ever could and reinforces the idiotic attitude that only weak minded people crash. If this was the case then they'd all be crashing in combat and not after they have already returned home. How much tougher can these men and women get to be able to do that? Did the creators of Battlemind ever think of that?

The next part about Battlemind is the lack of time they are exposed to it before they go into combat. This is from VetsVoice.

BATTLEMIND: A Guide to PTSD for Military Members and their Spouses
by: Combat Infantry Bunny
Sat Dec 29, 2007 at 13:48:29 PM EST

.........From my understanding from those deployed, they are already requiring soldiers about to redeploy this, but my friend said it was just lumped in with all the other random redeployment briefings and no one really cared.

In addition, PTSD is a post-deployment thing and a refresher is sometimes necessary. Anyway, reading this brochure and explanations for PTSD really made sense, especially when I realized I pretty much fit every description re: PTSD behavior. Again, it made me realize I had made the right decision to seek help and I hope that everyone that reads this will forward it to any military personnel they know who may have PTSD and/or to their families who may be trying to understand what their soldier is going through, I think the following explains it very well:

Battlemind is the Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity with courage. Key components include:
• Self confidence: taking calculated risks and handling challenges.
• Mental toughness: overcoming obstacles or setbacks and maintaining
positive thoughts during times of adversity and challenge.

Batttlemind skills helped you survive in combat, but may
cause you problems if not adapted when you get home.

Every letter in B-A-T-T-L-E-M-I-N-D, refers to a different behavior, as shown below:

Buddies (Cohesion) vs. Withdrawal
Accountability vs. Controlling
Targeted Aggression vs. Inappropriate Aggression
Tactical Awareness vs. Hypervigilance
Lethally Armed vs. "Locked and Loaded" at Home
Emotional Control vs. Anger/Detachment
Mission Operational Security vs. Secretiveness
Individual Responsibility vs. Guilt
Non-defensive (combat) driving vs. Aggressive Driving
Discipline and Ordering vs. Conflict

While he does say that Battlemind does have some good points the first point made was that it was introduced lumped in with a bunch of other stuff. This was first reported by the BBC that uncovered only 11 1/2 minutes of Battlemind are provided when they arrive "in country" along with the two days of operational briefings they have to get through.

They will be left thinking they can toughen their minds enough to not have to face PTSD and that also means that if anyone does, they are not tough enough. This includes their buddies and some of the others in their unit they may not happen to like very much and if they should end up wounded by it, well then, they must not be tough enough either. This is why Battlemind does not work and as a matter of fact very well could contribute to the increase in suicides and attempted suicides.

Army suicides rise as time spent in combat increases
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Josh Barber, former combat soldier, parked outside the Army hospital here one morning last August armed for war.

A cook at the dining facility, Barber sat in his truck wearing battle fatigues, earplugs and a camouflage hood on his head. He had an arsenal: seven loaded guns, nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, knives in his pockets. On the front seat, an AK-47had a bullet in the chamber.

The "smell of death" he experienced in Iraq continued to haunt him, his wife says. He was embittered about the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that crippled him, the Army's failure to treat it, and the strains the disorder put on his marriage.

Despite the firepower he brought with him, Barber, 31, took only one life that day. He killed himself with a shot to the head.

"He went to Fort Lewis to kill himself to prove a point," Kelly Barber says. " 'Here I am. I was a soldier. You guys didn't help me.' "

Barber's suicide is part of a larger story — the record number of soldiers and combat veterans who have killed themselves in recent years, at a time when the Pentagon has stretched deployments for combat troops to meet President Bush's security plans in Iraq. In 2007, the Army counted 115 suicides, the most since tracking began in 1980. By October 2008, that record had been surpassed with 117 soldier suicides. Final numbers for 2008 have not been released.

Suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans doubled from 52 in 2004 to 110 in 2006, the latest statistics available, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

And the suicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is outpacing the rate among civilians, a disturbing trend because the military screens troops for mental health issues and servicemembers typically are healthier than civilians, says Han Kang, a VA epidemiologist. click link for more

So why are they still using it and why are they still pushing it as if it has done any good at all? As I said, there are some really great points to this program but they come after that damage has already been done. Believe me, I'm no genius, so I don't have all the answers but if I can figure out what harm this program has done, this bunch of "egg heads" should have been able to look past their books and see into the people this would be delivered to. They are not genius material either. They are just men and women willing to lay down their lives for what this nation asks of them. They are common people just like most Americans and words do matter to them. You can't tell them in your first breathe that they can train their brain to be tough and then follow that up with "Oh by the way, if you don't, you may end up with PTSD and need help so here's what you do then." The damage is already done to them. After that they can repeat it until they are blue that PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of and they need to ask for help because it's already in there that it's their fault.

Massachusetts Police about to repeat DOD failure

Massachusetts Police about to repeat DOD failure
by
Chaplain Kathie

If they make the mistake of copying what the military is doing, then the police department is about to make it a lot worse for their officers coming back from combat.

Leo F. Polizoti of Worcester, a law enforcement psychologist for 34 years, said some police departments give returning veterans a two-to-four-week transition period when they return to work to gradually reacclimate to the department and police work. He recently developed a critical incident resilience training program for police departments that is similar to one the Army is working on. The program helps officers learn how to better handle critical stress incidents before they go to combat as well as traumatic experiences on the job such as deadly car accidents.


“If we can help them to develop more resilience before going over there, they'll have more resiliency and less psychological problems with their return,” he said.

I am not sure who started this claim that "resiliency" training works but I do know all the evidence is in and it is a monstrous failure. Numbers don't lie. The number of suicides in the military has gone up since they began to take this approach. For July alone, the Army lost 32 to suicide, Marines lost 4 but 17 more attempted it.

This approach began in 2003.

AMEDD To Introduce Battlemind Video

September 02, 2008
Army News Service
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- The Army Medical Department Center and School, co-developers of Battlemind training, will release a new Battlemind training video next year to help foster resiliency in deploying Soldiers.

Battlemind training, or "Armor for the Mind," is the U.S. Army's psychological resiliency-building program. It was first developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., as a result of compiled data from a land-combat study.

The mental-health training that came about from this study builds on Soldiers' proven strengths, and consists of two critical components: self-confidence and mental toughness. It teaches Soldiers how to apply those critical components when they leave for deployment and how to use those same survival skills when they transition back home.

The program focuses on a Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat and other military deployments with courage. The training is divided into three sections: Deployment Cycle, Life Cycle and Soldier Support, and is given at pivotal points in a Soldier's career. The training is mandatory and is currently being facilitated by Army chaplains who are taught how to conduct the training at the AMEDDC&S.

The new movie-like training video, developed with AMEDD Television, was created to cover the deployment portion of Battlemind training.

"What we've learned is that education directed toward younger Soldiers and young adults has to be more plug-n-play," said Mike Hagan, chief of the Battlemind Training Office at the AMEDDC&S. "Therefore, what we wanted to do was to create something that was entertaining and realistic and also that gets the messages across in sound bites, because this is how they (young Soldiers) receive messages, and that was my goal for doing this production."

The training, to be given prior to deployment, will cover the seven deployment phases and promote resilience in dealing with the psychological impacts that Soldiers could face during combat and other military deployments.

The way Battlemind training is taught has been modified several times since its inception in 2003.
read more here

But the DOD changed the name as if the title of the program was the problem. In tiny print on the right side of the banner you see "formerly Battlemind" in other words, the same thing.

One more factor in all of this is the VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline. If Battlemind worked when it began in 2003, would they need to have one in 2007?

July 30, 2007
VA’s Suicide Hot Line Begins Operations
Nicholson: “Help a Phone Call Away”

WASHINGTON – To ensure veterans with emotional crises have round-the-clock access to trained professionals, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun operation of a national suicide prevention hot line for veterans.

“Veterans need to know these VA professionals are literally a phone call away,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. “All service members who experience the stresses of combat can have wounds on their minds as well as their bodies. Veterans should see mental health services as another benefit they have earned, which the men and women of VA are honored to provide.”

The toll-free hot line number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). VA’s hot line will be staffed by mental health professionals in Canandaigua, N.Y. They will take toll-free calls from across the country and work closely with local VA mental health providers to help callers.

To operate the national hot line, VA is partnering with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“The hot line will put veterans in touch – any time of the day or night, any day of the week, from anywhere in the country – with trained, caring professionals who can help,” added Nicholson. “This is another example of the VA’s commitment to provide world-class health care for our nation’s veterans, especially combat veterans newly returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The suicide hot line is among several enhancements to mental health care that Nicholson has announced this year. In mid July, the Department’s top mental health professionals convened in the Washington, D.C., area to review the services provided to veterans of the Global War on Terror.

VA is the largest provider of mental health care in the nation. This year, the Department will spent about $3 billion for mental health. More than 9,000 mental health professionals, backed up by primary care physicians and other health professionals in every VA medical center and outpatient clinic, provide mental health care to about 1 million veterans each year.

VA Suicide Hotline has received almost 225,000 calls was a headline on this blog for February 2010. One more indication that Battlemind did not work. Had it worked, there wouldn't be that many contemplating suicide. If either program was really successful, the numbers would have gone down. What no one is talking about is the fact that many veterans, survivors of combat, found it so impossible to live after combat they felt the need to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline in the first place. While they have managed to save a lot of lives and claim rescues in the thousands, it is further proof that resiliency training has been a failure. Reporter James Dao of The New York Times reported "The hot line has chalked up 10,000 rescues since 2007." Taking Calls From Veterans on the Brink July 30, 2010.

Again, numbers don't lie.

Every year we're reading the numbers go up, attempted suicides go up and the calls pouring into the Suicide Prevention Hotline go up. If Battlemind, no matter what title they put on the program, worked, then it would have been proven in the numbers. So why do they continue to support a failed approach like this? Eight years? How many more years of data do they need to wake up and finally understand that in the battle to save their lives they are unarmed?

Does anyone do any research anymore before they consider replicating a failed program? How could any police department even consider using this to save the lives of their own people?

War's trauma comes home
By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When one of his police officers returned from two tours of duty in Iraq, Rowley Police Chief Robert R. Barker could tell he just wasn't the same.

Chief Barker said 30-year-old Thomas Lantych had been an active reserve police officer who had shown a lot of promise during the year before he was deployed. But a few months after he returned, authorities began to notice erratic behavior by the officer, who was also a full-time firefighter in Beverly.

A month after being placed on medical leave to get counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Lantych's vehicle struck and killed a motorist. Police said he seemed emotionless at the scene and investigators subsequently determined that the crash had been overwhelmingly avoidable. Mr. Lantych was convicted of vehicular homicide earlier this year and is now serving a year in jail.

“He wasn't grounded like he was before he left. It seemed like he was hyperemotional. He seemed, I guess, I would classify it as euphoric,” Chief Barker said in a recent telephone interview.

A. Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Grafton-based Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said law enforcement leaders are concerned about police officers who resume their duties or join the profession after serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's of greater concern for law enforcement than other professions, he said, because police work can trigger flashbacks of combat experiences. A loud noise or sight of a handgun, for example, could cause an officer to become hypervigilant — as if he's in combat — resulting in a wide range of reactions from hiding behind his vehicle to crying.
read more here

Battlemind did not work then and it will not work now. They don't use slingshots anymore to defeat a gigantic enemy but in this case, the stone is just a pebble.

What works? They were already doing it when they have Crisis Intervention Teams responding right after a traumatic event. In this case, most of the time, it is many months after the traumatic events in combat. Ideally the sooner the better but at least it can be done as soon as possible. Let them train veterans in Crisis Intervention so that the newer combat veterans have someone to talk to who can help them heal and offer emotional support.

DOD and VA "efforts" made having PTSD worse

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 21, 2014

Military/veteran families and civilian families live in a different worlds. They settle for what the press tells them but we walk around with our eyes bugging out and brows raised so high they almost hit our hair line. My forehead wrinkles get deeper every years but that is just the way it. While we know what we live with the rest of the population think they have just discovered our pain,,,,again. How could they keep forgetting what they read last year or the year before or the year before that? How could they keep forgetting being upset for us over and over again?

The DOD and the VA can't prove if their "efforts" to address PTSD work, but then again, they say they just don't even know. That is the problem. All these years the DOD has been pushing Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. Before that, it was Battlemind. These "efforts" actually make PTSD worse while preventing servicemen and women from seeking help. Why? Because when soldiers are told they can "train their brains to be mentally tough" that translates into "if I have PTSD then I am mentally weak."

It seems that everyone is shocked by the report from Institute of Medicine except veterans and families. None of us are shocked at all. What is shocking is it took them so long to report on what we've been living with all these years.

IOM REPORT: DEFENSE/VA HAVE NO CLUE IF $9.3 BILLION WORTH OF PTSD TREATMENT WORKS
Nextgov
Bob Brewin
June 20, 2014

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments spent $9.3 billion to treat post-traumatic stress disorder from 2010 through 2012, but neither knows whether this staggering sum resulted in effective or adequate care, the Institute of Medicine reported today.

DOD spent $789.1 million on PTSD treatment from 2010 through 2012. During that same time period, VA spent $8.5 billion, with $1.7 billion treating 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

DOD lacks a mechanism for the systematic collection, analysis and dissemination of data for assessing the quality of PTSD care, and VA does not track the PTSD treatments a patient receives, other than medications, in its electronic health record, IOM said in the congressionally mandated 301-page report, “Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Military and Veteran Populations: Final Assessment.”

IOM estimated 5 percent of all service members have PTSD. Eight percent of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with the condition. The number of veterans of all eras who sought care from VA more than doubled from 2003 to 2012 -- from approximately 190,000 veterans (4.3 percent of all VA users) in 2003 to more than a half million veterans (9.2 percent of all VA users) in 2012.

For those treated for PTSD in the VA system in 2012, 23.6 percent (119,500) were veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
read more here

BATTLEMIND-RESILIENCE-COMPREHENSIVE UNFITNESS
Kathie Costos, posted on Wounded Times and in the book, THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR

If the military had ordered weapons that turned out to be more dangerous for the troops than they were for the enemy, they would have canceled the contracts. In the case of contracts and programs to prevent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and reduce military suicides, they did not come to the obvious conclusion these programs were more dangerous than doing nothing.

BATTLEMIND was the granddaddy. This program was later called Resilience Training and Comprehensive Soldier Fitness.

This was the claim made in 2009 about Battlemind

“The study found that in Soldiers who had seen extensive combat, Battlemind training resulted in a 14 percent reduction in severity of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

And while 60 percent of Soldiers without the training reported sleep problems, just 30 percent of those who'd had the Battlemind class said they were having trouble sleeping after returning home.

Validation claim
Adler said the study validates the efficacy of the training, which aims to prevent or reduce psychological problems by giving Soldiers detailed information about what to expect, how to deal with problems and assurance that their experiences are both shared and manageable.

"It's not just the events you might be exposed to," she said. "It's also the thoughts you might have, feelings you might have...it helps put the experience in perspective."

Adler did not say whether the study had determined the training's effects on other commonly reported difficulties, such as irritability or depression.

The Battlemind material was developed after years of gathering data about deployments and reintegration. More than 80,000 troops filled out surveys since at least 2003 providing data on the typical effects of combat and the typical problems after coming home.

"What's normal, what you can expect," Adler said.

Battlemind Training was devised by psychologist COL Carl Castro, along with a colleague. It is based on the psychological theory of expectation, said Castro, now director of Medical Research and Materiel Command's Military Operational Medicine Research Program.

"Everyone does better when they know what to expect," Castro said. "So we said, 'What would be useful to know, based on evidence we had already collected?'"

That the study of the training's effectiveness, conducted in 2005 and 2006 on some 2,000 Soldiers in combat brigade teams, showed modest mental-health gains was expected, Castro said.

"It opens up the door," he said, to more psychological-health training throughout an Army career and, eventually, larger mental-health gains.“ (Study Shows Battlemind Training Effective, Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes)

“Every Soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives “Battlemind” training designed to help him deal with combat experiences, but few know the science behind the program. Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research's U.S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe visited Patch Barracks here to explain the support and intervention program to an audience of medical, mental health and family support professionals.” (Battlemind Program seeks to help soldiers deal with combat experiences, Susan Huseman, US Army Garrison Stuttgart Public Affairs Office, January 4, 2008)

A year later, Gregg Zoroya of USA Today interviewed Josh Barber’s widow. Josh drove to Fort Lewis “to kill himself and prove a point.” Kelly Barber went on to say that, “The "smell of death" he experienced in Iraq continued to haunt him, his wife says. He was embittered about the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that crippled him, the Army's failure to treat it, and the strains the disorder put on his marriage.” Barber would have had Battlemind Training, but like most of the men and women committing suicide in the military or because of it, this program was the push into the abyss.

In 2007 Charles Figley, Ph.D, Florida State university professor, “College of Social Work and director of “Traumatology Institute and Psychosocial Stress Research Program” was talking about OEF and OIF troops under combat stress. He said "We need to move from an obsession with PTSD to focus on combat stress, injury prevention, and management."

After addressing his thoughts on changing the term from PTSD to “combat stress injury” Figley went on to add “However, prevention and management must begin early, he said. Troops should acknowledge the likelihood and fact of injury beginning in boot camp. Before they are wounded, troops believe they are invulnerable and even after physical injury, often deny they are hurt. To a soldier, injury, whether physical or psychological, is a source of embarrassment. They have to move from denial to needing to talk about their injuries.” (American Psychiatric News, May 4, 2007) Comprehensive Soldier Fitness has just about the same type of claims.

According to reporters at the time, CSF was $125 million dollar failure, however, that was just the original cost.

The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program
requires soldiers to undergo the kind of mental pre-deployment tests and training that they have always had to undergo physically. Already, more than 1.1 million have had the mental assessments. (By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times December 26, 2011)

From Amazon about Warrior MindSet by Dr. Michael Asken, Loren W. Christensen, Dave Grossman and Human Factor Research Group.
January 1, 2010

“Mental toughness is essential for elite human performance and especially in high stress situations. While mental toughness is a singular value in both military and law enforcement training and missions, too often, there is a disconnect between talking about and actually training it. Warrior MindSet defines mental toughness and describes its critical need and function in the face of the performance degrading effects of combat, mission or response stress. Warrior MindSet provides the psychological skills that comprise mental toughness to optimize performance, success, safety and survival in the field.”

Human Factor Research Group Leadership members are Bruce Siddel, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Dr. Steven Stahle and Mark Glueck. According to their website these are among some of their clients.

United States Department of Army SOTF (Delta Force), Ft. Bragg, NC
United States Department of Army Ranger Training Battalion
United States Department of Army Military Disciplinary Barracks, Ft. Leavenworth, KS
United States Department of Army Survival, Escape, Evasion and Resistance School - John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School
United States Department of Army Ranger Training Battalion, Ft. Benning, GA
United States Department of Navy Redcell, Littlecreek, VA
United States Department of Defense Camp Peary, VA
22nd Regiment, SAS, Minister of Defense Hereford, England

In 2006, the Army documented 2,100 attempted suicides; an average of more than five per day. In comparison, there were 350 attempts in 2002, the year before the war in Iraq began.

The method of choice was a firearm. There is no firm data on Soldiers who had thoughts of suicide. (Suicide Gets Army’s Attention, Army, Debbie Sheehan, Fort Monmouth Public Affairs October 14, 2009)

In 2007, the Army experienced its highest desertion rate since 1980, an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. The warning signs of future retention problems are increasingly apparent: suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, divorce, domestic violence, and murder within the force are on the rise. Recent attention has focused on the growing number of suicides, with the Marine Corps experiencing more suicides in 2008 than since the war began and the Army logging its highest monthly total in January 2009 since it began counting in 1980. Not surprisingly, PTSD rates are highest among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who saw extensive combat (28 percent). However, military health care officials are seeing a spectrum of psychological issues, even among those without much combat experience. Various surveys provide a range of estimates, with up to half of returning National Guard and Reservists, 38 percent of Soldiers, and 31 percent of Marines reporting mental health problems. (Mind Fitness, Improving Operational Effectiveness and Building Warrior Resilience, Elizabeth A. Stanley and Amishi P. Jha, Army, October 30, 2009)

Battlemind and Comprehensive Soldier Fitness failed. In 2009 I wrote that if they pushed this program suicides would go up.

In the article

In a speech before the international affairs organization the Atlantic Council on Thursday, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey laid out the virtues of the newly formed initiative, which he called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness.

"We have been looking very hard at ways to develop coping skills and resilience in soldiers, and we will be coming out in July with a new program called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness," said Casey. "And what we will attempt to do is raise mental fitness to the same level that we now give to physical fitness. Because it is scientifically proven, you can build resilience."

If you need proof CSF failed, here it is.

2008 Army = 140; Air Force = 45; Navy = 41; Marine Corps = 42 total 268
2009 Army = 164; Air Force = 46; Navy = 47; Marine Corps = 52 total 309
2010 Army = 160; Air Force = 59; Navy = 39; Marine Corps = 37 total 295
2011 Army = 167; Air Force = 50; Navy = 52; Marine Corps = 32 total 301
A total of 915 Service Members attempted suicide in 2011 (Air Force = 241, Army = 432, Marine Corps = 156, Navy = 86). DoDSERs were submitted for 935 suicide attempts (Air Force = 251, Army = 440, Marine Corps = 157, Navy = 87). Of the 915 Service Members who attempted suicide, 896 had one attempt, 18 had two attempts, and 1 had three attempts.

2012: Army 185, 93 Army National Guard and 47 Army Reserve, but the reports left out the citizen soldiers when they included 48 Marines, 59 Air Force, 60 Navy, total 492

RAND Corp took a hard look at this program and found that resilience training did not even fit with military culture.

Medal of Honor heroes talked about having PTSD, after this training. Dakota Meyer tried to commit suicide. Special Forces veterans talked about having PTSD after this training and some of them committed suicide. Some were discharged like Sgt. Ben Driftmyer.

Those returning are facing serious combat related mental health issues. According to a study conducted by RAND Corp. last year, one in three combat veterans will return home with PTSD, traumatic brain injury or major depression requiring treatment.

"I had spent eight years serving the military. I never got in trouble. Never did anything bad. And I got treated like I was a piece of crap because of it," said Ben Driftmyer, discharged U.S. Army Sergeant and Cottage Grove resident.

Driftmyer was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder by Eugene doctors after he was chaptered out from the special forces unit in Baghdad. He suffered several mental breakdowns during his service, but his discharge was classified as "other than medical."

"Because the military didn't want to pay for me for the rest of my life," said Driftmyer.

The other factor in all of this are similar to what Driftmyer faced. Bad paper discharges. Here are the numbers from 2013.

Army

Data obtained by The Associated Press show that the number of officers who left the Army due to misconduct more than tripled in the past three years. The number of enlisted soldiers forced out for drugs, alcohol, crimes and other misconduct shot up from about 5,600 in 2007, as the Iraq war peaked, to more than 11,000 last year.

Navy

The Navy went through a similar process. When the decision was made to cut the size of the 370,000-strong naval force in 2004, the number of sailors who left due to misconduct and other behavior issues grew. In 2006, more than 8,400 sailors left due to conduct issues.

Air Force

The Air Force, which is smaller than the Navy and Army, reported far fewer cases of airmen leaving for misconduct, both for officers and enlisted service members. The number of officers separated from service since 2000 due to a court-martial ranged from a low of 20 in 2001 to a high of 68 in 2007. For enlisted airmen, the number ranged from a high of nearly 4,500 in 2002 to a low of almost 2,900 in 2013.

Marines

Data for the Marine Corps, the military’s smallest service, were not broken out by officers and enlisted personnel. Overall, it showed that Marines leaving the service due to misconduct was about 4,400 in 2007, but has declined to a bit more than 3,000 last year. Those forced to leave for commission “of a serious offense” has nearly doubled from about 260 to more than 500 in the past seven years. The number of Marines who left after court-martial has dropped from more than 1,300 in 2007 to about 250 last year. The Marine Corps also grew in size during the peak war years, and is reducing its ranks.

Yet in all of this every year the DOD says that most of the suicides were committed by servicemembers with no history of deployments.

This is the most important question of all. If Comprehensive Soldier Fitness didnt' work for the troops without being deployed, how did they expect it to work for the troops being sent into combat over and over again?

Simple question they don't seem to want to answer.

One of the latests Medal of Honor heroes from the Vietnam War is Melvin Morris. I met him last month at a fundraiser for a double amputee. We talked for a long time and while he and his wife have been married for 53 years, they told me that he not only has PTSD, but wants to talk to the younger soldiers and veterans to prove to them once and for all that PTSD is not the end of their story. It is just a part of it.

PTSD is caused by trauma and changes lives but the truth is, it doesn't mean they cannot change again. They can heal even though PTSD is a part of them for the rest of their lives, they can live better lives. Their marriages don't have to end. Heck, I've been married to my Vietnam veteran with PTSD for 30 years. Melvin is one example of how the military got it wrong on resilience training.

You can't get more "resilient" than doing what it takes to earn the Medal of Honor. You can't be more resilient than to not just be willing to die for others, but to push past the pain of PTSD until after your buddies are out of danger. Their lives are yet one more scandal but this one has claimed more lives than anything else the VA and the DOD have done. They tried to prevent something they never understood in the first place.

Dakota Meyer's story is yet one more example. Most know his story when he had the Medal of Honor placed on his neck but few knew what happened when he came home. He tried to kill himself.

Meyer got some post-traumatic stress counseling, and moved back in with his father, Mike, on the farm where he grew up in the Kentucky hills.

"You come home to this peaceful place in the country," said Martin. "About as far removed from war as you can get. What was it like coming home?"

"A shocker," Meyer said. "It's hard living here. It's easy fighting, you know, 'cause it's, it's simple. Like, war simplifies life in my mind."

Meyer was home, but his father could see the war was still with his son.

Meyer's father said Dakota asked for new locks on the doors. "Make sure the house was locked up every night. . . . He'd always want to have one or two guns in every vehicle."

"So he always wanted a weapon close," he said, noting that for three months Meyer slept with a weapon - a pistol on his chest.

"Did you try to talk to anybody about it?" Martin asked.

"What's there to talk about?" Dakota replied.

"Get it out of your own mind and into somebody else's?"

"You know, why bother somebody else with it?" Meyer said. "It's just part of it."

Believing he had become a burden to his family, Dakota turned to the bottle. One night driving home he stopped his truck and pulled out a gun.

So many Medal of Honor Heroes have come out about their own battles they should never have to fight that what you read about today is nowhere close to the way it actually is.

Congress wasting more money on the troops and failures

Congress wasting more money on the troops and failures
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
July 20, 2012

Even after the DOD and the VA finally had to admit they have no clue if their "programs" work or not, congress says they need to spend more money on suicide prevention? Are they out of their minds?

There is no amount of money that is too much if it produces results, takes care of the troops and their families, takes care of the wounded veterans and insures they have a quality of life worthy of their sacrifices but when millions of dollars has produced deplorable results, it is a waste of money but above that, a waste of their lives.

$10 Million More for Military Suicide Prevention
By MARK THOMPSON
July 19, 2012

The House approved an amendment to next year’s defense spending bill Wednesday night that shifts $10 million from training Afghan security forces to fighting suicide in the ranks of the U.S. military.

“This is the most recent issue of Time magazine, reporting that military and veteran suicide is a tragic epidemic that has only gotten worse,” Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, said on the House floor, using a blown-up copy of the cover by Nancy Gibbs and me as a prop. “We are losing too many of our heroes,” said Boswell, a 20-year Army veteran.
“It’s up to us to act.”

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., was a co-sponsor of the amendment. “This week’s Time magazine, as you see from that front page, describes military suicides as an epidemic,” McDermott said. “I would like to take $10 million out of a $5 billion fund in this amendment to go beyond the funding for existing suicide prevention services, and toward modifying the culture that keeps some from seeking help. We must also note that any progress in suicide prevention will be fleeting if we don’t focus on reducing the stigma associated with seeking psychological health services among our active-duty people.”
Read more

They are still wasting money on Battlemind even after all these years of proof it does not work topped off with the fact redeployments increase the risk of PTSD.

Battlemind bullshit
14. Januar 2008
Battlemind: Preparing Soldiers for combat, home life
By Susan Huseman
USAG STUTTGART

STUTTGART – Today, every Soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives Battlemind training, but few know the science behind it.

Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, visited Patch Barracks to break down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

Not every Soldier who deploys downrange is at risk for mental health problems. The main risk factor is the level of combat experienced, Adler explained to her audience, comprised predominantly of medical, mental health and family support professionals.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a Soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger and relationship problems. When Soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.

What did they do after a blogger like me figured this out? Did they take a good hard look at it? Did they even bother to ask common sense questions? Hell no. They started to claim it was working.

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?
February 16, 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial? Sorry but I just choked on my coffee.

Col. Carl Castro should have known better when he developed this program. From what is said about this program and the evidence, this program does more harm than good.

Not that any of these people would ever listen to me or the veterans or the BBC investigation that showed the troops arriving in Afghanistan with 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind training crammed into two straight days of briefings. There are parts of this program that are good and should be used but they begin with telling the troops that they can "toughen" their minds, which translates to them that if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they didn't get their brain tough enough. Try telling that to a Marine.

They can say whatever they want, but when you see the suicide rate go up every year, see them still not wanting to seek help, still not being treated for this as if they have nothing to be ashamed of, then there is a problem. You cannot begin by telling them they can train their brain and then tell them it's ok if they failed to do it.

While they may be able to prepare for combat what they cannot do is change the fact they are human, exposed to abnormal events in combat situations and have normal reactions of stress after as a normal human! No matter what the cause, people get wounded by PTSD. The difference between civilians and the troops is that the troops are exposed to it over and over and over again when they deploy into combat. Telling them they just didn't do a good enough job to toughen their minds is the wrong way to begin what could have been a really great program. Again it's just my opinion and based on 26 years of all of this. Plus add in the fact that the Montana National Guard had to come up with their own program along with a lot of other units. That should have been an alarm bell right there, but no one heard it that is in charge. read more here

Battlemind study leaves too many questions
by Chaplain Kathie
February 20, 2009

There has been something bothering me all week about the post I did on Battlemind.

The word "reported" has been nagging at me. Given the fact suicides and attempted suicides have gone up, reports of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering in astronomical numbers, tells me that this program has not worked, but it's not just what I think. It's what they think that causes the concern. read more here

While Col. Castro seemed to be out of his mind back then, he woke up and said something brilliant. Combat PTSD is different and should be treated differently than other causes of PTSD. At least he showed he is thinking out of the box now. The question is, how could someone understanding this kind of PTSD has to be treated differently, not push to end this failure?

Castro is an example of how much these people do in fact care, but also a reflection of how much they don't know. Congress can sink $10 billion into this and still be wasting money if they continue to support what has already failed. They want to help but they still don't understand. Maybe if congress stops holding hearings with family members telling heartbreaking stories that will get the attention of the media they will finally have time holding hearings on who is responsible for all of these failures. I doubt that will happen as long as they don't even read their own reports or what the Army had reported so many years ago.

Pentagon report: Suicide up in military
Posted: Jul 19, 2012
By Tracy Clemons
BARKSDALE AFB, LA (KSLA)
An alarming new study shows that military suicides are up. It's estimated that there is one every day. Some predictions indicate that this year could set a record.

The study points to multiple and longer deployments to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among a few other factors.

"One of the things this study is highlighting is the there's a great amount of stress within our military," says 2nd Bomb Wing Chaplain Lt. Col. Robert O'Dell Jr.

It was funded by the Pentagon. The people who did it talked to 72 Army soldiers who had tried to kill themselves.

"The main things, I think, folks struggle with whether they're in the military or whether they're in the civilian sector is finances and relationship issues," says Chief of the Airman and Family Readiness Center at Barksdale Air Force Stephanie Reyes.

Those are a few things blamed on the rising suicide rate among military men and women who have been fighting two wars during the time that rate has climbed.

"One of the things we tell individuals is that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of maturity," Reyes says.
read more here

You'd think they would have learned that all the money this "program" cost the tax payers in terms of money and tremendous suffering it caused the troops, congress would have had a clue it was a total failure, but no. They are still pushing this load of crap!

Marines sending mental health teams to Iraq

Mental health teams deploying to frontlines with Marines in Iraq


8:30 a.m. February 10, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON – Navy Chaplain Dick Pusateri has witnessed the stress of war on the faces of troops put in harm's way daily, in the strained relationships of families facing long deployments and the confessions of men shaken by the human cost of war.
For too long, chaplains were among the few people combat Marines felt they could turn to in a crisis.

The Navy and Marine Corps aim to change that by sending teams of mental health professionals to the frontlines this month, after studies showed a jump in the past five years in cases of combat-related mental health disorders, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Now is the time to adjust fire,” the generals wrote in a letter to the commandant. “We must shift the current direction of combat/operational stress control efforts to a more holistic, nested enabling strategy that provides a sound, unified approach.”

The Army adopted a similar approach last year, and has been deploying behavioral health specialists to patrol with its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“What is probably new here is that we want to address it close on the frontlines, and thereby return people both back to combat and back to society healthy,” said Navy Capt. Mike Maddox, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force surgeon.

The push to make the program permanent comes after a report by the Institute of Medicine found post traumatic stress disorder is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder among veterans. It affected an estimated 13 percent of those returning from Iraq and 6 percent from Afghanistan.

Figures released by the Marine Corps show a fourfold increase in the number of Marines diagnosed with PTSD – from 394 in 2003 to 1,669 to 2006.

“If we identify a stress and if we can treat it close to the unit, it's less likely that person will be sent back, medivaced out of there,” said Cmdr. David Oliver, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force psychiatrist.

click post title for the rest

This sounds like one of the best ways to address PTSD. So why do I read it with a lot of skepticism? Because there have been almost five years of reports like this. I hope they get it right this time and it's not just a publicity stunt some PR firm dreamed up to make them look like they care.



May 2007

Defense Department Releases Findings of Mental Health Assessment
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, May 4, 2007 – The military has a robust system in place to deal with mental health issues, but longer and more frequent deployments are causing strain on servicemembers, a Defense Department study has found.

Navy Rear Adm. Richard Jeffries, medical officer of the Marine Corps, responds to a reporter's question during a May 4 Pentagon news briefing concerning the release of findings from the latest Mental Health Advisory Team survey. The survey -- the fourth conducted since 2003, assesses the mental health of deployed U.S. Army and Marine Corps troops in Iraq. Five top military doctors were on hand to explain details of the study.

The fourth Mental Health Advisory Team survey, MHAT IV as this survey was called, was conducted in August and September. For the first time, the survey included Marines in the study group. The MHAT was composed of behavioral health professionals who deployed to Iraq and surveyed soldiers, Marines, health care providers, and chaplains, Army Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, the acting surgeon general of the Army, told reporters at the Pentagon.

The MHAT IV team found that not all soldiers and Marines deployed to Iraq are at equal risk for screening positive for a mental health symptom, and the level of combat is the main determining factor of a servicemember’s mental health status, Pollock said. For soldiers, deployment length and family separation were the top non-combat deployment issues, whereas Marines had fewer non-combat deployment issues, probably because of their shorter deployment periods, she said.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=33055

Extended tours report from April 2007

Mental health worsens as deployments lengthen

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 26, 2007 17:37:50 EDT

A recently released survey of soldiers and Marines puts concrete numbers behind problems experts have worried about since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

Suicides are up among combat vets, mental health issues are worse among those who deploy often and for longer periods, and one out of 10 service members surveyed said they have hit or kicked non-combatant Iraqis or destroyed their property.

Only half said they would report another service member for hurting or killing an Iraqi civilian.

The survey also comes with a recommendation from mental health workers that seems to fly in the face of the recently extended deployment lengths and troop surge: “Extend the interval between deployments to 18 to 36 months or decrease deployment length to allow time for soldiers [and] Marines to mentally re-set.”

The findings come from an April 18 briefing prepared for Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway by Mental Health Advisory Team IV, operating under the auspices of Multi-National Force-Iraq, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times. MHAT IV used anonymous surveys and focus groups to analyze morale, health and well-being, and the ethical issues of deployed U.S. troops.

Soldiers and Marines who have faced the most combat situations, deployed for longer periods of time, and deployed more than once face more mental health issues, according to a survey of 1,320 soldiers and 447 Marines. Of those on a second, third or fourth deployment, 27 percent screened positive for mental health issues, compared to 17 percent of first-time deployers. And 22 percent of those in-theater for six months or more screened positive for mental health issues, compared to 15 percent of those who had been there fewer than six months.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_ptsd_survey_0426w/

The facts and time prove the Battlemind Training does not work

March, 2005
AMEDD Adapts To Needs Of Times
By Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, MC, USA

BY LT. GEN. KEVIN C. KILEY, MC, USA
Army Surgeon General
Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command


Today, our soldiers, families, health professionals and elected leaders are more aware of mental-health needs. We are committed to ensuring all returning veterans receive the physical and behavioral health services they require. More patients are seeking behavioral health support as we offer them more opportunities to solicit assistance.

Behavioral health researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have surveyed combat units and developed data regarding mental-health needs of soldiers before, during and after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year they published findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association that accurately described mental-health status and noted improvements in the availability of mental-health services for soldiers during and after deployment.

It is critical that we help our soldiers prepare for war, and when they return from the war zones of the world we must help them ‘reset.’ To assist in this [area], researchers developed a comprehensive program, called ‘Battlemind Training,’ to train soldiers both pre- and post-deployment about what to expect at each phase of the deployment cycle, how to look out for the mental health of themselves and fellow unit members, and about the resources that are available for them to get help if they need it. Battlemind Training has been incorporated into the Army Deployment Cycle Support Program, and is given as part of the Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHRA) process.

One goal is to reduce the stigma long associated with mental health issues. Also, we must deal with the needs of families, as well as soldiers.

When a unit returned to Fort Lewis, Wash., last year, every soldier saw a psychologist, regardless of any reported mental health issues. Since everyone did it, it was seen as normal...no stigma. What’s more, Madigan Army Medical Center has implemented the Family Assessment for Maintaining Excellence (FAME) program, through which spouses of deployed solders are surveyed and, if needed, interviewed by mental health professionals.

At Tripler Army Medical Center, a new Soldier and Family Assistance Center provides easy access for mental health services under one ‘umbrella.’ Three new clinics were added for soldiers, children and adult family members.

One way to reach all soldiers, without stigma and with tight resources, is a new program we call ‘Respect-mil.’ Basically, family practitioners and physician assistants in our regular clinics will act as mental health counselors. With extra training and extra time to ask the right questions, our front-line medical force can screen most soldiers during routine visits.

http://www.usmedicine.com/column.cfm?columnID=248&issueID=72

And this was very interesting.
September 2007

Division Mental Health in the New Brigade Combat Team Structure: Part II. Redeployment and Postdeployment
Military Medicine, Sep 2007 by Warner, Christopher H, Breitbach, Jill E, Appenzeller, George N, Yates, Virginia, Et al

Objective: Recent Army transformation has led to significant changes in roles and demands for division mental health staff members. This article focuses on redeployment and postdeployment.

Methods: The postdeployment health assessment behavioral health screening and referral process and redeployment plan are reviewed, and data on postdeployment rates of negative events are reported.

Results: All soldiers and many of their families participated in an aggressive education program. Of the 19,500 soldiers screened, 2,170 (11.1%) were referred for behavioral health consultation; of those referred, 219 (10.1%) were found to be at moderate or high risk for mental health issues (1.1% of total screened). Of the moderate/high-risk soldiers, 146 (71.9%) accepted follow-up mental health treatment upon return to home station. Fewer cases of driving under the influence, positive drug screens, suicidal gestures/attempts, crimes, and acts of domestic violence were seen, in comparison with rates seen after an earlier deployment of this unit to Iraq. Conclusions: A formalized approach with command support and coordination can have a positive impact on successful referral and treatment and reduce negative postdeployment events.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3912/is_200709/ai_n21033346

Battlemind has been a bust but they still use it. The numbers of suicides in Iraq have gone up as well as those who commit suicide when they come home. There have been suicides in Afghanistan as well. This does not even address any of the veterans who committed suicide after they were discharged by the DOD and before they were added to the VA records. With the numbers of troops coming back with PTSD they sure aren't preventing any of it either. Not that they could but if they addressed it as soon as trauma hit, they would have a better chance. That would mean they would have to have at least one mental health professional in every group going on patrol. They don't have enough to even come close to having one in every unit.

From Military Operational Medicine Reseach Program

Battlemind Training on New WRAIR-Psych Website
“Battlemind” is a Soldier’s inner strength to face adversity, fear, and hardship during combat with confidence and resolution; it is the will to persevere and win. Battlemind skills and strengths sustain the Soldier on the battlefield but if these skills and strengths are not adapted for the home environment problems can arise. Realistic transition training is critical to the mental health and well being of Soldiers, their units and families. New mental health tools for helping Soldiers transition through the different phases of their service careers are being made available on the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Psychiatry and Neuroscience website (http://www.wrair-psych.org/).

Department of Applied Neurobiology
Mission: Conducts research on militarily relevant brain trauma resulting from ballistic, blast or neurotoxin exposures and identifies neuroprotection strategies. Research utilizes animal models (rodent and non-human primates), neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, behavioral protocols, and cellular and molecular biology techniques.
Current and future plans include

1) establish a prototype rapid triage and diagnostic tool for combat casualty care (CCC) (titled Biomarker Assessment for Neurotrauma Diagnosis and Improved Triage System; BANDITS),

2) test advanced development neuroprotection therapeutics in several experimental models of brain trauma,

3) investigate the role of cortical spreading depression as a mechanism of secondary injury following brain trauma,

4) study the mechanisms of penetrating ballistic brain injuries in a new rodent model,

5) test experimental therapeutics in limiting and preventing sequelae of silent brain seizures,

6) test neuropsychological consequences of chemical warfare nerve agent (CWNA) exposures and development countermeasures in rodents and non-human primates.

More…

Battlemind Training materials include brochures, briefings, instructor materials, and a video to aid Soldiers with the stresses and strains of initial entry, deployment, and returning home. Currently available materials and those in development can be used for Soldiers, Leaders, National Guard/Reserves, and families.

Soldier Battlemind
Leader Battlemind
Spouse Battlemind
Helping Professional Battlemind
Soldier PDHRA Battlemind Video
Additional Resources
Unit Needs Assessment Training Materials
Unit Behaviorial Health Needs Assessment Survey (UBHNAS)
Unit Needs Assessment Manual
Unit Needs Assessment Validation
Research Reports


The goal of this training is to develop a realistic preview, in the form of a briefing, of the stresses and strains of deployment on Soldiers. Four training briefs have been developed and are available for Soldiers, Leaders, National Guard/Reserves, and families.

(http://www.battlemind.org/)

http://www.momrp.org/battlemind_announce.htm

When will they notice this did not work?

Irresponsible selling of BattleMind continues

BattleMind is not new or is it worth supporting. Facts are facts. Consider this. If BattleMind worked, you'd see a reduced suicide and attempted suicide rate. You would not see both increase! You would not see the Montana National Guard come up with their own program because one of their own, Spc. Chris Dana, committed suicide. You would not see a BBC report uncovering the truth about how the troops are exposed to BattleMind. Did you know that when the troops arrive in Afghanistan and Iraq they spend two days in a meeting hall getting all kinds of information crammed into their brains and within those two days, there is 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind presentations going on. That's all they get. Not that it would be worthless time if the program worked at all, but it doesn't. Look at the facts and when you read any kind of report like this, keep those facts in mind. I have no idea who wrote the below article but they really need to know what the hell they are talking about before they support anything that is detrimental to the troops. This program is full of holes!

I wanted to believe in this as much as anyone. I posted about this program when it first came out because it seemed so hopeful. The years ticked away and the troops continued to commit suicide and try to commit suicide out of desperation. It became obvious that BattleMind is not only not worth the hype, it's bad and worse than a waste of time. One more thing to think about. When I talked to someone working at the VA and brought up the numbers going up instead of down, this was the response, "It's better than nothing." but the truth is, it's worse than nothing.

Preventing Combat Fatigue


January 9, 2009: While the U.S. Army has done much to detect, and treat PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), it has also made a determined effort to prevent it in the first place. From the beginning of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the army took many measures to ease the impact of combat stress. That's why combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan often sleep in air conditioned quarters, have Internet access, lots of amenities, and a two week vacation (anywhere) in the middle of their combat tour.


But now there's now a more direct program to help troops avoid PTSD. It's called Battlemind, and it involves telling the troops all the army knows about the things that cause combat stress, and how to avoid them. This is all based on information obtained from thousands of combat veterans. click link for more

Military suicides, congress and clueless

For two members of congress military suicides are a personal issue. Maybe now there will be something done to stop them from happening. But while there have been many congressional hearings, there hasn't been much listening going on. After reading this, there hasn't been much learning either.

(Army Lt. Gen. Thomas) Bostick said that the Army is trying to figure out why suicides among soldiers with multiple deployments are climbing.

"It's early. We don't know why that's happening, but we're looking at it very closely," he said.

Did he really say that? It's early? For heaven's sake! Did he just arrive in the Army? They've been talking about military suicides since 2003 when they started to come out with their "prevention programs" to prevent PTSD.
Battlemind

Mental orientation

In the definition provided by the U.S. Army Medical Command
"Battlemind is the Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity with courage. Key components include:
Self confidence: taking calculated risks and handling challenges.
Mental toughness: overcoming obstacles or setbacks and maintaining positive thoughts during times of adversity and challenge."[1]
The significance of Battlemind in the Medical Command's context is that "Battlemind skills helped you survive in combat, but may cause you problems if not adapted when you get home."[1]
Initial writings on the subject focused on the utility of battlemind while in service,[2] while several recent works focus on treatment and self-help.[3][4

In 2007 I wrote how Battlemind was not working when this report came out.


Department of Defense and Revenge of the Sith
THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

The task force was formed through the 2006 National Defense Appropriations Act to examine the current state of military mental health practices and processes. The panel is now collecting information through visits to multiple military installations, document reviews, specialists’ opinions and town hall-style meetings. The panel is scheduled to provide its report to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in May. Reservists are assessed for mental health issues during both pre- and post-deployment phases, Army Maj. Clemens Presogna, a nurse and reservist assigned to U.S. Army Reserve Command, Fort McPherson, Ga., told members of the task force....................


..............“We really need to train and reinforce actions that soldiers, leaders and buddies can take,” Thomas said. The Battlemind system, he added, requires “emphasis on looking out for your buddy, and for small-unit leaders to look out for their soldiers.” Another troop mental health assistance initiative is the Combat and Operational Stress Control Program implemented in October 2006 by the Marine Corp Reserve’s 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, said Dr. Tania Glenn, a military contractor who co-manages the program.

“This is a Marine-to-Marine advocacy and education program,” Glenn explained. “We are teaching Marines how to identify and help other Marines.” The COSC program utilizes peer-to-peer discussion and monitoring, she said, to assist in recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental stress and burnout among Marines returning from combat overseas. Actively discussing mental health issues represents “a culture shift in the Marine Corps,” but not a massive change, said Glenn, noting the COSC program could be likened to adding high-potency vitamins to a servicemember’s normal field rations. Returning Marines experiencing heightened emotions caused by “mindset conditioning” during combat tours are provided counseling and assistance while transiting to stateside assignments, Glenn said.

Considering they were talking about "vitamins" and getting them to "train their brains" to fight against PTSD, that should have sent an alarm bell off across the country. But that wasn't enough.

As for the redeployments, they knew it back in 2006.

So after all these years of hearings in Congress, all the claims made by the military to be learning from their mistakes, we see the numbers go up and yet, yet they still have to come out with something as clueless as saying "It's early. We don't know why that's happening, but we're looking at it very closely,"

For two lawmakers, military suicides hit too close to home
By Larry Shaughnessy, CNN Pentagon Unit
September 9, 2011 9:02 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Reps. Joe Heck and Judy Chu have personal connections with military suicides
They both spoke during an Armed Services Committee hearing on Friday
A soldier under Heck's command recently committed suicide
Chu's nephew, a Marine, killed himself after an alleged hazing incident

Washington (CNN) -- For years, the Pentagon and Congress have worried over the problem of military suicides. The House Armed Services Committee held another hearing on this life-and-death issue Friday, but this time, it was more than studies and statistics.

For two members of Congress, suicide is an issue they know intimately.

"This is -- especially right now -- a bit of a personal issue for me," said Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nevada, a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. "I just had a soldier recently under my command commit suicide.

"He was actually seen two hours earlier by another member of his unit. And both had been through the Army Reserve Suicide Prevention Training Program. And his colleague did not recognize anything that was out of the ordinary. And two hours later this other soldier took his own life."

Rep. Judy Chu, D-California, is not a member of the committee, but she was allowed to participate in the hearing because of her personal interest in the issue.

She told the story of 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who got in trouble when he first arrived in Afghanistan for falling asleep while on watch. Chu said his sergeant told Lew's fellow Marines to "teach" him.

"Lance Corporal Lew was beaten, berated and forced to perform rigorous exercise. He was forced to do push-ups and leg lifts wearing full body armor, and sand was poured in his mouth. He was forced to dig a hole for hours. He was kicked, punched and stomped on. And it did not stop until 3:20 am," Chu told the committee.

Chu said that a few minutes later, "Lance Corporal Lew climbed into the foxhole that he just dug and shot himself and committed suicide.

"Lance Corporal Lew was my nephew."
read more here

Last year I asked Congressman Filner why they were holding hearings just about the problems and never seemed to hold any on what was working. He said he people like me should be heard but that was the last of that conversation. I should have asked him when they were planing on holding hearings on who was responsible for this callousness. After all, insisting on repeating the same failed approach shows they have not cared enough to learn anything.

Reading that "Lieutenant General Thomas P. Bostick Deputy Chief of Staff G-1, United States Army" with "EDUCATIONAL DEGREES: United States Military Academy – BS – No Major Stanford University – MS – Civil Engineering Stanford University – MS – Mechanical Engineering" we should be wondering why he was answering questions on this matter. There are several Generals that already came out and admitted they have PTSD, sought help and were still able to keep their careers. Why not have them testify?

The reports go all the way back to the 70's on PTSD but the same questions are being asked all over again. The same research is being done all over again. The same results followed. Yet somehow they wonder why Soldiers with PTSD were at increased risk for suicide

Services still grappling with suicide trends
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Sep 9, 2011 17:36:03 EDT
Suicide prevention programs appear to have contributed to the dip in self-inflicted deaths among active-duty soldiers, sailors and Marines in 2010, but the services must continue addressing the problem in the face of some disturbing trends seen so far this year, military leaders told lawmakers Friday.

Efforts such as the Marine Corps’ Operational Stress Control and Readiness program, the Army’s resiliency counseling and efforts to reduce the stigma of mental health counseling, as well as the Air Force’s at-risk identification program, are reaching troops, military leaders told the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel.

But there is more to do as the wars wind down and the Defense Department faces possible budget cuts, officials and lawmakers agreed.

“Talking about success in suicides, unless you get no suicides, is not appropriate,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel.

“Suicides are a loss that we simply cannot accept,” agreed Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Milstead Jr., deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs. “Leaders at all levels of the Marine Corps are personally involved in efforts to help address and prevent future tragedies.”

Rear Adm. Anthony Kurta, DoD’s director of military personnel plans and policy, said the Navy is “regrettably” seeing an increase in its suicide rate this year compared to 2010.

He added that historically, the Navy has seen a spike in the year following a drawdown — something that has happened three times in the past 20 years.

The Army, which saw a decline in active-duty suicides in 2010 but an uptick in rates among National Guard and Reserve troops, must continue developing its programs, Bostick said.
read more of this here