UC SanDiego gets $60 million for PTSD and TBI

If they are trying to "prevent" PTSD, then this has already been done as much as it can be. Ever read about a work place shooting? Ever read about floods? Hurricanes? Tornadoes? Ever read about when police officers have to shoot someone or one of their own falls in the line of duty? If you have then you are already seeing what mental health experts have been doing to prevent PTSD. There are crisis teams rushing out to help so that people can talk to someone they know won't judge them or tell them to get over it. They bring with them the decency of mankind, thus offering hope of tomorrow. Isn't that what we as humans all need after traumatic events we face?

When you see the worst another human has to offer, you need someone there offering their best. When you see what mother nature can do that is catastrophic, you need someone there to help you see that nature is also still magnificent at times. When you survive what others did not, you need someone there to help you see that the survival guilt you feel is based on events that were out of your control.

From coast to coast there are crisis teams rushing into events others run from. They work to help survivors as wells the responders and they do this because the sooner the events are addressed, the less of a chance they have to take control.

When it comes to the military, this is not done all the time. It's only done some of the time. Sometimes it is done well but too often provided by people without the slightest clue what PTSD is or what to say. Chaplains are deployed with the troops but too many have no idea what PTSD is. Imagine that! We expect psychologists and psychiatrists to be experts on PTSD since that is the number one cause of mental health crisis in the military, especially when the psychological testing is done when they enlist and mental health conditions are supposed to be discovered ahead of time, this leaves PTSD as the condition they should all be experts on. We've heard great answers from some in the military but we've also heard a boat load of crap as well depending on who is doing the talking.

So far we've heard very little indicating the military is coming close to understanding what PTSD is or why it singles out some individuals over others. This leaves us to wonder how it is they are looking to prevent that which they do not understand.

When veterans contact me for help, I'm able to get further with a few emails or phone conversations than years of therapy. I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist. I know they are needed because they can diagnosis as well as medicate when needed. I am not a member of the clergy. I know they are needed because they can do what I cannot. The problem is that these "professionals" are not focused solely on the veteran of combat. They cannot track reports or programs across the globe. They cannot spend hours upon hours talking to the veterans around the country. They see only what is in front of them.

They know what they are told. If the VA tells them they have enough mental health workers, they see new patients walking the halls, that is what they see. They do not see the veterans turned away because there are not enough people to care for all of them. If they hear of a clinic opening, they assume the problem will be fixed soon but they don't see the next town over with nothing.

We read about new groups starting out but we don't know who is starting them, what they know, what their agenda really is, what they are basing their treatments on or who is giving them advice. We just assume they are doing more good than harm.

If they really want to treat PTSD, first they have to know what it is and if they want to prevent it, they have to know what is being done in the rest of the country in civilian life. Most of what we see happening in response to traumatic events in our daily lives has come because of the Vietnam veterans pushing to have PTSD treated. It would be a wonderful day if the VA and the DOD took their clues from there and knew what was already known.

University Studies Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury

Recently, the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine received a $60 million dollar grant for a five-year study to determine better prevention and treatment methods of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) among American victims and war veterans/soldiers.


The study, which is funded by the Department of Defense Psychological Health/Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program (DoD PH/TBI), will test new therapies to “prevent illness and enhance recovery in individuals at risk for adverse psychological, emotional and cognitive outcomes” caused by TBI and PTSD, according to UC news release.
read more here
http://sandiego10.cityspur.com/2009/12/03/university-studies-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-and-traumatic-brain-injury/