The first one is that many military Chaplains, by their own admission, lack knowledge when it comes to PTSD. What good would it do to go talk to one if they have no understanding of what PTSD is, what it does to the soldier and what it's like living with them? It can cause more harm than good. On the flip side, if they do understand, then they are vital to healing. Keep in mind that PTSD is a wound to where the emotions are held, thus, where the soul lives. There can be great healing if Chaplains become as expert on PTSD as they are on scripture.
The other issue is that there are still some in the chain of command unable or unwilling to understand PTSD itself. Many do not know that PTSD is healable if not curable. Once one of their own heals, they can be better soldiers and ready to help others as well. These are unique men and women, especially in the all volunteer force and it's high time they were regarded as unique. They need to be understood before anyone can say they are taken care of.
This is a good step but they also need to remember the families are on the front line after combat because they will be first to notice the changes and know if their spouse needs help. They will be first to either support them while they seek help or get in the way if they don't understand it. To not include them in a place of healing so they can be helping is limiting what can be achieved with PTSD. To not provide them with a safe, secure place to find support so they can speak freely on every military installation is not using the first responders to their fullest potential.
The best help comes in person
By Terri Barnes, Special to Stars and Stripes
Scene, Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sheryl is a career Army wife affected by post-traumatic stress disorder. Struggling to obtain counseling for herself and her children, Sheryl wrote: "My next goal and challenge is to speak out and make the military listen to me. I don’t want this to happen to another family, and I will … speak out loud and try and make it better for those who are behind me."
Soon after her comments appeared in a recent Spouse Calls column, I received an e-mail from Col. David Schall, Command Surgeon for U.S. European Command.
He didn’t take issue with Sheryl’s complaint or send me a list of Web sites to prove the military is doing something for families affected by PTSD.
He asked what he could do to connect Sheryl with the help she needed.
Knowing that many more "Sheryls" are out there, I asked Schall about resources for families affected by PTSD.
He and Lt. Col. Marianne Schlitt of EUCOM’s Quality of Life component provided their insights about connecting people with needed care.
It seems to me that information about combat stress is everywhere. AFN commercials tell us to call our chaplains. A mouse click yields plenty of PTSD Web sites. Tricare brochures list "Behavioral Health Services" for members and families, including psychotherapy, psychological testing, family therapy and more.
read more here
The best help comes in person
Dear Kathie,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for including Spouse Calls in your blog. I want to clarify a reference in my column about chaplains as a source of help with PTSD.
You are correct that not all chaplains are equipped to handle extensive counseling, although some certainly are and do have personal experience with deployments and combat stress.
However, that is not my only focus when advising people to go to their chaplains for PTSD or any issue.
A good chaplain is an excellent source of information and referrals to whatever type of counseling or assistance is needed by military members and their families.
When I advise someone to see their chaplain, it is not because I think a chaplain can solve every problem. It is because I believe chaplains should be well informed about any resources and aid available in the community, whether on base/post or off.
A chaplain is not always the answer, but may be able to open the door to the help someone needs.
He or she can also come alongside military famlies with spiritual support while helping them to find other necessary resources.
Sincerely,
Terri Barnes
Hi Terri,
ReplyDeleteMind-body and spirit all need to be addressed. Chaplains, along with members of the civilian clergy need to be fully involved in PTSD work with veterans and their families, just as much as they need to be involved with the troops deployed. Keep in mind that PTSD is a wound to the spirit/soul. It attacks the region of the brain where emotions live and thus, where the soul lives.
You are correct that they need to be a resource simply because there are not enough to go around, but to not fully engage them in addressing this wound is not serving the soldiers or God.
Issues with God always come up when talking to therapists. Some will say they have no faith in God and a therapist will assume they never had faith but after going deeper, they discover faith was lost in combat. This is not unusual. After traumatic events, no matter what the event itself was, humans walk away either believing they were spared by God, or God judged them-abandoned them=God did it to them.
Believing God spared them does not let them off the hook with grace always. Often they will then develop survivor's guilt. That needs to be addressed spiritually.
On the flip side, they heal a lot deeper when they know God did not do this to them and faith is restored. These men and women end up moving mountains after faith is restored. I've seen this over 27 years.
We cannot dismiss the necessity of having Chaplains fully engaged. In doing so, we see the rise in the worst outcomes. Families struggle as well and need the spiritual support. I know if I did not have strong faith, as well as a great understanding of what PTSD was, there is no way I would have been able to stay with my husband when PTSD was ravaging all I loved about him. I watched him go from mild PTSD into full blown in a time when no one was talking about PTSD. I needed knowledge, so I read clinical books. There were very few of them. I needed support, but my family had no clue and kept advising me to seek a divorce. I turned to my faith instead.
Had I had a spiritual leader to go to, the journey from discovery to healing would have been a lot easier but my priest did not understand it.
Terri, wives like me, had nothing to lean on with our Vietnam veteran husbands. As much as I knew about PTSD I still made mistakes trying to keep him alive and our family together. I learned from those mistakes and I see them being repeated by others. We've been married over 25 years and I've worked with enough families and veterans to know the resources they need. Chaplains/clergy are at the top of the list.
A site like your's is as well because the spouse knows she/he is not alone in all of this. That is very important.