A real look at PTSD the AP story didn't include

There was a time when a soldier, usually a young soldier, with signs we now call PTSD, were shot for being a coward. We managed to call this psychological wounding of the soul many different names, but since the history of man, we have seen what it does to humans exposed to the abnormal events in their lives. We've read accounts, too often without acknowledging this wound to the soul was written in ancient text, historical accounts of warfare and in the Bible itself. It is far too easy to understand the way we would feel after living through horrifying moments when we feared we would die or when we were forced to do something we would not normally do. We still have a hard time understanding exactly what we are asking the young men and women to do when we send them off into combat.

The worst part of all of this is that in a time when we have come so far after over 30 years of expressing this as a normal reaction to abnormal events, there are still too many with way too much power and publicity trying to now shoot the survivors of combat.

For those like me trying to save the lives of these men and women because we've become informed, because we care or because we've been touched by them in our own personal lives, here's some ammunition to fight against the others with an agenda all their own. The report in the AP about fraud is not a new accusation. Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense set that record straight and was posted on this blog earlier today. But here is a report from the UK and the suicide hotline, another report about suicide of Airmen and another about Marines.

There is also a report of the DOD Virtual Reality endeavor. All supporting the reality of how bad PTSD is for our veterans. There are over 9,000 more posts on this blog you can find as well.

While the reporter for AP did a hatchet job to support whatever he wanted to find, I have an agenda all my own as well. Mine is to do whatever it takes to get our veterans to heal, keep families together and make sure that veterans like my husband never reach the point when they are more afraid to live than they were when they were fighting in combat. They survived the enemy in combat, but when they lose their lives back here at home, or even think of taking their own lives after, that right there is unacceptable. I've seen the worst in my own home and I've seen what can happen when they are helped to heal. Even after the passing of years without help, it was not too late for him. It almost was too many times but he's still here. His nephew was not able to recover and committed suicide. I've seen too many gone too soon, read too many reports and emails to ever think for a second the number of frauds looking to cash in could no way come close to the numbers of veterans we've still been unable to reach. Thanks to the report in AP, we may never get the chance again to reach some of them.

Hundreds call post traumatic stress disorder helpline

Children of service personnel have been among those using the helpline
An ex-serviceman from Berkshire who has set up a helpline for soldiers said more than 800 people have been in contact in its first six months.

Alex Webster established PTSD Worldwide last year after his own battle with post traumatic stress disorder.

He said one call was from an 11-year-old girl wanting to know why her father was "broken".

Mr Webster has previously criticised the Ministry of Defence for the way it has dealt with people suffering trauma.

Mr Webster, who spent 18 months in hospital after an explosion in Northern Ireland, said: "I had everything, from me being scared to leave the house, having manic depression, having to take so many pills a day just to get yourself out of bed in the morning.

Reducing stigma

"It's not just the physical pain, it's the mental pain that is actually inside and takes over your life every single day."
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/8659886.stm

DOD using virtual reality for PTSD treatment
May 4, 2010

By Jessica Maxwell


WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 30, 2010) -- A humvee slowly drives down a dusty road in Afghanistan and seconds later, an IED explodes off to the right, causing the windshield to crack and the driver to swerve.

Time to press the restart button.

At a demonstration Thursday, guests at the National Press Club saw first-hand the capabilities of virtual reality in treating Soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Defense Department's Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury have begun a pilot program that uses multi-sensory virtual reality to treat Soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. The program enables doctors to choose a scenario, customized around a Soldier's personal experience.

Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, director of the program, said she is very hopeful in the use of virtual reality but notes that no one approach will reach out and touch everyone.

"We owe these young Americans our very best," Sutton said. "We know the issues of post-traumatic stress, these unseen wounds of war. If left in silence, they can be the deadliest wounds of all."

Sutton said medical specialists are constantly learning more about treating PTSD and TBI, and how these injuries fit into other types of injuries from war.

read more of this here

DOD using virtual reality for PTSD treatment

AF discusses suicide prevention, safe driving

By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 3, 2010 10:29:11 EDT

Units across the Air Force will spend a half-day this month focusing on suicide prevention and safe driving.

Each unit will determine when to conduct its training — on the squadron level or below, according to the Air Force.

Eighteen active-duty airmen, eight guardsmen or reservists and three civilian employees have killed themselves so far this year, a trend that has been on the rise since 2007. About 50 airmen die each year in car accidents.
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AF discusses suicide prevention, safe driving

Corps had military’s highest rate in 2009

By Gretel C. Kovach,
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Commanders recently honored a young lance corporal in Afghanistan for saving another Marine’s life, giving the hero a medal. But it was not a sniper or roadside bomb that nearly claimed the Marine in distress.

It was a battle with suicide. The U.S. military’s own fight with that enemy has escalated during the more than eight years of combat between the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

In 2009, the Marine Corps reported the highest suicide rate among the armed forces — 24 per 100,000. It lost more troops to suicide than combat in Afghanistan last year. Fifty-two took their own lives in 2009, including 11 who did so while deployed.

The active-duty Army had 21.7 suicides per 100,000, its highest rate since the Vietnam War. Its much larger force suffered 160 suspected or confirmed suicides.
read more here

Corps had military highest rate in 2009

My job is to report the truth so that they may live, heal, find hope, support and comfort the families, to educate and save lives. Was it the job of the AP reporter to hurt them when so few are fakes but more end up not being helped at all?