Telling veterans to only pop pills, nails coffins

by
Chaplain Kathie

The search has been on for so long now that the obvious has been forgotten. Virtual Reality graphics, all over the blog world for the last couple of years, is not the answer to all but can help some. Name the project funded and you'll find something someone wants to do but the bulk of our troops and veterans are given medication and sent on their way.

The obvious is therapy but few end up getting it. I've been reading what the experts have to say for almost 30 years now. Some "experts" have a book to sell or their own program to push. Others have only one agenda and that is to help veterans heal. These experts have said all along that PTSD is an "anxiety disorder" caused by traumatic events. In other words, not something they were born with. PTSD strikes only after traumatic events and all humans are subjected to it. The accepted rate is one out of three but some say "one out of five" for one exposure. Car accidents, natural disasters and crimes can cause PTSD after one exposure.

In New York, there has been an increase of PTSD linked back to September 11th attacks.

What is the treatment for PTSD
Treatment most often consists of individual and/or family therapy, group meetings with other PTSD sufferers, and sometimes medicines. Medicines used to treat the symptoms of PTSD include antidepressants, lithium, anti-anxiety medicines, beta-blockers, clonidine and others.

What can I do to help get my PTSD under control?
Meet regularly with your therapist and/or support group.
Learn stress management, assertiveness, relaxation and/or self-hypnosis.
Avoid highly stimulating or violent TV, movies, music, videotapes, or situations that increase your anxiety or symptoms.
Since sleep can be a problem with this disorder, learn ways to promote restful sleep.
Eat a healthy diet.
Exercise regularly.
Discuss the social use of alcohol with your therapist or counselor.
Avoid street drugs.
Work at forming and maintaining friendships and a network of support.
Work hard in therapy.
Accept that there may be setbacks.
Take medicines regularly if they have been prescribed for you.
Ask for help when you need it.

Notice that medications are at the bottom of the to do list and therapy is at the top?

Several years later studies came out showing that it was not just the survivors of the Twin Towers, but responders and New Yorkers facing this life altering challenge.

PTSD and September 11
Several studies have been published that examined rates of PTSD as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One study of 2,733 people across the United States conducted in October and November of 2001 found that 11.2% of New York City residents had PTSD, and 4% of U.S. residents had PTSD. Another study of 998 adults in New York City five to nine weeks after the attacks found that 7.5% had PTSD.

Distance Made a Difference

As would be expected, people who were in closer proximity to the attacks have been found to have higher rates of PTSD. In particular, 20% of people who lived below Canal Street in New York City (which is close to the World Trade Center) were found to have PTSD following the attacks.

Rates of PTSD in Relief Workers

Another study looked at 109 mental health relief workers who went to Ground Zero for one week during the first 2 months after the 9/11 attacks. This study found that relief workers showed signs of PTSD as a result of direct and indirect exposure to traumatic events at Ground Zero.

Specifically, it was found that 4.6% of relief workers had PTSD as a result of hearing stories from survivors of the attacks. A slightly higher percentage (6.4%) had PTSD as a result of direct exposure to stressors at Ground Zero. However, it is important to point out that 6 to 8 months following the attacks, none of the relief workers were found to have PTSD.

As you can see, the closer they were to the event itself, the more PTSD took hold. You can also see that the responders were changed even though they may not have been there when the Towers were hit or as they came down.

How is it that we can understand someone being forever changed by one event in their lives but cannot understand when they have been exposed to a year of multiple events? How can it be that we expect them to pop some pills and pick up their weapons everyday for the rest of their tour? What's worse is, we seem to expect them to just get over all of it afterwards.

ICasualties.org

When an IED blows up, body parts are disconnected. Some die, some survive. We don't want to think about the rest of the unit seeing all of it any more than we want to think about the people showing up to claim the remains. We sure don't want to think about the fact these men and women can't just go back home, get some rest and take it easy for while. They have to get back into a vehicle and return to duty, facing more and more threats of other bombs planted in the road. Each day increases what PTSD has already begun inside of them but that is just one example. Firefights, suicide bombers, snipers and even some of the locals they are training can and have turned on them. These men and women, when they finally admit they need help, are given medications and sent back to duty. Then the generals wonder why they have such a high suicide rate?

Here is just one example of what life is like after repeated traumatic events and the need for therapy instead of just medication.

Serbs go from pill poppers to couch therapy
By Aleksandra Niksic (AFP) – 1 day ago
BELGRADE — After decades of widespread use of tranquillisers and antidepressants, readily prescribed by doctors, Serbians have discovered the wonders of couch therapy.
"A Benjo a day takes your troubles away," said a tongue-in-cheek Belgrade graffiti featuring the slang name of a popular antidepressant in the 1990s.
It became a mantra for many trying to escape the gloomy everyday life under the repressive rule of the late communist strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
The wars that led to the bloody dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the failing economy with dozens of people losing jobs every day, deteriorating living standards and international isolation pushed many to seek help in the form of a "magic pill".
"I simply could not force myself to get out of bed. Just a glance at the news and everything was falling apart. But with tranquillisers a couple of times a day, everything became bearable," said Darja Tosic, a 52-year mother of two.
It was easy to get the pills legally: they were cheap and a regular family doctor could write a prescription, she said.
Health controls were also more lenient with loose regulations on many drugs imported from China, India and Russia that were sold freely, so popping pills was easy.
But a regime change a decade ago brought new methods into what has traditionally been a conservative, macho society where discussing emotions was not encouraged.
read more here
Serbs go from pill poppers to couch therapy

Until the experts without connections to products to sell are heard, those supporting therapy will not be paid attention to and the numbers will still go up. The number of suicides continues to go up along with the attempted suicides. The number of veterans involved with SWAT teams and police officers goes up. Giving them pills to pop is more nails in their coffins but providing them with therapy is healing someone willing to die for the sake of this country.

A pill will not help anyone to forgive themselves or others. Therapy helps them work things out until they are able to do it.

You caused a death. Can you forgive yourself?
By Todd Leopold, CNN
June 22, 2011 8:44 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Darin Strauss recounts hitting a cyclist in memoir "Half a Life"
Forgiving yourself -- especially after blameless incident -- is difficult, say counselors
Key to the process: Talking to others, being honest with self

(CNN) -- Darin Strauss was 18, a month from graduating high school, when he climbed into his father's Oldsmobile and picked up some friends to play miniature golf. He drove in the left lane of a four-lane thoroughfare in Long Island, New York, shooting the breeze, enjoying the watercolored scenery, not a care in the world. Up ahead, on his right, two girls pedaled bicycles on the shoulder.

Suddenly, one of the girls swerved left across the road. Strauss, with no time to react, hit her at 40 miles per hour. The girl -- Celine Zilke, a student at Strauss' high school -- died.

Strauss was exonerated by the legal system. His friends, for the most part, were supportive. But he privately carried around the memory of Celine Zilke's death for decades. After a poor experience with a therapist, who seemed as determined to impress Strauss with his sports car as help him past the guilt, Strauss went off to college and essentially buried the incident except to a few intimates.