Hope Is No Longer A Viable Strategy against Military Suicides

Yesterday I receive a phone call about a group trying to make a difference in the lives of our veterans and their families. I know. So many groups saying they are trying to do the same thing but not accomplishing much at all. I listened and promised I'd take a look at the site but was ready to be disappointed yet again. It seems as if today is my day to once again say I was wrong. Happily, this group seems to really have their act together.

Veterans and Families.org has a petition at National Petition to help save the lives of the men and women coming home. After all, isn't that why you're here and read this blog?


The thing that really gave me hope is that over on the sidebar the links are great but down toward the bottom are links to the books someone I know wrote. The books are by Jonathan Shay.


"You need to get treated if you're going to get treated at all. If it lasts more than 4 months, there's a good chance it's going to last a lifetime." is what Dr. Sanjay Gupta said at about 9 minutes into this video. It is something that needs to be shouted from the top of every town hall.


That is the point that needs attention from everyone. Experts have warned that after a traumatic event there is a 30 day window. If the shock has not worn off within 30 days or subsided, the survivor needs to receive treatment from a mental health professional. Now Dr. Gupta stress how serious all of this is with what he said about 4 months.

What the men and women face is more months of deployment after their traumatic event, followed by the euphoria of coming back home, expecting to "get over all of it" and doing nothing about any of it other than wait it out.

Most of the time these combat veterans end up being sent back right around the time they figure out they are not "getting over it" and may need some help, but they have a job to do, so they put their healing on hold, face more trauma in combat, piled on top of what they already survived. Yet we wonder why the numbers are so high so fast?

One of the reasons we know what we know is how long combat and PTSD has been studied, which is not 10 years, 20 years or even 30 years, but 40 years worth of research. Experts know enough to tell Vietnam veterans that is it not too late for them to get help to heal even if they cannot be cured because they can live a better life than they would have just trying to suck it up. They also warn these veterans that as they age and face retirement, untreated PTSD will get a lot worse for them. They have nothing to occupy their minds with in order to push the symptoms into the back of their minds.

There is hope for them even after 40 years just as there is hope for today's veterans to be helped to heal. We don't have to keep reading about their suffering, suicides, attempted suicides and families grieving if we all get involved and stop taking excuses for answers.

Go to the site with the above link, take a look at what they're doing and get involved.

Hope Is No Longer A Viable Strategy

UPDATE
First early intervention has already been proven a long time ago. Early research is the reason we've had crisis intervention teams showing up after disasters and mass murder. It is the reason they were ready to get to work right after the Twin Towers fell in New York. Why this article says "for the first time" is beyond me but it is a good article at least where it points out the need to have someone respond to people right after a traumatic event. Can you experience more traumatic events that the troops do in combat?

Speedy intervention may stop PTSD before it begins
By Kathi Baker
Woodruff Health Sciences Center
July 9, 2012

For the first time, a behavioral intervention delivered to patients within hours of a traumatic event appears to be effective at reducing posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR).

A study published online in the June, 2012, journal Biological Psychiatry, and conducted by Barbara Rothbaum, and her team, shows that a modified form of prolonged exposure therapy initiated within hours of a trauma reduces posttraumatic stress reactions and depression. Exposure therapy is a type of behavioral therapy in which a survivor confronts anxiety about a traumatic event by reliving it.

"PTSD is a major public health concern," says Rothbaum, professor in the Emory's —Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "In so many people, what happens immediately after a traumatic event can make things worse or better. Right now, there are no accepted interventions delivered in the immediate aftermath of trauma."

The implications of this study are immense, she explains. "If we know what to do, then we can train emergency workers to intervene with patients on a large scale. In addition to being implemented in the emergency room, it can help on the battlefield, in natural disasters, or after criminal assaults."
read more here