VA Doctor says there's a treatment for Combat PTSD that works in 5 years?

Dr. Matthew Friedman of the VA said "But studies have shown that 80 percent of those, given proper treatment, are without symptoms after five years." Oh really? I have over 15,000 posts on this blog alone and have never seen any evidence of this topped off with never having heard it from a single veteran. No symptoms? Gee then the veterans I know must be suffering from something else or the "proper treatment" has been kept from hundreds of thousands of them.

Most of what else is in this is correct but we really should be wondering why he made such a claim. Is this an attempt to stop paying claims after 5 years? What studies is he talking about?

VA's message: PTSD is 'very treatable'
By MARY MEEHAN
Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
Published: July 4, 2012

The most common misconception about post-traumatic stress disorder is that there is no effective treatment.

Dr. Matthew Friedman, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD, is working to get the word out that it's "very treatable."

PTSD is more prevalent among service members today, with 17 percent to 20 percent of the troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from it, he said. But studies have shown that 80 percent of those, given proper treatment, are without symptoms after five years.

The disease itself is far from new.

"Homer was a vet," he said. "Achilles showed signs of PTSD."

For centuries, he said, it was "the turf of poets and novelists." Shakespeare wrote about it, as did Charles Dickens. It was during the Civil War that doctors coined the term, "soldier's heart." The idea was that a soldier's heart rate, blood pressure and pulse rate were altered by war, and that led to personality changes.

Over the years, the disorder has had several names — shell shock, combat fatigue, combat exhaustion — but it has evolved to be understood as having psychological and physiological roots.

The increase in PTSD patients is tied to the large number of military reservists serving in combat, Friedman said. Having social support — as full-time military personnel do — is one of the things that can prevent a traumatic event from escalating into PTSD, he explained.

For those on active duty, the military is their life and their job. "Citizen soldiers don't have that same kind of support," he said.
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