One Combat PTSD study, two totally different headlines

One PTSD study, two totally different headlines
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
February 15, 2013

Up until now I believed nothing coming out on PTSD would shock me, but here it is.

This is why there is such a tremendous waste of money and deplorable outcomes.

One Combat PTSD study, two totally different headlines.

Combat exposure, threat attention created risk for PTSD in soldiers
Wald I. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013
February 14, 2013

When combat exposure interacted with threat-related attention bias, soldiers were at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder, according to researchers who studied combat veterans who served in the Israeli Defense Forces. The findings may have implications for more effective interventions for returning service members.

“The excessive rates of PTSD and other adjustment disorders in soldiers returning home make it imperative to identify risk and resilience factors that could be targeted by novel therapeutic treatments,” the researchers wrote.

Ilan Wald, MA, of Tel Aviv University, and colleagues investigated the relationship between combat exposure, threat vigilance and additional PTSD risk factors among 1,085 male soldiers aged 18 to 24 years. Data were collected at baseline within 2 weeks of recruitment, before deployment (during training) and again after deployment. Assessments post-deployment took place in combat theaters.
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Threat vigilance can protect soldiers against PTSD
Published on February 14, 2013

The onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is unpredictable. Because it depends on the unforeseeable occurrence of traumatic events, it is difficult to identify preventative or causative factors. Scientists typically turn to patients who have already developed PTSD to study the disorder, but that means they can't draw comparisons to their psychological state prior to experiencing trauma.

Now, through a combination of genetic and psychological testing, Prof. Yair Bar-Haim and PhD student Ilan Wald of Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences have identified factors that mitigate against PTSD. Their study focused on infantry soldiers in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Soldiers have a high probability of experiencing traumatic events, explains Prof. Bar-Haim, so a susceptible subgroup is practically bound to develop the disorder.
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Folks this is really simple. PTSD has been researched to death and I do mean death. The number of suicides tied to military service may seem like it is all new and no one knows what do to about it, but after 40 years, the answers have been available even though reporters don't seem to have a clue. Psychiatrist involved in the original work are long gone and either passed away or retired so they can't tell you how repulsive all these "new" studies are.

Ask military brass why they are still committing suicide and they will tell you a laundry list of what they want you to know, or worse, what they think is actually true.

Here's the truth. The only reason people, all humans, commit suicide is the loss of hope that the next day will be any better than today is.

There are lots of medical reasons for this but it boils down to that simple fact. If you don't have any reason believe your life can get better, why stay here?

Most of the research I've read over the last 30 years pointed to simple, human facts.

People are different. Dah! People walk away from something traumatic, no matter what causes it, one of two ways. Either it was done to them or they were spared for a reason. Add in the faith factor and you'll find the belief that God either punished them or saved them. If they believe God did it to them, then they begin to self-blame searching for the reason they were punished. If they believe God spared them, they begin to self-search for what mission they are supposed to be doing in the extra time they were given.

Psychologist tend to leave out the spiritual element of humans when PTSD is in fact a soul wound. It the is that part in all of us that allows us to feel and be better people. It is also the basis of a downward spiral if we do not understand where we came from.

When soldiers go through the hell of war, they often ask where God was since they saw with their own eyes the massive suffering, destruction and death committed by human hands. How could a loving God allow all that and not stop it? They failed to see the simple truth that God does not mess with freewill no matter how morally repugnant it seems to them. God does not take sides in war but the people willing to risk their lives for their country fail to see that God is still right there as long as they are able to still feel sadness for all of it.

Some are more self-centered, think more about themselves than others. If they survive something horrific, that is their main concern. Some are pretty well balanced and they care about others almost as much as they do about themselves. Others, well, others put other people first. They are the "best buddy" to everyone, the one others tell their troubles to, the first one showing up to help. They are the ones getting hit harder by what they survive because of the suffering of others.

Focusing on the bad, makes them feel bad. They see evil and end up wondering if they are evil as well. Get them to see what was good even in that horror and you give them reason to search for more good they missed.

A young National Guardsman came home from Iraq with it eating away at his character. He blamed himself for killing a family. He felt he didn't deserve his own family and looking at his small kids reminded him of the kids he shot as much as holding his wife brought the image of the dead wife in the car. He believed he was too evil. He had all the usual questions about God and some well meaning person said the fatal words of "God only gives us what we can handle."

All of that caused two suicide attempts. His marriage ended because his wife couldn't stand the way he was acting any more than he could stand himself. He was pushing his kids away because he felt guilt over the kids that would never have a chance to grow up because of what he did.

All the nightmares and flashbacks he had were centered around that horrible night in Iraq. The answer to his healing were also there but he couldn't see it.

Once he was able to trust me, he told me what happened that night. I listened. I wasn't shocked because I heard a lot worse. When he was done with the basic outcome, then I started to ask the questions he needed to find the answers to.

What happened before that? What was he thinking before he pulled the trigger?

When I was done asking the questions this is how the night unfolded.

On patrol in Iraq he was in the last Humvee. A car was approaching. Iraqis were told to stay away from convoys but this car was not showing any signs stopping. It kept coming. He screamed, threw rocks, fired warning shots in the air, screamed and prayed to God the driver would back off. Suicide car bombers were blowing up soldiers when IEDs weren't doing the job. The car was too close and all he could think of was that driver was on a mission to kill or he would have stopped. He opened fire on the car.

When they went to see who was in the car, it was a Dad, wife and kids in the back seat. That image was frozen in his mind to the point where all he could remember were their faces and the seconds when he was pulled the trigger.

He had forgotten what he tried to do to prevent it and that his main concern was for the men he was with and how he was worried about them. That's how they are. They care about the others they are with and are willing to die for them.

When he was able to see all of what happened, he stopped feeling as if he was evil. When he was able to see that God was still there because of the sadness he felt instead of hatred, he was able to find that loving God again and his faith returned to him. Hope was given back to him that the next day would be better. He not only forgave the driver of the car for making him do what he did, he forgave himself.

That is what works. The rest of this research we're reading about is a waste of lives causing needless suffering to hundreds of thousands of veterans. War is hell and most of the researchers have never been there. They read clinical books and think they know what the weather is like. Unless they experienced it themselves, they will never fully understand. If they don't live with them, spend their lives with them, they will not get close to understanding. The worst research comes from psychologists with no background in trauma itself. When it comes to Combat PTSD they still haven't figured out there are different types of PTSD and this one is the most deadly because of the number of exposures and the fact they are not just witnessing it, they were trained to participate in them.