When will the DOD and VA stop feeding stigma of PTSD?

"Stigma, mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one's reputation."

That is the definition of a stigma. The DOD said years ago they understood that and had changed how they respond to the troops in need of help. The problem is, they came up with a program that does not work because they did not understand it any more than they understood the men and women suffering from it.

Local veteran discusses PTSD problems
KOAA News
Posted: Mar 18, 2013
by Matt Stafford

"I'd die for my country, and in a heartbeat," says George Barnes, an Iraq War veteran who spent the end of his career at Fort Carson before being medically discharged from the Army.

Barnes did nearly die for his country. While in Iraq, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the door of his vehicle. After that incident is when he says that he first started noticing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD is something Barnes feels daily.

"Scared, very scared," Barnes describes. "Ashamed; people look at you differently."

"It cost me my career," says Barnes. "The Army didn't know what to do with me."

Now he's afraid it may soon cost him more. Now that Barnes is medically retired, he's in the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he says assistance is barely letting him get by -- bills are piling up and he doesn't feel stable enough to hold a job.

"I don't know where I'm going to be in the next year," says Barnes. "I could be out on the street; i just don't know."

Unfortunately Barnes' story isn't unique. After more than a decade of war, suicides now outpace combat deaths for the Army; that's despite the doubling of their behavioral health staff over the last five years.
read more here

In 2009 I wrote this warning about Comprehensive Soldier Fitness

If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them.

The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Failure posted in December of 2011 and was followed by the deadliest year for military suicides.

COMPREHENSIVE SOLDIER & FAMILY FITNESS
BUILDING RESILIENCE ★ ENHANCING PERFORMANCE


I left this comment

Want to know why suicides went up? Start here. This training tells them that they can train their brains to be mentally tough. In other words, if they end up with PTSD, it is their fault for being weak. Spiritual training only works if you do it right. The proof is in the numbers and in 2009 I warned if this program was pushed, suicides would go up.

I am sure the highly educated psychologists are laughing at what I posted since I am just a regular person. The thing they miss is, if I knew this would happen as a nobody, why didn't they? After all aren't we supposed to believe they are the best and the brightest? Aren't we supposed to believe they get paid the big bucks and millions in contracts because they know so much more? Isn't that the deal? Money and power go hand in hand but not so much for accountability so I get to spend hours talking to veterans apologizing for not training right and being mentally weak. I get to spend hours and hours undoing the damage this program did. What sickens me the most is I spend even more time with Moms after their sons and daughters committed suicide after this program started and their kids couldn't admit they needed help.

The stigma is on all the people pushing this program when average people figured out a long time ago it makes PTSD worse.