When can we say no more veterans lost to suicide?

When can we say no more veterans lost to suicide?
Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 13, 2013

When do we hold them accountable? When do we demand they stop doing what does not work? When do we hold "experts" claiming PTSD is not real accountable? When will families finally be able to lay down their heads at night knowing this day more will not die by suicide?

Brain Scans Show PTSD Not Just Mental
CBS News
November 10, 2009

Powerful scans are letting doctors watch just how the brain changes in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion-like brain injuries - signature damage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It's work that one day may allow far easier diagnosis for patients - civilian or military - who today struggle to get help for these largely invisible disorders. For now it brings a powerful message: Problems too often shrugged off as "just in your head" in fact do have physical signs, now that scientists are learning where and how to look for them.

"There's something different in your brain," explains Dr. Jasmeet Pannu Hayes of Boston University, who is helping to lead that research at the Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD. "Just putting a real physical marker there, saying that this is a real thing," encourages more people to seek care.

Up to one in five U.S. veterans from the long-running combat in Iraq and Afghanistan is thought to have symptoms of PTSD. An equal number are believed to have suffered traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs - most that don't involve open wounds but hidden damage caused by explosion's pressure wave.

But quicker diagnoses of PTSD among military veterans is only part of the issue. On Monday, CBS News correspondent Don Teague reported that the ranks of Army psychiatrists - with only 400 on staff to treat the nearly 550,000 active duty soldiers.

Experts say finding enough qualified counselors is a challenge. "It's the face to face counseling that's so important for preventing and treating PTSD," said former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. S. Ward Casscells.

But as you can see years later, not enough had been accomplished.

How does latest technology work?
Duration 4:53
DateJan 18, 2013

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

Preventing? Yes it is possible. I am living proof of that but I will be the first to tell you that if it is done wrong, it won't work. I am not a veteran but have faced death many times. If they tell you that you can train your brain ahead of time to "become resilient" they have already started you off on the road to suffering.

When you hear that they have proven "resilience training" works, the first barrier has been built. Comprehensive Soldier Fitness does not work for a reason. RAND explores the reasons as well. As you can see it does not fit with military culture, was not designed for combat but for children and actually prevents soldiers from asking for help as soon as they need it.

You cannot train your brain to prevent PTSD but they fed the stigma by saying you can. You can prevent PTSD in a lot of cases and that is why they have Crisis Intervention Teams responding to traumatic events all over the country. You can reverse a lot of what PTSD does if you get help soon afterwards, before your brain actually starts to change. But even then, you can come out on the other side of this darkness healed. In other words, your life can be better and what remains of PTSD is something you can find peace enough to live with.