Researchers on the wrong side of history on PTSD

I posted Label Them Survivors In July of 2011 "There is a lot of talk about dropping the "D" from PTSD as if changing it again would do any good. Forgetting about the Disorder part of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder will do about as much good as changing the name in the past. The list of terms used has been growing since the Revolutionary War here in the US. The condition is still the same. The only thing that has really changed is in the way they are treated. There was a time in this country when they were shot for being cowards." There was more to it and you can read it by clicking on the link but the point is, changing the name is really nothing new. It didn't work before and it won't work now.

Dropping the D from PTSD won't change stigma, study says
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
August 22, 2013

Researchers found no scientific proof supporting an Army idea to drop the word "disorder" from the term post-traumatic stress disorder as a means of removing the stigma from the disease, according to a RAND study released Thursday.

Claiming that soldiers would more willingly seek help for the illness if it was called post-traumatic stress or post-traumatic stress injury, the Army asked the American Psychiatric Association to change the name in its official manual of mental illnesses.

The association declined to do so in 2011.

The illness stems from experiencing traumatic events such as sexual assault, traffic accidents or combat. Symptoms include distressing persistent memories of the trauma, feelings of intense anxiety, negative moods, a sense of emotional numbness and an avoidance of anything triggering flashbacks.

Even after the association refused to change the name of the illness, the Army has continued using the shorter term "post-traumatic stress." The service has even begun to use the term in place of PTSD in official documents, RAND researchers found.

But scientists found no studies suggesting that people suffering the disease would be any more inclined to seek treatment if the name was changed. Using the shorter term could also create confusion since labeling it a "stress," something typically short-lived, contrasts with "disorder," which more accurately describes the illness' persistent symptoms, scientists said.
read more here

So why was I so angry all day now that researchers finally agree with what I've been saying all this time? Because I've been saying it all this time. I read the article first thing this morning and went hunting in my archive of over 19,000 posts. Then at 6:00 I had to head off to yet another temp job. I got home about an hour ago, ate dinner searching some more wondering how is it possible that I could know so much yet it seems paid, highly paid researchers are years behind where I am?

Leaving my ego out of this, my biggest issues is, they are supposed to know what they are talking about but our troops and veterans keep suffering needlessly because they don't have a clue what they are talking about. WTF! How many more have to die before these people figure out they are on the wrong side of history?