PTSD: You are far from alone in this battle after war

Watchfires need to burn brighter
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 7, 2014

Will they ever get it? Will they ever understand what PTSD is and how to heal it without trying to pull off another redo of what failed? I was reading Altering Memories To Treat PTSD when I had a massive flashback of my own, back to the last 40 years of experts studying veterans instead of rats.

"The bulk of the research on reconsolidation so far has involved lab animals rather than humans."

By the time I heard the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 1982, a lot had already been done. Veterans Centers were opened across the country providing the support necessary for veterans to heal together. What ended up happening was the wrong lessons were learned by others. It became "take a pill and you'll feel better."

"The idea of reconsolidation broaches new territory for possible relief from PTSD—which affects an estimated seven to eight percent of Americans—by addressing its root cause rather than its symptoms. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, the antidepressants Zoloft and Paxil are the only drugs currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration explicitly for the treatment of PTSD."

We saw the down side of this. Medications do not heal. They numb. Great if you're a lab rat. Not so great if you are trying to have a life with family and friends again. To have hopes replace being disheartened. To be reminded that you are far from alone in this battle after war.

The thing that does work on memories of veterans is to get you to remember the whole event, not just the last part frozen in your memories.

Helping you remember why you wanted to join the military in the first place and why you risked your life for the others serving next to you. Reminding you of the other sacrifices you were willing to take on so that you could do what you had to do. Help you forgive others for what they did or said that was like a dagger in your heart. Help you forgive yourself for things that happened and you feel responsible for.

If they think lab rats are good test subjects for the stuff they claim is "new" then the result shouldn't shock anyone.

Suicides went up after more was being done to "prevent them" and so did attempted suicides.

What we learned over 40 years came from researchers and experts working with veterans, not rats. PTSD connected to combat is different than what is caused by the traumatic event itself.

We can understand someone with PTSD after one natural disaster. We understood them after accidents and crimes. We understood them after 9-11 and the Boston Marathon Bombings. We have yet to understand firefighters and emergency medical technicians with PTSD due to their countless exposures to situations of life and death. Less ability to understand members of law enforcement with PTSD because they not only expose themselves to daily dangers, they are active participants in them. When it comes to veterans, we totally fail to acknowledge that for a year in combat, there is no rest. There is no safe zone.

What we're really lousy at is understanding the human part of you. Your mind connects your body and your spirituality/emotions. All the parts of you faced danger and all parts of you must be treated to heal. It can't be take a pill, get numb and go off on your merry way. It can't be about tell us a story over and over again or twist it around to take the sting out of it. It has to be about finding closure and making peace with it.

The last thing veterans want to do is forget what happened because then you would have to forget the others you were willing to die for. They are a part of all of you. Healing isn't about forgetting. It is about changing the conversation from what is wrong with you right now into what is possible for you tomorrow.

The Army failed with their own study on the effects of redeployments in 2006.

U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........

Most people are aware of the table for those missing in war but here is another tradition with POW-MIA Recognition ceremonies across the country. Watchfires are lit so those lost can find their way.

The Watchfire stems from the military tradition that following a battle or long march, a large fire would be started so those missing or lost could locate and rejoin their comrades. Using that time honored model symbolically, we use the warmth and light of our Watchfire to guide everyone to join us in reflection of those comrades who have gone before us and made our nation strong through their service and sacrifice.

We always talk about the 22 suicides a day but while those numbers are only an average taken from research reports from 21 states death certificates, they do not include the numbers of veteran in the VA system of 1,000 attempts every month. Those numbers are important but we end up not talking about how these numbers went up after more was being tried to reduce them. We don't have much time to talk about the simple fact that over 21 million other veterans found what they needed to heal without forgetting about those they served with.

Too often the simple fact that most of the suicides among veterans claim the lives of veterans over 50 more than younger ones yet it was because of the Vietnam veterans the watchfires were lit so that all veterans could find their way back to help and healing they need.

September 19th is POW-MIA Recognition Day. When you see the ceremony remember that there are many who found their way home but not all the way.

As a veteran, especially if you have been able to heal enough with PTSD that you have joined other veterans, you are the watchfire. You are the beacon of life for them because if all they hear about is how many lives were lost to suicide, they will not see the hope in your eyes. They will not see that they belong in the community of veterans where they are understood as they are by other veterans. They feel lost and alone trying to fit back in with civilians, the same way most of you did. I am sure you remember what that was like discovering you had little in common with them. Help the other veterans find their way and in the process, you will heal even more.