Kathie Costos
January 12, 2015
The more I read news reports, the more I think about how Ray Bradbury had it right in the movie Something Wicked This Way Comes. I was reading a story on a "new treatment for PTSD" sceptically as usual about how reporters like to pull off a word placement game to hook in readers, then slam them with the facts afterwards.
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The story glossed over all the claims, especially this one, “One hundred percent responded with very visible change,” then went on to say it is used to treat kids with Asperger's syndrome and Autism. They are pushing the VA to buy into it to treat veterans with PTSD.
In the spring, Jin and others with the center made the rounds in Washington, briefing officials at the Pentagon and Veterans Administration and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on their PTSD findings. They urged a pilot program to give vets immediate access to the treatment, which they said could be simply implemented with a couple of MRT machines, which cost about $50,000 each.
But the VA needs controlled clinical trials. So, striving to gain credibility, the center launched a double-blind trial in October for 48 vets who reported PTSD symptoms, and it expects to launch one for 400 autistic patients early this year — both at the University of California at San Diego.
First they need the money to pay for the machines to see if it will work after they give veterans access to it? What? Study on Autistic patients to prove it will work on veterans? What?
At this point I pretty much was done reading until I came across this stunner.
“You can’t prove it one way or another,” says Chiarelli, who was a top commander in Iraq. “I’m here to tell you that 50 percent who say they have PTS — or some percentage of people — do not have PTS.”
What the hell is that supposed to mean? He seems to be still be claiming that there are too many fakers out there claiming to have PTSD but doesn't seem to have an explanation as to why he is now running "One Mind"
Challenge #1: Lack of PTS and TBI diagnostics and treatments
Did you know over 60% percent of the most seriously wounded soldiers from our recent wars suffer from TBI and post-traumatic stress (PTS)? And in a given year, more than 2.5 million Americans experience traumatic brain injury (TBI)?
Despite these startling numbers, the diagnosis and treatment of brain disease remains an inexact science, ruled by subjectivity and opinion. In fact, the current “test” for PTS consists of answering 20 questions asked by a mental health professional.
To make matters worse, there is not only far less large-scale research on brain illness and injury than other major diseases, but also the majority of research that is being conducted, the data and results are not being shared with other brain illness and injury researchers.
Shallow, antiquated diagnostics mixed with small-scaled, siloed research has resulted in no progress in developing treatments and cures for brain disease. The very fact that not much has changed in diagnostics and treatment for PTS and TBI since WWII is proof that we still have a long way to go.
How can he acknowledge research done going back to WWII and then deny the fact that most with PTSD DO NOT SEEK HELP OR COMPENSATION? Why doesn't he seem to understand that there has never been more grassroot efforts to get the word out about PTSD to veterans? Can he even explain why so many veterans going back to a time in our history when the damage done by combat was being reported with absolutely no treatment or compensation whatsoever? What about during the Civil War when they were being shot as cowards?
Ok, back that bus up for a second. PTSD has been studied since WWI but also showed up in ancient writings on war within the Bible and stories on fighters like Achilies
Deuteronomy 20:1-9 New International Version (NIV) Going to War
20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
5 The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. 6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. 7 Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.” 8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” 9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.
“But no man's a hero to himself.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ok, here is the rest of what Chiarelli had to say,
On several occasions, Jin has met with Peter Chiarelli, a blunt-spoken retired general who once led efforts to reduce the Army’s alarming suicide rate. Now he is chief executive of One Mind, a nonprofit dedicated in part to finding ways to treat what Chiarelli calls post-traumatic stress. (To avoid the stigma attached to mental illness, the group does not use the word “disorder” in referring to PTSD.)
He and Jin say the condition, to be better treated, must be better diagnosed. They are highly critical of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ current self-reporting method, a 20-item questionnaire that asks vets to recount, for example, how much were they bothered — on a scale of 1 to 5 — in the past month by “repeated, disturbing, and unwanted memories of the stressful experience.”
“You can’t prove it one way or another,” says Chiarelli, who was a top commander in Iraq. “I’m here to tell you that 50 percent who say they have PTS — or some percentage of people — do not have PTS.”
As disability certifications for PTSD have become easier to obtain in recent years — VA eased documentation requirements in 2010 — and the number of claimants has soared, the agency has been grappling with false benefit claims. While the total number of vets who suffer from the disorder is uncertain — many avoid reporting it — PTSD has clearly climbed in the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The disorder is the third-most-common service-connected disability in the past 13 years, VA says. Nearly 250,000 recent veterans have received a disability designation of that sort.
What the article does not address is a stunning number of Vietnam veterans sought help for PTSD in those years simply because they were finally convinced that help was available for them.
“He knew what the wind was doing to them, where it was taking them, to all the secret places that were never so secret again in life.”― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
In the past 18 months, 148,000 Vietnam veterans have gone to VA centers reporting symptoms of PTSD "30 years after the war," said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, deputy commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He recently visited El Paso.That report came out in October of 2007. The other report coming out in 2007 that was also important is there veterans committing suicide was considered an epidemic and even back then this was reported,
It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)
As you can see, with all the money spent and bills congress already passed, nothing has changed. The rate is still double the civilian rate.
The other thing that far too many fail to acknowledge is that civilians have PTSD and TBI too however, even though veterans are only 7% of that population they account for double the rate of civilians committing suicide. Yes, that is a very important fact omitted from people trying to push an agenda. The other factor is that the majority veterans committing suicide are 50 and over.
“Acting without knowing takes you right off the cliff.” ― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
On TBI this is from the CDC
In 2010, about 2.5 million emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, or deaths were associated with TBI—either alone or in combination with other injuries—in the United States.The 2.5 million is gathered from emergency room visits and not diagnoses. This is a good article on TBI and concussions
This is from the Brain Trauma Foundation
Every year, approximately 52,000 deaths occur from traumatic brain injury.
An estimated 1.5 million head injuries occur every year in the United States emergency rooms. a
An estimated 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports-related TBIs occur each year.
At least 5.3 million Americans, 2% of the U.S. population, currently live with disabilities resulting from TBI.
Notice how they separated sports away from the other figure?
I am one of them. I had TBI before they called it that way, way back in the days when they were not sure what else a head injury could do. After I got out of the hospital at the ripe age of 4, soon my parents figured out my brain wasn't the same. I developed a speech impediment and spelling issues. (If you read Wounded Times often, I'm sure you noticed that) I also had memory problems. I had to learn how to push things I didn't need to remember anymore out of my head. I still have to do it but somehow manage to remember things these folks can't.
There you have the essence of what has actually been going on. I don't know about where Chiarelli sits but it stinks to high heaven from here!
“So in sum, what are we? We are the creatures that know and know too much. That leaves us with such a burden again we have a choice, to laugh or cry. No other animal does either. We do, depending on the season and the need.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
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