Combat Stress Forced To Make Cuts Over Donor Fatigue?

Veterans left in cold by ‘donor fatigue’
Sunday Times UK
Andrew Gilligan
August 28, 2016

Thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other problems are to be “abandoned” by Britain’s main mental health charity for ex-service personnel.

Military veterans say that Combat Stress provides a unique service

Combat Stress is to close its welfare service and make its welfare officers redundant in a move affecting up to 3,000 traumatised veterans. The charity says the cuts have been forced on it by “donor fatigue” and falling income.

Welfare officers at Combat Stress say they are the only regular point of contact for many mentally ill veterans, visiting, talking to and helping them access non-medical services such as housing, benefits and work.
read more here


Gee this makes sense,,,not. In the last decade all the new charities are getting all the attention, and money, for the new generation, but it is the older ones taking care of all generations of veterans being left behind.

Combat Stress History
We were founded in May 1919, just after the First World War. Our original name was the Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Society and we opened our first "recuperative home" in 1920 on Putney Hill in South West London.

Fort Lewis ‘stress relief dogs’ are bound for Iraq

Lewis ‘stress relief dogs’ are bound for Iraq
By Adam Ashton - The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune via AP
Posted : Saturday Feb 12, 2011 12:35:16 EST
TACOMA, Wash. — As far as retrievers go, Zack is exceptionally impervious to distraction.

He calmly walked at his handler’s side through a training ground at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Friday while automatic weapons and cannons fired in the background.

He greeted teams of camouflaged soldiers and offered his golden head for petting.

Zack is one of two dogs preparing for a mission in Iraq with a medical company charged with providing stress relief for deployed soldiers. The canines’ job is to draw out soldiers who normally would avoid a therapist or to just give someone a break from thinking about a long tour in the desert.

Soldiers are “built to be strong, so we go to them,” said Capt. Andrea Lohmann, who’s deploying with about 50 members of the 98th Medical Company and bringing a stress-relief black Labrador named Butch.

Zack and Butch will be the seventh and eighth stress-relief dogs provided to the Army for combat deployments since 2007 from VetDogs, a New York-based nonprofit that also gives specially trained canines to disabled veterans.

The animals are “icebreakers” for the therapists and psychiatrists who walk through bases and check in on soldiers. People who’ve worked with the pets say the sight of a wagging tail can lift a soldier’s spirits.
read more here
Lewis stress relief dogs are bound for Iraq

Will new stress hotline work for Marines?

New stress hot line launched for Marines
January 17, 2011 8:35 PM
BY GUNNERY SGT. BILL LISBON - SPECIAL TO YUMA SUN
An anonymous “by Marine/for Marine” hot line was recently launched to help deal with various stress-related issues before they lead to serious Corps-crippling problems such as suicide, substance abuse and domestic violence.

Dubbed “DStress,” the service lets Marines seek assistance from “one of our own” to build skills necessary to cope with the widely varying challenges of life in the Corps and the inevitable stress of combat, according to a Marine Administrative Message released Monday.

Besides a toll-free hot line via telephone and Skype, Dstressline.com allows Marines to help themselves to information and resources. A live online chat feature is also expected to launch by the end of January.

“If this DStress line saves one Marine or one family member, then it is well worth it,” said Sgt. Maj. Michael S. Timmerman with the Marine Corps' Personal and Family Readiness Division.

The counselors on the other end of the line are veteran Marines, Navy corpsmen who've served in the Fleet Marine Force or civilian counselors specifically trained in Marine Corps culture, said Timmerman, who briefed air station leaders here on the program last month.

The hot line won't be a crutch or a way to escape personal responsibility, said Timmerman. Instead, counselors will help callers set goals to deal with the stress, provide resources or referrals and follow up to see how they are doing.

“We want this to be that personal,” said Timmerman.
read more here
New stress hot line launched for Marines

UK Veterans wait, on average, more than 14 years before seeking help

Dannatt: traumatic stress a 'stark reality'
By Channel 4 News
Updated on 11 March 2010


Prince Charles launches a £30m fundraising campaign to treat psycological problems of former service personnel, the former army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt tells Channel 4 News that post traumatic stress is a "stark reality" for many ex-soldiers.


Combat Stress, which has been operating for ninety years, is actively assisting more than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns.

The charity receives more than one thousand referrals a year, and said the The Enemy Within campaign would raise awareness of mental health issues among ex-soldiers, and provide community outreach teams across the country.

Veterans wait, on average, more than 14 years before seeking help and there are fears that demand is likely to increase.
read more here
Traumatic stress a stark reality

Younger soldiers under stress more likely to get help

Younger soldiers under stress more likely to get help
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, June 9, 2009
MADAIN, Iraq — Spc. Richard Wahl is married with two kids and a baby due in August.

When his wife developed a serious condition a few weeks ago, the young couple weren’t sure what to do. The crisis came down to geography.

"I was here," he said. "And she was there."

Wahl, 20, of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment is on his first tour in Iraq.

About half of the battalion has deployed previously, some, multiple times. For the most part, those soldiers are dealing with this tour fairly well, said the battalion chaplain, Capt. Mike Smith.

But the soldiers who more often seek help are younger, privates or corporals, who are experiencing Iraq for the first time, said Lt. Col. Avery Davis, the chief of physical medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. He is attached to the battalion for a year as its primary doctor.

These younger soldiers, some still teenagers, are experiencing their first serious relationships, their first serious jobs and their first time away from home — all in a war zone. That mix can turn into anger, lethargy or something more dangerous if left alone, Smith and Davis said.

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PTSD:General's story highlights combat stress

Gen. Carter Ham, to call him a hero would be putting it mildly. He's a hero to the troops not just because he's a high ranking officer, but because he is willing to speak out on having PTSD. That is a kind of courage very few in his position are willing to do.

When men like my husband came home from Vietnam, they knew something had changed inside of them but they didn't know what it was. They suffered in silence just as generations before them suffered. When PTSD was first used in 1976 with a study commissioned by the DAV, news was slowly reaching the veterans. While they fought to have it recognized as wound caused by their service, it was very difficult to talk about. The perception that there was something wrong with them kept too many from even seeking help to heal.

After 26 years of doing outreach work and 24 years of marriage, my husband finally reached the point when he was ready for me to actually use my married legal name. Up until now it was almost as if he was ashamed to be wounded. Imagine that! What gave him the comfort was not anything I did. It came from seeing reports on the news and people he knows coming out, talking about it without any shame whatsoever. Hearing the courageous words from others is what brought him peace with PTSD. Because of great care from the VA, after a long battle with them, he's living a life instead of just existing in one slowly dying inside.

General Ham does not realize what he's just done by being willing to talk about this wound and normalize it. He's normal but combat and all other trauma related events are not part of normal life. It's all a normal reaction to abnormal events. Simple as that.

While there are still some commanders in the military today dismissing PTSD, calling it anything other than what it is, still exist and injure their troops, General Ham has shown what true care and leadership is. Plan on seeing a lot more veterans coming forward seeking help because of General Ham.

Senior Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.com coming soon!
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
www.youtube.com/NamGuardianAngel
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Then-Col. Gary Patton salutes during a service for Staff Sgt. Thomas Vitagliano, Pfc. George Geer and Pfc. Jesus Fonseca. The men died Jan. 17, 2005, in Ramadi.
By Joe Raedle, Getty Images

General's story highlights combat stress
USA Today - USA

By Tom Vanden Brook

Gen. Carter Ham was among the best of the best — tough, smart and strong — an elite soldier in a battle-hardened Army. At the Pentagon, his star was rising.

In Iraq, he was in command in the north during the early part of the war, when the insurgency became more aggressive. Shortly before he was to return home, on Dec. 21, 2004, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mess hall at a U.S. military base near Mosul and killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. troops. Ham arrived at the scene 20 minutes later to find the devastation.

When Ham returned from Mosul to Fort Lewis, Wash., in February 2005, something in the affable officer was missing. Loud noises startled him. Sleep didn't come easily.

"When he came back, all of him didn't come back. … Pieces of him the way he used to be were perhaps left back there," says his wife, Christi. "I didn't get the whole guy I'd sent away."

Today, Ham, 56, is one of only 12 four-star generals in the Army. He commands all U.S. soldiers in Europe. The stress of his combat service could have derailed his career, but Ham says he realized that he needed help transitioning from life on the battlefields of Iraq to the halls of power at the Pentagon. So he sought screening for post-traumatic stress and got counseling from a chaplain. That helped him "get realigned," he says.

"You need somebody to assure you that it's not abnormal," Ham says. "It's not abnormal to have difficulty sleeping. It's not abnormal to be jumpy at loud sounds. It's not abnormal to find yourself with mood swings at seemingly trivial matters. More than anything else, just to be able to say that out loud."

The willingness of Ham, one of the military's top officers, to speak candidly with USA TODAY for the first time about post-traumatic stress represents a tectonic shift for a military system in which seeking such help has long been seen as a sign of weakness.

It's also a recognition of the seriousness of combat stress, which can often worsen to become post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Scotland:Veterans’ charity at centre of two mental health initiatives

Veterans’ charity at centre of two mental health initiatives
Sunday Herald - Glasgow,Scotland,UK
By Rachelle Money
Ex-services personnel to benefit from projects led by Combat Stress
SCOTLAND IS leading the way in its treatment of war veterans with the announcement of two projects that will help those who continue to suffer from mental health problems after they leave the armed forces.

An Edinburgh-based pilot scheme, aimed at providing a one-stop shop for veterans, will launch in the new year. Another community-based outreach project looks set to help ex-servicemen and women across the country from April.

The First Point scheme in the capital will be delivered by NHS Lothian's Traumatic Stress Centre (formerly known as the Rivers Centre) and will be funded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the NHS. It will be run in conjunction with the charity Combat Stress, which runs the only Scottish-based treatment centre, in Ayrshire. A Combat Stress welfare officer will visit the project once a week and veteran mentors will also offer support to those using the service.
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Stress Management Important Throughout Military Careers

Stress Management Important Throughout Military Careers
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2008 - The Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control is teaching sailors and Marines how to deal with everyday and combat-related stress starting at the beginning of their military careers, a senior Navy official said.
The center recently was established at Naval Medical Center San Diego to address the issues of psychological health by improving care for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, but also how to effectively teach sailors and Marines to recognize the signs of stress.

"The idea of the center is ... not only to help sailors and Marines in distress, but to promote good stress management and promote psychological health so it starts when ... people come into boot camp and [lasts] all of the way until they graduate from war college," Navy Capt. (Dr.) Paul Hammer, the center's director, said Aug. 7 in an interview on Dot-Mil-Docs radio show hosted on BlogTalkRadio.com.

"The idea is that we get past the concept of just dealing with things when they are in crisis and hopefully promote a system of addressing stress and addressing our ability to cope with it so we rarely get into a crisis mode," Hammer said.

According to the Navy Bureau of Medicine's Combat/Operational Stress Cell, the signs of operational stress can be sudden or build up over time. Combat stress can happen suddenly when a sailor or Marine encounters immediate danger or it can build up from things such as lack of adequate sleep, loud or constant noise, extreme heat or cold -- things that make life in combat stressful. Stress can have harmful effects on a sailors' or Marines' bodies, minds and actions, he said. It also can directly affect how sailors or Marines deal with others—friends or enemies.

"Combat stress, of course, is the stress that occurs when you are in combat -- the extreme set of circumstances when your life is in danger and when you have to [make] life and death ... decisions quickly ... and when you are under extreme pressure," Hammer said.

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Remote-control warriors suffer war stress

Remote-control warriors suffer war stress
By SCOTT LINDLAW – 1 hour ago

MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. (AP) — The Air National Guardsmen who operate Predator drones over Iraq via remote control, launching deadly missile attacks from the safety of Southern California 7,000 miles away, are suffering some of the same psychological stresses as their comrades on the battlefield.

Working in air-conditioned trailers, Predator pilots observe the field of battle through a bank of video screens and kill enemy fighters with a few computer keystrokes. Then, after their shifts are over, they get to drive home and sleep in their own beds.

But that whiplash transition is taking a toll on some of them mentally, and so is the way the unmanned aircraft's cameras enable them to see people getting killed in high-resolution detail, some officers say.

In a fighter jet, "when you come in at 500-600 mph, drop a 500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said Col. Albert K. Aimar, who is commander of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing here and has a bachelor's degree in psychology. But when a Predator fires a missile, "you watch it all the way to impact, and I mean it's very vivid, it's right there and personal. So it does stay in people's minds for a long time."

He said the stresses are "causing some family issues, some relationship issues." He and other Predator officers would not elaborate.
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Mental wounds said to raise war casualties tenfold

Military Update: Mental wounds said to raise war casualties tenfold

By Tom Philpott

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, charged Bush administration officials Wednesday with continuing to downplay the mental trauma and brain injuries suffered by veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Filner said an April RAND Corp. study, "Invisible Wounds of War -- Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery," justifies a tenfold jump in the U.S. casualty count versus the figure of 33,000 American dead and wounded used by the Pentagon.

RAND researchers extrapolated from a survey they conducted of 1,965 veterans to conclude that nearly 300,000 service members and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars are suffering from post-traumatic stress or major depression. Filner told the pair of researchers, who had summarized their findings for his committee, that their work probably understates the problem.

"I personally think these are low estimates, just from my own studies," Filner said. "But if you take even the 300,000, (it's) 10 times the official casualty statistics from the Pentagon. Shouldn't this 300,000 be included?"
go here for more
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUN08/nf061408-4.htm

As posted here way too many times,,,,take the numbers from Vietnam, toss in the 50% increase risk of PTSD for each re-deployment and you get a number no one is ready for. If you think there isn't enough room, staff, claims workers and mental health workers now, try doing it for over a million. This is not even including the older veterans the outreach work is finally reaching.

Many Frontline Troops Turn To Meds To Cope

Many Frontline Troops Turn To Meds To Cope
David Martin: They're Using Anti-Depressants, Sleeping Pills To Combat Stress Of Battle

June 10, 2008


(CBS) As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, we're learning that a large number of troops are turning to medication to deal with the stress of battle.

Each year, between 20 and 40 soldiers are evacuated from war zones for mental problems brought on by combat, says CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin, and many more stay in the battle with the help of medication.

A recent survey found 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq reported taking either anti-depressants or sleeping pills. That works out to about 19,000 soldiers, half of them using anti-depressants.

"We are in new territory," Martin quoted an Army psychiatrist as saying, meaning, Martin explained, that never before have anti-depressants without dangerous side effects been available to soldiers facing repeated combat tours.

Starting in the late 1980s, anti-depressants that didn't cause dizziness, drowsiness and other complications began to come on the market. Then, Martin observed, came Iraq and Afghanistan, with their multiple combat tours and demands for increasing numbers of troops -- and the Pentagon approved prescribing drugs such as Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil for soldiers who otherwise might have to be evacuated from the war zone.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has become one of the signature wounds of this war," Martin pointed out. "Now, anti-depressants are emerging as one of the signature medications."

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Tuesday, "This high rate of the use of anti-depressants and sleeping pills is really just a symptom of a deeper problem. We're sending folks back over and over again in a tremendously stressful environment, and it's taking its toll. The anti-depressants and sleeping pills are one way that the military and the individuals are trying to meet that threat."
go here for more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/earlyshow/main4168696.shtml

America's Chemically Modified 21st Century Soldiers

America's Chemically Modified 21st Century Soldiers

By Clayton Dach, Adbusters. Posted May 3, 2008.


Armed with potent drugs and new technology, a dangerous breed of soldiers are being trained to fight America's future wars.

Amphetamines and the military first met somewhere in the fog of WWII, when axis and allied forces alike were issued speed tablets to head off fatigue on the battlefield.

More than 60 years later, the U.S. Air Force still doles out dextro-amphetamine to pilots whose duties do not afford them the luxury of sleep.

Through it all, it seems, the human body and its fleshy weaknesses keep getting in the way of warfare. Just as in the health clinics of the nation, the first waypoint in the military effort to redress these foibles is a pharmaceutical one. The catch is, we're really not that great at it. In the case of speed, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency itself notes a few unwanted snags like addiction, anxiety, aggression, paranoia and hallucinations. For side-effects like insomnia, the Air Force issues "no-go" pills like temazepam alongside its "go" pills. Psychosis, though, is a wee bit trickier.

Far from getting discouraged, the working consensus appears to be that we just haven't gotten the drugs right yet. In recent years, the U.S., the UK and France -- among others -- have reportedly been funding investigations into a new line-up of military performance enhancers. The bulk of these drugs are already familiar to us from the lists of substances banned by international sporting bodies, including the stimulant ephedrine, non-stimulant "wakefulness promoting agents" like modafinil (aka Provigil) and erythropoietin, used to improve endurance by boosting the production of red blood cells.

As the chemical interventions grow bolder and more sophisticated, we should not be surprised that some are beginning to cast their eyes beyond droopy eyelids and sore muscles. Chief among the new horizons is the alluring notion of psychological prophylactics: drugs used to pre-empt the often nasty effects of combat stress on soldiers, particularly that perennial veteran's bugaboo known as post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome. In the U.S., where roughly two-fifths of troops returning from combat deployments are presenting serious mental health problems, PTSD has gone political in form of the Psychological Kevlar Act, which would direct the Secretary of Defense to implement "preventive and early-intervention measures" to protect troops against "stress-related psychopathologies."

Proponents of the "Psychological Kevlar" approach to PTSD may have found a silver bullet in the form of propranolol, a 50-year-old beta-blocker used on-label to treat high blood pressure, and off-label as a stress-buster for performers and exam-takers. Ongoing psychiatric research has intriguingly suggested that a dose of propranolol, taken soon after a harrowing event, can suppress the victim's stress response and effectively block the physiological process that makes certain memories intense and intrusive. That the drug is cheap and well tolerated is icing on the cake.

Propranolol has already been dubbed the "mourning after pill," largely by those who argue that its military use amounts to medicating away pangs of conscience. For the time being, though, we can set aside our dystopian visions of zombies with guns, since the tranquilizing effects of beta-blockers are unlikely to permit their widespread use on the battlefield. But pharmacology moves more swiftly with each passing year -- especially when helped along by defense-research dollars -- and we may need to revive those visions sooner than we think.
go here for more
http://www.alternet.org/story/84178/

How America Really Treats Combat Vets Part 3

How America Really Treats Combat Vets: A Marine's Story Part 3 (VIDEO)
Tim King Salem-News.com
A Marine Corps Iraq combat vet is placed in a jail "Unfit for insurgent prisoners" for growing marijuana plants that help him deal with PTSD.


So much for having a sense of humor; in Iraq combat
Marines had Phil Northcutt's back. Here in the states he
is a criminal for growing medical marijuana

(SALEM, Ore.) - In part one of this special three-part series report, we learned that Marine Corps Sergeant Phillip Northcutt of Long Beach, California, began his enlistment in the Marines in 1998 as the platoon "Honorman" or "Guide" - serving with honor during a volunteer one year "recall" tour of duty, and was injured in Iraq. In Part 2 it was revealed that police in Southern California like to arrest Marines, and that they don't know their own legal system.

This is part 3 in a special series on Marine Corps Sergeant Phil Northcutt, whose life went from Marine combat hero in Iraq, to homeless felon in California, simply because he used the only thing that helped him deal with Post traumatic Stress Disorder: legal medical marijuana.

While the DEA remains on point as anti-marijuana crusaders, Southern California law authorities seem to have it in for the Marines, and there are a great many of us who have suffered the wrath for our association with the eagle, globe and anchor in both LA and Orange Counties. It makes little sense, but is still the case. The marijuana element just aggravates an already volatile relationship.

It is all part of the false rhetoric from people who do not support those that fight for our country, and it extends from the ranks of officers on the streets of cities like Long Beach, straight into the court system. The bottom line is that the LA County Jail is not fit for animals. The ACLU knows it, anyone unfortunate enough to ever have to venture inside knows it, and it sure as hell isn't a fit place to put a national hero like Phil Northcutt.
go here for more
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april122008/ptsd_phil_4-9-08.php

Troop mental health suffering in Afghanistan

Troop Depression on Rise in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.

And in a recurring theme for a force strained by its seventh year at war, the annual battlefield study found once again that soldiers on their third and fourth tours of duty had sharply greater rates of mental health problems than those on their first or second deployments, according to several officials familiar with the report.

All spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the findings ahead of the study's release Thursday.

The report was drawn from the work of a team of mental health experts who traveled to the wars last fall and surveyed more than 2,200 soldiers in Iraq and nearly 900 in Afghanistan. In the fifth such effort, the team also gathered information from more than 400 medical professionals, chaplains, psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health workers serving with the troops.

Officials said they found rates of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-combat stress were similar to those found the previous year in Iraq, when nearly 30 percent of troops on repeat tours said they suffered a problem.
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Airman kills his 2 kids then self

Divorced US Air Force computer expert kills his 2 young children, himself at base housing
The Associated Press
Published: February 27, 2008
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma: A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself.

Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer in the shootings Monday.

His former wife had filed an order of protection against him last year, saying he had threatened to kill 4-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Jourdain if she filed for divorce.

Thorson had been under the care of a mental health professional, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson said. She would not say whether his mental problems were related to stress from his crumbling marriage or his experiences in Iraq.

Armed with a 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol and a stun gun, Thorson, 35, chased his ex-wife, Michelle Thorson, out of the house before shooting his children and committing suicide, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said.

go here for the rest
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Base-Shootings.php
linked from
http://icasualties.org/oif/

"People aren't designed to be exposed to the horrors of combat repeatedly"

Casey: Deployments strain Army recruiting, retention

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The stress of repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan is beginning to show in the declining quality of Army recruits, retention of midlevel officers, desertions and other factors such as suicide, the Army's top general said Tuesday.

Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said his primary concern is the loss of captains. The Army invests about 10 years to develop them. An effort in the fall of 2007 to entice 14,000 of them to extend their commitments fell short by about 1,300, he said.

"People aren't designed to be exposed to the horrors of combat repeatedly, and it wears on them," Casey said. "There's no question about that."

Casey commanded U.S. troops in Iraq from 2004 to 2007. Since taking the Army's top post, he has spoken about the stress of repeated deployments. He highlighted some trends that show deepening strains.
go here for the rest
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-02-19-casey_N.htm

Price That's Paid: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Price That's Paid: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008 - 06:16 PM


By Alice Massimi
E-mail | Biography
Not all battle scars are visible.
It's estimated that as many as fifteen percent of troops returning from war suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

WSAV's Military Reporter Alice Massimi brings us the story of a former Third Infantry Division soldier who knows first hand the price of war.



Ian McCarty enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1995. Growing up in a small town in Florida Ian says he did it simply to get away. Never once did he think getting away would entail Iraq.

“It was during the very beginning of the invasion. I was with 1st BCT so we were on the front lines. We were the spearhead of the invasion,” Ian recalls.

Ian says that at first he was excited to go over, happy to be helping the people of Iraq but soon reality set in.

“My first time coming under fire, when you finally realize hey there are people out there trying to kill me and when you come very close to that it is a huge wake up call,” he recalls.

To make matters worse Ian was assigned the duty of being the casualty officer for his unit.

“It wasn't pleasant. I saw a lot of boys and young women who were you know, injured in the prime of their lives or killed and it was very heartbreaking.”

All images and emotions Ian took home with him.

“Nightmares just horrible nightmares that would just keep me up all night,” Ian explains.

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Marines sending mental health teams to Iraq

Mental health teams deploying to frontlines with Marines in Iraq


8:30 a.m. February 10, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON – Navy Chaplain Dick Pusateri has witnessed the stress of war on the faces of troops put in harm's way daily, in the strained relationships of families facing long deployments and the confessions of men shaken by the human cost of war.
For too long, chaplains were among the few people combat Marines felt they could turn to in a crisis.

The Navy and Marine Corps aim to change that by sending teams of mental health professionals to the frontlines this month, after studies showed a jump in the past five years in cases of combat-related mental health disorders, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Now is the time to adjust fire,” the generals wrote in a letter to the commandant. “We must shift the current direction of combat/operational stress control efforts to a more holistic, nested enabling strategy that provides a sound, unified approach.”

The Army adopted a similar approach last year, and has been deploying behavioral health specialists to patrol with its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“What is probably new here is that we want to address it close on the frontlines, and thereby return people both back to combat and back to society healthy,” said Navy Capt. Mike Maddox, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force surgeon.

The push to make the program permanent comes after a report by the Institute of Medicine found post traumatic stress disorder is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder among veterans. It affected an estimated 13 percent of those returning from Iraq and 6 percent from Afghanistan.

Figures released by the Marine Corps show a fourfold increase in the number of Marines diagnosed with PTSD – from 394 in 2003 to 1,669 to 2006.

“If we identify a stress and if we can treat it close to the unit, it's less likely that person will be sent back, medivaced out of there,” said Cmdr. David Oliver, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force psychiatrist.

click post title for the rest

This sounds like one of the best ways to address PTSD. So why do I read it with a lot of skepticism? Because there have been almost five years of reports like this. I hope they get it right this time and it's not just a publicity stunt some PR firm dreamed up to make them look like they care.



May 2007

Defense Department Releases Findings of Mental Health Assessment
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, May 4, 2007 – The military has a robust system in place to deal with mental health issues, but longer and more frequent deployments are causing strain on servicemembers, a Defense Department study has found.

Navy Rear Adm. Richard Jeffries, medical officer of the Marine Corps, responds to a reporter's question during a May 4 Pentagon news briefing concerning the release of findings from the latest Mental Health Advisory Team survey. The survey -- the fourth conducted since 2003, assesses the mental health of deployed U.S. Army and Marine Corps troops in Iraq. Five top military doctors were on hand to explain details of the study.

The fourth Mental Health Advisory Team survey, MHAT IV as this survey was called, was conducted in August and September. For the first time, the survey included Marines in the study group. The MHAT was composed of behavioral health professionals who deployed to Iraq and surveyed soldiers, Marines, health care providers, and chaplains, Army Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, the acting surgeon general of the Army, told reporters at the Pentagon.

The MHAT IV team found that not all soldiers and Marines deployed to Iraq are at equal risk for screening positive for a mental health symptom, and the level of combat is the main determining factor of a servicemember’s mental health status, Pollock said. For soldiers, deployment length and family separation were the top non-combat deployment issues, whereas Marines had fewer non-combat deployment issues, probably because of their shorter deployment periods, she said.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=33055

Extended tours report from April 2007

Mental health worsens as deployments lengthen

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 26, 2007 17:37:50 EDT

A recently released survey of soldiers and Marines puts concrete numbers behind problems experts have worried about since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

Suicides are up among combat vets, mental health issues are worse among those who deploy often and for longer periods, and one out of 10 service members surveyed said they have hit or kicked non-combatant Iraqis or destroyed their property.

Only half said they would report another service member for hurting or killing an Iraqi civilian.

The survey also comes with a recommendation from mental health workers that seems to fly in the face of the recently extended deployment lengths and troop surge: “Extend the interval between deployments to 18 to 36 months or decrease deployment length to allow time for soldiers [and] Marines to mentally re-set.”

The findings come from an April 18 briefing prepared for Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway by Mental Health Advisory Team IV, operating under the auspices of Multi-National Force-Iraq, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times. MHAT IV used anonymous surveys and focus groups to analyze morale, health and well-being, and the ethical issues of deployed U.S. troops.

Soldiers and Marines who have faced the most combat situations, deployed for longer periods of time, and deployed more than once face more mental health issues, according to a survey of 1,320 soldiers and 447 Marines. Of those on a second, third or fourth deployment, 27 percent screened positive for mental health issues, compared to 17 percent of first-time deployers. And 22 percent of those in-theater for six months or more screened positive for mental health issues, compared to 15 percent of those who had been there fewer than six months.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_ptsd_survey_0426w/

The facts and time prove the Battlemind Training does not work

March, 2005
AMEDD Adapts To Needs Of Times
By Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, MC, USA

BY LT. GEN. KEVIN C. KILEY, MC, USA
Army Surgeon General
Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command


Today, our soldiers, families, health professionals and elected leaders are more aware of mental-health needs. We are committed to ensuring all returning veterans receive the physical and behavioral health services they require. More patients are seeking behavioral health support as we offer them more opportunities to solicit assistance.

Behavioral health researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have surveyed combat units and developed data regarding mental-health needs of soldiers before, during and after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year they published findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association that accurately described mental-health status and noted improvements in the availability of mental-health services for soldiers during and after deployment.

It is critical that we help our soldiers prepare for war, and when they return from the war zones of the world we must help them ‘reset.’ To assist in this [area], researchers developed a comprehensive program, called ‘Battlemind Training,’ to train soldiers both pre- and post-deployment about what to expect at each phase of the deployment cycle, how to look out for the mental health of themselves and fellow unit members, and about the resources that are available for them to get help if they need it. Battlemind Training has been incorporated into the Army Deployment Cycle Support Program, and is given as part of the Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHRA) process.

One goal is to reduce the stigma long associated with mental health issues. Also, we must deal with the needs of families, as well as soldiers.

When a unit returned to Fort Lewis, Wash., last year, every soldier saw a psychologist, regardless of any reported mental health issues. Since everyone did it, it was seen as normal...no stigma. What’s more, Madigan Army Medical Center has implemented the Family Assessment for Maintaining Excellence (FAME) program, through which spouses of deployed solders are surveyed and, if needed, interviewed by mental health professionals.

At Tripler Army Medical Center, a new Soldier and Family Assistance Center provides easy access for mental health services under one ‘umbrella.’ Three new clinics were added for soldiers, children and adult family members.

One way to reach all soldiers, without stigma and with tight resources, is a new program we call ‘Respect-mil.’ Basically, family practitioners and physician assistants in our regular clinics will act as mental health counselors. With extra training and extra time to ask the right questions, our front-line medical force can screen most soldiers during routine visits.

http://www.usmedicine.com/column.cfm?columnID=248&issueID=72

And this was very interesting.
September 2007

Division Mental Health in the New Brigade Combat Team Structure: Part II. Redeployment and Postdeployment
Military Medicine, Sep 2007 by Warner, Christopher H, Breitbach, Jill E, Appenzeller, George N, Yates, Virginia, Et al

Objective: Recent Army transformation has led to significant changes in roles and demands for division mental health staff members. This article focuses on redeployment and postdeployment.

Methods: The postdeployment health assessment behavioral health screening and referral process and redeployment plan are reviewed, and data on postdeployment rates of negative events are reported.

Results: All soldiers and many of their families participated in an aggressive education program. Of the 19,500 soldiers screened, 2,170 (11.1%) were referred for behavioral health consultation; of those referred, 219 (10.1%) were found to be at moderate or high risk for mental health issues (1.1% of total screened). Of the moderate/high-risk soldiers, 146 (71.9%) accepted follow-up mental health treatment upon return to home station. Fewer cases of driving under the influence, positive drug screens, suicidal gestures/attempts, crimes, and acts of domestic violence were seen, in comparison with rates seen after an earlier deployment of this unit to Iraq. Conclusions: A formalized approach with command support and coordination can have a positive impact on successful referral and treatment and reduce negative postdeployment events.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3912/is_200709/ai_n21033346

Battlemind has been a bust but they still use it. The numbers of suicides in Iraq have gone up as well as those who commit suicide when they come home. There have been suicides in Afghanistan as well. This does not even address any of the veterans who committed suicide after they were discharged by the DOD and before they were added to the VA records. With the numbers of troops coming back with PTSD they sure aren't preventing any of it either. Not that they could but if they addressed it as soon as trauma hit, they would have a better chance. That would mean they would have to have at least one mental health professional in every group going on patrol. They don't have enough to even come close to having one in every unit.

From Military Operational Medicine Reseach Program

Battlemind Training on New WRAIR-Psych Website
“Battlemind” is a Soldier’s inner strength to face adversity, fear, and hardship during combat with confidence and resolution; it is the will to persevere and win. Battlemind skills and strengths sustain the Soldier on the battlefield but if these skills and strengths are not adapted for the home environment problems can arise. Realistic transition training is critical to the mental health and well being of Soldiers, their units and families. New mental health tools for helping Soldiers transition through the different phases of their service careers are being made available on the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Psychiatry and Neuroscience website (http://www.wrair-psych.org/).

Department of Applied Neurobiology
Mission: Conducts research on militarily relevant brain trauma resulting from ballistic, blast or neurotoxin exposures and identifies neuroprotection strategies. Research utilizes animal models (rodent and non-human primates), neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, behavioral protocols, and cellular and molecular biology techniques.
Current and future plans include

1) establish a prototype rapid triage and diagnostic tool for combat casualty care (CCC) (titled Biomarker Assessment for Neurotrauma Diagnosis and Improved Triage System; BANDITS),

2) test advanced development neuroprotection therapeutics in several experimental models of brain trauma,

3) investigate the role of cortical spreading depression as a mechanism of secondary injury following brain trauma,

4) study the mechanisms of penetrating ballistic brain injuries in a new rodent model,

5) test experimental therapeutics in limiting and preventing sequelae of silent brain seizures,

6) test neuropsychological consequences of chemical warfare nerve agent (CWNA) exposures and development countermeasures in rodents and non-human primates.

More…

Battlemind Training materials include brochures, briefings, instructor materials, and a video to aid Soldiers with the stresses and strains of initial entry, deployment, and returning home. Currently available materials and those in development can be used for Soldiers, Leaders, National Guard/Reserves, and families.

Soldier Battlemind
Leader Battlemind
Spouse Battlemind
Helping Professional Battlemind
Soldier PDHRA Battlemind Video
Additional Resources
Unit Needs Assessment Training Materials
Unit Behaviorial Health Needs Assessment Survey (UBHNAS)
Unit Needs Assessment Manual
Unit Needs Assessment Validation
Research Reports


The goal of this training is to develop a realistic preview, in the form of a briefing, of the stresses and strains of deployment on Soldiers. Four training briefs have been developed and are available for Soldiers, Leaders, National Guard/Reserves, and families.

(http://www.battlemind.org/)

http://www.momrp.org/battlemind_announce.htm

When will they notice this did not work?

UK: Iraq veterans are denied help for combat trauma

Iraq veterans are denied help for combat trauma


Mark Townsend, defence correspondent
Sunday February 3, 2008
The Observer


Hundreds of veterans, including many who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being denied vital help by the government to cope with the psychological fallout of war.
Despite ministerial pledges to improve support for British soldiers suffering mental health problems, veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are still not receiving funding for specialist medical treatment.

Combat Stress, a charity that assists veterans with mental health issues, is dealing with a 27 per cent increase in GP referrals of veterans - 1,200 new cases a year. More than half of those reporting psychotic nightmares, depression and suicidal thoughts have not been granted a war pension and are, therefore, not eligible for specialist psychiatric help.
go here for the rest
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2251615,00.html

When will they understand this wound gets worse without being treated? How can they be so willing to lose time and allow the wound to cut deeper?

Baylor researchers collaborate with rats for PTSD study

I found the following from Baylor Proud blog. Nice blog. Check it out when you get a chance here.

Baylor researchers working to treat PTSD
Researchers from Baylor, Texas A&M and the US Department of Veteran Affairs are working together to treat and possibly prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the collaborators recently received $2.7 million from the federal

I keep hoping to read something inventive, something promising, something that gives one single indication the "researchers" have a clue what PTSD is. Every time it turns out to be a waste of time to read it. They keep going over things that have been done over to death for over 30 years! When will they really start to take a look at the people who have PTSD and take it from there?

Endeavors

Searching For The Source

Baylor researchers collaborate to treat-and possibly prevent-post-traumatic stress disorder.

By Franci Rogers


As an intern at a Veterans Affairs hospital seven years ago, Matthew Schobert encountered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the first time.

A Vietnam veteran had been admitted to the hospital for a routine medication adjustment. Schobert recalls that the man exhibited some of the classic symptoms of the disorder: he was distant and reserved, and he chose to remain silent most of the time, especially about his time in combat. His case made an impression on Schobert, who was then a graduate student at Baylor University's School of Social Work, and sparked an interest in the mental health issues of those who have served in the military.

Schobert earned his Master of Social Work degree in 2002, in addition to his Master of Divinity degree from Truett Seminary (1999), and now works at the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center as a licensed clinical social worker in the acute psychiatric unit. He continues to see PTSD patients, including a new influx from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While Schobert sees veterans and active duty personnel with a variety of mental health issues, he often wonders about the causes of PTSD.

"I have some friends who have had three deployments, and they talk about the graphic and difficult things they've seen, but they are just fine," Schobert says. "And there are others who have been deployed once, but when they come back I see symptoms of PTSD and encourage them to talk to someone. It makes you wonder why."

Researchers at Baylor are hoping to help find that answer.


Investigating PTSD


Last fall, Baylor, Texas A&M University and the VA received a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materials Command to study PTSD. A portion of the three-year grant will fund research in neuroscience and computer science at Baylor.


PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Although many people associate PTSD with military combat, any kind of life-threatening event can create the trauma. Survivors of natural disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina), terrorist attacks (such as 9/11), and physical or sexual assaults can experience PTSD. Even witnesses to such events, such as first responders or military personnel, can develop PTSD. While it is natural to be stressed and anxious after a traumatic event, people who develop PTSD exhibit chronic symptoms which don't subside and begin to interfere with day-to-day life.


Those suffering from the disorder can exhibit a variety of symptoms. They may have flashbacks of the incident, become hyper-vigilant, suffer from social anxiety, be prone to impulsive behavior, avoid normal activities, be unable to sleep or eat, and/or suffer from depression. They are more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs, become unemployed and have marital problems.


The treatment for the disorder, according to the National Center for PTSD, can include psychotherapy (or talk therapy), medication or both. But it can be difficult to treat.


That's why Baylor researchers are excited about their work. Not only could their research help those already living with PTSD, but it could also help prevent it.

go here for the rest
http://www.baylormag.com/dept.php?id=000686

The rates of PTSD have always been one out of three. At least that was the rate from the last thirty years. Doesn't matter the source of the trauma but one thing that comes out more often is that people who are exposed to it more get hit harder by it.

Combat is number one. That's because they not only participate in it, they are exposed to it over and over again. It's not just once during a deployment, but many times. Redeployments increase the risk by 50%. This is why we have such high numbers in combat veterans, plus you also have the survival rate keeping more severely wounded alive.

Down the list you find police, firefighters and other emergency responders. Think of the traumatic events they are exposed to, again more than once. Some have their entire careers with one traumatic event after another.

Researchers have to be serious about all of this. Rats do not try to save lives. Rats do not bond to others, yet rats and animals they have been studying for years show trauma symptoms. That does not mean it's PTSD but it does mean it's animal instinct. Remember the Christmas tsunami and the reports of animals heading up to higher ground before it hit? They had elephants picking people up with their trunks and taking them to safer ground. Dogs have saved people. They use dogs to sense when a seizure is coming in epileptic people. Animals experience trauma but trauma does not hit all animals turning them into timid creatures. It makes some of them angry enough to kill. The day they can study a rat having a flashback is the day I give them credit for trying.

I've talked to these guys for 25 years. It comes down to this. There are three types of basic personalities. Selfish, sensitive and a mix of both. As with anything it depends on the degrees of the personality. The selfish will survive trauma, feel lucky like they deserved to live because they were born untouchable mattering more in the grand program than others. The mixed ones feel that way too but see a purpose in their survival and they go off to help the others. That is their focus, not themselves as much as what they can do.

The really sensitive people take it all in. They don't feel lucky to be alive as much as they are sickened by what happened. They want to help and usually do, but they feel it all in the walls of their soul. They take in the sites, sounds, smells and all are born within them. You don't want this kind of "birth pang" that's for sure.

They say that no one comes back from combat the same way and everyone is changed. That's true but no on comes out of any kind of trauma the same way. Life changes people. The next time "researchers" try to tell you that they found the answer to PTSD in rats, then they can figure out how to send them into combat and let them prove it.


Here is a case to point to.

A Mother's Mission

While serving in Iraq, Noah Pierce survived the bombs, the snipers, and countless encounters with the enemy.

But his family and friends say it was the guilt that finally overcame him.

"The demons and the pain...he's too sensitive," said his mother, Cheryl Softich. "He couldn't handle the innocents that were killed, the kids he got attached to. He was a good boy, he had a heart."

When Noah came home from Iraq in April of 2006, he was 22. He had served two tours of duty there; two years of his young life. He tried to readjust to life back in Eveleth. He went hunting with his step-dad, and partied with friends.

But it was difficult. Noah was depressed, he suffered from nightmares, and drank to get through the days. Doctors diagnosed him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. They recommended he get counseling. But he didn't go, instead spending much of his time convincing himself and others that he was getting better.

go here for the rest

http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S302385.shtml?cat=10349

You can say that being sensitive makes them weak but it doesn't. It just makes them feel it all. They are not cowards or they wouldn't have joined. They are the kind of people who think they can make a difference and that's why they join. Talk about bravery! Wanting to change something like they are willing to go into takes either the most brave or the most foolish. The men and women who develop PTSD have it hit them because of what happened to them as well as what happened to others. Flashbacks when it is caused by combat trauma comes with the harm being done to others more often than the harm done to them.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington