Cyanide Sally Satel still slamming PTSD veterans

Cyanide kills and if Satel has her way, more combat veterans will die instead of being treated. She insists that if a veteran is told they have PTSD they will just accept the payment from the VA and give up. After all, she thinks there is no incentive to be treated for it. What utter bullshit!

How many times do we have to read about veterans healing with the right treatment? How many times do we have to read about veterans not getting the help they need and taking their own lives? How many times do we have to read everything Satel avoids mentioning in her "expert" attacks against veterans?

For the last 29 years of my life, I've had one agenda, defeating PTSD. It has been hard as hell to get our veterans to seek help for what combat did to them. While the ravages of PTSD have been documented going all the way back to the Old Testament, there have been people just like Satel supporting the notion that a firing squad thins the ranks of malingers. She avoids the fact that Medal of Honor heroes and POWs from every war have suffered for their service and no amount of money ever eased their pain. Never once mentioning the fact that compensation from the DOD or the VA does not come close to what most of them make with a paycheck, the fact that income is fixed to the percentage of the disability they are given, which is usually much lower than their disability merits or the fact they have to live with no income until their claim is finally approved months or years after PTSD took hold.

Satel does not mention the studies published about the percentage of veterans not seeking help for PTSD.

The study found that only about a third of the veterans who appeared in need of health care for their PTSD or other mental health issues had actually received it in the previous year, meaning two-thirds of veterans in that area are going untreated.


Asked why they are not seeking help, many of the 913 veterans surveyed, all of whom had been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least once, mentioned the stigma of PTSD, which has persisted despite efforts by all branches of the military to move past it. Some veterans in the survey felt that seeking treatment could have a negative impact on their careers and some also raised concerns about the side effects of psychiatric medications given to treat PTSD.

Can she explain this one away?

After Garcia got home from a year in Vietnam in 1970, he had a hard time adjusting, he said.

"It was definitely a transition for me," he said. "I went over there 18 and came back feeling 40. My world had changed, and it took me a while to catch up with it," he said. "My family expected me to be the same kid I was. I felt like they had changed, and they felt like I had changed."

Garcia went through a rough adjustment time, and although he initially tried to connect with the VA system right when he returned, he got frustrated with long waits and shied away. It would be 30 years before he got linked with the VA through a veteran-service officer.
This is from this great article about our veterans and what they face.
Healing wars scars: New VA rules help local veterans with PTSD find relief Kate Nash | The New Mexican
Posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2011

That is the problem with people like Satel saying whatever she wants to support her agenda of harming veterans instead of getting them the help they need to heal. She has been cyanide to every effort made in the last 40 years to get them to seek help.

Sally L. Satel, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, is co-author of “The Health Disparities Myth: Diagnosing the Treatment Gap.”

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
The Wrong Way to Help Veterans
By SALLY L. SATEL
Published: August 19, 2011
IF all goes according to plan, by the end of the year, 10,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan will be home with their families — and their memories. As many as 20 percent of them will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, while suicide rates have reached tragic new highs among veterans. In response, the Department of Veterans Affairs has greatly expanded its mental health services and made veterans well aware that disability benefits are available.

It seems only logical that a veteran who thinks he has a long-lasting impairment as a result of military service would file a disability claim. The problem is that the system allows him to receive these benefits for a condition without ever having been properly treated for it. As a result, a system intended to speed up entitlements for veterans could end up hurting them.

Currently, for a disability determination, Veterans Affairs requires the claimant to go through a psychiatric exam, also known as a “comp and pension.” But the session typically lasts just 90 minutes and does not provide enough information for an examiner to make a firm decision about a veteran’s future function — that is, whether he or she will continue to be sick in a way that impairs the ability to work, and thus require compensation.
read more here if you can stand it

Sally Satel, Something evil this way comes

Sally Satel, Something evil this way comes
February 19, 2011 posted by Chaplain Kathie · Leave a Comment (Edit)
Sally Satel is still at it with the support from American Enterprise Institute. For years she’s been trying to say that PTSD is nothing more than veterans looking for an easy ride. She hasn’t changed and her claims remain that taking care of veterans with PTSD is a waste of money.

PRESS RELEASES
Veterans: What’s Wrong with Current Treatments?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 18, 2011
As the White House proposes a $7.2 billion allocation in its 2012 budget to fund research and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military veterans, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar and psychiatrist Sally Satel explains the number of problems with current PTSD treatments and proposes methods to optimize the use of PTSD funding.
Among Satel’s key points:
A “culture of clinical diagnosis” allows mental health examiners to diagnose a veteran’s level of disability before veterans have even begun rehab. This convinces the patient that future health is unattainable, and gives individual veterans dismal prospects for meaningful recovery even before a course of therapy.
Disability benefits themselves can sometimes cause inadvertent damage by incentivizing unemployment and dependency and discouraging veterans from returning to the civilian workforce.
Collaboration between the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) needs to improve. The VBA often aims to maximize veteran benefits while giving no attention to improving clinical treatment, while the VHA often focuses solely on treatment without properly assisting veterans with financial hardships.
Sally Satel can be reached at ssatel@aei.org (202.862.7154) or through her assistant at wistar.wilson@aei.org (202.862.4876). For all other media inquiries, please contact Hampton Foushee at hampton.foushee@aei.org (202.862.5806).
AEI’s in-house ReadyCam TV studio–for live and taped interviews–can be booked through VideoLink at 617.340.4300.

Another load of scholarly wisdom shoveled out on veteran’s heads. Guess she never met the veterans waiting for month after month, even years, to have a claim approved only to discover that a disability worthy of 100% will only receive 50% or less making them file an appeal and fight for the rest. This is not even addressing the fact that until they receive the disability rating, there is no income for them to live off of if they cannot work. This the case of PTSD, veterans usually cannot work because of the medications, flashbacks and nightmares and all around reduced quality of life.
read more here
Sally Satel, Something evil this way comes

Sally Satel Promoted Virtual Reality War Games

Dr. Sally Satel Promoted Virtual Reality War Games as a Treatment for PTSD
May 18, 2010 posted by Robert L. Hanafin
Recently we at Veterans Today have been getting a lot of feedback both positive and negative on the Pentagon’s experimentation with Virtual Reality War Games as a treatment for PTSD.

First let me say that I personally want to approach this with an open mind, heck I’m a strong, passionate supporter of Assistance, Service, and Companion Dogs for Vets and Troops as a treatment for PTSD but not as a exclusive approach. That said, not even the Pentagon is advocating the use of virtual reality combat simulations (war games) as the answer for PTSD, combat stress, or combat trauma but as a weapon in their arsenal for dealing with and helping troops cope with PTSD. After all the MISSION of military medicine is Force Readiness.

What I do caution are (1) Sally Satel has advocated this approach from the early stages of its development and that alone turns my radar of suspicion on, and (2) virtual reality is based on a commercial war game that is sold in Wal-Mart, K-Mart, even on Base and Post Exchanges, so why spend millions of tax payer bucks on a defense contract when military psychologist can just pay a few bucks to pick up a similar war game at the Bx or Px and tailor it to the patient’s PTSD symptoms?

Anyway, we at Veterans Today have decided to do a series of articles focusing on this latest development in state of the art technology to treat PTSD. I am going to do best I can to paint a balanced picture of the pros and cons leaving out my own personal bias and cautions, because as I said we should approach this open minded, fiscally prudent (is is cost effective per patient treated), exactly how does it differ from the War Games psychologist can buy or prescribe for their patients at the BX/PX, but most important how many active duty troops can they get to step forward and admit they have a problem using this attention getter?

Lastly, what are the implications, if any, for expansion of this treatment into the Department of Veterans Affairs? If PTSD is caught, treated, and troops even taught to cope with PTSD and stay on active duty, then eventually PTSD could become a thing of the past within the VA system. Are we talking cure here? Maybe, maybe not.

Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News Network
read more here
Dr Sally Satel Promoted Virtual Reality War Games

VAWatchdog takes on Sally Satel and AEI over PTSD

THINK-TANKER SATEL PUSHES "TREATMENT FIRST"
LEGISLATION FOR PTSD VETS -- "Treatment First Act"
would urge vets with mental health issues not to file
for VA disability but seek treatment instead.

Dr. Sally Satel of the American Enterprise Institute

by Larry Scott

Dr. Sally Satel is a psychiatrist, paid mouthpiece and think-tanker for the American Enterprise Institute. And, she's back in the news pushing her agenda to marginalize PTSD veterans.
This time she's joined by two old friends, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID). Burr is the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Craig was the Ranking Member until the Republican party removed him after he got caught playing tappy-toes with an undercover cop in an airport men's room.

Burr has introduced a bill (S. 2573) titled Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act. Craig is the only cosponsor of the bill.

Now, Satel, who is not known for her love of veterans or her ability for rational thought, has decided that "Treatment First" is a must for veterans with mental health issues. (For background on Sally Satel, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here... http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=satel&op=and )

Satel's basic premise is: Work will set you free. Seems to me I've heard that someplace. Satel says, "By abandoning work, the veteran deprives himself of its therapeutic value: a sense of purpose..."
Satel's web site is here... http://www.sallysatelmd.com/

Satel's email is... satel@sallysatelmd.com

The "Treatment First Act" will give a small allowance to vets with mental health problems who forego filing a VA disability compensation claim and enter treatment.

The "Treatment First Act" is just a way for the VA to save money by conning veterans into delaying filing a claim. Even if the veteran goes into treatment, and then a year later files a claim, a lot of money has been saved.

Also, this program would cause a shift in attitude at the Veterans' Benefits Administration (VBA) that handles claims. If a vet does not go into the program and just files a claim, it would be easy for a claims person at VBA to feel that the vet doesn't want to "get better" and then deliberately mishandle the claim, causing delays in compensation.

Below you will find two pieces of information. First is the Sally Satel opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal. Second is the Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act as posted on Thomas.
Satel opinion here...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120399050749092455.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

go here back to VAWatchdog

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfFEB08/nf022708-1.htm

Since when did Sally Satel care about PTSD veterans?

Since when did Sally Satel care about PTSD veterans?

A Helping Hand for Vets With PTSD

Sally Satel


The Wall Street Journal

Feb 29, 2008


February 26, 2008 - Imagine you are a young soldier wounded in Iraq. Your physical injuries heal, but your mind remains tormented. You are flooded with memories of the bloody firefight you survived, you can't concentrate, and sudden noise makes you jump out of your skin. At 23 years old, you are about to be discharged from the military, afraid you'll never again be able to hold a job or fully function in society.

For the thousands of young men and women who apply for disability benefits upon return from Iraq and Afghanistan, these fears are becoming a reality.

When a veteran files a psychiatric disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), an examiner is assigned to determine the extent of incapacitation. As part of the assessment, the examiner requests a psychiatric evaluation to obtain the veteran's diagnosis. Once the veteran is diagnosed with a service-related mental condition (typically depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or another anxiety disorder) the claims examiner assigns a disability rating.

The most severe level for a veteran leaving service is 100%. But even a 50% rating denotes significant impairment (e.g., "difficulty in understanding complex commands"), according to the Veterans Benefits Administration.
click post title for the rest


http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9456

From Aug. 15, 2006
BRAVO LARRY SCOTT,,,,FROM VA WATCHDOGDISSING PTSD VETERANS HAS BECOME A LIFESTYLE FOR DR. SALLYSATEL -- And, she's at it again in her latest "think-tank" article --"...new compensation awards will coincide with the retirement years..." --"...how to distinguish between...those who are seeking a free ride..." --"...some veterans' advocates...remain too ready...[for the] quickreach for the disability claims form..."Dr. Sally is on a roll again!In her latest article for the American Enterprise Institute "think-tank" she uses innuendo and negative buzz words to paint veterans with PTSD as losers, liars or both.Background here...


http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashes%20MAR%2006/
newsflash03-19-2006-4.htm
MAR%2006/newsflash03-19-2006-4.htm

Latest story here... http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.24781/pub_detail.aspfilter.all,pubID.24781/pub_detail.asp

Stressed out VetsBelieving the Worst about Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
By Sally Satel, M.D.
"Dear Dr. Satel: You are an ideologically constipated coward." So begins one of several dyspeptic communications I've received recently from Vietnam veterans and others.

What provoked their ire was a remark of mine quoted in the Washington Post on June 20.

Under the headline "Iraq War May Add Stress for Past Vets; Trauma Disorder Claims at New High," the article suggested that the current war is responsible for a surge in disability compensation among veterans' ranks.While I do agree that current news coverage may prompt anxiety, sleeplessness, and distressing memories among veterans who have led productive lives since leaving Vietnam, I told the Post I was "skeptical" that veterans who had functioned well for three decades would now be permanently incapacitated.

My sentiments are unpopular--you "right-wing, bloviating [expletive deleted] pseudo-psychiatrist," wrote another reader on his blog--but my point is actually an encouraging one. That is, even if veterans are undone by news and footage of fighting in Iraq, few are likely to endure a subsequent lifetime of chronic anguish or dysfunction of the kind that requires long-term disability entitlement............
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashes%20AUG%2006/newsflash08-15-2006-4.htm

Aug. 31, 2006
RIDE, SALLY, RIDE -- Dr. Sally Satel continues to ride PTSD veterans.From Slate.com: "Once a [veteran] receives a monthly check...hismotivation to hold a job wanes." --- "...a lingering threat areclinicians who are too quick...to reach for thepermanent disability claims form."go to VA Watchdog and read the rest of what this witch says.
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashes%20AUG%2006/newsflash08-30-2006-1.htm

For her information, as if she wants any real information when she can just keep claiming what she has in her own mind, no matter if it is based in fact or not. Let me tell you the story of a man named Jack who came home from Vietnam and went to work while his father told him to get over the clear signs of PTSD.He came home in 1971. He went to work, got married and separated more times than he can remember by the time we met. He still worked, off and on, as much as he could. Each job he applied for he looked for one thing, if he would have to spend his work time with anyone or not. He only applied when he would be able to be alone.In 1990 he was diagnosed by a private psychologist, who apparently was well informed regarding PTSD unlike Satel. The days of being unable to get off the couch because of nightmares hitting too hard followed by flashbacks were not enough to cause him to want to stop working. He wanted to work. He felt he was doing something with his life.

Finally in 1993, he agreed to go to the VA since they were the experts in PTSD. He was again diagnosed with PTSD and in the 98% range. He still wanted to work. This was followed by six years of claims and appeals. Once the VA diagnosed him with service connected PTSD, our private health insurance would no longer cover him for any mental health treatment. He was told it was the responsibility of the government.He was finally awarded disability from the VA for PTSD in 1999. Once this was finally given, he was able to file for protection from losing his job under Family and Medical Leave Act. He kept trying while his condition got worse. He still wanted to work no matter what his VA doctors told him about the added stress level to his condition. He kept trying. He ended up taking early retirement because of his disability.Jack is not unique, except to me, and like all others in the VA system, they make treatment impossible without an approved service connected disability rating. He made a lot more money working than he is on VA disability.

Now Satel can make any kind of outrageous claim she wants but we know what is reality. We know what it is when we live with it everyday of our lives. For her to claim this is an easy thing for any veteran proves she knows nothing about those who suffer with PTSD. One of the biggest things to these veterans is denial. They would rather do anything other than to admit they have PTSD. For her to slander any veteran claiming they get a free ride is beyond incompetence. She needs to have her credentials revoked. Satel should be brought before a committee to answer for the damage she has done to those with PTSD.I am sick and tired of fighting to get our veterans into treatment while Satel gets to harm them. There are too many Satels in positions supposedly seeking to help veterans and doing nothing but harm to them instead. These people need to be forced out the jobs they clearly have no business being in.

Dr. Sally Satan, is the Bush administration's EXPERT on PTSD

New VA finding: No liberal biased news limits PTSD stressors!
by Robert L. Hanafin, SP/5, U.S. Army (69-76)

The Deportment of Veterans Affairs (VA) yep, I spelled it correctly) says that Military Families and Troops that watch or listen to less ‘bad’ news from sensationalized media programs about Iraq limit their exposure to PTSD stressors.


Say what? Let us get this straight. If my military family listens to or watches only good news (meaning positive or optimistic NOT necessarily accurate or GOOD quality news, because there is no such thing) the brilliant Shrinks and Mental Health professionals at the VA assure us that we will endure less PTSD stressors. Hum-O-Ky-dokey!.

One more time, because my military family doesn't quite grasp this new VA finding. As long as we, hear of negative news on Iraq, see no negative news on Iraq, and touch no negative news on Iraq, we won't need to seek Life Skills, (I meanMental Health) treatment. I'm sorry but I just have to put that in the same catagory as VA PTSD rap sessions for all Vets, not just Iraq and Afghanistan...



At the NEOCON run VA, the first rule of PTSD treatment is to not talk politics (meaning anything that is negative about the war is TABOO, however anything that is negative about your part in it, go for it.) Point: I've seen with my own eyes, and heard with my own ears what VA PTSD raps sessions are really about. Ensuring patients continue to support the Iraq War as they seek a PTSD cure. Wo-We could make that into a hit song or at least PTSD poetry.

I tend to agree with Mark Twain when it comes to ‘the media,’ either of his day or ours. Twain most likely knew PTSD as "irritable heart" during the 19th century following the War Between the States. During WWI symptoms and stigma associated with PTSD was called Soldier’s Heart.

“A private should preserve a respectful attitude toward his superiors, and should seldom or never proceed so far as to offer suggestions to his general in the field. By the etiquette of war, it is permitted to none below the rank of newspaper correspondent to dictate to the general in the field.” Mark Twain - "The Benefit of Judicious Training," 6/8/1881

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." Mark Twain on Newspapers.

“...one should be gentle with the ignorant, for they are the chosen of God.” Mark Twain - Letter to W. D. Howells, 5/12/1899

With the humor of Mark Twain in mind, that is about how serious I take it when the Department of Veterans Affairs says that Military, “Families should minimize exposure to anxiety-arousing media related to the war. News programs often emphasize fearful content and frightening images to create a "story." Watching a lot of TV news programs, for example, can create needless distress. When children worry about war, let them know that the war is far away. Acknowledge children's fears, and let them know that parents, teachers, and police are here to protect them.”

I personally believe that what ‘the management’ of the VA meant to say way, “Limit exposure to news media programs that are not screened, monitored, and controlled by AmericaSupportsBush.mil. If the media refuses to paint a rosy picture of Iraqinam, boycott it. IBEWARE the doom sayers of CBS, PBS, plus any other mainstream media outlet that does not enforce the Pentagon/VA picture of the war President Bush and enough members of Congress sent you to fight and die in and ‘maybe, just MAYBE’ you will limit your exposure to PTSD stressors.” COME ON NOW PEOPLE, the following had former House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyers and American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Doctor Phil (oops I mean) Sally Satel's behind the scenes stench all over it.

EVERY American Veteran knows who Steve Buyer is, IF you are a Vet who does not know who Dr. Sally is or what the American Enterprise Institute is. The AEI for Public Policy Research is one of the oldest and most influential of the pro-business right-wing think tanks. It promotes the advancement of free enterprise capitalism, and has been extremely successful in placing its people in influential governmental positions, particularly in the Bush Administration. AEI has been described as one of the country's main bastions of neoconservatism.

Dr. Sally, is the Bush administration's EXPERT on PTSD, with 'too many' PTSD fraud 'conspiracy' theorys [She really sounds more like a UFO expert, EXCEPT UFO experts have more credibility.] She adores B.G. Burkett, the Texas associate of the Bush mob, and she TOO OFTEN quotes FACT from Burkett's fake Vet book, Stolen Valor. Dr. Sally looksdown on Vietnam Vets unless they fit Stolen Valor's criteria.

click post title for the rest

When it comes to PTSD, Sally Satel is really Satan. Look her up the next time you have a chance to see what I'm talking about. She and AEI have been talking up a storm on how PTSD is fake and all the veterans, at least most of them, are "out to suck off the system" instead of being wounded. How Satel would explain that PTSD has been documented before there was any kind of veterans care is never entering into their brain cells. The "expert" Satel seems to ignore all the evidence going back to Ancient Greek and Rome as well. If you want to know why the system sucks so bad for our veterans, start with Satel and go from there.