More Veterans Have "Sub-threshold" PTSD

Yale Study: Clinicians Often Overlook Veterans' Mental Health Disorders
Hartford Courant
CARA ROSNER
Conn. Heath I-Team Writer
June 23, 2016

"All physicians, regardless of their specialty, should be questioning their patients regarding their experiences in war," he said, adding that is not done often enough. "It's such a complicated issue."

Nationally, at least one in five military veterans who experience trauma are at a heightened risk for depression, suicide or substance abuse but are often overlooked in clinical settings because they don't fit the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a Yale University-led study.

The research, published June 1 in the World Psychiatry journal examined sub-threshold PTSD, which occurs when someone experiences trauma-related symptoms that aren't severe or long-lasting enough to warrant a PTSD diagnosis.

The study, which included 1,484 veterans nationwide, found 8 percent were diagnosed with PTSD but more than 22 percent met criteria for sub-threshold PTSD. Also, in addition to 4.5 percent of veterans diagnosed with PTSD within the last month, 13 percent had sub-threshold symptoms, the study reported.
read more here

Read more on "sub threshold" from the VA

Servicemembers and veterans paid the price of these failures with their lives

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 13, 2015

These politicians got their name on a bill.

Mr. Harkin (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Rockefeller, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Smith, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Thune, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Reid, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Coleman, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Dorgan, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Stevens, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Biden, and Mr. Enzi) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, July 23, 2007

It was the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act signed into law in 2008 by President Bush. If you sent me one of the petitions about supporting the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, shame on you. Shame on you for not paying attention to any of this!

Why? Because most of what is in the new bill was in the bill passed back in 2007.  What good did it do? Did any of those politicians have to explain themselves when suicides went up? Did any of the groups pushing for passage of it have to face any of the families grieving later on? Did any of the people receiving funds year after year to reduce suicides have to pay back one single dime or pay for a funeral they were supposed to prevent?

You may have felt like you did something good but the truth is, you managed to just continue supporting failures. Year after year veterans and families have been told "this bill will work" followed by more suicides, more hearings, more whining about getting more money from charities and researchers, more families traveling to Washington to cry as they spoke about their pain.

Once these bills were passed with names attached to them, everyone patted themselves on the back as if they actually did something good, but where the hell were they when another year passed and even more veterans killed themselves?

I don't play well with others when veterans are suffering. I don't support groups when they don't give a shit about facts or use their ability to actually stop and take a look at what has already been done and failed. I don't simply pass on news stories just because it is easy to do when those articles are totally wrong. If you do, shame on you. If you trusted someone sending you this crap you are just as guilty as they are.

After you look at these charts, think about all the support you gave to politicians and groups claiming they were going to change things and help veterans live.

This chart shows how they committed suicide

The means by which they took their own lives has remained the same even though there have been many bills claiming to be about preventing suicides.

These numbers are just from veterans in the VA system. If they were not in the system, which according to to the VA they are compensating less than 4 million veterans out of the 22+ million veterans in this country. They don't address standoffs with police officers.

How many more bills do they need to pass that simply repeat failures? On the Defense Side these were the numbers

There were a total of 268 Service Member suicides in CY 2008, including cases pending final determination but strongly suspected to be suicides (Army = 140; Air Force = 45; Navy = 41; Marine Corps = 42).

The AFMES indicates that 309 Service Members died by suicide in 2009 (Air Force = 46; Army = 164; Marine Corps = 52; Navy = 47). This number includes deaths strongly suspected to be suicides but pending final determination.

The AFMES indicates that 295 Service Members died by suicide in 2010 (Air Force = 59, Army = 160, Marine Corps = 37, Navy = 39). This number includes deaths strongly suspected to be suicides but pending final determination.

The AFMES indicates that 301 Service Members died by suicide in 2011 (Air Force = 50, Army = 167, Marine Corps = 32, Navy = 52).

Of the 915 Service Members who attempted suicide, 896 had one attempt, 18 had two attempts, and 1 had three attempts.

Service Members died by suicide in 2012 The distribution of suicide DoDSERs across the four included Services was as follows: Air Force – 57 (17.9%), Army – 155 (48.7%), Marine Corps – 47 (14.8%), and Navy – 59 (18.6%).

According to AFMES data as of 31 March 2013, there were 319 suicides among Active component Service members and 203 among Reserve component Services members (Reserve [n = 73]; National Guard [n = 130].

Suicides by Quarter for 2013

Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2014 was passed and signed after Senator Joe Donnelly pushed it.

Shown Here:
Introduced in Senate (04/25/2013)
Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of Congress that, as the United States draws down combat operations in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense (DOD) should continue to seek to assist in the identification of behavior indicating a risk of suicide in members of the Armed Forces (members).

Directs the Secretary of Defense to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of using an online computerized assessment to assist DOD in detecting behaviors in members that indicate a risk of suicide or other mental health conditions. Requires: (1) 1,000 members of each regular component and 500 members of each reserve and National Guard component to be used in the pilot program, and (2) each participating member to complete two assessments. Requires the first superior officer of each participating member to also complete a computerized assessment on the behavior of that member as it relates to the risk of suicide or other mental health conditions.

Requires each member determined under the pilot program to have behavior indicating a risk of suicide or other mental health conditions to be referred to an appropriate mental health care provider for further assessment, care, and services.

Directs the Secretary to establish one or more control groups whose behavior permit comparison with the behavior and experiences of the participants.

Provides for the privacy of any medical or other information obtained under the pilot program. Prohibits information obtained from being used in determining the promotion or advancement of the member. Excludes the use of participant personally identifiable information in any required report.

Sounded good?

DOD launches after deployment web site Subject: Military Health System launched a behavioral health Web portal

The Military Health System launched a behavioral health Web portal August 5, 2008. The Web site, http://www.afterdeployment.org/ (AD), is the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) response to a congressional mandate to develop a behavioral health Web portal focused on post-deployment problems.

More than 1.5 million troops have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The DoD estimates that up to 15-20 percent of returning troops have problems after returning home. Irritability, depression, increased stress, and relationship difficulties are the typical concerns faced by service members and their families following a deployment.

Multiple reports have highlighted the need for Web-based behavioral health tools to reach the many service members who do not seek out face-to-face care. In addition to barriers to care, such as scheduling appointments or getting time off from work, or transportation costs, many service members fear the stigma that talking to a counselor will damage a career or be seen as a sign of weakness.

In recent months, DoD has taken steps to combat the stigma associated with obtaining necessary mental health treatment. In May 2008, DoD officials announced that applicants for government security clearances would not have to report mental health treatment for their combat- related injuries on their applications.

The Web site offers self-care tools for the entire military community 24/7 anywhere an internet connection is available. The materials can be used anonymously. Additionally, military leadership and health care providers can tap the site’s materials to learn about common problems and change strategies and to obtain useful contact information concerning local resources.

That was done in 2008.  Right now people are happy yet another bill is being pushed that will do what all the others did.
How much more do you need to read to understand that more servicemembers and veterans paid the price of these failures with their lives?
Wasted years repeating failures, wasted money paying for them and absolutely no one held accountable for any of it. How about you start supporting the servicemembers and veterans and stop supporting those who fail them?

If they ask for your support, ask them what they did for it. If they ask you for donations, ask them what they have to show for all the money they got before. It is time to hold of them accountable. If they were putting veterans first, their bank account would be empty.

Bleak studies from the Pentagon medical community

Now do you believe me? All the "prevention" programs have made it worse at the same time the repeated deployments were putting too much stress on the troops.

Pentagon Medics Weigh in on the “Signature Scars of a Long War”
TIME Battleland
By Mark Thompson
April 25, 2013

Sometimes, the doctors will tell you what the politicians won’t.

That’s the bottom line in a new Pentagon assessment of the human costs of the nation’s post-9/11 wars, which shows mental casualties growing far more rapidly than any kind of physical wound – along with a warning that the nation has only begun paying the costs of such injuries.

The April edition of the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report is the latest in a long series of bleak studies from the Pentagon medical community charting the hidden costs of the nation’s recent wars. It notes that the hospitalization rate for mental disorders among active-duty military personnel, for example, grew by 8% from 2002 to 2006, but more than doubled from 2006 to 2012. These reports tend to be unheralded, and aren’t rolled out with press briefings, or even press releases. Instead, they’re written for military medical professionals and quietly issued to guide their efforts in patient care and research.

“However, for mental disorders, annual hospitalization rates were fairly stable from 2002 through 2006 and then sharply increased from 2006 through 2012.” read more here

Substance Abuse In The Military Now A Public Health Crisis

Not the first time this has been posted and sadly won't be the last.

Substance Abuse In The Military Now A Public Health Crisis (VIDEO)
Posted: 09/27/2012

HuffPost Live's Alicia Menendez explores why the Pentagon's methods for dealing with substance abuse aren't working and what soldiers need to help them in such times.

Soldiers are trained to deal with life or death situations during deployment, but many don't find relief even after they return home. Returning with bodily injuries, mental disorders, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and finding no avenue of dealing with these issues, many may turn to alcohol for comfort.

According to the Millennium Cohort Study soldiers who are deployed and exposed to combat, "are at increased risk of new-onset heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and other alcohol-related problems."

Don Lipsteen shared the heartbreaking story of his son, who had done two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Navy only to come home and find out he had a brain tumor.
read more here

They drink so they can get numb. They drink so they can "fall asleep" when they are passing out instead. This lesson was taught to them by the very people handing them medications and sending them off.

Got pain? Take a pill. Never mind therapy or pain management. Got bad memories? Take a pill and get numb instead of addressing what caused that memory to be there.

Can't calm down? Take a pill.

Can't get along with your family anymore? Take a pill.

The answer for all that is wrong with them is medication, so they learn that lesson well enough to just substitute all of it with what is easier for them to swallow. Drugs and alcohol.

New programs for combat PTSD conflict with scarcity of personnel

Psychiatrists on point back home
New programs conflict with scarcity of personnel
Jun 15, 2012
Written by
Philip Grey
Leaf-Chronicle

At Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell, Lt. Col. Marla Hemphill and Maj. Joe Wise are psychiatrists manning the frontlines of the Army's war against suicide, PTSD and other behavioral health problems. / LEAF-CHRONICLE/PHILIP GREY

FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — While the Army anticipates a considerable shrinkage of resources and personnel in coming years, at least one aspect of Army operations is expected to grow rapidly, out of sheer necessity.

Due to an increasing and acknowledged need, resources aimed at addressing a host of problems coming under the term, “behavioral health,” are the big news at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital in 2012.

As a result, Lt. Col. Marla Hemphill, chief of the Department of Behavioral Health at BACH, and Maj. Joe Wise, chief of Adult Behavioral Health – both on the frontline of a vast new frontier of military medicine – are looking forward to getting some new troops to man that line.

Meanwhile, they have to manage being at the center of issues that are complex and contentious, while operating under a microscope due to the high visibility of the issues involved.
read more here

Army can't track mental health records of deployed soldiers

Army can't track mental health records of deployed soldiers
BY BOB BREWIN 03/03/2011

This is the sixth story in an ongoing series.
Between 20 percent and 30 percent of troops who have served combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from mental health problems, but a Nextgov investigation shows the Army currently has no way to consistently track the mental health status of soldiers deployed to the two countries and the service finds itself overwhelmed by paper records.

An internal message sent Jan. 11 from the Army Office of the Surgeon General obtained by Nextgov said Army units in the U.S. Central Command Area of Operations, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan, have become "saturated" with paper behavioral health records because mental health providers who treat these soldiers are not entering data into the theater electronic health record known as AHLTA-T.

What's more, the Army does not have a system to scan and code these paper records to support search and retrieval from the Defense Department electronic heath record, Nextgov discovered.

This has serious implications for troops who seek follow-up mental health care when they return from deployment. The message noted, "As a result, soldiers returning from deployment are experiencing delays with continued health care and/or filing medical claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs."

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said he was "deeply concerned" the Army does not use the AHLTA-T electronic health record to track mental health encounters. In a statement to Nextgov, Cardin said:

"As a nation, we ask so much of our men and women in uniform without knowing the full extent of the mental trauma inflicted by combat, so it is discouraging to hear that within the Army [there] exists such an unmanageable backup of paper-based behavioral health records."

Cardin added, "News that the military mental health providers are failing to use the operational electronic health records, as required, only serves to exacerbate both administrative and continuity-of-care problems. I am deeply concerned that the required electronic health record is not fully utilized, and am concerned about the impact of this on our servicemen and -women's mental health."
read more here
Army can't track mental health records of deployed soldiers

also
Military Family Mental Health Visits have Grown 15% a Year Since 2001
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Repeated deployments of American soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan have taken their toll not only on the troops themselves but also their families, according to the Department of Defense.

Information disclosed by the Pentagon to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee revealed that visits by family members of active-duty military personnel to therapists have increased at a compound annual growth rate of 15% over the past 10 years.
read more of this here
Military Family Mental Health Visits

DOD might hire more mental health professionals

DOD might hire more mental health professionals
By Jeff Schogol
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 20, 2010

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department may hire more mental health professionals and other health care providers as part of its response to last year’s shooting at Fort Hood.

Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others when he allegedly opened fire at the Texas base’s Soldier and Family Readiness Center in November 2009. Afterward, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered an independent review into mental health issues as well as procedures of assessing personnel performance and facility security.

The Defense Department addressed some of the panel’s recommendations in April. It responded to the rest on Friday.


“The demand for support from caregivers in general, and from mental healthcare providers in particular, is increasing and appears likely to continue to increase due to the stress on military personnel and their families from our high operational tempo and repeated assignments in combat areas,” a follow-up review found.

Accordingly, the department may ask for health care providers in November, according to the response document. It did not say how many people might be hired.

The independent review also found that the Defense Department procedures for identifying warning signs of violent tendencies or radicalization are outdated, so the department will issue commanders and civilian supervisors interim guidance on how to identify internal threats.

Officials also will conduct three formal studies to “deepen our understanding of internal threats and refine guidance contained in the interim message,” the response said. Those findings will become part of department programs by September 2011.
read more here

DOD might hire more mental health professionals

Maybe now you'll understand why anyone claiming to be an expert on PTSD claiming our veterans are criminals and frauds should be held accountable for what he says.
When psychiatrists attack PTSD veterans, we all suffer

Veterans for Common Sense warns of need to hire more doctors now

They are right. Too often I'll talk to veterans and find out while they get all the meds they need, there isn't any therapy for them. They are given meds and told to come back in a few months but that's just about it. When you tell a twenty-something year old he needs to be on medication the rest of his/her life, they tend to not find much hope in that. Yet when you tell them what PTSD is, and what they can do to get to the point when they won't need much medication at all, that gives them hope. They need to know healing is possible and how to get there. This is their biggest complaint of all and it's easy to understand why it is that way.

National Security News
Finally, the press starts to wake up to the escalating and shocking human toll nine years of war has had on our military. The L.A. Times reports the number of U.S. military casualties caused by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is more than 500,000. The real total is 537,099, according to VA, because VA also counts veteran patients with TBI, mental illness, and warzone-acquired diseases - categories not counted in misleading and incomplete Pentagon reports.

The Army Times reports on the the military's struggles related to the severe shortage of medical personnel. VCS believes the number of suicides rises, in part, due to the lack of medical professionals, especially mental health professionals (other factors include multiple deployments, the lack of medical exams, and discrimination against veterans with mental health conditions).

Our messsage to Secretary Gates: Hire more doctors now !

Hawaii panel to discuss military mental health

Hawaii panel to discuss military mental health

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 27, 2010 11:14:32 EDT

HONOLULU — A panel composed of mental health experts, and representatives of law enforcement and military families will discuss the impact of war of service members and their families.

Mental Health America of Hawaii will sponsor the seminar on Monday at Central Union Church in Honolulu.
read more here
Hawaii panel to discuss military mental health

Dying In Their Sleep: The Invisible Plague Attacking U.S. Soldiers

Dying In Their Sleep: The Invisible Plague Attacking U.S. Soldiers

Cilla McCain
Author, Murder in Baker Company
Posted: June 23, 2010 05:42 PM

While doing research for the book Murder In Baker Company, I came to know many military family members from the support group "Home of the Brave." The group's goal is to help one another gain information and justice in the noncombat related deaths of their loved ones. According to the Department of Defense nearly 1 out of 4 fatalities in the military are noncombat related.

Stan and Shirley White of West Virginia represent one of the "Home of the Brave" families. Three of their four children have served in the armed forces. Two have died because of their time in war. On September 26, 2005, their son Robert, an Army Staff Sergeant, was killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan. On February 12, 2008, their youngest son, 23 year-old Marine Corporal Andrew White died in his sleep after being treated for PTSD with lethal prescription drugs.

Struggling with PTSD compounded by grief over the death of his brother, Andrew sought help from VA doctors. Their first line of defense was to prescribe him 20 mg. of Paxil, 4 mg of Klonopin and 50 mg of Seroquel. These medications helped at first, but later proved ineffective. Instead of changing the course of treatment, the doctors responded by continually increasing his dosage until the Seroquel alone reached a whopping 1600 mg per day. Within weeks of Andrew's death, three more young West Virginia veterans died while being treated for PTSD with the same drugs, prompting Stan and Shirley White to begin a mission to find out what the deaths have in common.
read more here
Dying In Their Sleep

Combat's Hidden Toll, Medicated Military

Take a pill and get back to duty is basically what this approach leads to and it will do no good at all. One of the coping avenues many PTSD veterans take is the use of alcohol and drugs while attempting to calm their nerves and kill off the ability to feel anything. Giving them medications without adding any kind of therapy is accomplishing the same outcome, numbing instead of healing.

What will it take for the military to be able to understand that while these men and women are highly trained to face any situation in combat they can never be trained to stop being human?

The civilian world has evolved enough to acknowledge the need to address psychological changes in the workings of the mind and spirit after traumatic events yet the most traumatic environment with multiple exposures is being ignored. We can respond to traumatic events caused by nature or other humans, mobilize teams of responders, hit the aftermath of traumatic events head on, yet the military's answer seems to always be quickest solution to get them back on duty. How do they ever expect this to work?

What will it take for them to finally fully understand that numbing them is driving them over the edge? Will they ever understand that the recovery rate is much higher if they address it soon after the events? Do they really want a medicated military?

Combat's Hidden Toll: 1 in 10 Soldiers Report Mental Health Problems
Soldiers Report PTSD Symptoms and Other Mental Health Problems

By KIM CAROLLO
ABCNews Medical Unit
June 9, 2010

Even though he's retired from active military duty, CSM Samuel Rhodes still suffers from deep emotional wounds.

"I had to take this afternoon off from work today because of anxiety," he said. "And sometimes, if I'm going through a really tough time, I think about suicide."

He spent nearly 30 years in the Army and recently spent 30 straight months deployed in Iraq where he, like many soldiers, witnessed some of the horrors of war.

"In April 2005, it started to eat me up because I started losing one soldier after another," Rhodes said. "We lost 37 soldiers that were in my unit."

He was command sergeant major of his brigade, and over the 30 months he was there, he lost 37 of his soldiers. As time wore on, the loss of life wore him down.


go here for more
Combats Hidden Toll

Fort Hood recognizes Behavioral Health Month

Behavioral Health Month recognized, programs available
By Jerry Harben, U.S. Army Medical Command
Facebook Digg Delicious May 13, 2010 Living

In May the Army recognizes Behavioral Health Month to help communicate the importance of psychological health and promote behavioral health services available to beneficiaries. Efforts include increasing the number of health providers and support personnel, keeping key personnel with deployed units after their return to the U.S. to ensure continuity of care, and countering the stigma that seeking behavioral health care may damage a Soldier’s image or career.

The Virtual Behavioral Health Pilot program at Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, and Fort Richardson, Alaska, compared face-to-face counseling with counseling provided through videoteleconferencing.
go here for more
http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=3808

Mental health disorders caused more hospitalizations than any other reason

Mental health hospitalizations up for troops

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Friday May 14, 2010 7:57:17 EDT

WASHINGTON — Mental health disorders caused more hospitalizations among U.S. troops in 2009 than any other reason according to medical data released recently by the Pentagon. This historic high reflects the growing toll of nearly nine years of war.

Last year was the first in which hospitalizations for mental disorders outpaced those for injuries or pregnancies in the 15 years of tracking by the Pentagon's Medical Surveillance Monthly report.

Hospitalizations for mental disorders have increased significantly among troops since 2005, said Lt. Gen Eric Schoomaker, surgeon general for the Army. "War is difficult. It takes a toll," he said.

Mental health treatment expenses are helping drive up the overall cost of military health care, USA Today reported last month. Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a speech that "health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive." Schoomaker said the Army's increased attention to mental health issues is another reason for the rise in hospital admittances.

In 2009, there were 17,538 hospitalizations for mental health issues throughout the military, the study shows. That compares to 17,354 for pregnancy and childbirth reasons, and 11,156 for injuries and battle wounds.
read more here
Mental health hospitalizations up for troops

Senator Sherrod Brown learns more about homeless veterans

Senator learns more about homelessness, mental health of veterans
By Loren Genson • Gazette Staff Writer • April 1, 2010


Homelessness and mental-health issues were hot topics when Sen. Sherrod Brown visited the Chillicothe VA hospital Thursday to speak with veterans and center hospital directors.

Director Jeff Gering said he was pleased Brown, a member of the Veterans Affairs committee and a northeast Ohioan, took the time to visit and learn more about the veteran population in southern Ohio.


“Addressing homelessness among veterans in Cleveland is very different than in Appalachia,” Gering said.


While the center has always worked to find homeless veterans a place to stay, the troubled economy has increased the number of veterans it must serve.


Foreclosures and more recent veterans returning home with mental-health problems have added local veterans in need of housing and mental-health assistance.
read more here
Senator learns more about homelessness

5480 troops evac out of war zone for mental health issues

Mental health evacuations spike in war zones

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 10:10:38 EST

More than 10 percent of medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years have been for mental health reasons.

From October 2001 to September 2009, 5,480 troops were flown back to the U.S. or to Germany due to “mental disorders,” according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center.

Most of the evacuations were for adjustment reactions or affective psychoses.

But the flow has not been steady over the past eight-plus years. Mental health issues only accounted for 6 percent to 9 percent of the evacuations from 2001 to 2005 — then jumped by 50 percent in just one year, from 714 in 2006 to 1,063 in 2007.

“The sudden increase in evacuations for mental disorders coincided with the surge in U.S. deployed troops and a change in strategy in Iraq,” wrote Timothy Powers, of the center’s Data Analysis Group, in a report about the evacuations. “The increase may reflect cumulative stress among individuals deployed more than once and/or increased awareness and concern regarding psychological stress-related disorders among deployed service members.”
read more here
Mental health evacuations spike in war zones

Soldiers lack confidentiality in seeking help for PTSD

Maybe this post title should be "who can they trust" when this happens?

Military Rules Said to Hinder Therapy

By JAMES DAO and DAN FROSCH
Published: December 6, 2009
Pfc. Jeffery Meier, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction after two deployments to Iraq, got an appointment in August to see a psychiatrist at Fort Carson, Colo.


But when he arrived for his first session, he was asked to sign a waiver explaining that under certain circumstances, including if he admitted violating military laws, his conversations with his therapist might not be kept confidential. He refused to sign.

Private Meier, who is seeking a medical discharge from the Army, was given counseling anyway. But he says he never opened up to his therapist, fearing that actions taken in the heat of battle might be disclosed to prosecutors. “How can you go and talk about wartime problems when you feel that if you mention anything wrong, you’re going to be prosecuted?” he said in an interview.

He is not alone in his wariness. Many soldiers, lawyers and mental health workers say that the rules governing confidentiality of psychotherapist-patient relations in the military are porous. The rules breed suspicion among troops toward therapists, those people say, reducing the effectiveness of treatment and complicating the Pentagon’s efforts to encourage personnel to seek care.

The problem with the military rules, experts say, is that they do not safeguard the confidentiality of mental health communications and records as strongly as federal rules of evidence for civilians. Both systems say therapists should report patients when they seem a threat to themselves or to others. But the military rules include additional exceptions that could be applied to a wide range of suspected infractions, experts say.
read more here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07therapists.html?_r=1

This adds to the more barriers to seeking help. It's not bad enough they were first assaulted when they sought help for "not being able to get over it" or being a "slacker" or ridiculed for being weak, now we find out they have been told that what they say in therapy can come back to bite them. This is not a good thing. How is it that civilians end up having so many rights to protect their privacy but the troops have nothing? How can they expect the men and women serving to be honest with therapists when nothing is held in confidence?

When I get requests for help, they are fully aware I am a blogger but they are also fully aware what they tell me will not show up anywhere. The rules for a Chaplain are simple. I only have to report if they are a danger to themselves or to someone else. Anything else is between them and me. It is not my job to judge them or diagnosis them. It is my job to help them begin to heal and understand what is happening inside of them. Since I cannot help them get a claim approved or medicate them, whatever they tell me is taken on face value. After all, they know I can't do much for them unless they are honest with me. In turn, I can't help them if they do not trust me. It has taken a lot of years to get to the point where they know they can. How can the military ever begin to think the soldiers will trust them when they refuse to prove they can be trusted?

Marines thinking outside of the box on PTSD, Thank God!

When you think that the Marines are supposed to be of a different breed of human, this is an amazing thing! The leadership has finally come to terms with just how human Marines are. Are they tough? Yes. Are they physically tough? Yes. Are they mentally conditioned to do what is asked of them? Yes. What they cannot be trained for is to become machines. They are thinking, feeling, loving humans and nothing can change that. So now the Marines are seeing them as humans much is asked of, but still only human.

Marines are not supposed to grieve.
Marines are supposed to get over it.


No matter what they face, these thoughts have been drilled into their brains. How would these thoughts translate into daily civilian life? Are they supposed to just get over it when someone in their personal life dies? Are they allowed to grieve? When we have natural disasters here and some of their family members are in danger, are they allowed to worry about them? Car accidents happen all the time. Are they allowed to face the same emotional crisis when they are over there and their family member is here? These things the Marines managed to understand. When it is about their military family, the brotherhood of the Marines, they cannot suddenly shut off being human.

Civilians get crisis teams rushing in to help them recover from traumatic events. Thank God the Marines are finally doing the same thing and treating them like humans instead of machines.

Mental health teams embedding to fight stress

By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Dec 5, 2009 8:56:23 EST

The Marine Corps is sending more mental health teams to the front lines in hopes of better treating an emotionally strained force.

Operational Stress Control and Readiness, or OSCAR, teams will soon be assembled at the battalion and company level, putting mental health support services much closer to combat troops, according to Marine Administrative message 667/09, signed Nov. 23.

These teams include mental health professionals such as Navy psychiatrists and corpsmen trained as psychiatry technicians. They were requested by operational commanders and have served previously as part of a pilot program to train and deploy mental health professionals with Marine regiments and groups. Embedding mental health support down to the company level will make it easier for Marines, especially those leery of seeking help, to get the services they may need, officials said.

Through prevention, early identification and intervention with stress-related problems, OSCAR teams will help “keep Marines and sailors in the fight,” according to the message.

The program creates full-time billets within Marine divisions and infantry regiments, positions that will be filled by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health clinical nurse practitioners and psychiatric technician corpsmen on loan from naval hospitals.

The teams also will include battalion and company personnel, such as chaplains.

They’ll work with Marines on identifying combat stress and developing techniques to relieve it.
read more here
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marines_oscar_120509w/

Training soldiers for battle, and emotional resiliency again

While according to the DOD, the only branch to have lower numbers is the Navy at 331,612 as of June 30, 2009, down from 331,785 on June 30, 2008, all other branches have gone up.

Army 549,155 up from 531,526
Marine Corp 203,557 up from 193,040
Air Force 333,423 up from 328,771


Total for 2009 up thru June 30 1,417,747
The Coast Guard has also increased.
43,187 up from 42,424

The end of 2000, the total was 1,109,280
After September 11, 2001 1,130,328
September 30, 2002 1,181,150
September 30, 2003 1,181,613
September 30, 2004 1,139,034
September 30, 2005 1,098,397
September 30, 2006 1,100,000
September 30, 2007 1,084,548

http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/miltop.htm

Did anyone in the media ever ask how the numbers went down with two military campaigns going on since 2001?

The numbers going down put more pressure on the forces already in. This is part of the problem with the stress level in the troops.

Divorce

Programs Aim to Reduce Military Divorce Rates
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2005 – Recognizing the stresses military life and multiple deployments put on families, the services are stepping up their efforts to help their members strengthen their family relationships and avoid the divorce courts.

A full range of outreach programs - from support groups for spouses of deployed troops to weekend retreats for military couples - aims to help military families endure the hardships that military life often imposes.

Specific service-by-service statistics about divorce rates within the military weren't available, but the rates for the Army give a snapshot of what are believed to be a militarywide trend.

Army officials reported 10,477 divorces among the active-duty force in fiscal 2004, a number that's climbed steadily over the past five years. In fiscal 2003, the Army reported fewer than 7,500 divorces; in 2002, just over 7,000, and in 2001, about 5,600.

During the past two years, the divorce rate has been higher among Army officers than their enlisted counterparts, reversing the previous trend, officials said. In fiscal 2003, the Army reported almost 1,900 divorces among its 56,000 married officers. The following year, that number jumped to more than 3,300 - an increase of almost 1,500.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=16446

Alcohol, drug use, crimes, suicides, attempted suicides, domestic violence, you name it, this played a role in it.

They can address trying to figure out how to make the men and women "emotional resilient" all they want but unless they even begin to understand what the problem is, they will never get there from here.

Repeated deployments keep going on even though the Army produced a study saying the redeployments increased the risk of PTSD by 50%. What do they expect? Do they now understand why some end up with PTSD and other do not? I doubt it. They don't listen to what the rest of the government is doing with programs to address traumatic events right here like DEEP, Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness, or CERT, CISM, that have been done in every state across the nation to take care of responders working in the police and fire departments. They are not about to listen to the men and women we put where they are to risk their lives to even begin to understand what opens the door to PTSD and what doesn't.

Training soldiers for battle, and emotional resiliency again may not do anything more than the other programs they have already tried along the same lines like Battlemind and Warrior Mind. We see the results of those two programs and they are not good. The numbers went up.

The really odd thing in this is that the Air Force has been ahead of the curve on all of this.

Carole and Richard Vickerman of Palisades visit their son’s grave Feb. 28, 2008. Their son, Staff Sgt. Steven Vickerman, who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq, committed suicide a week earlier. (Angela Gaul/The Journal News)

Army strong
August 20, 2009

Training soldiers for battle, and emotional resiliency

The Army has worked diligently to stem the tragic swell of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers burdened by physical and psychic wounds of repeated deployments. It is no quantum leap, then, that the Army would take a proactive stand and require some 1.1 million active-duty troops, reservists and National Guard members to begin "emotional resiliency" training that arms soldiers with coping skills in all kinds of situations. The hope is to stem the tide of PTSD, which plagues up to a fifth of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and head off other mental-health problems.



Working to heal



The Army has led the way in expanding mental-health offerings and tackling the stigma that leads too many in the military to perceive counseling and other mental-health treatment as a sign of weakness. This has been out of tragic necessity; the service has the highest suicide rates among the military branches. The Army announced earlier this year that suicide prevention will be taught to all soldiers, from the top of the chain of command down.
Army strong

Military tells troops to seek help but won't write what they tell?

I was driving today for a meeting and heard Larry Scott on the Thom Hartman Show. (Yes, I listen to Air America because I get a lot of great information from most of their shows.) Larry is a regular guest. Today he was talking about this "measure" to ease the stigma of PTSD and I almost slammed on the breaks. How could the DOD think this was a good move for the troops? Not writing anything down? Are they out of their minds?

It sounds like a good idea just as the change from calling mental health "mental health" and now they call it "behavioral" instead, but when you think about it, it seems to do more harm than good. It's not like the troops with PTSD are "problem children" needing to go to the principal's office. They need help healing with what they just went through like every other human on the planet. Still not writing anything down, in other words, documentation of the visits they have seeking help, they will have a hell of a time proving a PTSD claim later on when they try to go to the VA. Larry is right on the mark on this one as usual. He hardly ever gets it wrong.

ARMY MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM A PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER
(07-17-09)New "Don't Write Anything Down" program is bad medicine and could lead to denied VA benefits
NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... There's the right way, the wrong way and the Army way. Only this time, the Army way really IS the wrong way.

Would you trust a health professional who didn't write down anything?

Well, that's what the Army is doing to try to help ease the stigma of seeking mental health care. Oops ... I'm sorry ... I forgot that the Army now offers behavioral health care, not mental health care (article here). You can change the name but it won't make the problems go away!

If the counselors don't write down anything, I see two major problems, both of which could cause many problems down the road:

1. Where is the record of care? In someone's head? Does this mean that every time the GI sees a new counselor he / she has to start over because they know nothing of previous counseling sessions? What about prescriptions? Are they written down? This is the worst of BAD medicine and can only hurt those who participate in the program.

2. If there is no record, what happens when the GI applies for VA benefits somewhere down the line? "I'm sorry Veteran, nobody wrote down a word of the sessions you CLAIM you had with mental health professionals." This is a recipe for no benefits!
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