Frustrating PTSD veterans with searches

Frustrating PTSD veterans with searches
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 16, 2014

How much more simple can it be? To think veterans survived combat but find it so difficult to survive being back home says something about what they come home to. Why do they lose the will to live after combat? What is it they lose inside of themselves that taking their own life seems to be their only way out of the pain they carry inside?

I was just reading an editorial on the Bismarck Tribune about North Dakota National Guardsmen. It has a lot of good points from pointing out that PTSD is not new to the fact that seeking help does require courage.

The article ended with "PTSD can be as real as any physical wound, and equally as debilitating. A little help can be a very good thing."

That is not exactly true. While it is true that as soon as veterans seek help for PTSD, it stops getting worse, it is not true that "any" help can be a good thing. The wrong help can me much worse.

When Vietnam veterans came home and even when Gulf War veterans returned, the World Wide Web did not really reach the general population until 1994.

By the end of 1994, while the total number of websites was still minute compared to present standards, quite a number of notable websites were already active, many of which are the precursors or inspiring examples of today's most popular services.

I was online in 1993 and there were sites dedicated to veterans, most geared to Vietnam veterans searching for each other like Army Lost and Found from 1994.

Now if a veteran searches for help or information on PTSD they discover this as a result of a Google Search http://www.google.com/#q=post+traumatic+stress+disorder, About 17,300,000 results (0.52 seconds)

If they search for PTSD http://www.google.com/#q=ptsd About 5,860,000 results (0.33 seconds)

Think of how many results they would miss if they just used the term they know all too well PTSD instead of spelling it all out.

If a veteran searches for a more defined category http://www.google.com/#q=combat+post+traumatic+stress+disorder, they find About 2,450,000 results (0.57 seconds) but if they search for http://www.google.com/#q=combat+ptsd they find more, About 3,390,000 results (0.53 seconds)

Already it is easy to understand how they can miss a lot out there just by how they search for information, support and help.

Searching for a support group is just as tricky. http://www.google.com/#q=combat+ptsd+support+groups About 3,090,000 results (0.35 seconds) but a search for general http://www.google.com/#q=ptsd+support+groups produces About 7,720,000 results (0.54 seconds)

http://www.google.com/#q=post+traumatic+stress+disorder+support+groups, About 2,640,000 results (0.40 seconds)

http://www.google.com/#q=combat+post+traumatic+stress+disorder+support+groups, About 1,360,000 results (0.43 seconds)

It is information overload no matter how you define it.

Some of the sites are really good but they won't find them if they are using the wrong search terms.

These are the top links for Combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Support Groups

While these are the results for Combat PTSD Support Groups

A search for charities helping veterans with PTSD http://www.google.com/#q=charities+helping+veterans+with+ptsd About 764,000 results (0.44 seconds) and for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder http://www.google.com/#q=charities+help+veterans+with+post+traumatic+stress, About 416,000 results (0.43 seconds)

Think of all the places they miss if they use the wrong terms. Think of how easy it is to just give up searching. Then think of what "a little help" actually means.

I was even pretty shocked with the results because most coming up on the top search results are groups I have not heard of before. By the time I put this together I had a headache! If I am this frustrated when I track news reports everyday, how frustrating do you think it is for them? They do not do well in with other people with PTSD. PTSD after combat is different from what other survivors end up with. Just as a survivor of a crime will not get what veterans went through, they won't get what the crime survivor is dealing with.

Do you think that someone, anyone of the brightest minds online can come up with a Google search that will put all veterans need in one place so they won't miss help because of a different search term?

Vietnam veterans getting help for PTSD after 40 years

Vallejo Vietnam War veteran getting help 40 years after coming home
Times-Herald
By Sarah Rohrs staff writer
POSTED: 09/22/2013

Vallejo Vietnam War veteran Maurice Toomer, 65, said he went far too long before getting help for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Nearly 40 years after he returned home from Vietnam, he has finally found some, and is coping with nightmares, fear and strong emotions through a weekly support group.

He is afraid the younger generation of veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan don't know help is available, and he's on a mission to get the word out to them.

"They (are) still young. They can have a good quality of life. They can make it," Toomer said.

Each Friday, Maurice attends the weekly PTSD support group for Vietnam War veterans held at the Mare Island Outpatient Clinic in Vallejo.

The support, camaraderie and chance to talk about his feelings and experiences helps him cope and feel more peaceful, he added.

The group is led by clinical psychologist Jerry Boriskin who said a similar support group is held for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans at Travis Air Force Base.

Boriskin said large numbers of Vietnam War veterans are retiring from their jobs and now seeking benefits for a host of health problems, including PTSD.

For many of these veterans, working hard and staying busy has helped them cope with PTSD, Boriskin said.
read more here

When you need to beat PTSD and addictions

There is a very complicated problem with PTSD that does not get discussed enough. While most PTSD veterans rely on drugs and alcohol to kill off feelings they do not want to feel, calm jumping nerves, among other relief of symptoms, they are not addicted to the chemicals themselves. They are seeking relief. When they are treated by programs like AA, or rehabs, these programs my offer temporary sobriety, but soon the veteran is turning back to self-medication.

The problem comes when they are also addicted as alcoholics and drug addicts. If the program they enter into is only focusing on treating the addiction and not PTSD, again, these programs fail more often than not. The proper diagnosis needs to be done in order to provide the proper treatment. When PTSD and addictions are both addressed, there is a higher success rate.

There is no shame in being an alcoholic or addicted to drugs any more than there should be shame in being wounded by PTSD. My father was a disabled Korean veteran, but he was also an alcoholic. He joined AA when I was 13 and spent the rest of his life sober. He became a sponsor of many other alcoholics. My father was amazing. He knew his heart was very ill as he suffered many heart attacks and strokes, but he would not reach for alcohol even knowing he was, as the doctors phrased it "on borrowed time" and was facing the possibility the next heart attack could be his last. He passed away in 1987 at the age of 58.

Treatment works if they know exactly what they are treating but support is also vital in getting thru the worst times, finding someone you can talk to wearing the same shoes you are. There is a site you should check out to see if you can find support there to stand stronger than you can alone.

About Beating Addiction
About
Originally made available to users in early 2006 and then completely rebuilt throughout 2008, Beating Addiction aims to be the leading online social-networking site that helps users overcome their addiction(s), mainly, by talking and communicating with others.

We know many people are interested in recovering but, for the more serious addictions, are afraid of joining a "real-life" support group because of various different reasons. Beating Addiction makes an effort to solve this problem by, indirectly, connecting people with one another. As a result, people will be more inclined to seek help and in doing so, they are taking the first step(s) toward recovery.

Users do not have to register with Beating Addiction to view the majority of the site however we do encourage registration so one may be may be more proactive in their pursuit of recovery. Additionally, the premise is users helping users so we need you!

Whether a person is in a "real-life" support group, a support group on a different web site, or is willing to try something a bit different, Beating Addiction can offer a new experience which, we feel, will help a user be well on their way to the road to recovery.

I had a long talk with Alexander Kintis yesterday. This is his site and his effort to supply a support network to help people dealing with addictions. It has a lot of information and links to help you.

PTSD support group for wives forming in Grand Junction

PTSD support group for wives forming in Grand Junction



BY Marija B. Vader
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Wives of soldiers experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder are forming a support group in Mesa County.

“We’re hoping to help the wives of veterans. They’re going through hell too,” said Phyllis Clugston, one of the organizers of the group.

Men who served in war who cannot escape the torment of what they’ve seen can be diagnosed with PTSD at Grand Junction’s Veterans Administration Hospital.

The soldiers who lived through a single or many traumatic events can years later experience hypervigilance, sudden rage, sleep disorders, substance abuse, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, a loss of trust, and more.

The goal of this group will be to support wives and relationship partners through education, communication skill-building, stress relief activities and social bonding.
The initial meeting of interested people will be in the week of Aug. 25.
click post title for more

Study: Group therapy helps with combat stress

Study: Group therapy helps with combat stress

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 28, 2008 6:30:09 EDT

Three new studies looking at combat stress have found group exposure therapy seems to work, that troops with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, and that stress debriefings held after traumatic events don’t appear to prevent PTSD.

The research comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs works to find the best treatment methods for combat veterans. It follows a report by Rand Corp. that showed only one treatment method — exposure therapy — has been proven to help PTSD in studies by objective researchers.

The first study looked at a program that had been in place for four years at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. The center’s Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team began researching group-based exposure treatment.

Past studies have shown group therapy to be ineffective on veterans with PTSD, but authors of this study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, said the amount of exposure therapy — 60 hours — in this group may be the key to why it works.

First, nine to 11 people get to know each other and talk about their experiences before they joined the military. Then, they spend several weeks talking about their wartime experiences.

Each person gives a 2½-hour presentation to the group about what they witnessed, and then they privately listen to recordings of their own presentation 10 times. Each then gives a second presentation about their traumatic wartime experiences, which they also listen to 10 times. Toward the end of 18 weeks, they work on feelings of grief and guilt.

A total of 93 Vietnam veterans, four Gulf War veterans, one Korean War veteran and two Iraq war veterans took part in the study, with 81 percent showing “clinically significant improvement,” which was still at 81 percent six months later.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_ptsdstudies_072808w/

Vets4Vets three day support workshop

Peer-support veterans' group ends three-day workshop in Midway
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 03/30/2008 03:13:40 PM MDT


Posted: 3:01 PM- MIDWAY - Too often the only people veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq can turn to for understanding when they return home are other vets who fought and survived the twin wars.

Acknowledging that truth and another sad fact - nearly a third of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have mental health difficulties - a growing number of war fighters are turning to Vets4Vets, a national organization founded in 2005 by Jim Driscoll, a Marine Corps Vietnam combat veteran and retired Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor.

The nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization provides peer support to veterans trying to find healthy ways of coping with the impact of war on their psyches so they can put Afghanistan or Iraq to rest and resume their former lives.

"Many veterans find (peer support) uniquely helpful. There's something special about talking to another veteran from the same era," Driscoll said Sunday near the end of a three-day Vets4Vets workshop in Midway. About a dozen veterans, including several from other states, attended the session to share stories and learn techniques that can control mood swings.

Driscoll's organization is funded by contributions and a $1 million grant from the Iraq and Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund in California that has raised $100 million from private donors to meet the needs of returning servicemen and servicewomen.

There is a huge need. The military has deployed more than 1.5 million U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines and air force personnel to Iraq and Afghanistan. A third of returning veterans, or roughly 500,000 people suffer anxiety, depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
go here for the rest
http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_8750447

Families Catch Fallout From PTSD

Spouse Calls Column: Families Catch Fallout From PTSD

February 24, 2008

Of all the subjects covered on the Spouse Calls blog, none is more heartbreaking than post- traumatic stress disorder and its effects on military spouses and families.

An upcoming column will feature resources and counseling for those affected by PTSD. These blog excerpts will explain why:

I live in New Jersey. I have searched endlessly, to no avail for a support group for the loved ones of PTSD veterans. I even tried starting one of my own. The vet centers, and the VA clinics and hospitals say they are including family members and loved ones, but I have not found that to be true.

Many of the veterans’ wives and significant others that I know are left without a support group. Does anyone else have live support in your area?
go here for the rest

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9405

If anyone is in the Orlando Florida area, I'd be happy to begin a support group. I believe it is vital having support to get through all of this. Vietnam veterans and their families didn't have it and it cost too many marriages as well as lives .

Military PTSD support for spouse on line

Spouse Calls
Stripes columnist Terri Barnes offers advice and an understanding ear to her fellow military spouses.
EMDR treatments for PTSD

Posted August 19th, 2007

by Terri Barnes
in
Spouse Calls
A Spouse Calls reader who suffered from PTSD wrote recently to tell me that she had found relief from her debilitating symptoms through eye movement desensitizing and reprocessing (EMDR). She had been following the Spouse Calls blog regarding PTSD, and wondered if her experience could help others.

A story by Steve Mraz in Stars & Stripes details how medical professionals at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany are being trained to administer EMDR to returning veterans. The treatment has been around since the late 1980's.
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If you have a family member in the military or veteran, go there and find some support. You need it as much as they do.

If you want some help understanding that what you're going through is not just you, click the link on this blog for the free book. It's about 18 years of our life together. My husband is a Vietnam Vet with PTSD. The book is For The Love Of Jack His War/My Battle. It opens in Adobe. I've been doing outreach work ever since the day I fell in love with him and my father said he had "shell shock"

As you read it, keep in mind one really important thing to find some hope. This month we've been married for 23 years.

The videos I've done are also here whenever you need them.