The entire children of alcoholics grew out of the Veteran Administration's inability to cope with the constant need of PTSD'd Vietnam vets. Thus, group therapy began to be studied and shown to be actually MORE effective with traumatized populaton. However, the groups need to be monitored. The suicide threats need to be taken seriously. Perhaps this is another reason the VA chose to reject help seekers. It simply does not want to hear the damage that is being done. It is morbid to read that veterans waited so long that they believed the VA wanted them dead before acting on their requests for help. The gross neglect and incompetance that has been shown when processing claims is a topic for a whole other blog item. For shame! For shame!
These men and women, although probably sadly mislead when recruited, should not have to suffer endlessly due to "CONgressional oversight". I know the lobbying that went into obtaining the media's attention when pounding the hallways in the CONgressional offices didn't work. Why must vets suffer while the past Secretary of Defense was too busy playing with war toys to notice their very real concerns? As for BUSH, the commander in chief, who is so busy PLAYING Commander in Chief, this mistreatment of "his" troops is paralyzingly appaling and insensitive.
The WaPo article below mentions many many side topics -- including the questionable and baffling response of commanders to the mental (and emotional) problems of these troops - both before and after service. On the websites I have posted on the topic, I have insisted that more literature concerning PTSD be made available to EVERYONE.
The poor publicity that the VA has had as a result of the Jeans Cruz case, has certainly started "motivating" some action. He had given up his appeals case. And with good reaon: he was feel more hopeless and helpless than ever. These two "feelings" are exactly what sets PTSD apart from other "mental" "illnesses". Hopeless and helpless before those who employed his life and had him track down the enemy Saddam Houssein. It is a wonder Jeans Cruz was still alive. They are bloody lucky they've seen fit to keep him alive. The publicity could have been enough to send him over the edge.
At this juncture, ONLY 200 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers have been added to America's effort to help shell shocked, war wearied, messed up ex-soldiers. It ain't enough and it ain't bloody enough.
We won't stop screaming about this until there is enough in place.
This affects/afflicts my family, too. My son was on mainstream media begging them to help the veterans with PTSD and addictions. I am SO proud; this took real courage. I just wish our whole family could finally rest assured that there will be enough care to get us all through the terrible mess ...
I read also about the two new Defense Department centers to be set up to study mental health. My God! Don't they read ANY thing! What ARE they thinking ..? What is the drive that leads them to ignore what is clearly within policy initiatives before the war. It was so predictable it is frightening to think that they are that bloody thick.Their own PR department must be having a very bad day as this all looks horrible on them.
One last cranky observation - the only DRUG that Big Pharma has on offer besides their ineffective and overprescription of atypical antipsychotics is beta blockers. Yes, beta blockers. The ones that are on time release are best, but they are expensive if living on a veteran's pension. I would rate it highly unlikely that they will be prescribed. The only known "cure" for this all too human soul affliction is LOVE. Yup, you read that right. LOVE. That getting in touch with the spirit within type of LOVE. Time that the DOD morphed into something it really does not intend to be - concerned and caring about the future of America's next LEADERS.
Don't settle for PR. Write a letter TODAY and every day demanding that this be fully addressed with the proper funding and FULL attention.
Military Psychiatric - Care Overhaul
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 19, 2007; Page A07
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Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
MORE CA$H and services for Veterans suffering PTSD
Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers
Virginia Simson is a spiritual journalista/activist who runs a visionary planetary tutorial blogspot, www.ladybroadoak.blogspot.com as well as a blog on the uranium industry and depleted uranium at www.lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com. She feels that we must educate the young as to the real issues of the day - economics, clean energy, a drug free lifestyle, friendship and concern for the environment. We must plan for seven generations in the future. She unconditionally supports impeachment and a war crimes tribunal of the current DC administration - including CONgress.
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http://www.iava.org/blog/author/Kimball/ |
Thanks Virginia: Thanks for the kind words - the URL is actually www.iava.org. Ray Kimball by
Ray from IAVA (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 11:32:39 AM
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National Council can help. Virginia, The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is on the issues surrounding PTSD. Granted, they aren't doing enough but the Council and its members are gearing up to do much more. Please see my article in OpEdNews.com and feel free to contact Meena Dyak [MeenaD@nccbh.org] at the Council for more information. In the meantime, please let me know what I can do through additional articles in OpEdNews to help you and others who are suffering from PTSD. by
Kenneth Briggs (108 articles, 88 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 101 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 3:37:27 PM
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Is this ever nice to read! I sincerely meant what I wrote .. the corrupted System is ignoring the leaders of tomorrow! And such a sick, sick planet they are being handed. They will lead IF they can heal their souls together. I started reading about PTSD over 20 years ago, so I have maintained a very vigilant watch over all the literature and done the seminar circuit to ensure that I stay up to date as much as possible. I find it so disturbing that the APA and others are not doing their part in making this a front page item in the news day after day as it might. To put another entire generation though treatment limbo after what happened and was so clearly exposed during the Vietnam era seems of grave concern to me. We aren't talking about some mild form of depression here: we are exposing the ravages of PTSD. The APA has pulled out of Guantanamo after being ill-used, why were they not at the forefront of this treatment battle ..? This conflict is so marked by the high numbers of critically wounded and the stats on this go largely "under the radar". To have your body torn to shreds AND be saddled with PTSD would be to my mind beyond endurance. Yet, this is going on with the direct knowledge of the military brass. I remember things only got better for Veterans of Vietnam when the Secretary of Defense's son suffered the scourge of Agent Orange. What's it going to take for this administration to see that what they are doing to this generation? So, yes, I am finger pointing. I am asking each and every segment of those who have responsibility for this horrific "oversight" to come to their responsibility. The survivors of each and every war have their shell shock victims. We've been taught to demure to that old line -- "war is hell" and so it is. But this war adds a dimension that we have never ever seen before. Weapons of mass destruction available at any time during engagements. The use of depleted uranium in particular would trouble any mind that came near it or had anything to do with it. Are the treatment in these times keeping up with these developments ..? Not on the scale they need to be addressed. This puny new staff allotment is going to have to do an awful lot of homework to even begin to catch up with war as it is today. I did not go into the details of what havoc this has caused in my own family. I don't intend to get into it here either. But I do want to say that I see HUGE treatment holes occuring, things that need URGENT address. I am lucky, damned lucky, my son is alive, but he is NOT well. I know how long it took to "reach me" when I finally had a chance for adequate treatment;it took many years for me to finally reclaim my soul after being rejected for the problems the PTSD caused me. This issue is a daily wound to my soul and to that of both my sons and into the next generation. It is a wound to all families who have to take the time to heal; many do not make it. And next, the issue of addictions is SO very very important and this "round" of concessions is really too little, too late for many. To get vets into detox and started on real recovery must be the highest priority. The 24 hour wait for approval is so insuficient and so poorly considered that I am at a loss for words to describe it. Someone, somewhere is surely aware of what this implies. Digging in our heels and demanding treatment NOW is absolutely vital. After the TRILLIONS of dollars spent on this ME carnage, the lack of regard for PTSD sufferers and/or those with addictions is absolutely savage. It cannot be tolerated. I was so full of apprehension for Jeans Cruz when I read about his "case" as I could see the deadly implications under the mass of details being reported. While it is hard to put a "face" on suffering when dealing with the multitude, this horrible rejection surely put a face on it. I dream of a brighter tomorrow where we realize that we are all ONE: one people, one planet, one Mother Earth and we never fall into this situation again. But I am no New Age Pollyanna living in denial afraid to face the truth. There is real, very real suffering going on. Let them with the pockets began to fund the healing! Let the corporations and other war profiteers put their money where their mouths are and cough up for adequate treatment. They can surely shell out the money. Even the mercenary soldiers blogs are full of complaints about the lack of rehabilitation options. Sad to say, we must shame those who stood to gain so much, as they are so little accountable. Your comment is so much appreciated by me. I carry a very real, living wound each day and I weep by myself. I am willing to write whatever I am asked, write when I am NOT asked and say the things that must be said throughout the upcoming struggle. I am glad to have ALLIES in the healing. I think as we struggle with this, it will have implications far, far wider than any of us yet realizes ... the hurting must stop. As I write this, the tears are flowing done my face, cacading from my eyes to the keyboard. They are tears of JOY. I am glad, so glad we can come together and discuss this. This is a trail not to be travelled alone., a trial not to be borne in silence, isolation and denial. I thank you for your comments from inside the most deep part of my heart. by
ladybroadoak (37 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 386 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:37:26 PM
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