Comments on: Military Struggles With Response To PTSD

CBS Evening News: Beneath A Brave Solider's Suicide, Cracks In the Mental Health System

[decotoguy]

these guys get the best care in the world,they get good pay for what they do, and knew from the start what they were getting into.like at any job there
are risk,occupational hazards is the term.I was in Vietnam in 70,I don''t look back but through my rear view mirror.I do not wor-ship war or my time in it.
these men should just grow a pair and be grate-ful
they walk among the living.

[dakotaclark]

Usually, delayed stress is a subconscious issue involving reaction to certain traumatic or stressful events or experiences in life. These events might happen from experiences during childhood, the military, during combat, or life after the military.

NOTE: it is not necessary to experience combat for a person to have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. Many veterans who never served in combat, have military connected PTSD. In addition, many civilians have PTSD.

Having PTSD does not mean you are crazy. It simply means that you need some help with an unresolved, subconscious, mental health issue. No one is going to hog tie you and drag you off to the nearest mental hospital.

Instead, PTSD is a very natural reaction to whatever YOUR brain perceives as a traumatic or stressful situation. In order to deal with this, and in some cases, survive, many people repress all their feelings, thoughts, fears, or memories about their past stressful or traumatic experiences. Yet with some veterans, the repression of certain events is subconscious, and the veteran is not aware that it is happening.

[dakotaclark]

Typically, the signs of PTSD vary from person to person. What is traumatic or stressful to me, might not be to you.

However, here are some of, but not all, the signs of PTSD:
Difficulty sleeping
Easy to anger
Being depressed
Experiencing survivor guilt
Having fits of rage
Experiencing anxiety
Memory impairment
Alcohol or drug use and abuse
Flashbacks to the incident or incidents
Negative self image
Loss of interest in work or regular recreational activities
Suicidal thoughts and or feelings
Difficulty with authority figures, particularly the police
Problems with intimate relationships
Fantasies of retaliation and destruction
Emotional distancing from others
Unable to talk about war or other stressful experiences
Reacting with survival tactics
Distrust or cynicism of the government, particularly the VA
Avoiding certain activities because they bring back memories of the stressful or traumatic events.

If you do recognize some of the above, you owe it to yourself to consider getting a mental health evaluation, to rule out PTSD, and to learn whether or not you have some issues needing help. If things have not been working out by doing it on your own, maybe that%u2019s a sign you need someone to show you how to do it. Remember, IT IS OK TO ASK FOR SOME HELP!

[recowger]

I was in the Korean war, that was in 1952/1953. I still have problems with PTSD, but then we called it "combat fatigue". Anyone who was in a bad auto accident, or lost children suffers from PTSD. And it never never goes away.

[jlp7819]

ISALERNO51 About Your son Peter SALERNO..Please contact [e-mail]

[debinok1]

When these men and women who serve their country come home and commit crimes, the government they served turns its back on them, no matter their awards, no matter their repeated tours of duty, they are hung out to dry. Our service people are expendable, sadly so. My son after going to Iraq, was returned to the states for a mental evaluation(possible PTSD) after assaulting an officer, he was found fit for duty and will redeploy with his unit when called up.

[kenhamlett]

Bear in mind that this travesty is the direct result of the lies told by military brass and their psychiatric units. They basically said it would be acceptable to have the soldiers uprooted repeatedly to serve multiple tours of duty. They lied.
The worst part is that those that seek help will get lip service from the same shrinks that put them in this situation. The shrinks will not be able to understand the problems, will not care to rehabilitate the injured minds of the soldiers, and would not do so if they could. The goal is to keep the injured in their corrupt system for as long as possible and provide no help.
There are alternatives. Soldiers through out time have been helped by their fellow soldiers. These are people who have been at the front lines and found ways to cope. Maybe the answer is to allow time to "decompress" by talking with those who have been there and learned to cope. It may not be a solution for everyone and it is a shame that they are victims of our corrupt military and medical leaders, but maybe the VFW or other military related institutions can open their doors once again to help their peers.

[closethippy1]

The US has been diagnosed with PTSD after 8 years of Bush.
It''s going to be a long, long time before the US gets over this psychological malfunction.

[laadypister]

I have talked with many WWII, Korea, & VietNam veterans over the years. Every one of them tell me the same thing - "If" they were offered help they talked with someone who had never been on the front lines. The "shrink" they were assigned to had never been on the business end of a gun, had never been fired upon, they had never seen a buddy killed next to them, had never heard the bombs coming in to their camp in the middle of the night. If the "Dr." has never had to experience what these brave men and women have gone through, then how the heck are they to help those who have? So the soldier who needs help to get through these horrific times, walks out and isn''t helped because the person sent to help them hasn''t a clue.

Get professionals who have been in the trenches with these tramatised men and women to help them, not some mamby pamby PHD that hasn''t a clue as to what these Heros have gone through.

God Bless all of our Heros out there in the field in the past, now and in the future.

[hsuwukuei]

I am a decorated Vietnam war veteran and I''ve struggled with PTSD for almost forty years. PTSD cost me my career, my family, my friends, my happiness and life''s success to date. At age 57, I only now am beginning to grasp what happened. I joined the Army in 1968 at age seventeen and I was promoted to Sgt. E-5 on the battlefield a few days shy of my nineteenth birthday. I can only say that understanding, sympathy, proper care and treatment are almost non-existent within the VA and outside in society. PTSD is not a "mental illness" but a brain chemical disorder caused by exposure to traumatic events. With the help of a few strong and courageous people at the Denver VA Medical Center, I am finally on the path back to myself. I suggest everyone with the ailment and family or friends of those stricken by it read "War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation''s Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" by Edward Tick. PTSD is now for me my %u201CPath Toward Spiritual Development.%u201D My thoughts are with you.