PTSD = No Purple Heart

Posted by Stars and Stripes:

Defense officials have rejected the idea that troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder should be eligible for the Purple Heart.

“PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event; it is not a wound intentionally caused by the enemy from an ‘outside force or agent,’ but is a secondary effect caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event,” said Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez.

The matter came up in May, when a military psychologist at Fort Bliss, Texas, told reporters he felt that making troops suffering from PTSD eligible for the Purple Heart would help remove the disorder’s stigma.

Mental Health Improvements at the VA

Finally some good news coming out of the VA. Veteran Affairs is attempting to improve access of mental health services. The VA is seeking to reduce the waiting time in which veterans access mental health services. They are doing this by providing 24 hour hot lines and adding same day treatment and walk-in appointments to almost all military health care facilities.

The military also is centralizing some of its mental health care assets as part of ongoing transformation, Adkins reported. For example, the Center of Excellence for Psychological Help and Traumatic Brain Injury is slated to begin initial operations Nov. 30 and should become fully operational over the next six months, she said. The center is to be located at the new National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md.

Broken military mental health sytem

A study released last week reports more money and more people would fix the broken military mental health system.

The yearlong study released last week was required by Congress, which wants a corrective action plan within six months. “I have no intention of waiting that long,” said Gates, adding that he’d directed a plan be finished in 60 to 90 days.

White male vets have higher suicide rates

There is allot of news about our veterans in the news this week. I stumbled across this article from MedPageToday.com. Some scary statistics here:

As a group, white men who served in the U.S. armed forces are twice as likely to die by their own hands as non-veterans, researchers here found. The suicide risk was greatest among those with few friends or family who had chronic medical or psychiatric conditions.

How many more studies like this are we going to have to read before we start seeing some treatment for our men and women who serve?

Misdiagnosing vets

Thousands of troops have been afflicted with traumatic brain injury. This occurs when on the battlefield when brain rattling explosions tear brain cells apart. What veterans are facing at home is misdiagnoses. Read the full article at the Boston Globe site. Follow the link below.

Officials at the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs say that misdiagnosing mild TBI as PTSD is especially problematic because the two conditions are treated differently. Stress disorders are usually treated with counseling and anti anxiety or anti depression medications, while brain injuries typically require some combination of occupational, physical, and cognitive therapy.

No therapist for our troops

What a travesty this is. Our troops returning from the Middle East are not able to find therapist because military insurance is cutting payments. Therapist are actually starting to give away therapy for free because of such long wait lists.

To avoid the hassles of Tricare, the military health insurance program, one frustrated therapist opted to provide an hour of therapy time a week to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for free. Barbara Romberg, a clinical psychologist in the Washington, D.C., area, has started a group that encourages other therapists to do the same.

“They’re not going to pay me much in terms of my regular rate anyway,” Romberg said. “So I’m actually feeling positive that I’ve given, rather than feeling frustrated for what I’m going through to get payment.”

Happy memorial day

Hope everyone has a safe and fun filled Memorial Day. There will be limited blogging from my end this weekend. I will be headed to M& T Bank Stadium to watch the NCAA lacrosse final four.

As all of us kick back and relax this weekend, lets not forget those serving in Iraq, Afganistan or elsewhere around the globe.

I would like to take a minute to salute my late grandfather who served in WWII. He fought and survived the Battle of Saipan. Without the brave soldiers of yesterday and today, we would not be the great country that we are.

God Bless.

Soldiers in iraq fighting more then on the battle field

Many of our soldiers in Iraq who become wounded, find themselves not only recovering from the original wound. But, their original wound becomes infected with a drug resistant bacteria called, A. calcoaceticus-baumannii.

This research has determined that the bacteria was not on the skin of the soldiers prior to their wound. Although not proven, the most likely cause of this bacteria is nosocomial transmission or in plain English, the soldiers got the infection from the health care workers (doctors, nurses, techs) while in the hospital or treatment area.

Do I need to get up on the soap box and preach how we (The United States) has to take better care of our GIs.

Follow this link to the University of Chicago Journal.

Mental health of veterans 10 years after gulf war

The better we understand the past, the better we can direct our future. I hope the VA gets its’ backside in order to get our troops the help they need, both physical and mental. The following is from the Royal College of Psychiatrists:

10 years later, these cases of depression and non-PTSD anxiety disorders remained significantly more prevalent among deployed compared with non-deployed veterans. PTSD was over 3 times more prevalent among deployed veterans.

Depression was less likely to improve among deployed than non-deployed veterans, although the levels of antidepressant use, and the severity of depression in the 2 groups were similar.

The results also suggest that pre-existing mental disorders represent an individual vulnerability factor for the development of mental disorders during war deployment.

Although continued depression in deployed veterans appeared partially resistant to improvement despite comparable levels of medication in the 2 groups, the authors conclude that anxiety disorders might possibly improve further with greater use of medication.

Overall, the findings point to the need for adequate follow-up mental healthcare for veterans with persistent mental illnesses following major military deployments.

PTSD in the army

I hope the Army puts its money were its mouth is…I thought we would have learned from Vietnam. Let’s get these men and women soldiers the help they need.

Soldiers working with the advocacy group who have been diagnosed with PTSD say they haven’t been given enough one-on-one counseling to recover and that the Army, instead, has offered to diagnose them with a personality disorder to give them a quicker, honorable discharge. But personality disorders are considered a pre-existing condition, cutting them off from military health coverage and possibly making it harder to find a job.