I learned this afternoon, listening to the Ed Shultz show, that there are over 130,000 homeless veterans, and over 1.4 million who have no health insurance.
I don't know the statistic for PTSD among those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is high.
And we do nothing for them.
How horribly shameful for our country.
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Friday, November 22, 2024, Joe Marangell
6 hours ago
2 comments:
JazzB: No one really knows how much PTSD is out there. Symptoms may not be immediately apparent or recognizable. It's a tough diagnosis to make without knowing what someone's "premorbid" condition was, that is what they were like before they started showing "symptoms." There have been reports. which I cannot confirm, that active duty soldiers are discouraged from seeking treatment and that there are insufficient resources (clinics, therapists, doctors) for returning servicemen/women who need help--or whose spouse/SO notices they need help. Let's be honest: many of those returning come from and go home to small rural locations where the closest clinic may be a good hour or two away. Try to get weekly treatment or more, under those circumstances. Same goes for depression or anxiety ("panic") disorders, both of which often accompany PTSD.
Final point: there are some well-researched techniques for reducing the severity and duration of the PTSD symptoms but these are not being used according to what'are considered best practice treatments. Volunteer therapists/psychologists are rarely allowed to treat military/PTSD clients without a security clearance.
DISCLAIMER: I can't claim to have witnessed these events first hand, but people I respect and know to be excellent mental health clinicians have recounted very similar details. We've read too many news stories about people who return from the Middle East and have been unable to function, have committed violence to self/others. How many incidents of spousal abuse and broken marriages and drug/alc abuse do we need to read before we give these men/women the BEST treatments we have. They gave us the best they had; we as a nation should return the favor.
Not using my name because I don't need hatemail. You know who I am. Sorry to sound so cold/clinical; I do that sometimes when I am seething. I'd be on a plane tomorrow if "they" would let me ply my craft and do what I know how to do very well, to help these men/women get some f^&king peace and hope in their lives. My only requests would be: Put a roof over my head, give me an office, three meals a day and someone to field crisis calls after hours and I'd be all in. I know plenty of other mental health folks who feel the same way.
Ex-Tol -
I agree with everything you said.
I blog pseudonymously for exactly the same reason.
Thanks for the insightful comment.
Cheers!
JzB
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