Vietnam Vet Still Recovering Four Decades Later

One more case of a veteran with PTSD being treated for what he did not have and not treated for what he did have. One more case of ending up in jail instead of treatment. One more case of a lot of wasted years suffering. Are we paying attention yet?

Vietname Vet Still Recovering Four Decades Later
By Cheryl Bentley The Suncoast News

Published: August 23, 2008

The fall into a rice paddy from an Army helicopter left Eugene Hairston's body intact, but 40 years later, his spirit is still recovering.

Hairston's story, as told to Dunedin resident Susan Adger, has been recounted in "A Quiet Voice," published by iUniverse, an online service for self-publishers. The two will have a book signing from 1 to 3 p.m. today, Aug. 23, at Oak Trail Books, in downtown Palm Harbor.

Sitting in a Dunedin cafe with Adger, the deep-voiced Hairston emits an aura of strength and serenity that belies the trauma that has dogged him throughout his life.

He has suffered from alcohol and drug abuse and post traumatic stress disorder, a condition of severe anxiety caused by emotional reaction to past traumatic events.

In Hairston's case, PTSD developed in 1968 in Vietnam after he tumbled 120 feet from a helicopter that had deliberately been tilted to make him fall. Terrified, Hairston hid in the jungle several days before an Army unit accidentally discovered him.

But he was not diagnosed with PTSD until 1998 after almost three decades of being in and out of prisons for armed robbery, larceny and drug dealing and stints of living on the streets. He had previously been treated several times at veterans' hospitals for drug and alcohol addiction but never before for PTSD. Once medical personnel learned of his addiction, they did not probe deeper for the cause of his problems because they assumed they were the result of his addiction, he noted.

But the PTSD treatment seemed to touch deeper causes the previous therapy had not. Coupled with support from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Hairston said, it enabled him to turn his life around. "It was the same government I had hated for years that saved my life," he acknowledged.
go here for more
http://suncoastpinellas.tbo.com/content/2008/aug/23/pi-that-quiet-voice/

Those with PTSD try to restore normalcy

J.L. is a friend of mine. A few years ago she contacted me about what happened to her and her deep desire to help others. Her book, Severed Soul is not just a story about trauma and aftermath but it's what she did with all of it. She decided to help others and has been very active with veterans.

J.L. sent me the article that appeared in a local paper and it's very well done. It says a lot about what people can do when they have suffered. We either feel sorry for ourselves and focus only on ourselves, or we can reach back to help others stand next to us. It's a choice we all face. J.L. held onto God's hand and with her other hand is reaching out to pull people out of the depth of despair.

Seeking answers, they find no easy ones
Those with PTSD try to restore normalcy

By Daniel Kittredge - News Staff Writer
Published On Thursday, August 07, 2008



(Editor’s note: this is the first in a two-part series on post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD)

GARDNER — For those who live with it, post-traumatic stress disorder is an experience virtually impossible for others to understand.

The form the disorder and its symptoms take varies from person to person, but the initial traumatic event that causes it always involves death or violence — be it a near-death or violent personal experience, bearing witness to the death or physical injury of another or learning of the sudden or violent death of a loved one. It affects soldiers and civilians, men and women, children and adults, and spans generations..

And while each experience is different, the questions those living with it ask themselves are the same.

“When will the fear stop?” writes local author J.L. Vallee in “Severed Soul,” an account of her own struggles with the disorder. “Could it be when heaven calls my name? ... Please, someone understand and help! I feel numb! I feel dead!”

“You don’t meet many people that really get it,” said Ms. Vallee. “You never get over (the disorder), no matter what.”

Invisible

One of the walls in the main lobby of the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center Inc. on Central Street is adorned from top to bottom with photographs of soldiers. Many of the young men and women shown in the images are young — some look like teenagers — and they are often shown smiling, displaying a visible pride in the uniform they wear and the service they are providing to their country.

The photographs serve as an instant reminder of the center’s purpose — reaching out to those who went off to war young and untouched by its horrors, but returned with memories, injuries and demons that never allowed them to truly come home.

“There’s a lot of people with (the disorder) out there,” said Darrell P. Keating, the center’s executive director. “We’re trying our best to find them.”

The number of veterans in the greater Gardner area struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder is hard to state definitively, said Mr. Keating. The center keeps state-mandated statistics regarding its in-house and referral services, which range from a food pantry to housing assistance to counseling, and in 2007 roughly 48,000 such services were provided.

The last 1-1/2 years have seen the center grow markedly, said Mr. Keating, particularly through the addition of an outreach coordinator to its staff who works actively to seek out veterans at churches and support groups.

Despite those efforts, however, he said there are many veterans who continue to struggle alone.
“It’s invisible in today’s society,” Mr. Keating said of post-traumatic stress.

Robert Stair, a counselor with the center, said many will not seek help until they’ve reached a breaking point, often in the form of a job being lost or a relationship being broken because of substance abuse. Most of the veterans that the center deals with, he said, have a history of post-traumatic stress — beginning either during or after their time in the service — and have as a result had issues with substance abuse.

“Just about every person’s got a different kind of story,” he said. “Unless you’ve gone through it, you really can’t understand.”

A disorder that does not discriminate

For years, Ms. Vallee wondered what was wrong.

Her life, as documented in “Severed Soul” — through the character of Amy Howard — has been filled with traumatic experiences. Her brother drowned when she was a young girl, and as medics took him away she caught a glimpse of his feet hanging from a body bag. Later, she lived through two serious car accidents — one in which she was hit by a semi-truck, and another on Route 140 in which a boulder rolled down a hill and struck the van she was driving.

“I thought I was going to die,” she said of the second crash.

After that second car accident, said Ms. Vallee, something changed. She was “always on guard” — jumpy, afraid and unsure of why. Then married to a man she describes as distant and emotionally abusive, she found little sympathy among many family members and friends.

“I knew something wasn’t right,” she said, describing the feeling as a numbness, a fog that led her to withdraw and isolate herself. “They look at you like you have three heads. They think you have a flaw.”

Ms. Vallee was eventually diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress. Initially caught off guard — having thought the disorder was exclusive to veterans — she decided to become involved with local veterans groups in hopes of learning more. Since then she has further branched out, writing “Severed Soul” and seeking out others that have touched by the disorder.

“It’s not just a vet thing,” she said, noting that victims of sexual assault and trauma often develop post-traumatic stress.

Available statistics indicate the diversity of those living with post-traumatic stress. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 7.7 million Americans are affected by the disorder.

Women, according to the institute, are more likely than men to be affected, and while it is most prevalent among adults it can also affect children.

Carrying visions

In a military context, post-traumatic stress has been known by many names throughout history.

During the Civil War era, it was known as “soldier’s heart,” while it was dubbed “shell shock” after World War I. Veterans of World War II were described as having “combat neurosis,” and after Korea it became “combat fatigue.”

Mr. Stair began his work as a counselor in 1983 while still an active member of the Air Force. At the time, he said, his goal was to help make sense of why so many fellow servicemen had difficulty readjusting to civilian life after Vietnam.

“There wasn’t any means of getting support,” he said, noting the lack of resources available to those veterans.

Most of the veterans Mr. Stair deals with in his current role served during the Vietnam era, and most have carried the pain and trauma of their experiences through the years without seeking help.

“It takes a long time for them to come forward,” he said, noting that men especially “try to handle things on their own.”

Most members of the newest generation of veterans — the men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan — who suffer from post-traumatic stress have largely yet to come forward, said Mr. Stair. While awareness of the disorder has grown vastly since Vietnam, the intrinsic value military culture places on strength and self-sufficiency still serves as a deterrent for those in need of help.

Additionally, said Mr. Stair, many of the newest returning veterans are far from the breaking point that lead many from the Vietnam generation to finally seek help.

“They haven’t identified themselves,” he said, although — like their predecessors — “they carry around a lot of these visions.”

Leslie Lightfoot, CEO of Fitchburg’s Veteran Homestead Inc., agreed that emotional or mental issues continue to carry a serious stigma in military culture. “That’s not changing,” she said, noting she has heard similar sentiments from her two daughters currently serving in the military.

She also agreed that post-traumatic stress among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans remains hidden, for the same reasons cited by Mr. Stair.

“The drug and alcohol thing is down the road (for them),” she said. “Sometimes it takes years and years and years.”

Statistics show that post-traumatic stress has affected the newest veterans, and in substantial numbers. A 2007 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that of 103,788 veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom surveyed between 2001 and 2005, 13,205 had PTSD — a figure comprising more than half of the veterans with a mental health diagnosis and 13 percent of all veterans surveyed.

The numbers also show that the new veterans are not coming forward. The New England Journal of Medicine in 2004 released a study showing that only 24 to 40 percent of service members in need of mental health services pursued that help, largely because of fears of being stigmatized.

Another, more disturbing trend among both service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and veterans of earlier conflicts has emerged in recent years — an increase in suicide rates. A 2007 CBS News investigation found that in 2005, approximately 20 veterans per 100,000 committed suicide, with a higher rate among those aged 20 to 24.

CNN reported in February that 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide in 2007, up from 350 in 2002. The suicide rate among active soldiers, CNN reported, was 17.5 per 100,000 in 2006 — less than the civilian rate, but a drastic increase from previous years.

Suicidal tendencies, said Mr. Stair, mark the point at which groups like his can step in and force a veteran to receive treatment. While he described the problem of veteran suicide as limited in north central Massachusetts, he said the focus both regionally and nationally must be on finding ways to help before a veteran’s post-traumatic stress causes him or her to reach that point of despair.

“Even one’s too many,” he said.

dkittredge@thegardnernews.com
http://www.thegardnernews.com/index.aspx

Post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD)

• 7.7 million Americans are affected by PTSD, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The disorder is more likely to affect women than men, according to the institute, and while it is most prevalent among adults it can affect people of any age, including children.

• A 2007 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that of 103,788 veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom surveyed between 2001 and 2005, 13,205 had PTSD — a figure comprising more than half of the veterans with a mental health diagnosis and 13 percent of all veterans surveyed.

• According to a 2004 study that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, only 24-40 percent of service members in need of mental health services pursued them because of fears about being stigmatized.










J.L. Vallee

Westminster Info Press

PO Box 62

Westminster, MA 01473

JLVallee@SeveredSoul.com


www.severedsoul.com


http://www.myspace.com/author_jlvallee
part one of two

NIMH has booklet on PTSD

While this is very easy to read, it depends on the reader if it leads them to want to know more. I hope it does.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
By National Institute of Mental Health(National Institute of Mental Health) An easy-to-read booklet on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that explains what it is, when it starts, how long it lasts, and how to get help.
Table of Contents
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
What is post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD?
Who gets PTSD?
What causes PTSD?
How do I know if I have PTSD?
When does PTSD start?
How can I get better?
How PTSD Can Happen: Janet's Story
Facts About PTSD
Don't Hurt Yourself
Contact us to find out more about PTSD.

"Tell Them I Didn't Cry" by Jackie Spinner

"It's not a hero's story!" said Jackie Spinner about her book "Tell Them I Didn't Cry," which relates the nearly two years that she spent in Iraq as a journalist for the Washington Post. The book was a main topic of conversation during the convocation that she gave on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as defined in the fourth edition of "The American Heritage College Dictionary," is a psychological disorder of individuals who have experienced profound trauma, such as torture, marked by recurrent flashbacks, nightmares, eating disorders, anxiety, fatigue, forgetfulness, and withdrawal.

When Spinner spoke with the Honors 190 class, she explained that her five-year-old nephew Aiden summed PTSD up by saying, "It is where someone has seen so many sad things that they forget how to be happy."

According to Spinner, that is a very accurate definition. "You have to learn how to live again." For many, that is hard to do.

As a journalist, words are Spinner's life. Of the time she spent in Iraq, Spinner said, "I fought with my pen."

However, when Spinner returned home she was unable to find any words that expressed what she experienced. Therefore, Spinner turned to art therapy.
click post title for the rest

A five year old can understand what PTSD but too many in this country can't or won't. For some with PTSD, they feel they do not deserve to be happy either.

PTSD becomes a For Dummies book

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder For Dummies
By Mark Goulston
ISBN: 978-0-470-04922-8
Format: PaperPages: 384 PagesPub. Date: October 22, 2007
A plain-English resource for people suffering from the aftereffects of a traumatic experienceAn estimated five percent of Americans-over 13 million people-suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at any given time, and approximately eight percent will develop it at some time in their lives. Written for PTSD sufferers and their loved ones, this practical guide gives people the lowdown on symptoms, details today's various treatment options, offers practical coping strategies for day-to-day life, and even shows how to help children with PTSD. For the 12 to 20 percent of returning combat veterans who suffer from PTSD, the book offers real-world strategies for dealing with flashbacks, nightmares, and disruptive thoughts.
click post title for link

Dealing with this for over half my life, it does not surprise me one bit this became a FOR DUMMIES book. I think it's great that a book has come out in plain, simple terms because this wound is very complicated. It's been very hard for the general public to understand.

I think back to when I was trying to explain this to my family and friends. Most of the time their eyes would glaze over and the subject was changed. Just when I thought they understood it, they would say something totally off the mark. These are smart people we're talking about and not "dummies" unable to understand the science of it.

While veterans are a reflection of the general population, having all sorts of characters among them, they are far from the general population. Combat is not part of normal daily life. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, religious beliefs and yes, even attitudes. There are some alcoholics serving today, just as there are some alcoholic veterans. There are some drug addicts. There are some criminals, abusers and rapists among them. There should be no doubt that they are just as human as the rest of us. What sets them apart is their service to this country and the fact they are expected to be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of this nation.

When we read news reports about a combat veteran on trail, some point to that as evidence only criminals use PTSD as an excuse for what they did. When we read reports about homeless veterans, we tend to think they want to be that way. As if being homeless is a choice.

Although I do know of one case of a veteran with PTSD who decided to live in his car, even that was not really a choice when you look deeper into what was behind his choice. He felt as if he didn't deserve to live in a home with his family. PTSD made that choice for him. Imagine feeling unworthy of living with your family, unworthy of having a roof over your head, and then maybe you can understand how even this was not really a choice.

The vast majority of combat veterans are not criminals, not drug addicts, not alcoholics, abusers, or even violent. The vast majority of veterans with PTSD are drained emotionally along with the host of other issues they have to deal with. They just want to be what they were before they went into combat. The earlier the wound is treated, the better the chances are of restoring them to the lives they had before the trauma hit them, just as surely as a bullet hits others. It can be done with early intervention. Why wouldn't this be a top priority for all nations involved in combat?

Think of the aftermath of this. Taking care of them now will save money in the long run, which realistically has to be a motivation for the governments. It will save their own financial futures as they are restored to being capable of working or returning to their duty in the military. It saves marriages and it saves the relationships with children. It can, will and already does save them from turning to self-medications like alcohol and drugs, which usually adds in drunk driving and illegal drug activity. This will also reduce the veterans being incarcerated for related crimes which include domestic abuse. All this can be accomplished with a war attitude of defeating PTSD before it claims more of their lives.

As for the older generations of PTSD combat veterans, they need to seek treatment even after all these years of suffering in silence. My husband came home from Vietnam in 1971, was not diagnosed until 1990, not treated by the VA until 1993 and his claim was not approved until 1999. Even after all those years lost, when treatment began he stopped getting worse. It was too late to restore his life to where he was before and he is chronic, but he is living a life again and we have adapted to what is "normal" for us in this marriage that has lasted 23 years. It is never too late to seek treatment but the sooner the better the recovery.

For this new generation there is a great deal of hope because of the attention paid to this finally. There will be a refocus on treatments and studies. There is also greater understanding toward PTSD that never happened before. Sadly there is still a lot of bad attitudes directed toward those who have PTSD even though we already know PTSD strikes humans of all walks of life.

There are many web sites still dismissing PTSD as if there is something to be ashamed of. They deny the release of data and figures of those coming back with PTSD and even go so far as to suggest that it is not as bad as reported. The problem is, it is in fact a lot worse than is reported. We need only to look back at the Vietnam veterans to see this is only the beginning of their wounded minds. 148,000 Vietnam veterans recently sought treatment for PTSD from the VA. The biggest barrier preventing them from seeking treatment before was the lack of knowledge, not the lack of suffering. Many of the new wounded will not acknowledge their wounds are getting worse until much later on in life. The lack of knowledge also allows the stigma to prevent them from seeking treatment. It allows the stigma to live in the minds of society. There is a saying that knowledge is power. In this case, knowledge is healing a life.

For some, PTSD effects will be mild. For others it will be sent into overdrive when a "secondary" stressor strikes. For others they show signs early enough that the changes are obvious and cannot be overlooked. It cannot be stressed enough that the re-deployments of the men and women in the military increases the risk of developing PTSD by 50% and this is based on an Army study that vanished from the media's reporting on PTSD.

PTSD can be defeated but only after the dummies get out of the way.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

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.

Home From War by Patience Mason

Home from War
By patience mason(patience mason)
Shrinks and family members tend to see the symptoms of PTSD as the problem. Not me. I see war as the problem and the symptoms of PTSD as solutions to the problem of war, something right with you, not something wrong with you. ...
Patience Mason's PTSD Blog - http://patiencemason.blogspot.com/

I remember when very few of us were working on ending the stigma of PTSD because of Vietnam Vets, Patience was one of the few voices being heard. This was when most of us were still dealing with what was happening to our husbands and in turn, our families as well. While I was writing local newspapers, Patience was already on the net doing everything she could to catch the veteran's falling through the cracks. Back then I was still trying to figure out how to use a mouse. She already had a web page and a very large readership.

The early writers were Patience Mason, Mary Beth Williams, Aphrodite Matsakis and Jonathan Shay. In all the years I was researching PTSD, their's were among the best written on the subject. They were easy to understand and got into the personal side of PTSD along with how the families were also paying the price. I suggest reading all their works. Most of what I've learned came from them and heavy research into clinical books but left me feeling as if I were chewing on an emery board trying to get through those. If you really want to understand PTSD there is a wealth of knowledge out there from people who have been dealing with it since the term was coined following the Vietnam war.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington