GOP WAR AGAINST VETERANS: NO ACT TOO LOW

To top all of this off, she has no clue what she is quoting to congress.,,,This is part of her testimony to congress and in on the AEI website.....Satel was talking about not granting full disability to a young veteran because it would discourage him from healing and going back to work.

This is a good place to mention remission rates of PTSD. According to the National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study (NVVRS, 1988) fifty percent of those who develop the diagnosis of PTSD will recover fully over time. A recent re-analysis of the NVVRS, (Science, vol. 313 18 August 2006) found the lifetime rate of PTSD to be 18.7 percent vs. point prevalence (current) of 9.1 percent. Notably, those with a lifetime history of PTSD but not current PTSD exhibited virtually no lingering functional impairment at the time of assessment. Thus, to grant total disability compensation in light of a fifty percent chance of total remission (and a much higher chance of achieving partial or near-total remission) makes little sense.

http://www.aei.org/speech/28034

Yet read this. Either she out and out lied to congress about this report or she had no clue what it meant.


This is from the National Center for PTSD

Epidemiological Facts about PTSD
What causes Posttraumatic Stress Disorder? How common is it? Who gets it?
These questions are asked by epidemiologists, and two major epidemiological studies have produced some answers.

Several studies have been conducted in the history of the US to examine how prevalent PTSD is in the general population or in special populations. The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Survey (NVVRS), conducted between November 1986 and February 1988, comprised interviews of 3,016 American veterans selected to provide a representative sample of those who served in the armed forces during the Vietnam era. The National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), conducted between September 1990 and February 1992, comprised interviews of a representative national sample of 8,098 Americans aged 15 to 54 years. The most recent National Comorbidity Survey Report, published in 2005 on a newer sample, estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among adult Americans at 6.8%.

The earlier NCS data set estimated prevalence of lifetime PTSD to be 7.8% in the general adult population, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to have PTSD at some point in their lives. This represents a small portion of those who have experienced at least one traumatic event; 60.7% of men and 51.2% of women reported at least one traumatic event. The most frequently experienced traumas were:

Witnessing someone being badly injured or killed
Being involved in a fire, flood, or natural disaster
Being involved in a life-threatening accident
Combat exposure
The majority of the people in the NCS experienced two or more types of trauma. More than 10% of men and 6% of women reported four or more types of trauma during their lifetimes.

The traumatic events most often associated with PTSD in men were rape, combat exposure, childhood neglect, and childhood physical abuse. For women, the most common events were rape, sexual molestation, physical attack, being threatened with a weapon, and childhood physical abuse.

However, none of these events invariably produced PTSD in those exposed to it, and a particular type of traumatic event did not necessarily affect different sectors of the population in the same way.

The NCS report concluded that "PTSD is a highly prevalent lifetime disorder that often persists for years. The qualifying events for PTSD are also common, with many respondents reporting the occurrence of quite a few such events during their lifetimes."

The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Survey (NVVRS)
The NVVRS report provided the following information about Vietnam War veterans:

PTSD
The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among American Vietnam theater veterans is 30.9% for men and 26.9% for women. An additional 22.5% of men and 21.2% of women have had partial PTSD at some point in their lives. Thus, more than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans -about 1,700,000 Vietnam veterans in all- have experienced "clinically serious stress reaction symptoms."

15.2% of all male Vietnam theater veterans (479,000 out of 3,140,000 men who served in Vietnam) and 8.1% of all female Vietnam theater veterans (610 out of 7,200 women who served in Vietnam) are currently diagnosed with PTSD ("Currently" means 1986-88 when the survey was conducted).

Other problems of Vietnam veterans
Forty percent of Vietnam theater veteran men have been divorced at least once (10% had two or more divorces), 14.1% report high levels of marital problems, and 23.1% have high levels of parenting problems.

Almost half of all male Vietnam theater veterans currently suffering from PTSD had been arrested or in jail at least once -34.2% more than once- and 11.5% had been convicted of a felony.

The estimated lifetime prevalence of alcohol abuse or dependence among male theater veterans is 39.2%, and the estimate for current alcohol abuse or dependence is 11.2%. The estimated lifetime prevalence of drug abuse or dependence among male theater veterans is 5.7%, and the estimate for current drug abuse or dependence is 1.8%.

Because the NVVRS sample size underrepresented members of certain ethnic minorities, the Matsunaga Vietnam Veterans Project undertook further epidemiological research among Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander veterans. These findings are summarized in two separate National Center for PTSD fact sheets.

This Fact Sheet Was Based On:
Richard A. Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation: Report of Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1990; ISBN 0-87630-573-7)

Ronald C. Kessler et al., Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Archives of General Psychiatry, 52(12), 1048-1060 (December 1995)

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/fs_epidemiological.html

This piece is right to the point. Sally Satel has been an abomination. She has assaulted veterans from coast to coast with her insults and accusations, claiming PTSD is fake, even though police officers carry this wound as well. I would hate to be her if she gets pulled over for a DWI or speeding ticket and finds herself face to face with a cop on the beat she insulted when he was coming back from Iraq. Her refusal to acknowledge these remarkable men and women, our troops and our veterans, along with this wound they have carried within them, accusing them of looking for a free ride, after they were willing to die so that people like her could shoot their mouths off, is nothing less than treason to every man and woman that has laid down their lives for this nation.

What is worse is that she was held up as an expert on PTSD at the same time the troops and veterans were killing themselves instead of seeking help for PTSD. As an advisor and expert, she is responsible for what all of her advice lead to. People like her did more damage to our veterans than any enemy bullet ever could.

Op-Ed Contributor
For Some, the War Won't End

By Sally Satel
Published: March 1, 2006
Washington

ACCORDING to a report from its inspector general, the Department of Veterans Affairs is now paying compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder to nearly twice as many veterans as it did just six years ago, at an annual cost of $4.3 billion. What's more surprising is that the flood of recent applicants does not, for the most part, consist of young soldiers just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Rather they are Vietnam veterans in their 50's and 60's who claim to be psychologically crippled now by their service of decades ago.

This leads to an obvious question: Can it really take up to 40 years after a trauma before someone realizes he can no longer cope with the demands of civilian life? The answer: possibly, but it is often hard to know which applicants can be helped with short-term psychiatric care, which are seeking a free ride and which are truly deserving of the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and thus long-term care and payments of up to $2,300 a month for life. The task before the Veterans Affairs Department is to come up with criteria.

Medically speaking, there is some evidence to support what psychiatrists call "reactivated" post-traumatic stress disorder. The literature is dotted with cases of veterans of World War I, World War II and the Korean War who, after briefly showing signs of stress disorders in the immediate aftermath of their ordeals, led productive lives for decades before breaking down in their 60's and 70's. Little is known about the treatment of reactivated symptoms, but there is reason to be optimistic that patients will recover nicely in view of their having functioned well for so long.

But it's also very likely that some of the veteran baby boomers who have filed claims in recent years did so not out of medical need but out of a desire for financial security in their retirement years. Indeed, 40 percent of last year's claimants had been out of the military for 35 to 49 years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/opinion/01satel.html?_r=1

Is Satel suggesting that a Vietnam veteran returned, worked all these years and is so greedy they are willing to subject themselves to being called "crazy" by their friends? Does she understand the stigma still attached to this? It's because they are finally finding out what has been "wrong" with them all these years. I'm still contacted by Vietnam veterans just now hearing the term PTSD! It's not that they are finally deciding to show up at the VA to secure their old age. They already did that by working! There is no excuse for this from someone who worked for the VA.

Are there frauds? Yes. Some of their stories have been on this blog, but considering how low the percentage is, that is not the problem here. We have more veterans, as a matter of fact, half of the men and women with PTSD seek help, which means, half of them do not. Doesn't Satel get this?

Apparently not. While she is a psychiatrist, what was her training in? Is she among the ranking real experts on PTSD? The ones I trust, like Dr. Jonathan Shay? Or did the Bush Administration just need someone to slam the troops and the veterans? I've been asking that question for years wondering why it is that the experts I read never seemed to have been the people showing up to testify before Congress. Maybe this question has just been answered.

Special Report: THE GOP WAR AGAINST VETERANS: NO ACT TOO LOW
Posted on June 21, 2009 by gordonduff
THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE AND DR. SALLY SATEL

EVERY VET A MALINGERER AND PHONY

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER

With the Keith Roberts hearing coming up, perhaps we should look at the mechanism that gave the government the ability to destroy veterans files, even imprison veterans who filed appeals, such as Keith Roberts.

Giving full aid and comfort to the enemies of America's veterans is the American Legion and VFW, two groups that stand, side by side with the Republican politicans and the conservative think tanks that work to eliminate veterans benefits and GI Bill enhancement.

THE AEI: NOMINEE FOR THE COVETED AIRPORT SPITTER AWARD

"Conservative" means "saving money" and "keeping soldiers as slaves onto death." Whether we are talking John McCain or Burr or Graham or two dozen others, these patriotic heroes have done nothing over the years but receive continual support from our favorite veterans groups for gutting military and veterans benefits.

With a series of "think tanks" selling pseudo science, most of them got their feet wet with decades of "smoking and lung cancer denial," or similar idiocy, the American Enterprise Institute stands out as the lead in the war against American heroes.

Even more maniacal and radical than the Heritiage Foundation, private "rubber stamp" for the schemes of Amway/Blackwater, Coors extremism and Richard Mellon Scaife, private funder for the failed Clinton impeachment, the AEI focuses on destroying veterans.

Their primary tool is a Doctor Sally Satel. Satel is an "odd duck" who believes that secret groups of extremist veterans, when not busy trying to overthrow the government or tap her telephone, plot to destroy the American economy by faking symptoms of PTSD after experiencing combat.

The Bush 2005 attempt to stop all payments to veterans receiving disability for PTSD was based on her politically inspired writing.

Standing against Satel, Bush and then VA director Nicholson was Senator Barak Obama, now president and under continual attack from, not only conservative groups, but clandestinely by mainstream veterans organizations.

Satel claims that the price for treating PTSD will go over $4 billion dollars and this will bankrupt the United States
go here for more
http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7413

Ignorance of PTSD is a plague against veterans

by
Chaplain Kathie

With literally hundreds of articles to read during the week, I tend to pass by opinion pieces. There is just not enough hours in the day to respond to all of them. This one got to me. Maybe I'm in a bad mood this morning? Lack of sleep tends to do that.


A broken warrior By Catherine Whitney was as great piece telling the story of her brother, a Vietnam veteran wounded by PTSD. This lead to a response from a reader denying the reality of PTSD. While I've read too many of this kind of ignorance from the uneducated over the years, there is no excuse for them to attack the veterans they are claiming they care about. What is behind the denial of PTSD and baseless claims? The end result is that this kind of attitude is like a plague against veterans and the generations of warriors risking their lives, putting themselves in harms way and suffering for doing what the rest of us have not.

Here is the comment posted on Hutchinson News Online and my reply in case they will not allow it to be published.

The PTSD myth
Catherine Whitney's "Broken Warrior" piece about veterans and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was about 180 degrees off course. It perpetuates the myth that there is an epidemic of mental illness in veterans because of their military experiences. My 30 years in the VA disability benefit bureaucracy showed a far different situation. Almost every VA employee I ever met who evaluated PTSD claims concluded that most were bogus grabs for money.

The truth is that the VA pays out billions of dollars a year in payments for PTSD where it does not exist. A huge self-serving industry has sprung up around this "disorder." Veterans profit by claiming the condition when they don't have it. VA medical clinicians diagnose the condition because their jobs depend on it. There is also profit for the attorneys, service organization representatives, VA bureaucratic personnel, politicians, and, yes, even authors who grandstand on this. The result is a siphoning of money away from the truly deserving vets with the real injuries and wounds.

Catherine Whitney would have you believe that it is difficult for a veteran to receive a diagnosis and money for PTSD. Actually, the money and diagnosis are available to about every vet, with or without a combat history. There is no objective test for the condition. It exists if the vet seeking money says he has it and the VA clinician needing a job supports him. The VA tends to pay more PTSD money to the rear echelon clerks than to vets with primary combat duties. That the money is paid inversely to actual combat experience is just a clue to the enormity of the fraud and abuse surrounding this diagnosis.

Ms. Whitney blamed her brother's alcoholism and situation in life to his military experiences rather than face the fact that some people just become alcoholics. She said that today's war heroes too often become tomorrow's poor or resort to suicide when there is no statistical evidence of that. Such unsupported claims were exposed years ago by the book "Stolen Valor" by B.G Burkett. Anyone who wants a true picture of the PTSD situation should go find a copy. What you shouldn't do is listen to people like Catherine Whitney or anyone trying to make a buck from the true sacrifices of vets.

MARK ROGERS

Pretty Prairie

http://www.hutchnews.com/Westernfront/wfrogers

Mr. Rogers,
What is your history with researching PTSD, living with it or even knowing someone with it? How many veterans have you talked to so wounded they have to struggle just to find reasons to get up out of bed after another night of reliving what they went thru in their dreams? Have you ever seen a veteran going thru a flashback? Somehow, I doubt you know very much about this but apparently think you can justify your lack of knowledge and ambivalence by writing about it.

Here are some facts for you because apparently while you have an opinion, it is not based on facts but merely assumptions.

PTSD comes from an outside force after a traumatic event that is captured within the soul/emotions, in case you are not a religious person. Scientists have found the part of the brain changed by PTSD responsible for the emotions in humans. It's been proven.

Next, if you ever read history regarding warfare, you'd see all the signs of it. Ancient Greek and Romans recorded the aftermath of war. It is recorded in the pages of the Bible even though there is a tendency to over look it. Abraham was a warrior and so was Moses. Read Judges and Kings or the Psalms of David and see it. Every generation of Americans have endured this invisible wound going back to the Revolutionary War. It's been called many things. Nostalgia, Soldier's Heart, Shell Shock and then arriving at Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by 1978. By then there were 500,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD and this was published in several studies. The DAV commissioned a study by Jim Goodwin, Psy.D, Readjustment Problems Among Vietnam Veterans, The Etiology of Combat Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and it was all there.

By 1986 there were 117,000 suicides. Two later studies put the numbers between 150,000 and 200,000. Over 300,000 ended up homeless. Incarcerations of Vietnam veterans suffering from PTSD and self medicating with street drugs and alcohol became part of the aftermath. One more fact you lack is that had it not been for Vietnam veterans coming back and fighting to have this wound treated as a service connected disability, the rest of us would find no help at all. That includes police officers, firefighters and emergency responders. It includes people suffering from traumatic events like crimes and accidents along with natural disasters. All generations of veterans have been helped because of what Vietnam veterans did.

Now, you can look at PTSD anyway you want, but when you publicly come out making baseless claims against the reality, you are a plague much like the morons in the past unable to think like a human with emotions. People like you are part of the reason my own husband would not go for help when PTSD was mild and he had a better chance to heal more fully. Because of people like you he didn't want help until it was almost too late. I had the ammunition to overrule people like you because I knew exactly what PTSD was and what it was doing to him along with all the other veterans I had helped thru the years.

Next time you go to the VA try talking to a Marine back from Iraq, if they'll talk to you at all. I'm a Chaplain so they know they can trust me. I've held enough of them in my arms when they were crying and apologizing for the pain they were carrying because people like you would rather judge them than help them heal. No one is slamming veterans because they have PTSD, but people like you slam them and insult them all the time because you deny this wound is real. These brave men and women ended up doing their duty, finishing their mission, caring for their brothers in arms with the pain eating away at them with flashbacks and nightmares and did not allow themselves to think of themselves until their duty was over. And you, you with your ignorance insult them?

And now read what produced the comment by Mr. Rogers.

A broken warrior
By Catherine Whitney - Special to the Los Angeles Times

My brother, Jim, was a soldier once, but when he died, at age 53, he was long past the time when anyone called him a hero. He died alone, in poverty, alienated from family and friends, his life and death complicated by war wounds that penetrated far deeper than the pieces of shrapnel that won him his Purple Heart. Jim was a Vietnam combat engineer who survived the war but later became another kind of statistic - a lost soul, a veteran who never recovered from his experiences.

Jim didn't seek help, nor did the Army offer it during his 20-year military career. Instead, to try to deal with his pain, he began to drink. He was forced into retirement when he was 37, with nothing but a drawer full of medals, a subsistence-level pension and a crushed spirit.

We hear a lot of talk about post-traumatic stress disorder afflicting troops and veterans. To its credit, the military has tried to update its attitudes and systems to accommodate the growing number of traumatized soldiers returning from our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But PTSD is still viewed as an abnormal response to battlefield trauma rather than the reaction of a normal person to the horrors of war. And so the stigma remains.

Tragically, it is often left to individual soldiers and veterans to seek help. Many are career military, as my brother was, and they fear the dishonor associated with a diagnosis of PTSD.
go here for more
http://www.hutchnews.com/Columns/brokenmkow

When you live with PTSD in your own home, you know what is real. When you help other veterans and police officers, firefighters and their families, you know what is real. When you work with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, you know what is real. People like Mr. Rogers, well, they are part of the reason the stigma lives on and I really believe they are the biggest insult to veterans because they seem to think they are looking for a free ride. I don't know about this Mr. Rogers or his history but he fails to understand that this kind of suffering is real, they can make a lot more money working for a living instead of being unable to work and collecting disability from the VA and suffer all kinds of indignation in the process. If people like Mr. Rogers cared at all about our veterans, he would invest some time in finding out what PTSD is, what it does to them instead of spending time attacking them. He is too much like too many still in some kind of bubble finding fault with the wounded instead of themselves getting in the way of them getting the help to heal. The dishonor only exists because of people like Mr. Rogers and frankly I'm glad he does not live in my neighborhood!