Researchers Continue to Learn From Vietnam Veterans

The Long Tail of War
War's impact on mental health stays with soldiers long after they leave Iraq and Afghanistan.
US News
By Terri Tanielian and Rajeev Ramchand
June 4, 2015

Since U.S. military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 2.7 million men and women have served or continue to serve there. Some have been deployed two, three, four or more times. More than 6,800 service members have sacrificed their lives in these conflicts. Untold others have forfeited their well-being. A vast majority of these surviving veterans will carry the wounds of war, both visible and invisible, with them long into their lives.

In the last few years, researchers have made great progress capturing the downstream consequences of coping with injuries sustained in the theater of war, but the emerging picture is shadowed in grays. Taken together, a series of recent findings and statistics presents a bleak portrait of the cost of modern war to service members, their families and their health care providers.

As researchers, and as a society, we continue to learn from Vietnam veterans decades after they returned home from war. They are teaching us about the challenge of delayed-onset illnesses and increased demand for unexpected health-related services. As a group, veterans with PTSD or traumatic brain injury – or both – are more likely to struggle with marital and relationship issues and health problems like substance abuse. These health obstacles can affect workplace productivity, causing increased absenteeism and job loss, and lead to housing instability and homelessness.

Our research released in 2014 shows that military caregivers also face an increased psychological and social burden, with 40 percent of post-9/11 caregivers meeting symptom criteria for depression, compared to 10 percent of non-caregivers. There are an estimated 5.5 million military caregivers in the United States, and the country's overreliance on them poses a threat to the continuity of care for the newest veterans. It also calls into question the nation's ability to meet the long-term needs of post-9/11 veterans. Too many rely on parents who will age out of the role of caregiver, or they depend on their spouses in fragile young marriages that may be vulnerable to divorce.
read more here

Vietnam veterans were noticed in one part but not the part about caregivers. Guess they just didn't notice that Vietnam veterans families have gone through what new generation is a lot longer with no help or attention at all.

Can Some Tell Researchers Soldiers Are Not Rats?

Keeping this one really short since my head is about to just explode! PTSD Patients May Benefit From Blueberries; Blueberries deserve raspberries (Bronx Cheer)

"People who face death, serious injury, have become victims of sexual violence, or have witnessed their loved ones in the same situation, are at high risk of suffering PTSD. As a prolonged stress response, it is associated with an increase of stress and inflammation in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus — two critical regions of the brain responsible for how we process, remember, organize thoughts, and act."

"Researchers studied a group of rats with PTSD. Half were given a standard diet, while the other half had a diet consisting of two percent blueberry-enriched. A third group without PTSD was given standard diet without blueberries for the purposes of comparison."

Heart Problems and PTSD Connection Linked Years Ago

When will they do a study to find out how stressful it is to keep funding these studies?

This is a study of PTSD and hearts

MUNICH, Germany, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Patients with cardiac defibrillators may have a higher death risk if they have post-traumatic stress disorder, German researchers said.

It was reported by UPI PTSD linked to increased heart death risk and is still an active page showing;

"Our findings provide direct evidence for an independent influence of PTSD symptoms on fatal outcome in these patients," the study authors said in a statement.

The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found those experiencing PTSD symptoms conferred a 2.4-fold long-term age- and sex-adjusted mortality -- death -- risk for patients with implantable cardiac defibrillators.

But if you already checked the links, then you know this report was from 2008.

For years there has been more research on this but we're not talking a decade. We're talking about decades. Now unless the human body has been changed, unless the human mind has been totally rewired and war has changed so much that it caused PTSD to morph into something else, not much results came out of all these repeated research projects.

So here's the latest headline everyone is talking about as if it is something totally new. It ain't new and it hasn't improved for veterans. Gee wonder why that is?

Study adds evidence on link between PTSD, heart disease
In a study of more than 8,000 veterans living in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, those with posttraumatic stress disorder had a nearly 50 percent greater risk of developing heart failure over about a seven-year follow-up period, compared with their non-PTSD peers.

The findings appear in the April 2015 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence linking PTSD and heart disease. The research to date—including these latest findings—doesn't show a clear cause-and-effect relationship. But most experts believe PTSD, like other forms of chronic stress or anxiety, can damage the heart over time.

"There are many theories as to how exactly PTSD contributes to heart disease," says Dr. Alyssa Mansfield, one of the study authors. "Overall, the evidence to date seems to point in the direction of a causal relationship."

Everything in the human body is connected. Get under stress and it causes heart problems. What is more stressful than combat? Easy. Living the rest of your life with PTSD and then getting a load of stuff instead of help. This was reported on the UK Daily Mail about a study done in Massachusetts.

Proof that stress really does cause heart attacks
Adrenaline can increase white blood cell production which can cause ruptures

Extra white blood cells can cause inflammation in people whose arteries are already thickened with plaque

These inflammations can lead to ruptures which can cause heart attack in minutes

Stellate Ganglion Block No Better Than Placebo for PTSD

The VA has been spending millions on useless PTSD research It isn't as if they just discovered the price being paid by servicemen and women. They discovered it about 100 years ago and all hands on deck were called in the 70's.

Stellate ganglion block offers hope for PTSD treatments was one of those "projects" that was supposed to take care of servicemembers but as reported today, it didn't work.

Stellate Ganglion Block No Better Than Placebo for PTSD
MEDSCAPE
Nancy A. Melville
March 26, 2015

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — While promising preliminary research has shown some benefits of stellate ganglion block (SGB) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a new randomized controlled trial shows the treatment is not superior to sham injection.

An increasing number of case reports showing benefits from SGB for PTSD for several months after treatment has generated much buzz in the popular press, and the treatment has recently been featured on various TV programs.

One of the largest studies of the treatment to date was a case series involving 166 patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in which 70% of military service members with PTSD reported significant improvement of their PTSD symptoms, with benefits persisting beyond 3 and 6 months after the procedure.

Robert N. McLay, MD, PhD, lead author of the new study, said such improvements were seen even in a small case series of patients with PTSD at his center, prompting the placebo-controlled study.

"We were hoping for a benefit," Dr McLay, of the Naval Medical Center, in San Diego, California, told Medscape Medical News.

"We tried this out informally in our clinic and did see some benefit in about half of patients, but in this more formal study we were not able to reproduce those results."
read more here

This is from Eyewitness News 2010

Dr. Lipov says when a traumatic event is experienced, nerves in the brain sprout like flowers. By applying the local anesthetic, the nerve growth factor returns to normal.

In a recent study at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, doctors found the shot provided "immediate, significant and durable relief" for two soldiers who didn't respond to pills. Other doctors say more safety studies need to be done before the treatment is widely used.

The real questions we should be asking is, "If any of this worked, then why didn't it work? If it didn't work then why did we still have to pay for it? When do we get the tax funds back so we can invest in what does work? Who is being held accountable for all this wasted time and money? The biggest question I have is, who is going to bring back the lives lost after all these years?

PTSD Gene Research Not New, Not Worth Repeating Either

The talk about PTSD in Marines having to do more with their genes is not a new study. While this study was very small, larger ones had been done over the years.

Keep in mind that PTSD research has been full swing (billions a year) for the last 40 years. In 2008 there was a larger study on genetic link to why some folks end up with PTSD but others seem to escape it.

Not sure how much they paid Emory University for this one but they found PTSD was caused by genes and the environment. This study was reported by the Times Online out of the UK

Genes, however, do not explain all the variability in people’s risk, and the precise genes and environmental factors that are involved have remained obscure. A study led by Kerry Ressler, of Emory University in Atlanta, examined the effects of a gene called FKBP5, which is involved in the way the body responds to stress. The DNA code of this gene varies at four points, which allowed the scientists to investigate whether any particular genetic profiles would either raise the risk of PTSD or protect against it.

As PTSD develops only when people have lived through traumatic events, Dr Ressler studied a group of 900 adults who lived in deprived urban communities and were likely to have had violent experiences of the sort that can provoke the disorder.

Army Times reported that PTSD caused the size of the hippocampus to shrink. That study came out in 2008. It was done by Brigham Young University

“The size reduction in the hippocampus seems to occur sometime after the initial exposure to stress or trauma in childhood, strengthening the argument that it has something to do with PTSD itself or the stress exposure,” said Dawson Hedges, an author in the study and a BYU neuroscientist.

Ok, so now it is easy to understand why it is to intolerable to discover yet again the web has trapped yet one more "study" as being the only thing worth repeating. Hell, they even repeat someone else who repeated it from CNN.

Is post-traumatic stress disorder in your genes?
By Sandee LaMotte, Special to CNN
March 12, 2015

"We'll draw the blood and have a way to do this very rapidly and start to tease apart who is a little more at risk and who is a little more resilient for PTSD," says principal investigator Dr. Dewleen Baker of the University of California-San Diego. "It's exciting."

What is wrong about this is, first, they just jump into military service avoiding all the other causes and cases experts have been researching for decades.

They also forgot to mention that it is never too late to get help for PTSD and Vietnam veterans have proven that.

What is really the kicker here aside from not mentioning how long they've been looking at the same research, this study they're all quoting came from this tiny group.

The researchers analyzed blood samples from 188 U.S. Marines, taken before and after deployment to conflict zones. They identified modules of co-regulated genes involved in innate immune response – the body’s first line of defense against pathogens – and interferon signaling, that were also associated with PTSD. Interferons are proteins released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens and in this study are also shown to partake in the pathology PTSD.

Considering larger studies really didn't prove much at all this one doesn't even deserve mentioning but since everyone is, it is time for someone to step up and make some sense out of all this nonsense considering veterans already think there is something wrong with them and that's why they have it. Good Lord! Will folks ever understand they don't have to repeat everything they read?

Repeating History Equals Predictable Outcome for Veterans

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein

Repeating history equals predictable outcome and that is what veterans have been dealing with for decades.

If you think any of the reports you read in newspapers today are new issues, then consider the source. The reporters, most of them anyway, were not even born when veterans came home from Vietnam. They have absolutely no idea what happened or when, but the worst thing about them is they don't even want to learn.

There is nothing coming out of Washington that is new. All the bills they write have been done over and over and over again and everyone of them has failed.

Consider the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act that floods your email box about being a good thing. It all sounds good but for those paying attention it is all too familiar.

Somehow, somewhere, someone decided to pull a fast one of the American public all so ready to do whatever it takes to take care of veterans without ever once considering the "doers" are doing it to the veterans instead of for the veterans.

Vietnam Veterans came home and pushed for the research and funding. This shows how long it has been going on. Notice 1980? That came after years of research before they adopted what many psychiatrists were already calling it,

VA PTSD Research

PTSD: National Center for PTSD

Congressional Mandate
The National Center for PTSD was created in 1989 within the Department of Veterans Affairs in response to a Congressional mandate (PL 98-528) to address the needs of Veterans and other trauma survivors with PTSD. The Center was developed with the ultimate purpose to improve the well-being, status, and understanding of Veterans in American society.

The mandate called for a center of excellence that would set the agenda for research and education on PTSD without direct responsibility for patient care. Convinced that no single VA site could adequately serve this unique mission, VA established the Center as a consortium of five division s.

We've been doing so much on PTSD for so long now that there should be no questions, no veterans still trying to figure stuff out on their own, no stigma, no lack of care but it is worse for them now than before when less was being done.

Everytime they pass a bill, it comes with a pricetag on it. Someone is making money. No matter what the outcome is, they still get paid and keep the money. Congress turns around and cuts them another check when things get worse.

Here's some reminders of what your tax dollars paid for.
The Epic of Gilgamesh Cartoon for PTSD by the VA

THIS HAPPENED IN 2007

DoD/VA Post-Deployment Health Clinical Practice Guideline (PDH-CPG) TrainingTable of Contents
PDH-CPG Training Briefs are seven condensed (7-12 minute) training modules produced by the DoD Deployment Health Clinical Center. These modules were designed to provide clinicians with guidance on implementation of the DoD/VA Post-Deployment Health Clinical Practice Guideline (PDH-CPG).(Produced by DoD Deployment Health Clinical Center)
Introduction
Primary Care Screening
Primary Care Evaluation
Clinical Management and Follow-up
Clinical Health Risk Communication
Coding and Documentation
Post-Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA)
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a 15 minute video produced by the Veterans Administration illustrating the implementation of the PDH-CPG through the use of animated characters. It is suitable for all audiences - providers, support staff, service members and their families.(Produced by VA Employee Education System)

President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 today, handing over an extra $3.7 billion to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

THIS HAPPENED IN JANUARY OF 2008

Bush had to sign the act by Jan. 18, or VA would have lost the promised extra funding, which will be used to hire and train people to process the backlog of more than 600,000 benefits claims, said Dave Autry, spokesman for Disabled American Veterans. Some of the money also will go toward medical research for conditions such as traumatic brain injuries.

Rural Veterans The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)has provided $21.7 million to its regional health care systems to improve services specifically designed for veterans in rural areas.

THIS HAPPENED IN 2009

"This special allocation is the latest down payment on VA's commitment to meet the needs of veterans living in rural areas," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "VA will take to our rural veterans the health care services they have earned." Within the last year, VA has launched a major rural health initiative.

Last year, 2014, they tried this one, Oscar the Grouch to train VA employees

The beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs depicted dissatisfied veterans as Oscar the Grouch in a recent internal training guide, and some vets and VA staffers said Tuesday that they feel trashed.

The cranky Sesame Street character who lives in a garbage can was used in reference to veterans who will attend town-hall events Wednesday in Philadelphia.

"There is no time or place to make light of the current crisis that the VA is in," said Joe Davis, a national spokesman for the VFW. "And especially to insult the VA's primary customer."

The 18-page slide show on how to help veterans with their claims, presented to VA employees Friday and obtained by The Inquirer, also says veterans might be demanding and unrealistic and tells VA staffers to apologize for the "perception" of the agency.

The spokeswoman from the Philadelphia VA benefits office - which will host the town halls Wednesday at noon and 6:30 p.m. - said in a statement that the agency regretted any misunderstanding caused by the slide show.

Within some of the funds they spent on suicide prevention aside from the obvious failures of Battlemind and Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, we have these.

"The $677,000 study, which began a few months ago, will last two years. They hope to interview 100 participants."

That was for the University of Kentucky to find out how 100 families felt after a veteran committed suicide in 2012.

So let the press make fun of this one but yet again, they are not even close to what they should have been paying attention to all along. OBTW, this "effort" from the VA isn't new either.

VA Core Values and Characteristics

Ret. General Peter Chiarelli Thinks Veterans Only Claim PTSD

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 12, 2015

The more I read news reports, the more I think about how Ray Bradbury had it right in the movie Something Wicked This Way Comes. I was reading a story on a "new treatment for PTSD" sceptically as usual about how reporters like to pull off a word placement game to hook in readers, then slam them with the facts afterwards.

‘Brain zapping’: Veterans say experimental PTSD treatment has changed their lives on the Washington Post by Richard Leiby published today when I came upon this facinating claim by Ret. General Peter Chiarelli.

The story glossed over all the claims, especially this one, “One hundred percent responded with very visible change,” then went on to say it is used to treat kids with Asperger's syndrome and Autism. They are pushing the VA to buy into it to treat veterans with PTSD.

In the spring, Jin and others with the center made the rounds in Washington, briefing officials at the Pentagon and Veterans Administration and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on their PTSD findings. They urged a pilot program to give vets immediate access to the treatment, which they said could be simply implemented with a couple of MRT machines, which cost about $50,000 each.

But the VA needs controlled clinical trials. So, striving to gain credibility, the center launched a double-blind trial in October for 48 vets who reported PTSD symptoms, and it expects to launch one for 400 autistic patients early this year — both at the University of California at San Diego.

First they need the money to pay for the machines to see if it will work after they give veterans access to it? What? Study on Autistic patients to prove it will work on veterans? What?

At this point I pretty much was done reading until I came across this stunner.

“You can’t prove it one way or another,” says Chiarelli, who was a top commander in Iraq. “I’m here to tell you that 50 percent who say they have PTS — or some percentage of people — do not have PTS.”

What the hell is that supposed to mean? He seems to be still be claiming that there are too many fakers out there claiming to have PTSD but doesn't seem to have an explanation as to why he is now running "One Mind"

Challenge #1: Lack of PTS and TBI diagnostics and treatments
Did you know over 60% percent of the most seriously wounded soldiers from our recent wars suffer from TBI and post-traumatic stress (PTS)? And in a given year, more than 2.5 million Americans experience traumatic brain injury (TBI)?

Despite these startling numbers, the diagnosis and treatment of brain disease remains an inexact science, ruled by subjectivity and opinion. In fact, the current “test” for PTS consists of answering 20 questions asked by a mental health professional.

To make matters worse, there is not only far less large-scale research on brain illness and injury than other major diseases, but also the majority of research that is being conducted, the data and results are not being shared with other brain illness and injury researchers.

Shallow, antiquated diagnostics mixed with small-scaled, siloed research has resulted in no progress in developing treatments and cures for brain disease. The very fact that not much has changed in diagnostics and treatment for PTS and TBI since WWII is proof that we still have a long way to go.

How can he acknowledge research done going back to WWII and then deny the fact that most with PTSD DO NOT SEEK HELP OR COMPENSATION? Why doesn't he seem to understand that there has never been more grassroot efforts to get the word out about PTSD to veterans? Can he even explain why so many veterans going back to a time in our history when the damage done by combat was being reported with absolutely no treatment or compensation whatsoever? What about during the Civil War when they were being shot as cowards?

Ok, back that bus up for a second. PTSD has been studied since WWI but also showed up in ancient writings on war within the Bible and stories on fighters like Achilies
Deuteronomy 20:1-9 New International Version (NIV) Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

5 The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. 6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. 7 Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.” 8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” 9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

“But no man's a hero to himself.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ok, here is the rest of what Chiarelli had to say,

On several occasions, Jin has met with Peter Chiarelli, a blunt-spoken retired general who once led efforts to reduce the Army’s alarming suicide rate. Now he is chief executive of One Mind, a nonprofit dedicated in part to finding ways to treat what Chiarelli calls post-traumatic stress. (To avoid the stigma attached to mental illness, the group does not use the word “disorder” in referring to PTSD.)

He and Jin say the condition, to be better treated, must be better diagnosed. They are highly critical of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ current self-reporting method, a 20-item questionnaire that asks vets to recount, for example, how much were they bothered — on a scale of 1 to 5 — in the past month by “repeated, disturbing, and unwanted memories of the stressful experience.”

“You can’t prove it one way or another,” says Chiarelli, who was a top commander in Iraq. “I’m here to tell you that 50 percent who say they have PTS — or some percentage of people — do not have PTS.”

As disability certifications for PTSD have become easier to obtain in recent years — VA eased documentation requirements in 2010 — and the number of claimants has soared, the agency has been grappling with false benefit claims. While the total number of vets who suffer from the disorder is uncertain — many avoid reporting it — PTSD has clearly climbed in the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The disorder is the third-most-common service-connected disability in the past 13 years, VA says. Nearly 250,000 recent veterans have received a disability designation of that sort.

What the article does not address is a stunning number of Vietnam veterans sought help for PTSD in those years simply because they were finally convinced that help was available for them.

“He knew what the wind was doing to them, where it was taking them, to all the secret places that were never so secret again in life.”

― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

In the past 18 months, 148,000 Vietnam veterans have gone to VA centers reporting symptoms of PTSD "30 years after the war," said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, deputy commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He recently visited El Paso.

That report came out in October of 2007. The other report coming out in 2007 that was also important is there veterans committing suicide was considered an epidemic and even back then this was reported,

It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)

As you can see, with all the money spent and bills congress already passed, nothing has changed. The rate is still double the civilian rate.

The other thing that far too many fail to acknowledge is that civilians have PTSD and TBI too however, even though veterans are only 7% of that population they account for double the rate of civilians committing suicide. Yes, that is a very important fact omitted from people trying to push an agenda. The other factor is that the majority veterans committing suicide are 50 and over.

“Acting without knowing takes you right off the cliff.” ― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

On TBI this is from the CDC

In 2010, about 2.5 million emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, or deaths were associated with TBI—either alone or in combination with other injuries—in the United States.

The 2.5 million is gathered from emergency room visits and not diagnoses. This is a good article on TBI and concussions
This is from the Brain Trauma Foundation

Every year, approximately 52,000 deaths occur from traumatic brain injury.

An estimated 1.5 million head injuries occur every year in the United States emergency rooms. a

An estimated 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports-related TBIs occur each year.

At least 5.3 million Americans, 2% of the U.S. population, currently live with disabilities resulting from TBI.

Notice how they separated sports away from the other figure?

I am one of them. I had TBI before they called it that way, way back in the days when they were not sure what else a head injury could do. After I got out of the hospital at the ripe age of 4, soon my parents figured out my brain wasn't the same. I developed a speech impediment and spelling issues. (If you read Wounded Times often, I'm sure you noticed that) I also had memory problems. I had to learn how to push things I didn't need to remember anymore out of my head. I still have to do it but somehow manage to remember things these folks can't.

There you have the essence of what has actually been going on. I don't know about where Chiarelli sits but it stinks to high heaven from here!

“So in sum, what are we? We are the creatures that know and know too much. That leaves us with such a burden again we have a choice, to laugh or cry. No other animal does either. We do, depending on the season and the need.”

― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

9-11 PTSD Study Eye Opener For Veterans

This was one event during one day. It wasn't over in a day for the responders or the survivors. For veterans, there are many events during many days while deployed. If you are still not understanding why you have have PTSD, this is a good place to start.

PTSD and Depression in Survivors a Decade after 9/11
Health Canal

Remembering 9-11 National Georgraphic

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most commonly reported mental illness in survivors of the World Trade Center disaster in New York City.

A new study co-authored by Steven D. Stellman, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and senior author, has found a high prevalence of comorbid PTSD and depression among nearly 30,000 persons who were rescue or recovery workers, lower Manhattan residents or area workers, or passersby on the morning of 9/11 a decade or more after the terrorist attacks. Findings are published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.

Participants were enrollees in the World Trade Center Health Registry who had participated in three waves of data collection between 2003 and 2012. One-fifth of those studied, or 5,896 enrollees, screened positive for either PTSD or depression 10 years after 9/11, and just over half of those, or 2,985, screened positive for both conditions. In other words, persons with either condition were more likely to have both than either outcome alone.
read more here

Researchers Find Reason PTSD is Not All in Your Head

'Trigger' for stress processes discovered in the brain
Medical Xpress
Medical University of Vienna

"In contrast, the consequences of chronic stress are manifold and can, for example, lead to an increased tendency to suffer from infections but also to high blood pressure, diabetes and an increased risk of cardio-vascular disease right through to chronic headaches, tinnitus or osteoporosis."

At the Center for Brain Research at the MedUni Vienna an important factor for stress has been identified in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm (Sweden). This is the protein secretagogin that plays an important role in the release of the stress hormone CRH and which only then enables stress processes in the brain to be transmitted to the pituitary gland and then onwards to the organs. A current study on this molecular switch has now been published in the top-ranked EMBO Journal.

"If, however, the presence of secretagogin, a calcium-binding protein, is suppressed, then CRH (= Corticotropin Releasing Hormone) might not be released in the hypothalamus of the brain thus preventing the triggering of hormonal responses to stress in the body," explains Tibor Harkany of the Department of Molecular Neurosciences at the MedUni Vienna.

"Now we have a better understanding of how stress is generated," says Tomas Hökfelt of the Karolinska Institutet and guest professor at the MedUni Vienna. This could result in a further development where secretagogin is deployed as a tool to treat stress, perhaps in people suffering from mental illness such as depression, burn out or posttraumatic stress disorder, but also in cases of chronic stress brought on by pain. If a rapid recovery phase follows a period of stress, body and mind are restored to "normal working", which is associated with a suppression of the release of circulating stress hormones.
learn more here

More Millions to Duke For Brain Research

This article keeps asking "what do you think" so here it is.

If it is anything like the other millions that have gone into "researching" over the last hundred years on PTSD, then it will be more wasted time and lives. Not wasted money? No simply because someone or some group has always made money off the suffering of millions of people. Their suffering goes on while past research has been ignored as if it never happened.

Old research repeated after failures almost as if they have hoping for a different result. After all these years and all the money spent, it would be a good place for a researcher to be funded some of these millions to find out who got what and where it went.

The result has been an increase in suicides, attempted suicides, police and SWAT Team standoffs and veterans getting shot along with police officers. It has been one too many employers still not able to understand that considering there are millions of veterans with PTSD there are not millions of reports every year about them getting into any kind of trouble at all. More and more families wondering what went wrong when it is too late to learn and then wondering why no one told them what they needed to know when their veteran was still alive enough to heal.

More and more medications other "researchers" developed numbing them instead of helping them. Drugs with danger warnings growing longer and the list goes on. Would seem like a very good place to start and then move onto who has been held accountable for the deplorable results we've already seen.

Duke brain researchers receive $3 million in funding
The Duke Chronicle
By Abigail Xie
October 10, 2014

Duke researchers have been given almost $3 million as part of the first wave of President Obama's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies initiative.What do you think?

On Sept. 30, the National Institutes of Health announced the first $46 million of BRAIN funding that will go towards 100 projects across 15 states and several countries. Two projects at Duke have received more than $1.4 million each over the next three years. The overall aim of the BRAIN initiative is to develop innovative technologies to advance the study of the human brain and treatments for brain disorders. In total, the initiative will distribute $110 million in research funding.What do you think?

“There are so many secrets of the human brain and so many diseases involving the human brain,” said Chunlei Liu, assistant professor of radiology at the School of Medicine and the leader of the one of the teams. “It’s not just that we don’t have ways to treat them—we don’t even have ways to understand them."What do you think?

The BRAIN initiative will make hundreds of millions of dollars available to researchers studying the human brain through both public and private funding. One of the major goals of the initiative is to conduct research into brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and post traumatic stress disorder. The project has been compared to the Human Genome Project in scope and scale.
read more here

PTSD The Battle of Wounded Soul

Nose spray after death, bombs and bullets? Ya sure that'll work! but this is nothing new considering they have been trying all kinds of stupid stuff that hasn't worked in the last 40 years but they just keep repeating it. It's kind of like using dishwashing soap on your hair. Sure it will get it clean but it may leave you bald.

Sorry to be sarcastic but after all these years you'd think they would have figured out the strength of soldiers' minds is not the problem. It is the reason. Emotions live in the mind. It is because your emotions are so strong, you suffer after. On the flip side, the good emotions you haven't felt in a long time are just as strong as always but you've been consumed with the pain and may not have understood what you can do.

You just feel it all more. Much like many Medal of Honor Heroes have PTSD, it has nothing to do with lack of courage or being weak on anything. As for forgetting anything, you should never try to. You should seek to make peace with it instead.

Don't believe me? Would you believe MOH Vietnam Hero Sammy Davis? We sat down a couple of years ago and he has a message for you.


PTSD actually means after wound. Trauma is Greek for wound. It isn't a battle for your body, although your body does pay a price, that doesn't start with your body. It is what your mind does to your nerves. It is a battle of a wounded soul. It is what humans live with, heal from and change again. It is a part of you but doesn't have to defeat you. They need to start learning what it is before they actually do something to "cure" it.

Could a pill make soldiers' MINDS stronger?
Drug may boost resilience on the battlefield - and prevent post-traumatic stress disorder
A pill or nasal spray could help treat post-traumatic stress disorder in future
It contains a chemical called neuropeptide Y (NPY) that is produced in the brain to help people cope with extremely stressful situations
Drug could also make soldiers more resilient in pressurised battle situations
It's being developed by scientists at Yale University in Connecticut and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City
Drug is being tested on PTSD patients and results are expected in spring
Daily Mail
By SARAH GRIFFITHS FOR MAILONLINE
2 October 2014

A simple pill or nasal spray containing a natural stress-relieving chemical, could once day help PTSD survivors recover from stress faster and become less fearful and anxious. The drug could also be used to make soldiers more resistant in battle situations, experts say. A stock image of a soldier under stress is pictured

From road accidents to military attacks, it is thought that a third of people who survive a terrifying experience have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

There is now hope that in the future, a simple pill or nasal spray containing a natural stress-relieving chemical, called neuropeptide Y (NPY), could help survivors recover from stress faster and become less fearful and anxious.

The drug could also be used to make soldiers more resilient in battle situations, experts say.
read more here

VA Doctor's Answer to PTSD, More Pills, Less Talk

Since I already popped my cork today I will not add more to this.

Dr. Suris is the Chief of Psychiatry of Mental Health at Dallas’ VA Medical Center. Her research into a more efficient PTSD treatment has been called promising because it does not dwell on the traumatic memory.

“You come in and you have a 30 second exposure to your trauma,” Dr. Suris said. “That 30 second exposure is paired with a medication that we know is safe. We’re trying to interfere with that emotional connection. So you don’t lose the memory of the trauma, at all. But, you lose how you respond to that trauma. So if you think about your trauma, you’re not upset. It’s a fact.”

Enough said

Researchers find no "one size fits all" treatment of PTSD

Research shows possible neurological patterns for PTSD symptoms
MYFOXPhilly

The study, published online Sept. 17 in JAMA Psychiatry, represents a shift within the field of psychiatry away from a "one-size-fits-all" approach to more individualized treatments for mental health issues that target specific areas of the brain.

THURSDAY, Sept. 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Imaging technology has shed new light on how certain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) manifest in the brain, according to a new study.

PTSD is a mental health condition that can cause a wide range of debilitating symptoms, such as flashbacks to a traumatic event, being in a constant state of stress and avoiding certain situation and people, according to background information from the study.

Researchers identified a specific opioid receptor in the brain linked to emotion that is also associated with a specific group of PTSD symptoms, including listlessness and emotional detachment. They suggested their findings could help doctors develop targeted, or personalized treatments for the condition.

"Our study points toward a more personalized treatment approach for people with a specific symptom profile that's been linked to a particular neurobiological abnormality," explained the study's lead author, Dr. Alexander Neumeister, co-director of NYU Langone Medical Center's Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, in an NYU news release.

"Understanding more about where and how symptoms of PTSD manifest in the brain is a critical part of research efforts to develop more effective medications and treatment modalities."

"People with cancer have a variety of different treatment options available based on the type of cancer that they have," noted Neumeister. "We aim to do the same thing in psychiatry. We're deconstructing PTSD symptoms, linking them to different brain dysfunction, and then developing treatments that target those symptoms. It's really a revolutionary step forward that has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) over the past few years in their Research Domain Criteria Project."
read more here

PTSD: You are far from alone in this battle after war

Watchfires need to burn brighter
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 7, 2014

Will they ever get it? Will they ever understand what PTSD is and how to heal it without trying to pull off another redo of what failed? I was reading Altering Memories To Treat PTSD when I had a massive flashback of my own, back to the last 40 years of experts studying veterans instead of rats.

"The bulk of the research on reconsolidation so far has involved lab animals rather than humans."

By the time I heard the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 1982, a lot had already been done. Veterans Centers were opened across the country providing the support necessary for veterans to heal together. What ended up happening was the wrong lessons were learned by others. It became "take a pill and you'll feel better."

"The idea of reconsolidation broaches new territory for possible relief from PTSD—which affects an estimated seven to eight percent of Americans—by addressing its root cause rather than its symptoms. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, the antidepressants Zoloft and Paxil are the only drugs currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration explicitly for the treatment of PTSD."

We saw the down side of this. Medications do not heal. They numb. Great if you're a lab rat. Not so great if you are trying to have a life with family and friends again. To have hopes replace being disheartened. To be reminded that you are far from alone in this battle after war.

The thing that does work on memories of veterans is to get you to remember the whole event, not just the last part frozen in your memories.

Helping you remember why you wanted to join the military in the first place and why you risked your life for the others serving next to you. Reminding you of the other sacrifices you were willing to take on so that you could do what you had to do. Help you forgive others for what they did or said that was like a dagger in your heart. Help you forgive yourself for things that happened and you feel responsible for.

If they think lab rats are good test subjects for the stuff they claim is "new" then the result shouldn't shock anyone.

Suicides went up after more was being done to "prevent them" and so did attempted suicides.

What we learned over 40 years came from researchers and experts working with veterans, not rats. PTSD connected to combat is different than what is caused by the traumatic event itself.

We can understand someone with PTSD after one natural disaster. We understood them after accidents and crimes. We understood them after 9-11 and the Boston Marathon Bombings. We have yet to understand firefighters and emergency medical technicians with PTSD due to their countless exposures to situations of life and death. Less ability to understand members of law enforcement with PTSD because they not only expose themselves to daily dangers, they are active participants in them. When it comes to veterans, we totally fail to acknowledge that for a year in combat, there is no rest. There is no safe zone.

What we're really lousy at is understanding the human part of you. Your mind connects your body and your spirituality/emotions. All the parts of you faced danger and all parts of you must be treated to heal. It can't be take a pill, get numb and go off on your merry way. It can't be about tell us a story over and over again or twist it around to take the sting out of it. It has to be about finding closure and making peace with it.

The last thing veterans want to do is forget what happened because then you would have to forget the others you were willing to die for. They are a part of all of you. Healing isn't about forgetting. It is about changing the conversation from what is wrong with you right now into what is possible for you tomorrow.

The Army failed with their own study on the effects of redeployments in 2006.

U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........

Most people are aware of the table for those missing in war but here is another tradition with POW-MIA Recognition ceremonies across the country. Watchfires are lit so those lost can find their way.

The Watchfire stems from the military tradition that following a battle or long march, a large fire would be started so those missing or lost could locate and rejoin their comrades. Using that time honored model symbolically, we use the warmth and light of our Watchfire to guide everyone to join us in reflection of those comrades who have gone before us and made our nation strong through their service and sacrifice.

We always talk about the 22 suicides a day but while those numbers are only an average taken from research reports from 21 states death certificates, they do not include the numbers of veteran in the VA system of 1,000 attempts every month. Those numbers are important but we end up not talking about how these numbers went up after more was being tried to reduce them. We don't have much time to talk about the simple fact that over 21 million other veterans found what they needed to heal without forgetting about those they served with.

Too often the simple fact that most of the suicides among veterans claim the lives of veterans over 50 more than younger ones yet it was because of the Vietnam veterans the watchfires were lit so that all veterans could find their way back to help and healing they need.

September 19th is POW-MIA Recognition Day. When you see the ceremony remember that there are many who found their way home but not all the way.

As a veteran, especially if you have been able to heal enough with PTSD that you have joined other veterans, you are the watchfire. You are the beacon of life for them because if all they hear about is how many lives were lost to suicide, they will not see the hope in your eyes. They will not see that they belong in the community of veterans where they are understood as they are by other veterans. They feel lost and alone trying to fit back in with civilians, the same way most of you did. I am sure you remember what that was like discovering you had little in common with them. Help the other veterans find their way and in the process, you will heal even more.

Tulsa researchers attempt to end nightmares of PTSD

Local Researchers Take New Approach to Treating PTSD
NPR
Matt Trotter
August 25, 2014

These nightmares tend to stick around a long time. Think of the worst night’s sleep you’ve ever had, then multiply it. By a lot.

"In our clinical trials, the noncombat trials that we’ve done, it’s an average of 16 to 18 years that people have suffered from nightmares multiple times per week," Davis said. "And in our combat study that we did a couple years ago, it was an average of 40 years."

Nearly 8 million Americans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychologists at a local institute believe they’ve found a better way to treat it, and they have backing from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the form of a six-figure grant.

The typical course of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder involves nine to 12 sessions with a therapist.

"And there’s no medications involved. It is an approach that focuses on the way that trauma impacts the way that you think, the way that you behave and the way that you feel," said Joanne Davis, codirector of the Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Abuse and Injustice, and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Tulsa.

She’s launching a study of a two-sided treatment approach for PTSD because traditional therapy helps with functional issues "but nightmares and sleep problems are considered to be the hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder," Davis said.

"And they’re really looked-at important factors that not only help in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder but also in maintaining it over the long term."
read more here

Office of Naval Research funding PTSD study for 20 veterans?

Virtual reality helps treat PTSD in soldiers "Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could gain some relief from a new virtual-reality program, new research suggests." according to a "new" story on FOX. The problem is, it isn't new.

New claims say they changed it.

"Now, the researchers have developed a new virtual-reality program, called "Bravemind," which was created using feedback from the first version and includes an expanded set of features.Tests of this early version have been positive, Rizzo said. A study funded by the Office of Naval Research used a standard exposure-therapy approach, and involved 20 military members (19 men and 1 woman) who had spent an average of eight years in active service. Over the course of the study, 16 participants showed improvement in their PTSD symptoms, while four participants did not."

I walked through one of these a few years ago in Orlando at a convention. It is realistic and fascinating to view but veterans say that it is like telling their stories over and over again leaving them with no closure, no peace. This study is so tiny, it should not make headline news. As for funding, Naval Research should actually be taking a look at data collected over the last 40 years to figure out what actually worked for veterans.

Maybe this would work better if coupled with the other parts of the veteran to help them heal? Maybe the timing is a factor and needs to be done sooner than later?

While claims have been made for years about "helping veterans" the outcome is questionable.

PTSD Brain Game Big Money

When will Americans get it? When do they finally understand that PTSD "research" is a brain game that is costing us millions while veterans get worse? How many more years do they need to "invest" in something that has been occurring since the beginning of time? Now we have another $30 million going into putting implants into brains? When will enough be enough? This is yet one more attempt to revert back to the days of electroshock therapy.

Mass General Awarded Grant to Design Device for PTSD Treatment
The first of its kind device may reduce symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders like PTSD.
Boston Magazine
By Andrea Timpano
Hub Health
June 30, 2014

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded a $30 million grant to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General) to design an implantable deep brain stimulation device to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. The device will be used specifically to reduce symptoms of debilitating conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that PTSD affects more than 7 million American adults. The CDC reports that TBI was diagnosed in more than 2 million emergency room patients in 2010. That’s why this device could be a true game changer because there is nothing else like it.

In partnership with engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Draper Laboratories, researchers plan to build a device that monitors brain signals in real time and stimulates key areas in order to manage troublesome symptoms.
read more here

Every day, thousands of American service members relive the trauma of war in their sleep

First a warning on Prazosin

Headache, drowsiness, tiredness, weakness, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation may occur as your body adjusts to the medication. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.

Lightheadedness or dizziness upon standing may also occur, especially after the first dose and shortly after taking a dose of the drug during the first week of treatment. To reduce the risk of dizziness and fainting, get up slowly when rising from a seated or lying position. If dizziness occurs, sit or lie down immediately. Your dose may need to be adjusted.

Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects.

Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: pounding heartbeat, fainting, frequent urination, mental/mood changes (such as depression), swelling of the feet/ankles.

For males, in the very unlikely event you have a painful, prolonged erection (lasting more than 4 hours), stop using this drug and seek immediate medical attention, or permanent problems could occur.

A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, seek immediate medical attention if you notice any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, including: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.

Now they want to give it active duty troops as well? Huh?

Old Drug Brings New Promise for PTSD-related Nightmares
Department of Defense
By Christine Creenan-Jones
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

BETHESDA, Md., June 13, 2014 – Every day, thousands of American service members relive the trauma of war in their sleep. They hear explosions, see the carnage of battle erupt around them and feel the crushing weight of a painful combat memory resurface in their dreams.

Unfortunately, frequent nightmares are common among service members with post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, they disrupt sleep, which can magnify the daytime symptoms of PTSD and stymie the recovery process significantly.

“Although psychotherapy is the best treatment for PTSD, it’s less impactful when a patient is tired, irritable, anxious or unable to concentrate because recurring nightmares continuously disrupt their sleep,” said Army Lt. Col. Jess Calohan, program director for the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program at the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing, part of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences here.

In 2005, Calohan began working with Dr. Murray Raskind, who discovered that a largely obsolete blood pressure medication called prazosin appeared to be effective for treating PTSD-related nightmares. In his own practice, Raskind, director of the Northwest Network Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center at Veterans Affairs, used prazosin to treat Vietnam War veterans with PTSD.

Theoretically, the drug blocks the effects of adrenaline in areas of the brain thought to be responsible for causing nightmares during sleep. Raskind found that prazosin was tremendously successful at improving sleep quality and other PTSD-related symptoms.

Still, Raskind wondered if prazosin also would work on active duty service members. Their combat experiences were different, and they weren’t as far removed from the fight as the Vietnam War-era patients in his study.
read more here

The Disaster Predicted But Ignored, PTSD Suicides

Remember the hype about December 21, 2012 and the end of the world? If you Google 12-21-12 there are 3,980,000 results. On December 21, 2011, ABC News had an article "2012 End-of-the-World Countdown Based on Mayan Calendar Starts Today"

"Believers have taken the end-of-the world fears to the Internet with hundreds of thousands of websites and blogs. Yet others are capitalizing on the heightened interest. Films depicting the end of the world – including the 2009 movie, “2012″ – are contributing to the mounting hype as well as to misinformation, experts say."

But as we know, we're still here today. Some people took it seriously but most didn't. They were planning end of the world parties.

There are some things in life that we cannot predict, like when the world will actually end. We cannot predict what other people will do. If they will cause a car accident or commit a crime. We cannot predict fires. We can only plan on the possibilities and respond to them.

There are things we can predict. Disasters we can see coming because researchers base the prediction on years of watching them from start to finish.

Scientist knew Hurricane Katrina was coming because other researchers developed the technology to see them, understood how they formed and where they would go. They did it to save lives. They thought if they could see something coming ahead of time, they could warn people to prepare and seek safety.

In 2012 research had been ignored and thousands died. They did not die because of an ancient calendar. They did not die because of a natural disaster. They died because the disaster was caused by ignorance.

I met with an Iraq veteran yesterday. He was a Marine, deployed in Fallujah during the Iraq War. He has not just been dealing with memories of death and destruction there. He is dealing with the pain and misery of losing a friend to suicide and blaming himself for it. He didn't know what to do or say to his buddy in crisis. No one told him what he needed to know. No one told him what 40 years of research discovered. No one told him about his own PTSD or how he could heal.

He was feeling many emotions as we talked. The biggest question he had was why no one told him any of it before. All the years of suffering and struggling after his combat battle was over, he was alone fighting another battle because of it.

About a year ago I had a call from an Army Ranger. He was also in Iraq when he switched seats with another soldier. Seconds later a bullet hit his friend. As he laid dying in the arms of the Ranger, he looked up at him and said, "It should have been you." There is no way the Ranger could have predicted what would happen by such a small thing as switching seats but he still blamed himself.

A Marine was sick and unable to go on patrol one night in Iraq. Another Marine took his place. When the Marines returned, they were missing one. The Marine was killed. The sick Marine was blamed for the death of the other.

So why is it after all the years of warnings about what was coming, did an ancient calendar get so much more attention?

Last month over 8,000 Moms had to visit graves of their children because they were veterans and died by suicide. This month it will be over 8,000 Dads. How many still blame themselves? How many will never know that it wasn't their fault?

This hangs on my wall to remind me, sadly remind me, that we've known all these years what was coming but never paid attention.
In that research this is what they knew in 1978. It was the warning of the coming storm. A predictor of lives being lost in a cataclysmic event that was supposed to cause great change in all of us. Few heard it but far too many experienced it.

UPDATE
I took pamphlet down and with great sadness, I began to read it again. In the introduction written by Charles Figley, it summed up the condition of the American public and their lack of interest in what happens after war unless it came home to them.

"Gerald R. Ford, when he was President of our country, asked the American public to put Vietnam behind them and forget it. I can think of no Presidential injunction that has been more effective. As a Vietnam Veteran, myself, I believe it's both healthful and necessary to put the bitterness and dissention of the war years behind us. But to forget the Vietnam War, its troubled veterans and their families would be unforgivable.

Of course that was long before President Bush told the American public to go shopping.

"As you know, I have been consulting closely with our commanders and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the strategy in Iraq and on the broader war on terror.

One of my top priorities during this war is to ensure that our men and women wearing the uniform have everything they need to do their jobs."

But they didn't have all they needed during combat or when they came back home. As the speech went on that is when the moment came and veterans cringed.

"The unemployment rate has remained low at 4.5 percent. The recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country. And I encourage you all to go shopping more."

Recently FOX News contributor Dr. Ablow released this about PTSD and how WWII veterans were better than veterans today.

Returning home from D-Day when PTSD did not exist
FoxNews.com
By Dr. Keith Ablow
Published June 06, 2014
"To do what they did, they had to withstand crashing waves of the fight-or-flight neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine. Yet they ultimately had to control their fears, with millions of neurons in their brains pouring out substantial amounts of the calming neurotransmitter serotonin. If their minds were made of muscles, theirs were running the equivalent of a full marathon."

Within "The Etiology of Combat Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorders" Jim Goodwin Psy.D wrote this.

WWI to WWII 300% increase in psychiatric casualties. "At one point in the war the number of men being discharged from service for psychiatric reasons exceed the total number of men being drafted."

If you live without a TV or computer it is very hard to see something coming like a hurricane but you have to be a hermit living in a part of the world where hurricanes never happen to not know they happen somewhere.

Drugging Troops:Current increase in suicides is not a coincidence

You know how Wounded Times has been screaming for change along with people being held accountable for military suicides. You know how I used news reports to track down the under-reported truth about what has been going on. Billions spent on Comprehensive Soldier Fitness but Congress kept paying for it no matter what this did to the troops.

No matter what was happening to them, no one had to pay the price but them and their families.

Well, it looks like THE WARRIOR SAW SUICIDES AFTER WAR was only part of the problem.

THE HIDDEN ENEMY
INSIDE PSYCHIATRY'S COVERT AGENDA

“We have never drugged our troops to this extent and the current increase in suicides is not a coincidence.

“Why hasn’t psychiatry in the military been relieved of command of Mental Health Services?

“In any other command position in the military, there would have been a change in leadership.”

– Lt. Col. Bart Billings, Clinical Psychologist U.S. Army Reserve, Ret.

Today, with militaries of the world awash in psychiatry and psychiatric drugs, 23 soldiers and veterans are committing suicide every day. Psychiatrists say we need more psychiatry.

But should we trust them?

Or is psychiatry the hidden enemy?

Featuring interviews with over 80 soldiers and experts, this penetrating documentary shatters the façade to reveal the real culprits who are destroying our world’s militaries from within.

The most dangerous enemy is the one you never suspect…
Go here for more

From the 50's to the 70's experiments have been used on the troops. "Even though they knew the dangers" about LSD, but the UK and the US used it and as for the Soviets, "God knows what" and they have been doing experiments ever since.