Dark reality for troops caught up in conflict
Sydney Morning Herald
Frank Walker
April 23, 2013
Every serviceman knows the moment they go to a defence force psychologist their military career is over, says Afghanistan veteran Geoff Evans.
"It shouldn't be that way, and Defence has worked hard to turn this attitude around, but it's the reality," said Mr Evans, who was medically discharged after being wounded during his second tour in 2011.
Mr Evans has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental illness brought on by exposure to trauma and stress.
It came from seeing two of his mates killed in front of him. Lieutenant Michael Fussell stepped on a mine and Private Greg Sher was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade just a few metres from him.
He has physical wounds from being blown into the air when his Bushmaster-armoured vehicle ran over a road mine. His brain suffered a severe traumatic injury from his head being violently shaken. It led him to be medically discharged - the day after he was promoted to lieutenant.
Mr Evans now realises he went on his second tour to Afghanistan already suffering PTSD.
As a civilian, he was a fireman but when his reservist unit, the First Commando Regiment, was sent for a second tour in 2011 he went without hesitation. He even gave up his spot in officer school to go as a corporal and stay with his mates.
"I didn't admit it to anyone but when I returned from that first tour of Afghanistan I was a mess," he said in his eastern Sydney home - his wife Lisa and children Emily, 9, and Monash, 6, in another room.
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Showing posts with label Sydney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sydney. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2013
Friday, June 6, 2008
Preventing PTSD
Reported June 6, 2008
Preventing PTSD
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Reliving a troubling event may help patients prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In exposure therapy, individuals who recently survived a traumatic event are instructed to mentally relive the event. The goal is to ease anxiety associated with the memory and reverse the belief that it’s best to avoid that memory. Despite evidence that some clinicians avoid this kind of therapy because it distresses recent trauma survivors, exposure therapy has been used alongside cognitive restructuring to prevent PTSD. Cognitive restructuring involves changing counterproductive thoughts and responses brought on by a troubling event.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, compared the progress of patients in exposure therapy with those in cognitive restructuring. They also compared their progress with patients on a waitlist for treatment. They found fewer patients in the exposure therapy group met criteria for PTSD after completing the treatment than patients in the cognitive restructuring group or the waitlist group. In different results collected after six months, 14 patients in the exposure group achieved full remission, while four patients in the cognitive restructuring group did. In addition, researchers found distress ratings to be lower in the exposure therapy group than in the cognitive restructuring group.
“The current findings suggest that direct activation of trauma memories is particularly useful for prevention of PTSD symptoms in patients with acute stress disorder,” study authors write.
“Exposure should be used in early intervention for people who are at high risk for developing PTSD.”
Source: The Archives of General Psychiatry, 2008;65:659-667
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Lindsay Braun at lbraun@ivanhoe.com
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=18977
Preventing PTSD
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Reliving a troubling event may help patients prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In exposure therapy, individuals who recently survived a traumatic event are instructed to mentally relive the event. The goal is to ease anxiety associated with the memory and reverse the belief that it’s best to avoid that memory. Despite evidence that some clinicians avoid this kind of therapy because it distresses recent trauma survivors, exposure therapy has been used alongside cognitive restructuring to prevent PTSD. Cognitive restructuring involves changing counterproductive thoughts and responses brought on by a troubling event.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, compared the progress of patients in exposure therapy with those in cognitive restructuring. They also compared their progress with patients on a waitlist for treatment. They found fewer patients in the exposure therapy group met criteria for PTSD after completing the treatment than patients in the cognitive restructuring group or the waitlist group. In different results collected after six months, 14 patients in the exposure group achieved full remission, while four patients in the cognitive restructuring group did. In addition, researchers found distress ratings to be lower in the exposure therapy group than in the cognitive restructuring group.
“The current findings suggest that direct activation of trauma memories is particularly useful for prevention of PTSD symptoms in patients with acute stress disorder,” study authors write.
“Exposure should be used in early intervention for people who are at high risk for developing PTSD.”
Source: The Archives of General Psychiatry, 2008;65:659-667
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Lindsay Braun at lbraun@ivanhoe.com
http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=18977
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