PTSD Therapy Saved My Life — It's Time to Kill the Stigma

PTSD Therapy Saved My Life — It's Time to Kill the Stigma
Policy Mic
By Adrian Bonenberger
November 11, 2013

Most infantrymen I know grow beards when they leave the Army.

They take a couple weeks off, tear through some booze and cash, get a little wild, play that video game they’ve been waiting to dive into for a while (mine was Skyrim), exhale, and then get back to work or school.

This seems to be necessary in part because the military still doesn’t have a very good approach to the almost inevitable psychiatric and social disorders that come about as a natural outgrowth of going to war — a group of neuroses and behaviors collectively known as PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I had a fairly intense case of PTSD when I was in the Army, did a bad job of taking it seriously, and was not encouraged to take it seriously. I wanted to take advantage of this platform to say some words about the process.

Enough has been said about PTSD at this point so it doesn’t seem critical to go into a detailed background of the issue. For those unfamiliar with the term, PTSD describes a condition wherein a person who has lived through a traumatic event finds themselves unable to move forward because that event exists in their present rather than their past. For people with PTSD, their brains are hung up on some memory, which they re-live as though it is happening again and again — through dreams, nightmares, or waking anxiety. Any traumatic incident can trigger PTSD.

"At the end of my military career, I was lucky to have a direct supervisor, Major Matt Hardman, who encouraged me to seek treatment, although not everyone in the chain of command was as understanding. The overall culture of the military, and especially combat arms and the infantry, is one that is diametrically opposed to people seeking help for psychological and sometimes even physical injuries. I hope that my fellow vets (and especially combat vets) all make good use of the free therapy available to them at the VA, and take the problem seriously.

There are effective treatments out there, and if everyone works hard to tackle the legacy and trauma of war, we can reduce or even defeat the old stereotype of the haunted war vet.

I’m living proof."

read more here

Larry Burrows haunting pictures of Vietnam heal the souls

After growing up surrounded by veterans meeting the man I would spend the rest of my life with didn't seem that odd at first. My Dad was a Korean War veteran and all of my uncles were WWII veterans. I didn't know how much different it would be with Jack. I had no clue what my Dad was talking about when he said "He's a nice guy but he's got shell shock." My Dad tried to explain it as well as he could but I had to learn more.

That was in 1982. No internet to search on, I headed to the library every chance I had. Jack sure wasn't ready to talk about it and tell me what happened. It wasn't the words so much as it was all about the pictures. They pulled me in and grabbed ahold of my heart almost as Jack did.

Most of the ones I saw were taken by Larry Burrows, but I didn't know anything about him. All I knew, all I had to know was those pictures were a part of Jack's life and eventually would become part of mine.

Larry Burrows' Vietnam Photos Still Haunt Us 47 Years Later
Huffington Post
Posted: 11/01/2013

Wounded Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie (center, with bandaged head) reaches toward a stricken comrade after a fierce firefight south of the DMZ, Vietnam, October 1966.
(Larry Burrows—Time and Life Pictures/Getty Images)

In October of 1966, the Vietnam War had already been raging for nearly 11 years. Thousands of troops were still fighting, and in their midst a courageous photographer risked and ultimately lost his life documenting the horrors of one of the longest wars in U.S. history. As LIFE magazine wrote of Larry Burrows in a 1971 issue:

He had been through so much, always coming out magically unscathed, that a myth of invulnerability grew up about him. Friends came to believe he was protected by some invisible armor. But I don’t think he believed that himself. Whenever he went in harm’s way he knew, precisely, what the dangers were and how vulnerable he was.

Burrows had died that same year when his helicopter was shot down over Laos, together with three other photographers. Their tragic deaths are a harrowing reminder of the acute danger war correspondents face in doing their jobs, and of the endless dangers that armed forces and civilians face in the midst of violence.

For those left at home, there is little that conveys the horrors of war as thoroughly as photographs such as Burrows'.
read more here

When you look at the picture of the Marines, what do you see? You see the body wounded but do you see the emotional connection between the wounded Marine and his friend on the ground? Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie didn't care about his own wounds. Someone he cared about was wounded too. That is the way they were and still are.

All these years later you can still see it in their eyes. Spending most of my free time with veterans I see it all the time. They are connected, bonded beyond what any single word could ever come close to expressing. It goes beyond love. They were all willing to die for each other.

A lot of veterans ask me "where was God" when all that was going on and I'll point out some of the pictures like this one. I tell them "He was right there." When they could find that depth of compassion for someone else in the midst of hell, God was there. When they could reach out their arm to comfort, shed a tear, offer a prayer or kneel by the side of their "brother" God was there.

Look at these pictures and know that depth of love is what gave them the courage to do what they had to do. They did it for each other.

These pictures have done more than record history. They have recorded what they all needed to be reminded of. Why they risked their lives was for the sake of someone else and that kind of unselfish love few others know. These pictures heal the soul more than any words I could ever say.

Larry Burrows and the other photographers did not know how healing their pictures would be so many years later.

New Research on PTSD dumb idea

This is how we ended up with the bullshit program called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. It was a research project and was not even tested before it was delivered to the troops. Once the suicides went up afterwards, they just pushed the program harder.

“We do have a new study starting up for post-traumatic stress disorder many of whom the veterans will be treated at the C.W. Bill Young Building on campus,” Kip said.

The goal of academia is to apply the research as quickly as possible according to Interim Vice President of USF Health Dr. Donna Petersen.

There has been over 40 years of research done on PTSD but these folks don't want to bother with a tiny detail like that. What has already been proven to work, they avoid. What has been proven to fail, they repeat.

Read more for yourself. Yes, I am fed up too.

Researchers Work to Prevent Past Neglect of Veterans
Health News Florida
By BOBBIE O'BRIEN
November 1, 2013

An estimated 2.3 million men and women have served during the nation’s last 12 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. And as they transition out of the military, the veterans will need care for immediate and long-term conditions like post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

And many from health care professionals to retired military are concerned that the neglect of past veterans is not repeated with this new generation.

Troops in World War II came home in 1945 and went right back to work and college. There was no re-integration, no recognition of post-traumatic stress. So many WWII vets had to find their own ways to cope with the trauma of war.
read more here

For a start looking back at what happened after WWII is that everyone went if they were healthy. My husband's Dad and three uncles did. One of them was killed. Another was a Merchant Marine. His ship was sunk and they ended up in the ocean. He ended up with PTSD. He was given a choice. He could go into an institution or go live on a farm with other veterans a couple took in to give them a peaceful place to live with other veterans just like them. It was called shell shock back then and yes, they were trying to treat it. They also did have a lot of support from each other.

As for PTSD and newer generations, Vietnam veterans led the way on that and they made sure things got done. Either by the government or by the public.

In 1984 Point Man International Ministries started to address PTSD in the veterans as well as addressing what the families needed to stay together.

Charleston mom talks about soldier’s return from combat

I am so tried. Tired of trying to get people past the fact these stories are so sad and to the point where they decide to do something. To be moved somehow to try to save on of them from suffering needlessly instead of healing. When does that happen? When do you get to the point where you listen to someone talk about their Dad, their brother, sister or friend and say, "I can help." Tell them there is hope and in the last 40 years Vietnam veterans proved that because while many of them are gone, more are still standing strong.

PTSD is not the end of the world. It doesn't have to be the end of anything. It is a new beginning just like anything else. The start is the hard part. Then comes the middle when they start to allow themselves to feel again when the wall comes down. Then comes the part where they start to reach out their hands that once held their heads and find someone else needing be helped to where they got to.

None of them fight this alone but they didn't fight in combat alone, so they should be able to accept that fact. Families don't have to go it alone either. There are hundreds of thousands of other families just like them. Some have suffered wordless agony but more have escaped the worst that can happen. Some like my family are still together looking back on how far we've come and knowing that it could have turned out so differently had we not been willing to love past all of it. We started this journey in 1982 and we are not done yet. By the way, we still hold hands.

Oh, no, I am not talking about just loving them into healing, even though it is a huge part because this battle fought at home does not end. Each day matters. Each new piece of the puzzle comes into place as we learn more about PTSD and the majestic thing we call the soul rising above the odds.

Knowing what it is and why they have come home with a piece of hell in their heart is key so that we can understand how we act and react to them can either heal them or destroy them.

If we do not help families do what has to be done we will keep reading sad stories but as you read this one you'll also see that there is more healing going on because people cared enough to reach out to someone else. Even if it is just one person at a time.

Fighting PTSD: Charleston mom talks about soldier’s return from combat
ABC News 4 Charleston
By Ava Wilhite
October 31, 2013

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) – Sharon Brown often finds herself looking back at childhood photos of her youngest son, Jonathan who's now 24 years old.

"We really thought this was going to be a career for him," said Brown.

In 2009, Brown agreed to let her son leave his full academic scholarship at the College of Charleston to enlist in the United States Army. Shortly after boot camp, Jonathan was sent to Iraq in his first deployment.

"Jonathan did a really good job of telling me things that he wanted, as a mom, wanted me to hear. Things like, ‘Oh no, I'm very safe here. I never go outside of the area,' which later on I found was not exactly true," said Brown.

Brown says when her son returned from Iraq there were subtle changes in his behavior.

"There were things like, he seemed very anxious, which was not really his personality. If we'd go out to restaurant, he would have to be sitting facing forward he would not let anyone sit behind him. Kind of always vigilant looking around," said Brown.

Brown also noticed her son began to drink heavily and a once outgoing Jonathan Brown was now withdrawn from family and friends.

"Instead of kind of being able to talk to anybody about it, I think it just welled up inside of him, so he had kind of an episode of feeling that, you know he was not happy being here," said Brown.

Three months after returning from his tour in Iraq, Jonathan Brown attempted suicide. His mother was notified by a late night phone call.

"That's a call no mother, well no one ever wants to get, but totally sidelined me. I did not expect that at all," said Brown.

Brown says her son was admitted and spent 30 days in a recovery unit where he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But as a mom, Brown was struggling, too.
read more here

Chaplains of House and Senate Give Lessons to Leaders

Senate chaplain: Shutdown is 'madness'
By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-editor
October 9, 2013

(CNN) - The federal shutdown has found its angry prophet.

Senate Chaplain Barry Black is usually a calm, pastoral presence on Capitol Hill, doling out spiritual wisdom and moral counsel to his high-powered flock.

But the Seventh-Day Adventist and former Navy rear admiral is mad as hell about the shutdown - and he's letting the Senate, and the Lord, know about it.

"Lord, when the federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of (soldiers) dying on far-away battlefields, it's time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough," Black said in his prayer opening the Senate on Wednesday.

"Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness," Black continued, citing the Hebrew prophet Isaiah, who was no mean critic of government incompetence himself. "Forgive us. Reform us. And make us whole."

Black was referring to the withholding of death benefits for the families of U.S. soldiers because of the partial federal shutdown. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote Wednesday to reinstate them.
read more here

Particle Magic for Partitioners Treating PTSD

Particle Magic for Partitioners Treating PTSD
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 5, 2013

We have all heard stories about people using telekinesis as if it is a normal thing. Average people are amazed by their ability to use nothing more than their brain to do extraordinary things. One of the definitions of this is "Employed or used for a special service, function, or occasion" but what we don't seem to be able to be amazed by are the people with something going on in their minds that enables them to do extraordinary things for the sake of others.

They are average folks on the surface but there is something else going on in their heads few others have tapped into. Why? Because they just don't have the ability to know what they were put on this earth for.

I have talked to generations of veterans as well as people with many different professions. The happiest ones felt they never wanted to do anything else with their lives. I talked with psychologists, psychiatrists and even Neurosurgeons I had a temp jobs with trying to figure out what makes people decide what to do with their lives. They were fascinating. It is such a unique career choice that I had to know what drew them to it. Each one said they never thought of being anything else but a doctor while they were not sure what field to practice until someone in their family or someone they cared about suffered with an illness they wanted to understand.

Veterans are a bit more tricky to figure out since some of them were drafted. They didn't really want to go to war but once they were there, they discovered an ability within them they didn't know they had. Some wanted to serve since as far back as they could remember. Some of them were convinced to join after September 11 and left their family members shocked by the decision.

There are so many strange things average people do that puts them into a category of being extraordinary. What they need to do it is not injected into their minds, it is tapped into while they train to do what they have to do.

Researchers are trying to figure out what to do with the minds of veterans as if they are defective or something. They are studying rats with PTSD “We think that PTSD is kind of like getting stuck in an inappropriate response mode,” explained U.T. Health Science Center neuroscientist David Morilak, Ph.D."

If this is not the strangest thing you heard of, they are also getting injecting them with pot. "Israeli researchers say synthetic marijuana helped rats under stress recover sooner from emotional trauma. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests marijuana may help patients overcome life stresses that worsen reawakened trauma and other symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder." While some reporters think it is something new, this report came out in 2009.

The truth is, they can keep doing the same research over and over again but they will discover the same results since the basic design of the human mind has not changed any more than trauma has.

War? That has been around since cave men fought over who gets the best one. As a matter of fact crimes have been around since the first murder was recorded and that was when Cain killed his brother Able. Two brothers from the same parents doing two different things and being two totally different people.

The turmoil of war has been recorded in the Bible as well in the writings of David. Read his psalms and you will see exactly what the human soul goes through.

Psalm 144
New International Version (NIV)
Of David.

1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

3 Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? 4 They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.

There are more you can read along with Dr. Jonathan Shay's Achilles in Vietnam. He didn't write it after reports came out on Afghanistan and Iraq veterans came home, but in 1995 after years of working with Vietnam veterans.

Shay wrote extensively about the "Moral Injury" for a very long time because he had his eyes open and listened. He has the ability few others use because he cares more about these extraordinary veterans.

Different things work for different veterans. The basic steps are to treat the whole veteran.

Their minds with whatever works for them from medications and talk therapy to working with the families so they understand what PTSD is. The problem with too many medications is they only numb the veteran. Don't expect their medications to be healing.

Their body to help them learn how to calm down again based on them with anything from Yoga to Martial Arts to something as simple as walking with calming music in their headphones.

The biggest one being missed is where PTSD truly lives. Take care of their souls. Not with a lot of Bible quotes or condemnations. They do enough of that to themselves.

They need to be loved so they are helped to love themselves again. Tap into what moves your emotions from your own experiences. You may not know what war is like but you do know what being alive is. Listen to them with your heart and then help guide them with true cognitive therapy. Getting them to relive it over and over again does not bring them peace or the ability to remember what they have forgotten.

Help them to see that what they did was because they wanted others they were with to live and while it meant they may have had to kill in order to save lives, their intent was not evil. They have to see where God was in all that happened in war because the horrors they saw made Him hard to see.

He was there when they were able to still care. Whenever they saw an act of kindness, mercy or held a buddy in their arms, or said a prayer, He was there. Goodness reminded within them and that is why they grieve. Had that been lost, they would not care or shed a tear or spend on sleepless night remembering.


Hero After War from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

The last thing that you need to know is, they were given the calling to enter into the military and most didn't want to do anything else with their lives. They are very unhappy not being able to do it so help them be of service to others by finding something else to do with their lives.

The number one profession of veterans is law enforcement, then firefighters, emergency responders, medical fields and teaching. They are happiest when they are serving others. Tap into that. Help them figure out what they can do next that will use what they have the extraordinary ability to do. Even if they cannot work for a paycheck anymore, get them involved in veterans groups so they can be with other people like them. They are very happy helping other veterans and their communities.

Do not expect them to heal if you treat them like any other group because just as there are different levels of PTSD, there are different types depending on the cause of the trauma.

Another claim of "new" study on PTSD

Another claim of "new" study on PTSD
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 7, 2013

Last night I was watching Now You See Me. Morgan Freeman played Thaddeus Bradley out to debunk magic tricks. He payed attention to how the 4 Horsemen were getting away with the things they did. (Not giving away the movie other than to say it is well worth watching.) Bradley knew a great deal about magic but there was someone with a lot more knowledge but very little public exposure. Bradley assumed his "student" didn't know anything but it turned out, the "student" knew more than the teacher. While magic was Bradley's career, magic was the "student's" life.

Flashback to 1990 when a psychologist explained to me how using alcohol and drugs to numb PTSD was not the same as being addicted to the chemicals. There are some with the addiction and alcoholism runs in their families. The majority of PTSD trauma survivors use the chemicals much like the pills they get from psychiatrists. They want to get numb.

In the 80's rehab programs didn't work for Vietnam veterans with PTSD. They would come out and start getting numb anyway possible because the treatment was treating the wrong condition. Hazelden was trying to work on the addiction as well as the other disorders their clients were dealing with. They use the 12 Step approach just as Alcoholics Anonymous does.

The 12 Steps are not psychological. They are spiritual. If a trauma survivor receives care addressing the three parts of "them" then there is healing. Psychologist work on the mind but are only a part of what is needed. When we're talking about Combat PTSD, these men and women had prolonged exposures to trauma and their bodies learned how to adapt. Physical therapy addressing teaching their bodies to calm down again. Then there is the spiritual aspect. When you consider what they saw, what they did and what was done to them, you understand how vital spiritual healing is.

Combat PTSD has been my life for over 30 years. I learned from experts and by living with it. I learned from friends and their families. I have not stopped learning or searching for the answers to the questions I still have. For the most part the "teachers" I come into contact with are experts on what they know however they do not know all there is to know simply because they focus as if it just their careers instead of their lives. There is so much out there but if they do not look for it, they do not learn. I have found the best "teachers" on PTSD are not just trained from text books, but are living with what they seek to heal. Most of them are getting fed up with all the claims of "new research" because they have invested their lives to becoming the smartest guys in the room.

When you read the following understand that none of this is new.

KLEAN Treatment Center Champions New Study on Merging Treatments PHILADELPHIA, PA, September 07, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- KLEAN Treatment Center understands that some forms of abuse can lead to mental disorders, and that some addictions are treatable along with disorders, like PTSD outlined in a recent article featured in Fox News. The article asserts that, "Despite fears that expose therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] would worsen alcoholism, a new study found that doctors can safely treat both conditions at the same time."

According to the report, researchers discovered that people with PTSD and alcoholism benefited the most from the simultaneous treatments to reduce alcohol cravings and lessen distress, compared to people on other treatment regimens. Edna Foa, the study's lead author, expounds on the fundamental results. "What we found is that those people that got [medication] plus prolonged exposure therapy for alcohol dependence together with the treatment for PTSD did the best for maintaining their low level of drinking," she said.

The experts at KLEAN Treatment Center weigh in on the serious condition of PTSD. "People can develop posttraumatic stress disorder after traumatic events that leave them in a heightened state of distress, even when they are no longer in danger. Many of these individuals also develop some level of alcohol dependence." The article elaborates, "About 11 million adults in the U.S. have PTSD and about one-third of them are also dependent on alcohol, according to the editorial accompanying the new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association."

While there is disagreement regarding how to care for individuals with both conditions safely, Foa points out her desire to see patients undergo simultaneous treatment. "I'm hoping this is going to encourage the people who are treating the PTSD and alcohol dependence to do simultaneous treatment, instead of treating one after the other, which isn't so effective," she said. Yuval Neria concurs as a professor at Columbia University and director of the Trauma and PTSD program at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

"This may encourage physicians - specifically those in the [Veterans Affairs] setting - to prescribe patients to both drug and evidence-based therapy," said Neria, who was not involved in the new study. The professionals at KLEAN Treatment Center add that there is a large population with PTSD who may also have comorbid alcohol abuse, namely, war veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The study suggests that there is hope for those combatting both conditions, giving treatment facilities across the country the opportunity to safely treat both PTSD and alcoholism. The team at KLEAN Treatment Center does mention, however, that there is a vicious cycle between alcohol dependence and PTSD, and that facilities must carefully treat both conditions, especially in alcohol cravings that can make PTSD more severe.

The Soul Survivor of Combat

The Soul Survivor of Combat
De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide
Kathie Costos
September 3, 3013

Before we begin, there are several things that have to get out of the way. The first thing you need to know is that God is not punishing you. You are doing a good enough job of that on your own. He didn't abandon you or put the whammy on your head. Just because you didn't notice what came from God during combat doesn't mean it was not all around you.

Most wonder how a loving God can allow all the horrors and suffering in combat. The fact is, He has to allow it. God doesn't mess with freewill. Every human is free to make their own choices and that includes leaders of nations. Wars have been fought since one caveman clan decided they wanted what another clan had. When other humans decide to start wars, it is up to the war fighters to carry it out but when you really get to the bottom of why you were willing to die, it isn't for the deciders. You do it for each other.

The fact you are still grieving means you still care. You cared then. You cared when one of your buddies was killed as much as you cared when one was wounded. You cared when prayed, wished, hoped or screamed for an end to the horrors going on all around you. You cared when you put your arm around a friend but showed you cared even more when you comforted another soldier you didn't really like. When you shed a tear, you cared. Caring, especially in that kind of action, being able to think about someone else other than yourself, showed that God was there all along.

Another thing to get out of the way is the notion that Combat PTSD is the same as all others. While there are different levels there are also different types and Combat PTSD is much different from the others. The only type that comes close is what police officers get because most of the time they have to decide to use their weapons or not. They are not just responding to the danger, they participate in it must like you did.

If you think PTSD means you are demented instead of tormented, you need to know the difference.

Demented is Mentally ill; insane. Suffering from dementia or a loss of cognitive function

While tormented is,

1. Great physical pain or mental anguish.
2. A source of harassment, annoyance, or pain.
3. The torture inflicted on prisoners under interrogation.
1. To cause to undergo great physical pain or mental anguish. See Synonyms at afflict.
2. To agitate or upset greatly.
3. To annoy, pester, or harass.

PTSD has nothing to do with what you were born with but has everything to do with what was done to you. The only way to get PTSD is by surviving a traumatic event. How many times did that happen while you were deployed and then add up the other deployments you had but don't stop there. You have to add in what happened during training as well. (We'll discuss this during the week)
read more here

Why does PTSD hit the whole you?

Why does PTSD hit the whole you?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 24, 2013

This weekend I am working at convention. One of the speakers I was listening to is a chiropractor and he was giving a fascinating presentation on the brain along with the central nervous system. Why was it so fascinating to me? Because of all the time I spend trying to explain to veterans why every part of their body is effected by their brains especially when their minds are dealing with PTSD.

I couldn't find the exact pictures Dr. Ron Wellikoff used but here are a couple of really good ones.

PTSD hits the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe controls these parts of you. Frontal Lobe- associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving.

And here are the other three. Parietal Lobe- associated with movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli. Occipital Lobe- associated with visual processing. Temporal Lobe- associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech.

This is the nervous system running through your body.

This is why PTSD does not just hit your brain. It hits every part of you. When you make irrational decisions or when your emotions are out of control, this is part of the answer. When you notice that every part is connected through the massive amount of the workings of the human body, it is easier to understand how everything can go to hell.

Maybe now it will be easier for you to understand why it is so important to have every part of you treated for this one diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

You have to take care of your mind with psychological help and often that includes medications. Medications are not the whole answer and there is no one medication that works on everyone. If your doctor gives you medication that does not help or you have problems with it, talk to your doctor. They have others they can try that can help you. They won't change your medication unless they know what is happening so don't just give up taking them. Communicate!

You have to take care of your body so it is vital that your body learn how to calm down again. It had to be trained to go through combat. It has to learn how to calm down again and drinking is not the answer. It is part of the problem. There is a growing list of things you can do from taking a walk with calming music in earbuds so that you can drown out thoughts that upset you, to Yoga, martial arts, swimming, playing musical instruments and artistic projects that work for you. Keep looking until you find what fits you and not the other way around. You are not your buddy or the other guy you talked to in the waiting area of the VA.

You also have to take care of your spirit and that also lives in the same part of your brain. It is why you have been unable to "just get over" what happened, what you did, what you saw and what was done to you.

Learn what PTSD is and why it has taken over so much of your life but then know this. It is not the way things have to be for you. They can get better. I've seen veterans heal for over 30 years. I have not seen one of them "cured" but their lives did get better. What you cannot heal, you can learn how to cope, change and adapt. You can do it. After all, you adapted to becoming part of the military. You can adapt to become a new version of yourself.

You can fight against PTSD

You can fight against PTSD
De-Tour Combat PTSD
Kathie Costos
July 10, 2013

There is yet one more news story of "new PTSD research" that is not really new and misleading.

There are somethings science has gotten right on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, however they seem to be getting more wrong. Keep in mind that PTSD has been researched for over 40 years, so there has been very little that has actually been new coming out.

One of the things science got right was when they started to scan brains of PTSD survivors. These scans have shown how the mind reacts proving that PTSD is not just in your head. It has changed your mind.

This is only partly right.

According to the model, changes in two brain areas — the amygdala and the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex (dACC) — may predispose people to PTSD. Both of these regions are involved in feeling and expressing fear, and both appear to be overactive in people with PTSD, even before they develop the condition. read more here

Bliss of the Old Soul

Bliss of the Old Soul
Wounded Times Blog
Kathie Costos
June 30, 2013

Today is the end of PTSD Awareness Month. On Thursday Kathleen Sebelius wrote about it with this on the end of her piece.

During PTSD Awareness Month, PTSD Awareness Day on June 27, and all year long, we are determined to help our fellow Americans and their families and friends dealing with this debilitating condition. Through continued support for research, education, and treatment, we can help provide the hope and reality of recovery for all for those living with PTSD.

Millions of Americans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but with all the raising awareness happening year after year, we have arrived in a place and time when 40 years of research has produced more suicides and attempted suicides, families falling apart and homelessness.

My focus has always been on veterans and their families but for today, we should talk about all people suffering after traumatic events. After all, we are all still just only human. There are events in our lives that change us. Sometimes people think events make us stronger but they avoid acknowledging the inner strength was already there and was merely given the opportunity shine. The power of the human soul/spirit is something we are all born with. The trick is getting all parts of us connected.

There are some people with everything inside of them working together and they are able to retain bliss in any circumstance. They grieve but are not destroyed. They are saddened but do not lose hope. They are the people walking away after traumatic events believing they were there for a reason, no matter how great or small. They do not think God did it to them or punished them but they survived by the Grace of God.

For others, especially when they hear the stupidly delivered fix it fast slogan "God only gives us what we can handle" they walk away believing they were just punished for something. No one was watching over them. They had been judged. What do you think they will think after hearing those words? God sent His angels to spare them or God sent the angels to harm them?

There is another group closely connected to the first group that needs to be explored so that we can actually do something meaningful on healing PTSD. First we need to understand people like me. I am nothing special. I have an expression that pretty much sums up what life is like for me. "I have finally arrived at a point in my life where I have succeeded at failing."

It sounds bad but in reality it isn't. Everything I have tried to do with my life has failed when you consider that we all equate success with financial gain. I can't pay my bills, find financial support or even begin to pay back my student loans. Everything I do people expect me to do for free and the two books I wrote so far have cost me money instead of making money. Some veterans and family members I helped over the years simply moved on and some of them started their own groups but forget all about me. All of this does tend to cause some depression but I get over it. Why? Because I know I am doing what I was intended to do no matter how great, no matter how small.

When I was working as Administrator of Christian Education for a local church, I asked the youth pastor how she came up with sermons so far in advance. She told me that most of the time she just went by the calendar but when she was inspired to write a sermon, she just went with what was inside of her. It didn't matter how well it went over or not because she was writing it for who was intended to hear it. She just trusted the guidance of her soul. I have heard some of those sermons and frankly there was some kind of divine map questing going on. There were usually several people reacting to the message.

While others may have thought it was not a good sermon, the people needing to hear it got the message because they had connected to it because she connected to her soul and listened.

We all have that capacity. All my life I knew I was supposed to be a writer. My English teacher, Mr. Aucone said I had talent and should be a writer.  He also told me that if he just graded me on spelling, there is no way I would have gotten an A.  Back then we didn't have spell check.

There was no guarantee I would be a good writer and my goals were pretty uncomplicated. In my high school year book my only goal was to graduate.

After having TBI as a four year old, things in my head didn't work the same. For the way my brain takes in information it is easy to lose it fast. I had to come up with tricks to fix what didn't work. One of them is spelling so I thank God for spell check. Considering I am from the Boston area with a full accent and they taught phoenix in school very little has the same spelling as it sounds. The other is the rule of grammar especially when I am writing something that raises my passion level to boiling. Then there is another. Important things I need to hang onto have to find room in my long term memory so I have kick somethings out to fit them in. When I read something I can remember when I had read something else. That is how I come up with old news reports to prove something is not new or prove the new report false. Still it is not the TBI that almost cut me off from listening to my soul. It was everything else that happened.

From 4 to 40 it was one traumatic event after another starting with my Dad. He was a violent alcoholic until I was 13. I lived in fear that he would lash out at my Mom and brothers but even though he never went after me, I feared he would. One day he did on accident. He was pulling apart the living room and didn't see me on the couch. He threw a chair and it hit me. He was devastated. Long story short it was around then that he decided to stop drinking and got help. There was a car accident I should not have walked away from. My ex-husband tried to kill me, then he stalked me for a year. A miscarriage caused me to hemorrhage when I lost twins. Another health crisis after our daughter was born and a massive infection took over. You get the point. Then the biggest reason was living all these years with my husband and what PTSD was doing to him after Vietnam. It was not until years later when all the investigation I had been doing on PTSD that I finally got the clue I had been looking for. What made me different from him?

For my husband his trauma came in Phu Bia Vietnam 7 years before I graduated high school. When we met I didn't have a clue what happened in Vietnam and even less about what war did to those we sent. When it came to PTSD, he had a much different experience than even I could understand. My traumatic events changed me but in a different way than his did. I spent the rest of my life trying to understand why I didn't have it as much as I wanted to understand why he did.

The difference was the way everything in me was connected. Not just my mind, body and spirit connected together but connected back to God and where my soul came from. When you can find bliss in any condition, that is what is happening. After traumatic events caused by natural events, there is not just the event but the threat of it happening again. That only happens when the weather report warns you. Like the hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004, only months after we moved here. We went through three of them. The only other time we worry is when something is in the Gulf. There is a huge difference between the type of PTSD survivors of a natural disaster can end up with compared to one done by other humans.

Accidents, crimes including abuse, death of a loved on and health issues can cause PTSD. I went through all of them and some hit me pretty hard but I recovered. These events did change me and the way I think but my strength was not something that developed. It was already there. It is one of the biggest reasons why I find the military's efforts on teaching "resilience" so repulsive. They are trying to teach something to people who already have it without telling them how to find it and get it working with the rest of everything else within them.

My strength was living within my soul and my soul is older than my body since my soul was created long before my body was born. My body is not perfect. It is getting older but will never catch up to the age of my soul. It is from my soul that I was able to make peace with what was done to me in every part of living. To know that God did not do it to me, but in fact, He spared me for whatever reason from the time I was 4, helped me have peace with my faith in Him. To know that I did the best I could with whatever I tried to do helped me find peace with myself. I am not haunted by the past but I am not strengthened by it either. I am only stronger because every part of me works together. When my body is weak, my head tells me to rest and do what I can until strength comes back. When my mind is weak, my spirit takes over. It all works together.

Whatever living does to us can be so much better if we make peace with what has been as much as we find peace living with whatever it is in this moment. When I say I have finally succeeded at failing, I am telling you that no matter what, I am at peace with all that came before, all that is and have faith that whatever comes next, it will turn out however it was meant to be. I no longer seek permission of the world to do what I do. I do not expect anyone to understand what I have to say as much as I expect the people hearing it need to hear it.

The best example I can give on this is often overlooked. When we talk about Christ it is easy to think of the 12 walking with Him but we forget there were many more.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

We do not know their names but they are not less important than the others they were with on the same mission. Maybe they may have wanted to be as famous as the others but I am sure they found peace with what was required of them instead of what was required of the others. I wonder if they fully understood the impact they really had because had it not been for that multitude, Christianity may not have spread as much as it did because they reached more people and the people they reached, reached even more.

In the end the thing we all have to understand is that we make a difference in lives, no matter how great or small. When we follow where our old souls lead us, we find bliss on this journey. It is not how others view the outcome of our lives but it is how we view it. The sooner we make peace with what happened, the sooner were are ready for what comes next and that, that we can face with all that comes within this old soul.

Why Feeling Bad is Good

Emotional Acceptance: Why Feeling Bad is Good
Avoiding negative emotions seems like a good idea. It isn't.
by Noam Shpancer, Ph.D. in Insight Therapy
Published on September 8, 2010

According to recent psychological research (by David Barlow, Steven Hayes and others) one of the main causes of many psychological problems is the habit of emotional avoidance. This may seem surprising, because the attempt to avoid negative emotions appears to be a reasonable thing. After all, negative emotions don't feel good, and they are often linked in our minds to negative events that we want to avoid or forget.

Moreover, we are all familiar with the momentary relief that avoidance can provide. If the thought of speaking up upsets me, then I can make myself feel better by deciding not to speak. Indeed, avoidance is an effective solution in the short term. Long term, however, it becomes a bigger problem than whatever was being avoided in the first place. And life, if you're at all lucky, is a long term proposition.
read more here

Courage and Combat PTSD

There are many things that keep getting missed when we talk about Combat and PTSD. This is to clear up the biggest one of all. What is courage and how does it link to being "mentally tough" so that you can push past what you were told about "resiliency" training. Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare of Wounded Times Blog tries to explain this in interview done by Union Squared Studios. woundedtimes.blogspot.com

Wounded Times proven right by new research on Resilience

Wounded Times proven right by new research on Resilience
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
June 3, 2013

I get it and that should freak everyone out. I am an average person. I don't have a PHD. I do not get millions in research grants. As a matter of fact I am so average I still haven't figured out how to get enough donations to keep my head above water while working 70 hours a week 365 days a year. The real frightening thing is, I got it back in 2008 when I came out and said the training the military was doing was harmful. I got it even more when the next year I wrote that if the military pushed "resilience training" they would see an increase in suicides.

After tragedy, who bounces back? Keys to resiliency may lie in childhood
By Rebecca Ruiz, contributor
NBC News
June 2, 2013

After a tornado hit the Henryville, Ind., home of Stephanie Decker last year, injuring her so badly that both her legs had to be amputated, the 38-year-old mother of two knew she had to "push forward and thrive," she told NBC News. “If not only for myself, but also to show other amputees who have struggles of their own that the impossible is possible.”

Since that day in March 2012, Decker, known as "Tornado Mom," has become famous for her resiliency and spirit. She's now a motivational speaker and has created a foundation to help other amputees.

As the nation recovers from recent tragedies in Boston and Oklahoma, "resiliency" has become the buzzword for recovery, a promise to rebound made almost before the full emotional impact of a disaster has been absorbed. Studies have shown that the majority of trauma survivors do go on to lead happy, productive lives -- but not everyone.

Emerging research on the biology of resilience suggests a person’s ability to recover – or risk of spiraling into depression -- may depend on an elusive combination of early life experiences, genetics and brain chemistry. In fact, recovering from trauma or heartbreak is a far more complicated response than scientists once thought, says Dr. Farris Tuma, chief of the Traumatic Stress Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health.

“This is the Holy Grail – to understand what makes people resilient,” Tuma said.

Social relationships, faith, health and financial stability are factors in resilience, while negative childhood experiences, such as trauma, abuse and chronic stress, can prime the body to react to both major hardship and everyday setbacks with the same degree of fear and panic.

But not all victims of trauma are able to bounce back as Decker has.

read more here

This is from 2008 and posted with the question, "Is Battlemind better than nothing?"

Battlemind skills helped you survive in combat, but may cause you problems if not adapted when you get home.

Although 89% of Soldiers report receiving suicide prevention training, only 52% of Soldiers reported the training to be sufficient, indicating the need to revise the suicide prevention training so that it is applicable in a combat environment.

It was followed up by this Excuse my language but BattleMind is Bullshit! Everything I was seeing and hearing from the veterans given this training told a much different story than what the military was saying and it was obvious for one simple reason. This average person paid attention.

Last year after spending many years working with families after it was too late to help their veteran heal, I agreed to write THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. They wanted their stories told but above that, they wanted someone to finally tell the truth about what was going on with this training. What I discovered was sickening. Billions spent every year by multiple government agencies and no one held accountable for any of it. Parents were visiting graves of soldiers who were supposed to have been safely back home and not being in more danger than during war.

They were reading what research was contained on Wounded Times and they knew why their lives turned out the way they did. They also discovered they were not responsible for the suicide. We were. They could finally stop blaming themselves and start blaming people defending resilience training.

As part of Point Man International Ministries we address the spiritual healing in small groups. There you have the spiritual and social support. We cannot help with the financial needs because most of us are operating out of our pockets. We don't have a powerful PR agency behind us. The kicker is, this approach was understood in 1984 when Vietnam Veterans were back home and in a lot of pain. The same pain we see in the eyes of the OEF and OIF veterans. Nothing has changed. War is still war and basic human needs are the same. PTSD has been researched since the 70's but it is almost as if nothing was learned if you read the press reports. Again, leaders of Point Man are average people but we have above average understanding of what it takes to heal.

Fear Circuitry' In Brains Always On High Alert

This is why you have to take care of the whole you! Your mind, your spirit and your body. You have to reteach it to calm down again.

PTSD Combat Veterans' 'Fear Circuitry' In Brains Always On High Alert
In order to better diagnose PTSD, researchers looked for the part of the brain associated with the disorder and found them.
BY ANTHONY RIVAS
MAY 19, 2013

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has long been known to have lasting behavioral and emotional effects on soldiers long after they leave the combat zone. But what happens to physically to the brain of a combat veterans with PTSD is gaining more attention, including that of researchers at New York University's School of Medicine.

Their research, which was presented today at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatry Association in San Francisco, showed that PTSD physically manifests within certain regions of the brain, even when combat veterans aren't engaged in cognitive or emotional tasks and face no external threats.

"It is critical to have an objective test to confirm PTSD diagnosis as self-reports can be unreliable," said co-author Dr. Charles Marmar, chair of NYU Langone's Department of Psychiatry.
read more here

You can heal combat PTSD if you don't give up

The news reports say that while there are 22 veterans a day committing suicide, the truth is, we will never really know for sure how many. Too many unanswered questions. The only thing we can be sure of is they run out of hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

The other news reports say that the largest percentage of veterans committing suicide are Vietnam veterans.

While this video is for all of you it is especially true for Vietnam veterans. You have lived longer and carried your burden this long when most of you didn't know what PTSD was. There is help out there and hope of having a better life.

You need to take care of all of you, your mind, your body and especially your spirit. Learn how to forgive and find forgiveness so that you can do what you do best. Help others heal too.

Now even Christian Faith is part of a political game on FOX

This is the article on Stars and Stripes Pentagon, OK to talk about faith but not to push

Yet this is what is appearing on message boards and in emails this morning.
"PENTAGON MAY COURT MARTIAL SOLDIERS WHO SHARE CHRISTIAN FAITH"

Apparently FOX does not know the difference between proselytizing and evangelizing. Freedom of religion must only apply to those who agree with them and when they don't they are supposed to be guilty of attacking faith. How is that supposed to work? Doesn't freedom of religion mean that everyone is free to worship as they see fit?

AMENDMENT I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Does FOX know what the word "freedom" means?

Does FOX know the history behind this? That soldiers were being forced to attend Christian events? That they were told they were going to hell if they didn't convert?

Does FOX have the ability to distinguish between all the denominations of Christianity in this nation alone? Do they know each "church" has their own doctrine and while they all fall under Christianity, they are not all the same?

Being truthful with their audience wouldn't get their blood boiling over thinking their faith had just come under attack.

This issue has been near and dear to my heart because the way things were, many soldiers were being turned away from Christ instead of toward Him. This at a time when they needed spiritual help in healing from what they had to do and what they had to see. Over 60% of military chaplains thought it was their job to make converts to their own faith by telling the soldiers they were going to hell and their suffering was punishment for turning away from Christ.

Normal Chaplains were having a hard time being able to talk about their faith because of what the others were doing. This is a wonderful solution yet FOX turned it into something ugly.

UPDATE
I thought if I took a few minutes to calm down I would just get over this but that isn't happening. I am just getting more angry.

Today is Orthodox Easter. I am Greek Orthodox and this is how we celebrate the victory of Christ over death.

Orthodox Easter Resurrection: The Gift of Liberation and Call to Compassion
Posted: 05/04/2013
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide

While many Christians celebrated Easter over a month ago as a result of differing calendar calculations, Orthodox Easter takes place much later this year, falling on May 5. Thus, at midnight on Saturday, May 4, the night that our fourth-century predecessor on the Throne of Constantinople, St. Gregory Nazianzus, described as "brighter than any sunlit day," some 300 million Orthodox Christians will swarm churches to hear the words: "Come, receive the light!"

On that night, throughout the world, entire congregations previously waiting in darkness and filled with anticipation will light up, their faces shining with joy and hope. Together they will all chant in numerous languages, depending on geography and culture, the triumphant hymn familiar to young and old: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and granting life to those in the tombs."

"Life to those in the tombs" refers to a refreshing perspective on Easter: we see an open tomb, not an empty grave. The miracle of the Resurrection then is an open invitation to a new way of living that prevails over the darkness within us and around us. The Orthodox icon of the Resurrection depicts Christ pulling Adam and Eve, our earliest prototypes of sinners, out of a tomb and into a new life. It is an image of liberation, often depicting broken chains and shattered padlocks. The light of Christ enters and brightens the furthest depths of human experience. No longer does the grip of hell, imprisonment and defeat cause us to become rigid, numb and indifferent. Resurrection is all about a new reality, a fresh perspective, a renewed life, where resentment, hardness and hostility are overcome.

Here is a link to a video on this.
‘Holy Fire’ ceremony in Jerusalem ushers in Orthodox Easter

There are times when people think that Greeks are not Christians because we do things a different way. The fact is, our tradition goes back to when St. Paul preached to the Greeks. We read the same Bible as everyone else but our doctrine is not the same as other members of Christianity. Even though our church is the oldest, it is not the largest. I have actually heard people say they didn't think Greeks were Christian because we do things differently.

This is just one example of how people should be able to freely talk about their faith but not force anyone else to do anything, including listen to me or do what I say. When leaders in military force their faith on someone else, that is wrong and they should be held accountable for what they do. Sharing the love of God The Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity celebrates the parts of all of His children. There are three parts in all of us. Mind, body and spirit and each must be cared for. Doing it with love helps. Doing it by force harms.

Faith in God has positive effect on treating mental illness

Faith in God has positive effect on treatment outcomes for mentally ill people
Examiner
MENTAL ILLNESS
APRIL 27, 2013
BY: CAROLA FINCH

A study by McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, suggests that people who are receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness have better outcomes if they believe in God.

The study was announced on April 27, 2013, and was published in the current issue of Journal of Affective Disorders (PMID 23051729, DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.08.030). David H. Rosmarin, PhD, McLean Hospital clinician and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, examined individuals in McLean’s Behavioral Health Partial Hospital program to investigate the relationship between patients' level of belief in God, treatment expectations, and treatment outcomes.

"Our work suggests that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without, regardless of their religious affiliation,” Rosmarin. said. Belief was associated with not only improved psychological wellbeing, but decreases in depression and intention to self-harm."
read more here

When will the DOD and VA stop feeding stigma of PTSD?

"Stigma, mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one's reputation."

That is the definition of a stigma. The DOD said years ago they understood that and had changed how they respond to the troops in need of help. The problem is, they came up with a program that does not work because they did not understand it any more than they understood the men and women suffering from it.

Local veteran discusses PTSD problems
KOAA News
Posted: Mar 18, 2013
by Matt Stafford

"I'd die for my country, and in a heartbeat," says George Barnes, an Iraq War veteran who spent the end of his career at Fort Carson before being medically discharged from the Army.

Barnes did nearly die for his country. While in Iraq, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the door of his vehicle. After that incident is when he says that he first started noticing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD is something Barnes feels daily.

"Scared, very scared," Barnes describes. "Ashamed; people look at you differently."

"It cost me my career," says Barnes. "The Army didn't know what to do with me."

Now he's afraid it may soon cost him more. Now that Barnes is medically retired, he's in the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he says assistance is barely letting him get by -- bills are piling up and he doesn't feel stable enough to hold a job.

"I don't know where I'm going to be in the next year," says Barnes. "I could be out on the street; i just don't know."

Unfortunately Barnes' story isn't unique. After more than a decade of war, suicides now outpace combat deaths for the Army; that's despite the doubling of their behavioral health staff over the last five years.
read more here

In 2009 I wrote this warning about Comprehensive Soldier Fitness

If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them.

The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Failure posted in December of 2011 and was followed by the deadliest year for military suicides.

COMPREHENSIVE SOLDIER & FAMILY FITNESS
BUILDING RESILIENCE ★ ENHANCING PERFORMANCE


I left this comment

Want to know why suicides went up? Start here. This training tells them that they can train their brains to be mentally tough. In other words, if they end up with PTSD, it is their fault for being weak. Spiritual training only works if you do it right. The proof is in the numbers and in 2009 I warned if this program was pushed, suicides would go up.

I am sure the highly educated psychologists are laughing at what I posted since I am just a regular person. The thing they miss is, if I knew this would happen as a nobody, why didn't they? After all aren't we supposed to believe they are the best and the brightest? Aren't we supposed to believe they get paid the big bucks and millions in contracts because they know so much more? Isn't that the deal? Money and power go hand in hand but not so much for accountability so I get to spend hours talking to veterans apologizing for not training right and being mentally weak. I get to spend hours and hours undoing the damage this program did. What sickens me the most is I spend even more time with Moms after their sons and daughters committed suicide after this program started and their kids couldn't admit they needed help.

The stigma is on all the people pushing this program when average people figured out a long time ago it makes PTSD worse.

Healing Combat PTSD

Healing Combat PTSD
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
March 15, 2013
There has been a lot of talk lately reaching the general public's ears, however, it is not new to those of us working on healing Combat PTSD. One by one psychologists are finally arriving at the conclusion there are different types of PTSD and they need to be treated differently. Treating a combat veteran the same way they treat civilians does not work. The simplistic approach has been more "one size fits all" for everything mental health professionals are told they need to do. Being a survivor of the attacks on 911 thousands of New Yorkers suffered with PTSD. The mass murder of children and teachers at Sandy Hook will haunt the children differently than their parents, but it will stay with them for their lifetimes. The first responders were not there when the shooter walked the halls pulling the trigger but they ended up with PTSD for what they witnessed afterwards. These are one time horrific events and we can understand how they would need help to heal afterwards. We seem to find it very difficult to understand how a war fighter would need help when what they went through "was what they were trained to do." We find it impossible to believe that while they were trained to use their weapons and push their bodies, nothing trained them for what they would not only see with their own eyes, but be a part of creating it.

The only group with a close relationship to them are members of law enforcement because they see the worst repeatedly while every day on the job could turn out to be their last.

This morning I received an email link from Dana Morgan President of Point Man International Ministries he was sure would make my day. Dana was a Marine in Vietnam.

Inside the Mind of a War Vet
There is new hope for treating combat-related trauma.
Published on October 30, 2011
by Helen Davey, Ph.D. in Wounded but Resilient

There is exciting new hope on the horizon for the treatment of combat-related trauma, and I feel that I have had a front-row seat in watching this ground-breaking and hopeful solution to one of our country's most heart-breaking problems -- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the military. Let me elaborate.

As a psychoanalyst, I had the pleasure of attending a conference in Los Angeles that highlighted the work of Dr. Russell Carr, a naval psychiatrist who heads up inpatient psychiatry at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Carr has spent a decade in military campaigns since 9/11 in both Iraq and Afghanistan. With this experience of his, if anyone can empathize with and develop ways to effectively treat PTSD in military personnel, I believe that Dr. Carr can. But before he was able to do this, first he had to look for ways to help himself.

For Major B, it is not the violence he witnessed in Afghanistan that haunts him; it is his feelings about the violence he inflicted. He often maintained that, given the circumstances again, he would kill the same people, but that doesn't make it any more bearable. He has nightmares in which he can't stop killing people, and, seeing himself as an emotionless "killing machine," he's afraid that he won't recognize the difference between what is normal and what is a threat. According to Stolorow, when these unendurable emotions cannot be processed with others, these feelings become dissociated and the individual feels a sense of deadness, dullness and a loss of vitality, and it becomes difficult to feel any connection with other human beings.

As if these feelings of guilt were not difficult enough, the feelings of shame are even more painful. The worst part for Major B was his feeling that he couldn't handle combat and that he needed help with the unbearable emotions from it. Before he met Dr. Carr, he believed he could not seek out other people to help him bear and process his feelings about killing large numbers of people. In his mind, he was supposed to maintain the persona of the stoic tough guy whom nothing bothered. Before he began to wrestle with the emasculating experience of admitting to his problems, and then seeking help, he turned to "Dr. Alcohol" and the comforting thought of committing suicide as antidotes to the feeling that he had lost his mind in Afghanistan.

Dr. Carr states, "By providing a relational home to the traumatic experiences of many combat veterans, I understand the guilt and shame that many of them feel. I understand why some severely traumatized veterans feel as if they deserve to die, why they feel more at ease sleeping under a bridge than rejoining the communities they fought to defend. And through my work, I understand better my own feelings of alienation from the rest of America after participating in a decade of military campaigns since 9/11."

The problem is that came from 2011 and apparently the optimistic view of Dr. Davey didn't lead to much change.

It isn't as if this was not already known. Point Man started in 1984 addressing the "moral injury" in war fighters. No one walks away from traumatic events the same way they arrived. Afterwards they are either grateful, feeling as if God saved them or feeling condemned because God did it to them. When a serviceman or woman survives something they were a part of creating, they have the same thoughts. When they see so much evil man is capable of, especially when their intent was so unselfish, it can weigh heavily on their souls. Questions flood their minds. Where was God? Why did He allow all of that to happen? How could a loving God stand by and just watch? Then they wonder if they have become evil as well when they played a role in the events. This gets even more complicated when they survive but their buddies didn't. Even more complicated when they killed people. Ever more complicated when they killed innocent people. It happens in war but while collateral damage is understandable, try telling that to a young man after he has killed a family.

In the new type of war these men and women are fighting and have been fighting since Vietnam when people dressed up like civilians have been killing soldiers and blowing them up, everyone is a suspect. We read about attacks today in Afghanistan where members of the Afghan police and Army kill the American forces training them. It happens because this type of war offers little ability to trust. If they guess wrong and do nothing, their buddies get killed. If they guess wrong and pull the trigger, innocent people get killed just for being foolish enough to not heed warnings.

That happened one night to an Iraqi family when a car would not slow down approaching a convoy of US Service-members. The Iraqis had been warned to not approach them but the driver, for whatever reason, decided to do it anyway. The National Guardsman had a decision to make. He did everything possible to get that car to stop. Fired warning shots in the air, screamed, threw rocks, prayed, fired more warning shots before the car got too close. He guessed that the occupants of the car were suicide bombers. He guessed wrong. The car had been driven by a Dad with his wife and kids inside. The car stopped moving. They went to see who was inside and saw the family.

Those faces, especially the children, haunted him and he thought he had become evil because of that last image in his mind knowing he pulled the trigger that ended their lives. Once he was able to remember what he did to try to prevent it and made peace with what happened, he began to heal. Before that, he tried to commit suicide twice and his family split apart. Last I heard, he was getting remarried and gave his testimony at church.

You can pass off this as much as you want because of all the talk about Christians having a bad reputation in the press with fanatics making the news but the average Christian is more about doing good than slamming the "bad sinners" or trying to convert anyone.

Christian healing of the soul works best because it allows them to forgive themselves as well as others. Next is spiritual healing when they are helped to make peace with what they went through. Point Man understands this. It is non-denominational Christian based healing but is adapted to help every veteran based on their own beliefs or lack of them. No one tries to convert anyone. They just want to help them heal and see how unselfish they were being willing to do what they did.
None of this is new but is not used enough.

The power of Point Man Ministries

There is an awful lot of talking lately about the role of Chaplains in the military and most of it is negative. For all the Chaplains I know, they are deeply troubled by some that think it's ok to just go out and try to convert servicemen and women into their own denomination, wasting time instead of trying to help a troubled soul reconnect to God or at the very least, be able to release some of their emotional pain. In the process of trying to convert instead of help, they end up not only pushing them away from Christ, but build a barrier against them asking for help at all.

Well here are some people living up to what it is supposed to be like, helping people in whatever way they can without trying to put them into the pew of their church group. If the military Chaplains understood that if they do their job right, that won't be a problem later on because people will follow their example and remember the kindness they received. On the other hand, if they receive judgment and condemnation, that is what they will remember as they walk away.

Speaker after speaker talked about what they were doing and they talked about their own lives. All in all there was hope.

Listen to Paul talk about what he went through coming home from Iraq and you'll know what Point Man is all about.




PTSD: Not a judgement from God