Gun suicides and mental health linked

Analysis: Local gun suicides and mental health linked
June 1, 2013
BY ERIC DEXHEIMER
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sean F.’s July 2010 obituary in the American-Statesman said he had passed away “unexpectedly.” But the 39-year-old had already tried to kill himself twice before, his parents later told investigators — once, three years earlier, with a gun. He had bipolar disorder and possibly was schizophrenic, according to his autopsy report. The Austin Police Department had also identified him internally as an “EDP,” an emotionally disturbed person recognized by officers from previous contacts.

Yet, one week before he died, he was still able to purchase a gun. He then used the 9 mm handgun to shoot himself inside his North Austin apartment. (The Statesman isn’t using the full names of suicide victims because in some cases their families or friends couldn’t be reached.)

The recent nationwide discussion about gun violence has concentrated mainly on firearms used in homicides. Since December’s elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers’ focus has been even more specifically on guns used in the sort of mass murders that fuel public outrage and prompt policy reforms.
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A few gun deaths from January 2013 on Wounded Times
Ex-Marine in recovery is Broward's first homicide victim of 2013
Florida mother kills infant son in murder-suicide attempt, police say
PTSD, a Navy SEAL and family left behind
Andrew Baumgartner was a Marine, who served in Afghanistan
Iraq veteran with PTSD getting help after shooting
Iraq veteran held on $3M bond in shooting deaths
Fort Riley soldier died of gunshot wound
Young veteran's suicide shatters air of stability
Mississippi State Rep. Jessica Upshaw found dead
Police officer found dead in New Jersey Park
Mississippi Police officer and suspect killed at Jackson Police Station
Missouri Soldier killed woman and unborn child to "protect career"
Fort Hood soldier who died of gunshot identified
Veteran's suicide resonates with loved ones, law enforcement, veterans officials
Fort Hood soldier on leave dies of gunshot wound

PTSD study reveals "There's not a single pharmacological treatment out there"

Brain-imaging study links cannabinoid receptors to post-traumatic stress disorder
May 14, 2013
Psychology and Psychiatry

In a first-of-its-kind effort to illuminate the biochemical impact of trauma, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a connection between the quantity of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain, known as CB1 receptors, and post-traumatic stress disorder, the chronic, disabling condition that can plague trauma victims with flashbacks, nightmares and emotional instability. Their findings, which appear online today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, will also be presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry in San Francisco.

CB1 receptors are part of the endocannabinoid system, a diffuse network of chemicals and signaling pathways in the body that plays a role in memory formation, appetite, pain tolerance and mood. Animal studies have shown that psychoactive chemicals such as cannabis, along with certain neurotransmitters produced naturally in the body, can impair memory and reduce anxiety when they activate CB1 receptors in the brain. Lead author Alexander Neumeister, MD, director of the molecular imaging program in the Departments of Psychiatry and Radiology at NYU School of Medicine, and colleagues are the first to demonstrate through brain imaging that people with PTSD have markedly lower concentrations of at least one of these neurotransmitters —an endocannabinoid known as anandamide—than people without PTSD. Their study, which was supported by three grants from the National Institutes of Health, illuminates an important biological fingerprint of PTSD that could help improve the accuracy of PTSD diagnoses, and points the way to medications designed specifically to treat trauma.

"There's not a single pharmacological treatment out there that has been developed specifically for PTSD," says Dr. Neumeister. "That's a problem. There's a consensus among clinicians that existing pharmaceutical treatments such as antidepressant simple do not work. In fact, we know very well that people with PTSD who use marijuana—a potent cannabinoid—often experience more relief from their symptoms than they do from antidepressants and other psychiatric medications. Clearly, there's a very urgent need to develop novel evidence-based treatments for PTSD."
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When being "resilient" is part of the problem

A fascinating reaport came out of Boston this morning about the slogan "Boston Strong" being an issue for some mental health professionals.

Mental health experts worried about ‘Boston Strong’ slogan
By Deborah Kotz
GLOBE STAFF
MAY 13, 2013

The slogan “Boston Strong” that emerged days after the Marathon bombings resonates with many — including two-thirds of the more than 500 readers who answered a Boston.com poll.

More than 50,000 Boston Strong T-shirts have been sold to raise money for a victims’ charity fund, and the phrase has been plastered on posters and signs throughout the city.

But mental health specialists are concerned that some still traumatized by the Marathon attacks might deem themselves weak or inadequate for not feeling that Boston strength.

“I think it is probably attempting to speak to a sense of resilience and strength on the level of the community,” said Dr. Michael Leslie, a psychiatrist who treats trauma patients at McLean Hospital in Belmont. “But there are people who will read this in a personal way, as an exhortation that they themselves need to be strong” no matter what they’re actually feeling. That would be “an unfortunate conclusion to draw from the phrase,” he added.
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In the article, this came out.

"Nearly 9 percent of poll respondents said they didn’t like the slogan because it makes them feel like they have to be strong."

RESILIENT : characterized or marked by resilience: as

a : capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture
b : tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

The word does not mean "untouched" or "unchanged" by what happens. The first part of the definition is not about a person but is about an object.

Being resilient does not mean they are unbreakable. All it means is they are able to hold out a little bit longer than others. It does not mean they be unchanged. It just means the change in them will not destroy them. If they have a misunderstanding of what resilience is, that can cause a whole new problem.

The military has been pushing the term of "resilience" as if it is supposed to mean they can overcome everything without being changed or harmed. When they believe that is what comes next after "it" happened to them, they have a harder time when reality sinks in and they discover they are only human after all.

Some veterans considered to be at high risk for suicide don't get follow up

VA doesn't follow up with many veterans after mental health care
May. 1, 2013
By Patricia Kime
Army Times

About a third of veterans considered to be at high risk for suicide don’t receive the recommended follow-up care after they’ve been discharged from Veterans Affairs Department inpatient mental health care, according to a new report from the VA inspector general.

The VA study shows that of 215 cases reviewed between April and September 2012, 65 did not receive the recommended after-care of four visits within 30 days of being discharged.

Thirty-three percent did not have any record of being contacted by a suicide prevention coordinator or case manager, as also is recommended in VA treatment policies.

“Although MH providers scheduled follow-up appointments prior to patient discharge, timely post-discharge MH evaluations were not consistently provided,” VA Assistant Inspector General for Healthcare Inspections Dr. John Daigh wrote.
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Is Fort Campbell getting it right on PTSD now?

101st Airborne vastly expands care for 'unseen wounds'
Apr. 30, 2013
By Philip Grey
The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle

FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — Not so long ago, there were only five psychiatrists and one treatment facility dealing with PTSD, depression and other behavioral health issues for Fort Campbell’s 30,000-plus soldier population.

That capacity has just been increased many times over, with the opening of no less than five newly-constructed and staffed Embedded Behavioral Health Care Team facilities – one for each of the 101st Airborne Division’s four brigade combat teams and another for the 101st Sustainment Brigade. Additional psychological health support has also been added to each of the division’s two combat aviation brigades.

Open houses were held at the new facilities on Monday, as post officials celebrated the milestone, achieved just one year after the first pilot program at the 4th Brigade Combat Team was announced by Maj. Gen. James C. McConville, Commander, 101st Airborne Division and Col. Paul R. Cordts, Commander, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH.)

Attending the ribbon-cutting for the new permanent 4th Brigade Combat Team facility in place of McConville, currently deployed in Afghanistan, was acting senior commander Brig. Gen. Mark R. Stammer.

“We wanted Brig. Gen. Stammer to see and know the power of what we’ve set up,” Cordts said.
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Canada uses video conferencing to help with PTSD and mental health

Canadian Forces To Turn To Video Conferencing To Help Soldiers With PTSD And Other Mental Illnesses
April 30, 2013
Section: Defence Watch
News release from DND:

OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – April 30, 2013) – The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, announced two new health services initiatives, the Telemental Health Network and the Virtual Reality Initiative Bravemind, developed through the $11.4 million reallocated to the care of ill and injured military personnel in 2012. Minister MacKay made this announcement as part of The Bell True Patriot Love Fund, a one-million dollar program to support community mental health initiatives for Canadian military families.

“The Telemental Health Network and the Virtual Reality Initiative Bravemind complement an already robust system to provide treatment for our military men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other health conditions,” said Minister MacKay. “The Bell True Patriot Love Fund initiative complements our Government’s focus on providing accessible mental health care to Canadian Armed Forces personnel. As Canadians we must all work together to ensure our military families stay healthy and get the mental health support they need.”

The Telemental Health Network will maximize the use of technology to increase access and reduce wait times by providing mental health services through video conferencing for personnel in all environments – especially rural, remote and underserved communities.

The Government of Canada has procured 90 high-definition desktop videoconferencing systems at a total cost of $800,000.
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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."
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VA mental health patients among evacuated after bomb threat

Can't imagine what these veterans went through or how much more damage was done to their healing process.

"All Clear" given at Salisbury VA after bomb threat, evacuation
WBTV News
Posted: Apr 17, 2013
By David Whisenant

Building Four is Inpatient Mental Health Care and Building 11 is Outpatient Mental Health.

SALISBURY, NC (WBTV) - Officials in Salisbury gave the "All Clear" at the Salisbury VA at shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday.

They were investigating a bomb threat that was called in at the William G. "Bill" Hefner Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salisbury.
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The Warrior Saw, Suicides After War hits military suicides with facts

The Warrior Saw, Suicides After War by Kathie Costos is now available. I am working on the Kindle conversion and that should be up (I hope) later today. In this work you will have three essential questions answered.

Where are we?

When it comes to military suicides and the record breaking year of 2012 we read the numbers but have forgotten each one represents a family left behind and many more wondering what they did wrong. When you only read numbers going up, it is easy to forget about how many lives these deaths affect.

2003 Army 79 26 while deployed
2004 Army 67 13 while deployed
2005 Army 87 25 while deployed
2006 Army 99 30 while deployed
(Army Suicide Prevention Program Fact Sheet, Army Public Affairs, August 17, 2007)
2007 Army 115 36 while deployed (50 deployed prior to suicide and 29 not deployed)

The following is from the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report.
Air Force Suicides Confirmed and Pending (2011 page 93)
2008 45
2009 43
2010 60
2011 50 241 Airmen who attempted suicide in 251 separate incidents.

Army Confirmed and Pending Suicides (2011 page 128)
2008 140
Suicide attempts 570
Of the 140 suicides, 34 (24%) occurred in OIF-OEF. One hundred sixteen suicide attempts (12%) were reported to have occurred in OIF-OEF. Nineteen percent of Soldiers with completed suicides, and 14% of Soldiers with suicide attempts, had a history of multiple deployments to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Of suicide events reported as occurring in theater, the majority was reported to have occurred in Iraq.

2009 164 Army DoDSERs Submitted for Non-Fatal Events 2,047 Army DoDSERs for non-fatal events were submitted for 2009. Of these, 502 (25%) were submitted for suicide attempts, 347 (17%) for instances of self-harm without intent to die, and 1198 (59%) for suicidal ideation only

2010 160 DoDSERs provide data on suicide attempts for 400 individuals. Two attempts were reported (DoDSERs submitted) for 11 (2.75%) individuals, and three for one individual (0.25%). Additionally, four Soldiers with a 2010 suicide attempt DoDSER subsequently died by suicide in 2010 and were also included in the preceding section.

2011 167 440 DoDSERs for 2011 Army suicide attempts. As indicated in Table 5.29, these DoDSERs provide data on suicide attempts for 432 individuals. Two suicide attempt DoDSERs were submitted for 8 (1.85%) individuals 2011 Army suicide attempts 432 individuals with 440 attempts

Marines Confirmed and Pending
2008 42
2009 52
2010 37
2011 32
2011 156 Marines who attempted suicide in 157 separate incidents

Navy Confirmed and Pending
2008 41
2009 47
2010 38
2011 52
2011 87 Navy suicide attempts

Department of Defense Suicide Event Report for 2011
For 2011 there were 935 attempted suicides in the military with 915 individuals trying to kill themselves. 896 tried once, 18 tried twice and 1 tried three times.

These are the deaths from suicides for 2012.
Army 182
Army National Guards 96
Army Reserves 47
Marines 48
Air Force 59
Navy 60
492 total reported suicides from one year alone.

The DOD Suicide Event Report for 2012 has not been released yet but according to the DOD they expect the numbers to go up when they put all the data together.


How did we get here?

Oh, that one is the one that bothers me the most.
When you think that after billions have been spent every year and countless efforts made including the stunning fact there are over 900 programs, yet arrive with more suicides, that should be screaming across every headline in this country.

In 2006 there were more than 500,000 veterans with pending claims and of those 100,000 were over a year old without resolution according to the VA. By March of 2007, the Boston Globe reported that the backlog of claims had gone from 69,000 in 2000 to 400,000 in 2007 taking 177 days to process an original claim and 657 days to process an appeal. The news got worse with a staggering 915,000 in 2009 with 803,000 with the Board of Appeals.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year.” (Have VA Pay old claims automatically, Rick Maze, Marine Corps Times, June 30, 2009)

This is what 2007 looked like.

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.

Veterans Affairs officials say prioritizing war-on-terror veterans is necessary because many of them face serious health challenges. But they don't agree that other veterans will suffer, saying that they are hiring thousands of new employees, finding ways to train them more quickly and streamlining the process of moving troops from active duty to veteran status. (Two-tiered system of healthcare, Chris Roberts, El Paso Times, October 8, 2007)

There was the Suicide Prevention Hotline taking calls and making "rescues" even when the number of suicides went up.

“Call volume has grown, from 67,350 in 2008, the center’s first full year of operation, to 193,507 last year. But the percentage of rescue calls — those calls for which emergency responders get involved — has declined, from a high of 4.26 percent in 2010 to 2.7 percent in the first months of this fiscal year.” (Reported on Syracuse.com Dave Tobin, February 17, 2013.)

This is perhaps the most troublesome of all. “VA has been underfunded for years; for FY2007, the Bush Administration requested almost $4 billion less in VA funding than the amount suggested by major veterans’ organizations. In early 2007, Congress made veterans’ health care a priority, increasing the funding for veterans’ health care by $3.6 billion.” (IAVA 2008 Congressional Report Card)

According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employed 1,392 Veterans Service Representatives in June 2007 compared to 1,516 in January 2003. Did they think about what would have happened if after the troops were being sent into a second war, the VA was prepared to take care of them with their claims as well as their wounds? Would older veterans have suffered even longer than they already had? Would it have helped to know all their years of fighting to make sure PTSD was treated for all veterans was worthy of their efforts?

VA has been underfunded for years; for FY2007, the Bush Administration requested almost $4 billion less in VA funding than the amount suggested by major veterans’ organizations.

“Clearly, the current funding process is broken. The VA had a $3 billion shortfall in veterans’ health care in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. The waiting list for new veterans’ health care appointments doubled in a year. The current backlog of benefit claims is approaching 400,000.

Staffing levels and training have not kept pace with the number or complexity of claims. Large numbers of retirements among older, more experienced claims adjudicators have worsened the current workforce crisis. By VA’s own estimates, new Veterans Service Representatives (VSRs) require several years of on-the job training to become fully competent.” (AFGE 2007)

Then there are the billions spent every year on "Resilience" training. Many experts have come out and said that this attempt does not work but instead of learning from the numbers, they pushed the programs.

You can read the rest in the book.

I track reports from across the country and readers of Wounded Times know that I only track verifiable reports from newspapers, government sites and academic media. This book gives the sites and the dates of the reports. If you look at the date of the report, 90% of them came from Wounded Times. You can go to the achieve on the sidebar, find the date you are looking for and then you'll find the links to where the reports came from. Some of them may not be active any longer but as of 6 months ago when I started writing THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, most of the links still worked.

What can be done?

There are things that have to happen right now.

End Resilience Training. I have been screaming about that since it started.

Start to use the same kind of training Crisis Intervention Specialist use so they will know how to respond after an event right away. There is too much of a crisis going on right now and no time to play catchup. They can be trained in a week to know how to respond and have a basic understanding of the difference between mental illness and anxiety caused by trauma. They will also be able to do what police and firefighters have been doing for a very long time. It will not prevent all cases of PTSD but it will prevent a lot of them.

Get the families involved because they are the support system for them when they come home. Too many families have no clue what to watch out for, what PTSD is or what to do about it.

Get clergy involved because if you do not understand that this is in fact a "moral injury" then you are part of the problem. This is not a new idea. Jonathan Shay wrote about it in Achilles in Vietnam.

The fact is that PTSD has been researched for over 40 years. None of this had to happen but the wrong people were listened to and the right people were forgotten about.
You can also read it on Kindle now.

Thrown Into a Psych Ward for No Apparent Reason?

This story does not add up to the headline.

Do veterans get treated the way they should? Hell no! Do they wait and fight for the compensation and treatment they earned while serving? Yes and they shouldn't have to. The veteran says in the second interview that he had personal issues and left a message on his friends phone. That is what apparently caused this. The police did a "wellness check" and frankly they don't do that unless someone has called about someone they are worried about.

I've had to do it several times for veterans I was worried about. They don't just show up at a veteran's door.

This veteran says in the phone interview that he went to the VA for pain in his back and was told he would need to get evaluated by mental health and that makes sense since they are evaluating veterans for PTSD and TBI because most don't know they have either one. The pain medication he was asking for is probably addictive, so there is another reason. Plus you have to consider that we have a huge problem with veterans committing suicide.

There is no way for me to know for sure because all I can go by are the videos of this veteran being interviewed. If he left a message on his friend's machine starting the concern off, then people did what they were supposed to do. The only way the VA can take away gun rights is if the veteran is a danger to himself or others, or has a court ordered fiduciary because they cannot make rational decisions. This does not happen often.

Congress' answer to the veterans suicide epidemic was to take away guns because that is the preferred "means" of suicide however we have seen that attempt did nothing to reduce the suicide rate. By the way, this law was signed in 2008.

PROVISIONS OF THE JOSHUA OMVIG VETERANS SUICIDE PREVENTION ACT
The Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act (the “Act”) mandates that VA create and implement a comprehensive program to address the mental health problems of all veterans.

Congress expressed particular concern for “the special needs of veterans suffering from PTSD and the special needs of elderly veterans who are at high risk for depression,” the veteran populations most likely to commit suicide.

The program has six major components, detailed in section 3 of the Act:

(1) education for VA staff;
(2) increased emphasis on mental health
assessments for veterans;
(3) designation of suicide prevention counselors;
(4) research on veterans’ mental health issues;
(5) provision of round-theclock
mental health care; and
(6) outreach and education for veterans and their families.

The VA also “may provide for other actions to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans that the Secretary considers appropriate.”

Finally, Congress mandated that the VA report on the implementation status of the program, its estimated timeline for completion, the estimated costs of the program, and any additional actions deemed necessary to fully address veterans’ mental health issues.

If this veteran is upset by what happened then he needs to contact his friend because it is my guess the phone call set all of this off. He should thank him for caring that much about him because making that phone call is one of the hardest things a person does. They struggle with wondering if they are saving a life or ending a friendship. Then it dawns on them that if they don't make the call just in case their fears are justified, they would live with the guilt over not trying to save the life of someone they cared about.

Disabled Veteran David Schmecker: Thrown Into a Psych Ward for No Apparent Reason
by Renee Nal
April 03, 2013

David Schmecker, 50, is a disabled veteran with "no psychiatric history" who seemingly had his firearms confiscated and gun permit revoked in Connecticut for no apparent reason. It all started when he called the Veteran's Administration to get a follow-up appointment for a spinal injury.

George Hemminger of SurviveAndThriveTV interviewed the distraught Navy veteran who explained his story. Schmecker says that when the VA called back to schedule the appointment, he was informed that the appointment would entail a visit with a psychiatrist and a psychologist on top of his physical therapy and pain management session. As noted by Opposing Views, "It's not unusual for veterans to be asked to submit to a psychological evaluation when requesting pain medication due to the high rate of addiction." Regardless, Schmecker "refused" the mental health treatment, as he said the appointment was for a "spine injury." He indicates that after his refusal, "they never got back to me and they still haven't."
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96% of violent crimes committed by people with no mental health problems

Time to stop using mental illness as something to blame. Tired of hearing this is all about mentally ill people especially when many want to link murders to PTSD after Chris Kyle was killed by a veteran he was trying to help.

We have hundreds of thousands of diagnosed PTSD veterans and many more still not getting help or the diagnosis but we read about so few of them involved with crimes. We read more about them harming themselves by attempting suicide and too many succeeding at it.

Fox News Inverts Evidence To Link Mental Health With Mass Murder
Media Matters
February 5, 2013
BRIAN THORN

Fox News' Martha MacCallum exaggerated the relationship between mental health and gun violence by suggesting advocates for stronger gun laws focus on the few individuals with mental health conditions who commit mass killings instead of the widely available weapons that they used.

On the February 5 edition of America's Newsroom, MacCallum pushed the debunked myth that mental health is a common variable among violent criminals by listing recent mass shooters. MacCallum highlighted four perpetrators of mass shootings, and said, "You look at the people who've carried out these heinous crimes and killed so many innocent children. ... All of these have mental health issues." MacCallum went on to criticize President Obama for focusing on stronger gun laws rather than mental health in his policy response to the Newtown, CT, mass shooting.

According to the National Journal, "96 percent of violent crimes -- defined by the FBI as murders, robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults -- are committed by people without any mental-health problems at all." From the National Journal:

Although people with serious mental illness have committed a large percentage of high-profile crimes, the mentally ill represent a very small percentage of the perpetrators of violent crime overall. Researchers estimate that if mental illness could be eliminated as a factor in violent crime, the overall rate would be reduced by only 4 percent. That means 96 percent of violent crimes -- defined by the FBI as murders, robberies, rapes, and aggravated assaults -- are committed by people without any mental-health problems at all. Solutions that focus on reducing crimes by the mentally ill will make only a small dent in the nation's rate of gun-related murders, ranging from mass killings to shootings that claim a single victim.

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A different kind of Christmas miracle for a war veteran

Fred Grimm: A different kind of Christmas miracle for a war veteran
Miami Herald
BY FRED GRIMM
December 29, 2012

Think of it as a kind of Christmas miracle. That what should have happened actually happened. That a war-damaged veteran got the help he needed. That a terrifying scenario — an unhinged former soldier holed up with a cache of assault weapons and ammo — was defused.

What should have happened actually happened, despite irrational state laws governing mental health interventions, despite Florida’s fiscal neglect of mental health services.

The 26-year-old Iraq War vet, his reasoning bent by the stress and trauma of combat (and perhaps a brain injury), had barricaded himself in his two-story town house off 109th Avenue in Northwest Miami-Dade County, where he stewed in apocalyptic notions and insurrectionist paranoia. His relatives were terrified that as his mental state deteriorated, the potential for a deadly confrontation was escalating. They knew he kept a dreadful collection of firearms, a virtual armory, inside a town house not far from a school.

That the vet was in urgent need of mental health treatment seemed obvious. He had covered the interior walls of his home with bizarre drawings and portentous slogans: “Everyone must die.” He had tacked bullet-riddled firing range targets, black human silhouettes, on the wall. He raved that the nation was about to dissolve into some final explosion of chaotic violence. He had strategically placed his guns — police would later find 20 assault weapons and seven other firearms, along with more than 15,000 rounds of ammunition — arrayed near the home’s windows, ready to fend off the imagined final siege. (His town house complex is not far from the K-through-12 Miami Christian School.)

But none of these factors, given Florida’s mental health laws and miserly funding (last in the nation) of mental health services, would necessarily lead to real treatment. All too often, after the mentally ill are taken to one of the county’s overcrowded crisis stabilization centers, they’re out again in a few hours, said Habsi W. Kaba, who runs Miami-Dade’s crisis intervention program.

It could have happened with the vet. That it didn’t, that he was involuntarily committed to a Veteran’s Administration hospital after his Baker Act (mental health) hearing on Thursday, was serendipity. Like I said: a Christmas miracle.
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Sensible, reasonable approach to the issue of mass violence

Sensible, reasonable approach to the issue of mass violence
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 23, 2012

The first thing we need to get straight is no one just "snaps" before they commit mass murder. They even show signs before they commit suicide, often thinking about it for a very long time before they take their own lives. For the bulk of gun deaths that can be tied to military service, guns are used most of the time. You also need to know that 75% of the suicides committed by veterans came after they sought help.

While military suicides and attempted suicides usually involve guns, very few have harmed someone else before they did it. Mass murder committed by members of the military are rare. There are a couple of trials going on involving members of the military charged with committing mass murder.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan
In the end, they weren't enough for the FBI to identify Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as a terrorist threat or, as it would turn out, as a man who now stands accused of the shooting spree at Fort Hood that killed 13 and wounded 23 others in November 2009. The emails attracted the attention of FBI and anti-terrorism task force agents in December 2008, and eventually prompted them to dig up Hasan's personnel records and evaluation reports.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales
Today, the 38-year-old Army staff sergeant remains locked in an isolation cell in a maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., accused of killing 16 Afghans, including nine children.

Eleven years of war, with over 2 million deployed into two wars, and only a few mass murder incidences. The talk these days is about the "culture of violence" but the talkers don't seem to be able to understand that we train men and women to use lethal force and they are well armed. A veteran is more apt to commit suicide than harm anyone else.

If they shoot anyone else, it is usually someone in their lives and not strangers. They usually kill themselves right afterwards.

Comment on the Newtown shooting

"This awful massacre of our youngest children has changed us, and everything should be on the table," Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia and "proud gun owner," said Monday in a statement. "We need to move beyond dialogue -- we need to take a sensible, reasonable approach to the issue of mass violence."

It is not as if we haven't known all of this for a very long time.

Rural West Virginia Vets have higher rate of trauma risk
Study: Rural W.Va. vets at higher trauma risk
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 11, 2008

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A new study shows that rural West Virginia veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than their urban counterparts.

The analysis is based on the ongoing West Virginia Returning Soldiers Study, which has surveyed more than 930 veterans.

The study shows that about 56 percent of returning soldiers from rural counties suffer from post-traumatic distress and other mental health problems, compared to 32 percent of soldiers in urban areas and 34 percent of those living on out-of-state military bases.

Rural veterans are also at greater risk for suicide.

Hilda Heady, a rural health specialist at West Virginia University, says part of the problem is a lack of mental health care facilities in rural areas.

When you hear politicians talk about mental illness and firearms, think about what you just read. Everyone with a mental illness is not going to use a gun against someone else but it does show that too many use them on themselves even after seeking help. Does that tell you something? It hasn't told members of congress that what is happening with military mental healthcare is not working because they haven't done anything meaningful since 2008.

It hasn't told them that the "culture of violence" has not caused members of the military and veterans to commit mass murders anywhere near what troubled civilians have done.

Mental health has to be addressed but it cannot begin and end with simply taking away the guns they have. Easy answers are not always the right answers. If there is no fix for how the mentally ill are treated, then mass murders will keep happening when civilians pull guns on civilians and veterans will keep taking their own lives.

If they ban assault weapons but do not secure the bullets these weapons use, then it will only put assault weapons into the hands of criminals. It should not be easier to get bullets for these weapons than it is to get the weapons in the first place. The gun does not kill, the bullets do. Require owners to have a license to buy the bullets and make it just as hard to get one as it is to get guns.

Everything has to be addressed and fixed before we can expect anything to really change.

Fort Hood trial no longer delayed, shooter can keep beard

Hasan won't have to shave
Local 15 news

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage won't have to shave his beard before his military trial.

The new judge overseeing Maj. Nidal Hasan's case told him today he can keep the beard even though it's a violation of Army regulations.
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Mort Zuckerman Pledges $200 Million To Mental Health

Billionaire Mort Zuckerman Pledges $200 Million To Mental Health Research
Luisa Kroll
Forbes Staff

The state of preventative mental health care in the U.S. has been thrust onto the national scene in recent days, after the monstrous murder of 27 people including 20 children in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. While it is not clear what motivated the lone gunman or from what disease he suffered, if any, few think he could have been right in his head.

Probably coincidentally, one of the country’s richest people announced today a gift that will attempt to come up with new therapies and potential cures for a range of mental health disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s but also autism, schizophrenia and mood disorders. New York real estate billionaire, Mortimer Zuckerman, has pledged $200 million to endow a Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University to be named after him.
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Psychological stress tops physical injuries

Wounded Iraq, Afghanistan Troops Increase As Pentagon Says Afghan War Will Continue
David Wood
Posted: 12/10/2012

WASHINGTON -- In a grim marker of the human cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Pentagon reported Monday that active-duty American troops were hospitalized in the United States at three times the peacetime rate -- with mental health injuries comprising the largest category.

The new report by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center said that 891,903 troops were hospitalized from October 2001 to June 2012. These patients drove the stateside hospital bed occupancy rate up to 4.2 million days, almost four times the normal peacetime rate, a number that reflects the serious nature of the patients' physical and mental wounds.

Among the 891,903 hospitalizations recorded during the wartime period, 153,936 were for physical injuries and 161,385 were for mental health diagnoses. The report also documented 1.7 million ambulatory visits to military health facilities for mental disorders.

The mental health injuries "directly reflect the nature, durations and intensities of the combat in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the psychological stresses associated with prolonged and often repeated combat deployments," the report said.
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Congress finally takes on fixing 30,000 discharged for "personality disorders"

If you have been reading this blog all along you know this is a very important issue for me considering as of today we still don't know what happened to the men and women kicked out of the military because they didn't get the help they needed. What happened to them? How did they survive when they received nothing from the government except a discharge few employers would honor? How many committed suicide because they were betrayed? So many questions and so few answers but at least Congress is finally looking into doing the right thing. I just wonder how many it is too little to late for.

Changes sought for vets' psych disorder discharges
Kelly Kennedy
USA TODAY

Lawmaker says failing to provide these veterans with the help they need to function in society will cost more money in the long run.

1:05PM EST November 28. 2012 - WASHINGTON -- After nearly 30,000 servicemembers were forced out of the military for "personality disorders," often after combat service, a bipartisan House coalition hopes to require the Pentagon to review those cases in the hopes that some veterans could receive benefits.

Those processed out with a "personality disorder," which is considered a pre-existing condition, received an administrative discharge and no possibility of health benefits or disability retirement pay from the military. Many of those servicemembers had served in combat and showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Vietnam Veterans of America, which filed a lawsuit in 2010 demanding the records of those veterans. They were also not eligible for benefits from Veterans Affairs.

"It's pretty clear to us that it is our responsibility to make this right," said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. "They need to get back and get their cases adjudicated correctly."
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Testing to prevent PTSD

Where do I start on this one? It is obvious that Sgt. Major Devaney gave this a lot of thought and is very smart. The problem is he seems to have done too much studying of books and not enough studying of people.

Combat PTSD is not as much of a mystery as it is a misery. They can prevent PTSD in a lot of cases but that can only be accomplished by responding to the survivors right after "it" happens. They haven't been able to do that because while the commanders understand the nature of warfare they do not understand the nature of humans.

Testing to prevent PTSD
Avoiding people and increased anxiety are signs of PTSD.
Author: SgtMaj David K. Devaney

I believe many cases of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be prevented in combat troops through proper education. According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD is a severe anxiety reaction to a traumatic event, such as rape or war, in which individuals repeatedly relive the event, avoid stimuli associated with the trauma, and experience symptoms such as difficulty sleeping and irritability.

1 Typically the symptoms develop shortly after the event, but also could take years to develop. The duration for symptoms is at least 1 month for this diagnosis. Symptoms include reexperiencing the trauma through nightmares, obsessive thoughts, and flashbacks. There is an avoidance component as well, where the individual avoids situations, people, and/or objects that remind him of the traumatic event. For many people there is increased general anxiety, possibly with a heightened startle response. According to D. Grossman, for many people diagnosed with PTSD, it is like being told they have cancer; they assume it is fatal.

2 PTSD is more like being overweight.

3 Some people are just a couple of pounds overweight and they can use self-aid to get their weight under control. Other people are 20 to 30 pounds overweight and will need buddy aid and/or professional assistance. But full-blown PTSD is like being 50 to 100 pounds overweight, and without professional assistance they will likely have much trouble surviving. Almost all combat troops will have some form of PTSD or combat stress after continuous combat, but most of them will be fine.
Precombat education in the form of lectures about the psychological and physiological effects of combat will prevent much combat stress because it teaches warriors about the phenomena found in combat. Much self-induced stress comes from a lack of education, such as people being raised hearing “thou shall not kill.”

4 According to The Marines’ Bible the commandment should have been written, “thou shall not murder.”

5 The point is there is a big difference between murder, which is unjustifiable killing, and justifiably killing an enemy combatant. When someone is trying to kill you or those you are sworn to protect, you are justified in killing them first.
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While it is not always possible emotional debriefing works when it is done correctly. Having a safe place to talk about what happened brings the whole warrior into the "now" and begins the process of leaving the event behind them. If it is not done, then that event takes hold. Changes happen in all traumatic events. Every part of the survivor is reacting to it. Leaving them psychologically where it happened ends up freezing the end in their minds.

I had a National Guardsman contact me after two suicide attempts. He was on patrol in Iraq when a car approached them at a high rate of speed. The end result was he had to open fire and killed everyone in the car. It was a family.

The image of the parents and kids lying dead in the car haunted him. He had kids of his own back home. He couldn't let that image go and it took over his whole life.

Once we had established mutual trust and he knew his thoughts were safe to relate, he trusted me enough to be able to "watch" the whole event. Long story short, he had forgotten everything he tried to do to prevent what happened.

He thought he had become evil but when he was able to understand what happened, why it happened and what his intent was, he was able to forgive himself and he started to heal.

The above article points out the spiritual aspect of PTSD. It is a spiritual wound and must be addressed spiritually, not pacified by religious slogans.

It cannot be medicated away. Medications numb so that therapy has a chance to work but if that is the only treatment they receive, then all it does is puts PTSD to sleep along with every other good emotion.

The whole veteran must be treated in order to really heal. They have to relearn how to calm down their bodies as much as they have to calm down their thoughts. If this is all done soon after the traumatic event, they have a better outcome. If it is allowed to go on for years, then they face a lifetime of medical intervention.

As Vietnam veterans have proven it is never too late to get help to heal even for them, but had they been treated soon after they came home properly, it would have prevented a lifetime of suffering and most of what they lived with afterwards could have been bypassed.

Australia:Kids committing suicide on adult medications

Nine-year-old's suicide prompts panel to highlight flaws
Ava Benny-Morrison
5th Nov 2012

A NINE-year-old girl's suicide and a doctor who prescribed to a child medication only suitable for adults have prompted the state's child death review panel to highlight the systematic flaws in addressing children with mental health issues.

The Child Death Case Review Committee investigated 73 deaths in Queensland last year, including six suicides.

According to the committee's annual report, tabled in Parliament on Monday, the suicides included a nine-year-old and four 15-year-olds.

In five suicide cases, living in a regional or remote location was deemed a significant factor and four children had suspected or diagnosed mental health conditions.

In one heart-breaking case, a doctor prescribed adult medication to a boy to combat his suicidal tendencies and mental health issues.

The boy had previously been on a daily dose of three different prescribed medications.

The boy's behaviour changed significantly and two weeks later he killed himself.
read more here

Nidal Hasan, terrorist or mass murderer?

Nidal Hasan, terrorist or mass murderer?
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
November 5, 2012

Most of the talk about the Fort Hood massacre has been the passionate insistence that this act be labeled the act of a terrorist.

The definition of terrorism is "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion" while the definition of a mass murderer is "a person who is responsible for the deaths of many victims in a single incident."

The legalities are beyond my ability to understand.

Trial delays vex Fort Hood survivors three years after rampage
By Jim Forsyth
Reuters
November 4, 2012

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Survivors of the Fort Hood massacre say they are frustrated that the man accused of the shootings three years ago has yet to face a court martial.

Major Nidal Hasan is accused of opening fire on a group of soldiers who were undergoing medical exams at the Army post in Texas on November 5, 2009, in preparation for their deployment to Iraq. Thirteen people died and 32 others were wounded in the attack.

Hasan was charged immediately with first-degree murder, which could result in a death sentence if he is convicted, but three separate trial dates have passed.

"It's very frustrating. It has not allowed us to have any closure whatsoever," Kimberly Munley, the civilian police officer who shot Hasan and helped end the shooting spree, told Reuters. "A speedy trial is definitely not what has taken place."
read more here

I remember Fort Hood from a visit there months before this happened. I was in the food court sitting there seeing all the families with soldiers in uniform and none of them carrying weapons. It was home to them.

Purple Hearts were talked about and doctors were worried Hasan was psychotic but somehow he managed to be in a position to treat other soldiers for mental health.

My own emotions cannot come close to what these families have gone through. There is what is "legal" and then there is what is right. Sometimes one does not belong to the other. Maybe in this case, they are waiting to see what the evidence proves before they change murder to terrorism?

I don't know but I do know these families deserve everything we can give them simply because the chain of command let Hasan be where he was no matter what they knew about him. If they had taken action on removing him from the Army before all of this when they suspected he may be psychotic, none of this would have happened.