Fort Drum soldier waits in jail for PTSD treatment?

Soldier awaits psychiatric treatment in jail

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 15, 2007 22:05:29 EDT

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A Fort Drum soldier who walked into a police station threatening officers with what appeared to be an assault rifle must remain in jail.

Onondaga County Judge William Walsh rejected a defense request Tuesday to have Spc. Matthew Campbell released to U.S. Army officials so he could return to Fort Drum for psychiatric treatment.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Alison Fineberg objected to the release unless the Army had a specific treatment plan set up for Campbell. Walsh agreed, ordering Campbell jailed until the Army provides more detailed information about treating him.

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Katrina victims struggle mentally

Katrina victims struggle mentally
By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY
Many Gulf Coast residents still feel the wallop of Hurricane Katrina nearly two years later.
Mental illness is double the pre-storm levels, rising numbers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and there is a surge in adults who say they're thinking of suicide.

A government survey released Wednesday to USA TODAY shows no improvement in mental health from a year ago.

About 14% have symptoms of severe mental illness. An additional 20% have mild to moderate mental illness, says Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School, who led the study.

The big surprise: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which typically goes away in a year for most disaster survivors, has increased: 21% have the symptoms vs. 16% in 2006. Common symptoms include the inability to stop thinking about the hurricane, nightmares and emotional numbness. go here for the rest
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-16-neworleans-illness_N.htm

You have got to be kidding! PTSD does not go away in a year. A would like to know where they got that idea from. It gets worse unless it is treated.

How is PTSD diagnosed?
A diagnosis of PTSD is made when symptoms in the main clusters (re-experiencing, numbing, avoidance, and arousal) are present for an extended period and are interfering with normal life. The first step in getting treatment is getting a diagnosis. This can be difficult for a number of reasons:
symptoms may occur months or years after the traumatic event and may not be recognized as being related to the trauma beliefs that people "should be able to get over it" or "shouldn't have such a reaction" or "should solve their own problems" may delay treatment being sought guilt, blame, embarrassment or pain may interfere with a person seeking help avoidance of anything associated with the trauma may result in an inability to recognize the need for treatment
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm#diagnosis

Hurricanes Puts Countless Americans At Risk for PTSD
As survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struggle to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, the reality of just how much things have changed for them is setting in. While early in the diaster they may have been running on adrenaline and coping well with events, they are now finding it harder and harder to go about their daily lives. Sleep is disturbed and anxiety levels remain high. They may feel depression and deep despair over their losses. As with any survivor of a traumatic event, they are at strong risk of developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

What Is PTSD?
The American Counseling Association, offers us 10 criteria for recognizing PTSD:

Re-experiencing the event through vivid memories or flash backs
Feeling “emotionally numb”
Feeling overwhelmed by what would normally be considered everyday situations and diminished interest in performing normal tasks or pursuing usual interests
Crying uncontrollably
Isolating oneself from family and friends and avoiding social situations
Relying increasingly on alcohol or drugs to get through the day
Feeling extremely moody, irritable, angry, suspicious or frightened
Having difficulty falling or staying asleep, sleeping too much and experiencing nightmares
Feeling guilty about surviving the event or being unable to solve the problem, change the event or prevent the disaster
Feeling fears and sense of doom about the future
http://depression.about.com/od/naturaldisasters/a/ptsd.htm

Psychosocial Consequences of Natural Disasters in Developing Countries: What Does Past Research Tell Us About the Potential Effects of the 2004 Tsunami?Fran H. Norris, Ph.D.
http://depression.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=depression&cdn=health&tm=28&
amp;gps=182_781_869_567&f=00&su=p247.3.140.
ip_p284.8.150.ip_&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/fs_tsunami_research.html

It has gotten to the point where even people trying to help get the word out about people suffering from PTSD, put out false information without even knowing it. I'm glad they did this story on the Katrina survivors, but they really should have gotten the whole thing right.
We have a bunch of humans suffering and dying because people still don't understand what PTSD is. The people in New Orleans suffered from what happened during and after a hurricane. The people, the men and women we call "troops" suffer from the trauma of combat. The people in Iraq, the Iraqis, suffer from what is happening in their country. People all over the world suffer from all kinds of causes but the two things they have in common keeps getting missed. They are all humans exposed to trauma.

Soldier medically unfit for fifth deployment

Soldier who fought fifth deployment to war deemed medically unfit
Lawyer says soldier wants honorable discharge and release from IRR
By Lisa Burgess
Stars and Stripes Mideast edition
August 16, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Florida reservist who asked federal courts to block the Army from sending him to Iraq on a fifth deployment was excused from active service after being found medically unfit. He is still seeking an honorable discharge to prevent another call-up, according to his lawyer.

“Now we’re working to put the icing on the cake and get him out of the IRR,” or Individual Ready Reserve, Fayetteville, N.C.-based attorney Mark Waple said.

Sgt. Erik Botta, 26, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., won’t be finished with his eight-year obligation until October 2008, so he is asking for the discharge to ensure he will not get another call-up to Iraq, Waple said.

Chances of that happening are slim, Waple said.

“I think there’s one chance in 1,000 that he’d get mobilized,” Waple said. “I don’t think any Human Resource Command [official] would dare do that.”
read more here

Army suicides 26 year high, but there even more

Aug 15, 9:04 PM EDT
Army Suicides Highest in 26 Years
By PAULINE JELINEK Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.


The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release Thursday, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian Gulf War.


The suicide rate for the Army has fluctuated over the past 26 years, from last year's high of 17.3 per 100,000 to a low of 9.1 per 100,000 in 2001.


Last year, "Iraq was the most common deployment location for both (suicides) and attempts," the report said.


The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71 who weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the report said

read the rest here
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ARMY_SUICIDES?SITE=OHLIM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

but this is not including the figures from the VA

Deployments strain troops' mental health
Pentagon panel warns overburdened system could fail to meet needs
Associated Press
Updated: 7:34 p.m. ET May 4, 2007


Both the VA and the Pentagon in recent weeks have acknowledged a need to improve mental health treatment. Jan Kemp, a VA associate director for education who works on mental health, has estimated there are up to 1,000 suicides a year among veterans within the VA system, and as many as 5,000 a year among all living veterans.


A recent investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that just 22 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who showed signs of PTSD were being referred by Pentagon health care providers for mental health evaluation, citing inconsistent and subjective standards in determining when treatment was needed.

read the rest here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18488585/

I heard about this report about an hour ago watching Countdown on MSNBC. I was sickened when I heard the number because I knew the numbers being released were not the truth. They do not count them when they come home. I've looked up enough of these "non-combat" deaths to know there are too many never showing up on the reports. I wonder how many papers will be just repeating the same information and not doing their own research as to what is true and what is only a piece of the truth.
Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/

http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/

http://www.bustingbalderdash.blogspot.com/

Keith Roberts sits in jail for seeking the VA's help

8/15/2007
Jailed Wis Vet Files Reply Brief, Calls DoJ Prosecution Unconstitutional
Madison, Wisconsin—A Vietnam-era veteran filed his reply brief Monday in his benefits-turned-criminal case before the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Keith Roberts, an honorably discharged Navy veteran (1969-71) from Gillett, Wisconsin, filed his brief arguing that “his constitutional rights were violated in this case, and that he was unjustly convicted and sentenced.”

Since March of this year, Roberts, a veteran with no criminal record, has been serving a 48-month sentence (and his family financially hit with associated costs of some $300,000) for federal wire fraud purportedly committed in his benefits application process with the VA, in a criminal-charges/VA benefits case now simultaneously before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims (CAVC), where Roberts is pursing his benefits claim.

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Why hasn't congress gotten involved in this? With all the problems the veterans have trying to get treated for their wounds, you would think they would care about one of them sitting in jail because he was forced to fight for what his service to the country did to him!