Suicide, is something we can live without

Suicide: ‘People think it’s a choice’

West Virginia has eighth-highest rate in country

By Mary Wade Burnside
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT — Rebecca Wells saw her husband transform from a motivated business executive who enjoyed working out to someone overcome by depression, which ran in his family.

He sought counseling, took medication and even tried shock therapy. But one day in March 2006, the Huntington man told his wife he was going out of town. Instead, he went to a nearby lake and killed himself. Authorities found him just after Wells filed a missing person report.

“I have days that I have anger, but I’m not angry at him,” she said. “I watched him struggle to get out of bed and I watched him cry.

“What really makes me angry is when people think it’s a choice. He didn’t go through what he did because he wanted to.”

Because Wells wants to spread the word about suicide, she has become a bit of an activist. She has organized a walk called “Out of the Darkness” that will take place Oct. 6 in Ritter Park in Huntington, and she also joined the board of the Morgantown-based West Virginia Council for the Prevention of Suicide.

Bob Musick, executive director of the council, which he runs from his office at Valley Healthcare System in Morgantown, began the group in 2001 to reach out statewide to help people, both those considering suicide and those who have experienced the self-imposed death of a loved one.

West Virginia, he noted, has the eighth-highest suicide rate per capita of all 50 states, he noted. Alaska ranks No. 1.

“One reason is we rank high in guns in the home,” Musick said. “We also rank high in rural areas and we rank high in the number of senior citizens. Each one adds on to it.”

To commemorate National Suicide Prevention Week, which takes place Sept. 9-15, the council will begin a Suicide Survivors Group, which will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Valley Healthcare System, 301 Scott Ave., Morgantown.

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Luke 10
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou?

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt alive.

29 But he, willing to ajustify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise

Veterans deserve needed care for life

Editorial: Veterans deserve needed care for life

Eagle Editorial



Byron Hancock is a hero, a veteran of battles foreign and domestic who continues to struggle with emotional wounds suffered in defense of this country.

His war in Iraq is over, but we fear his war with his own government for the treatment he deserves will continue well into the future. Like far too many other service men and women, he has had to fight for the treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder he has received so far.

A four-part series in The Eagle this past week (www.theeagle.com) told Hancock's story in dramatic and often frustrating detail. Parts of the saga make you want to cheer. Others make you want to weep for a country that would do so little for those who have done so much for us all. It is a cautionary tale about the cost of waging war and the obligation we have to those who fight our battles.

Hancock joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1988, while still a senior in high school near Nacogdoches. At boot camp, he was named his platoon's top graduate and earned the marksmanship and physical fitness awards. In 1992, Hancock was sent to the extremely difficult Marine Corps Sniper School. Of the 32 men who started the training, Hancock was one of only six to finish, graduating second in the class and becoming one of the elite of the elite. The next year, he became the first Reservist and the first corporal to be invited to return for advanced training.

Being a sniper requires great patience, outstanding skills and the ability to kill, even when not directly threatened. It is a thankless job, but a necessary one.

Hancock spent the next few years as part of the 15-member Marine Reserve Rifle Team, during which he continued to hone his sniper skills.

Eventually, though, he decided to return full time to his job with the Bryan Police Department. He was named Officer of the Year by the Bryan Police Officers Association in 1997 and again in 1998. Eventually, Hancock left the Marine Corps Reserves - that is, until after Sept. 11, 2001. He rejoined the active Reserves and, after service teaching sniper tactics to South American militaries, Hancock was sent to Iraq in August 2004. He fought in Fallujah, killing an enemy insurgent from 1,050 yards away - believed to be the longest successful sniper shot of this war. Months later, after six days lying in a cold, wet ditch observing suspicious activity, Hancock was ordered to kill a teenage boy who was trying to connect several improvised explosive devices that could have killed many American soldiers.

Eventually, Hancock came home, bringing with him an emotional burden that would haunt him and his family in the months to come. He began having flashbacks and nightmare images of slitting throats - events that never happened. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, an illness once denied by the government but one that continues to haunt many veterans of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and, increasingly, veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Doctors still struggle to learn all its ramifications, but treatment is available, although success rates vary with the individual.

The real problem is that the Veterans Administration is unable to handle the growing number of current and former service members needing assistance. Hancock learned that when he tried to get help for his illness from the VA. Amazingly, he was put on a waiting list for the post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Temple Veterans Administration Hospital.

The VA says between 12 percent and 20 percent of Iraq war veterans suffer from the disorder, although a study cited by a Department of Defense task force puts that number at 38 percent for Army soldiers and 31 percent for Marines. Alarmingly, the study found that 49 percent of its respondents in the National Guard reported problems.

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WOUNDS OF WAR Mental troubles plagued man before suicide

WOUNDS OF WAR
For one veteran, struggle didn't end
Mental troubles plagued man before suicide
By Laura Ungar
lungar@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal



RELATED VIDEO: Derek Henderson Interviews

Derek Henderson's hands shook as he held the railing on the Clark Memorial Bridge and stared down at the dark waters of the Ohio River.

A few feet away stood Aisha "Nikki" McGuire and her boyfriend, Patrick Craig, who had spotted Henderson while driving by. They begged him not to jump -- "It's not worth it," they said.

Henderson wouldn't say what brought him there. "I don't want to talk about it," he told Craig, before climbing over the railing and hanging for a moment off the other side.

McGuire looked at his face and saw fear. She ran to police officers who were just pulling up, as the big clock on the Colgate plant across the river in Indiana showed a few minutes before midnight.

Craig kept pleading with Henderson: "God is with you, man. Come on."

"Thank you, brother," Henderson said.

Then he let go.

On that night in mid-June, Henderson, a 27-year-old Louisville resident who'd served with the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, surrendered to an enemy that has tormented thousands of veterans.

Like nearly one out of every five Americans who have served in the conflicts, Henderson suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And like many of them, he had made the rounds of veterans' hospitals and psychiatric wards but still was unable to defeat his demons.

Although it's unclear exactly when he was diagnosed.

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also from this site

MORE PHOTOS
Iraqi war veteran Derek Henderson

RELATED STORIES

• Video: Derek Henderson Interviews [9.2.07]
• Brain injuries haunt soldiers [7.15.07]
• Veterans' ills may show MS link to Gulf War [6.3.07]
• Iraq news brings on relapses for earlier war's vets [5.28.07]
• Hospitals plagued by long waits, low staffing [5.28.07]
• More war vets bring disabling stress home [5.28.07]
• Fighting financial wounds [5.23.07]
• War widow serves by attending funerals [5.23.07]
• Army vows to inspect its hospitals [5.23.07]
• Problems at Walter Reed spark criticism [5.23.07]
• Getting 'back to normal' [5.23.07]
• Many vets lose health benefits [5.23.07]
• VA backs directive against recruiting [5.23.07]
• Days marked by duty, dismay, death [5.23.07]
• VA's ban on recruiting vets angers activists [5.23.07]

FULL COVERAGE: Wounds of War

How many times is this going to happen? How much more do we need to know before we do whatever it takes to stop them from killing themselves? When will I be able to read the reports and stop asking "why" there still isn't enough being done?

Military PTSD support for spouse on line

Spouse Calls
Stripes columnist Terri Barnes offers advice and an understanding ear to her fellow military spouses.
EMDR treatments for PTSD

Posted August 19th, 2007

by Terri Barnes
in
Spouse Calls
A Spouse Calls reader who suffered from PTSD wrote recently to tell me that she had found relief from her debilitating symptoms through eye movement desensitizing and reprocessing (EMDR). She had been following the Spouse Calls blog regarding PTSD, and wondered if her experience could help others.

A story by Steve Mraz in Stars & Stripes details how medical professionals at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany are being trained to administer EMDR to returning veterans. The treatment has been around since the late 1980's.
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If you have a family member in the military or veteran, go there and find some support. You need it as much as they do.

If you want some help understanding that what you're going through is not just you, click the link on this blog for the free book. It's about 18 years of our life together. My husband is a Vietnam Vet with PTSD. The book is For The Love Of Jack His War/My Battle. It opens in Adobe. I've been doing outreach work ever since the day I fell in love with him and my father said he had "shell shock"

As you read it, keep in mind one really important thing to find some hope. This month we've been married for 23 years.

The videos I've done are also here whenever you need them.

Clergy in New Orleans need PTSD counseling

Clergy in New Orleans need counseling

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 31, 5:20 PM ET



NEW ORLEANS - Clergymen struggling to comfort the afflicted in New Orleans are finding they, too, need someone to listen to their troubles.


By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 31, 5:20 PM ET



NEW ORLEANS - Clergymen struggling to comfort the afflicted in New Orleans are finding they, too, need someone to listen to their troubles.

The sight of misery all around them — and the combined burden of helping others put their lives back together while repairing their own homes and places of worship — are taking a spiritual and psychological toll on the city's ministers, priests and rabbis, many of whom are in counseling two years after Hurricane Katrina.

Almost every local Episcopal minister is in counseling, including Bishop Charles Jenkins himself, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jenkins, whose home in suburban Slidell was so badly damaged by Katrina that it was 10 months before he and his wife could move back in, said he has suffered from depression, faulty short-term memory, and difficulty concentrating or sleeping.

Low-flying helicopters sometimes cause flashbacks to the near-despair — the "dark night of the soul" — into which he was once plunged, he said. He said the experience felt "like the absence of God" — a lonely and frightening sensation.

Churches and synagogues have played an important role in New Orleans' recovery, supplying money and thousands of volunteers to rebuild homes and resettle families. But an April survey found 444 places of worship in metropolitan New Orleans — about 30 percent — were still closed 20 months after the storm because they were damaged or their congregations scattered. click post title for the rest.

Even clergy can feel the absence of God after trauma. It is not the only outcome of PTSD but it shows that a strong faith will not prevent PTSD. It has nothing to do with faith, nothing to do with courage, or bravery, education, intelligence, patriotism or anything else other than a human being exposed to trauma.

Think of what this event in New Orleans is teaching us about combat. Think of the results from this one storm and the flood that followed when the waters came rushing in. Leaving politics out of it ( which is very hard for me to do) this event left scars that will last a lifetime that no one else can see with their eyes.

September 11, 2001, is engrained in the soul's of the people from New York more than anyone else in the nation, while the nation feels the heart tug, we were not there. Some felt as if their lives were in danger across the nation, but they were not there witnessing it in real time. We are still seeing the numbers increase from those exposed to this one day's events.

Now add in these traumatic days, acknowledge the wounds the people exposed to them carry, then think about experiencing them everyday for a year or now for fifteen months, and still knowing that when you go home, the safety of home will not last because you will be re-attacked all over again in the next round of redeployments. Some are on their fifth tour.

Then think of the people having to live in Iraq. Those who do not get to go home for a rest because it is their homes being attacked on a daily basis. They did nothing wrong and they lived in relative peaceful neighborhoods before the invasion. The Iraqi people have traumatic events happen daily, horrifically and without end.

Why is it we can understand the effects of Post Traumatic Stress when it happens here but we can never accept it when it happens someplace else? Each time this nation experiences a traumatic event, there are after shocks reverberating for many years and yet this nation still regards PTSD as if it were some kind of personal defect.

The plain simple truth is, you cannot expose a human to trauma and expect them to just get over it. No one ever lives their lives the same way after trauma. A part of them changes. Sometimes it is only slight changes but other times it is truly life altering.