Lingering Depression Adds To Katrina's Toll in Gulf
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 22, 2007; Page A01
NEW ORLEANS -- A gravel-voiced fire department captain, Michael Gowland says he had never been a big crier.
"I'm not a Neanderthal," he said last week, "but I wasn't much for tears."
Now, sometimes, he cries two or three hours at a stretch. Other times, his temper has exploded, prompting him one day to pick up a crescent wrench and chase an auto mechanic around a garage. Even more perplexing to him, the once devout Roman Catholic now wonders "if there's anything out there."
"If anyone had told me before that depression could bring me this low, I'd have said they were a phony," Gowland, 46, married and a father of three, said during a break from fixing his flooded home. "Everything bothers me."
More than two years after the storm, it is not Hurricane Katrina itself, but the persistent frustrations of the delayed recovery that are exacting a high psychological toll on people who never before had such troubles, psychiatrists and a major study say. A burst of adrenaline and hope propelled many here through the first months but, with so many neighborhoods still semi-deserted, inspiration has ended.
Calls to a mental health hotline jumped after the storm and have remained high, organizers said. Psychiatrists report being overbooked, at least partly because demand has spiked. And the most thorough survey of the Gulf Coast's mental health recently showed that while signs of depression and other ills doubled after the hurricane, two years later, those levels have not subsided, they have risen.
click post title for the rest
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Stand Down 2007 helps veterans in Connecticut
Stand Down 2007 helps veterans in Connecticut
Stand Down 2007 helps veterans in Connecticut - by Crystal Haynes
by News Channel 8's Crystal HaynesPosted Sept. 21, 2007Updated 12:12 PM
Rocky Hill (WTNH) _ They served our country, and now the state of Connecticut is lending some of our veterans' a helping hand. "Stand Down 2007" is aimed at making sure the state's veterans have everything they need.
For Eddie Torres Mills, the road from the battlefields of Iraq to a normal life in Connecticut has been a rough one.
"My company, we lost a guy. We were transportation, doing convoys. And right now they talking about PTSD and stuff and I don't really know what it is, but they say I might have it," he said.
'They' are the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, the sponsor of Stand Down 2007. Here Torres Mills, an Army veteran, along with hundreds of the state's homeless and needy veterans, have an opportunity to get haircuts, have health screenings, get their driver's licenses restored, and even take care of misdemeanors at a special satellite superior courtroom.
Torres Mills plans to take advantage of the free legal advice.
click above for the rest
".,,,they talking about PTSD and stuff and I don't really know what it is," Why? Why after all this time a combat veteran does not know what PTSD is even though he must have been diagnosed with it? How is this possible? What more needs to be done and how fast can we do it?
Stand Down 2007 helps veterans in Connecticut - by Crystal Haynes
by News Channel 8's Crystal HaynesPosted Sept. 21, 2007Updated 12:12 PM
Rocky Hill (WTNH) _ They served our country, and now the state of Connecticut is lending some of our veterans' a helping hand. "Stand Down 2007" is aimed at making sure the state's veterans have everything they need.
For Eddie Torres Mills, the road from the battlefields of Iraq to a normal life in Connecticut has been a rough one.
"My company, we lost a guy. We were transportation, doing convoys. And right now they talking about PTSD and stuff and I don't really know what it is, but they say I might have it," he said.
'They' are the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, the sponsor of Stand Down 2007. Here Torres Mills, an Army veteran, along with hundreds of the state's homeless and needy veterans, have an opportunity to get haircuts, have health screenings, get their driver's licenses restored, and even take care of misdemeanors at a special satellite superior courtroom.
Torres Mills plans to take advantage of the free legal advice.
click above for the rest
".,,,they talking about PTSD and stuff and I don't really know what it is," Why? Why after all this time a combat veteran does not know what PTSD is even though he must have been diagnosed with it? How is this possible? What more needs to be done and how fast can we do it?
Friday, September 21, 2007
PTSD view from Scotland
Mum demands more help for Gulf War vets and ex-soldiers
« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »
View GalleryA CONCERNED mum is calling on the UK Government to give better support to war veterans affected by their time in combat.
Patricia Davis, from Lennoxtown, says her son George suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since serving in the army.
When he was 17, George joined the Queen's Own Highlanders, serving in Germany, Northern Ireland and Iraq.
He left the forces in the mid-90s after developing a range of symptoms which are commonly referred to as 'Gulf War Syndrome'.
Now 37, and after years of suffering alone, George attends Hollybush House, a veterans' facility in Ayr.
Hollybush House offers residential respite care for those affected by PTSD.
More than 34 people from East Dunbartonshire use the facility annually, benefiting from services such as counselling, massage and relaxation treatments.
The centre, which treats approximately 850 people every year, is a charity funded by organisations such as the Royal British Legion and the Congregational Church of Scotland.
Patricia said: "Hollybush is a wonderful place, but it needs support from the Government.
"My son used to be a fun, kind, caring person - now he is virtually a recluse. It is very sad for all the family.
"The Government is quick to sign these young people up, but they don't support them enough when they are discharged."
click post title for the rest
« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »
View GalleryA CONCERNED mum is calling on the UK Government to give better support to war veterans affected by their time in combat.
Patricia Davis, from Lennoxtown, says her son George suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since serving in the army.
When he was 17, George joined the Queen's Own Highlanders, serving in Germany, Northern Ireland and Iraq.
He left the forces in the mid-90s after developing a range of symptoms which are commonly referred to as 'Gulf War Syndrome'.
Now 37, and after years of suffering alone, George attends Hollybush House, a veterans' facility in Ayr.
Hollybush House offers residential respite care for those affected by PTSD.
More than 34 people from East Dunbartonshire use the facility annually, benefiting from services such as counselling, massage and relaxation treatments.
The centre, which treats approximately 850 people every year, is a charity funded by organisations such as the Royal British Legion and the Congregational Church of Scotland.
Patricia said: "Hollybush is a wonderful place, but it needs support from the Government.
"My son used to be a fun, kind, caring person - now he is virtually a recluse. It is very sad for all the family.
"The Government is quick to sign these young people up, but they don't support them enough when they are discharged."
click post title for the rest
TriWest And Montana Veterans Administration Launch PTSD Video Conference
TriWest And Montana Veterans Administration Launch PTSD Video Conference To Reach Rural Health Care Providers
Published 09-21-2007
Community providers learn to recognize combat stress symptoms in returning troops
PHOENIX,AZ (CompNewsNetwork) - As part of their continuing efforts to address the needs of returning Guard members, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the Department of Defense's TRICARE contractor in Montana and the VA Montana Health Care System have partnered to launch the first Combat Stress Video Conference. The conference, being held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2007, will bring together nearly 150 community-based health care providers that care for the thousands of returning Montana National Guard troops throughout the state.
The conference will be broadcast simultaneously to providers in nine locations including Billings, Culbertson, Glasgow, Glendive, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, Kalispell and Lewistown. It is intended to help rural providers identify deployment-related symptoms such as combat stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD and traumatic brain injury, as well as providing treatment methods.
The Montana National Guard consists of more than 3,700 members who live in nearly every corner of the state. Since 2001, more than 80 percent have been mobilized for active duty.
"Family practitioners and community-based health care providers are integral in helping Montana's returning National Guard troops cope with the emotional and mental health issues resulting from serving in combat," explained David J. McIntyre, President and Chief Executive Officer of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. "This video conference is the first of its kind to combine the resources of the VA and TriWest to reach rural providers caring for these service members as they reintegrate into mainstream civilian life."
"The onset of emotional or mental health symptoms is unpredictable.
click post title for the rest
Published 09-21-2007
Community providers learn to recognize combat stress symptoms in returning troops
PHOENIX,AZ (CompNewsNetwork) - As part of their continuing efforts to address the needs of returning Guard members, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the Department of Defense's TRICARE contractor in Montana and the VA Montana Health Care System have partnered to launch the first Combat Stress Video Conference. The conference, being held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2007, will bring together nearly 150 community-based health care providers that care for the thousands of returning Montana National Guard troops throughout the state.
The conference will be broadcast simultaneously to providers in nine locations including Billings, Culbertson, Glasgow, Glendive, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, Kalispell and Lewistown. It is intended to help rural providers identify deployment-related symptoms such as combat stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD and traumatic brain injury, as well as providing treatment methods.
The Montana National Guard consists of more than 3,700 members who live in nearly every corner of the state. Since 2001, more than 80 percent have been mobilized for active duty.
"Family practitioners and community-based health care providers are integral in helping Montana's returning National Guard troops cope with the emotional and mental health issues resulting from serving in combat," explained David J. McIntyre, President and Chief Executive Officer of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. "This video conference is the first of its kind to combine the resources of the VA and TriWest to reach rural providers caring for these service members as they reintegrate into mainstream civilian life."
"The onset of emotional or mental health symptoms is unpredictable.
click post title for the rest
Point Man Ministries helping wounded minds heal
Connecting veterans for support, fellowship
By
Melissa RainesNews Staff Reporter
Posted: 07:45 AM, Friday, September 21, 2007
MOUNT VERNON — Point Man Ministries of Central Ohio is a faith-based organization that connects veterans with other veterans seeking support and fellowship. Point Man Ministries has outposts in 40 states and 14 countries, as well as a chapter in Newark serving the central Ohio area, including some veterans from Knox County. There are plans to form an outpost in Mount Vernon.
The leader of the Newark post, Russ Clark, is a retired Marine who fought in Vietnam. Clark was a Methodist minister for 25 years before leaving the pastorate due to life upheaval brought on by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He knows firsthand the devastation PTSD can bring into the lives of veterans and their families.
“I lost a family. I lost a ministry. Point Man is now my calling,” Clark explained. He said helping other veterans has brought him great healing. He encourages other veterans to reach out to those with similar experiences.
The Newark Outpost meets on Tuesday evenings for a support group, which involves sharing experiences and providing support, but Clark said members try to avoid discussing politics. People new to the group are not pressured to participate, some come just to listen.
“A vet may come for the first time and not say a word. But the fact that he or she is there is a huge step,” Clark said.
Point Man’s stated mission is “to provide aid and comfort to the men and women who have served their country in the past and are serving in the present.” They believe they can help other veterans by providing spiritual, physical and social support for veterans.
go here for the rest
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/07/09/21/rel.point.man.html
By
Melissa RainesNews Staff Reporter
Posted: 07:45 AM, Friday, September 21, 2007
MOUNT VERNON — Point Man Ministries of Central Ohio is a faith-based organization that connects veterans with other veterans seeking support and fellowship. Point Man Ministries has outposts in 40 states and 14 countries, as well as a chapter in Newark serving the central Ohio area, including some veterans from Knox County. There are plans to form an outpost in Mount Vernon.
The leader of the Newark post, Russ Clark, is a retired Marine who fought in Vietnam. Clark was a Methodist minister for 25 years before leaving the pastorate due to life upheaval brought on by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He knows firsthand the devastation PTSD can bring into the lives of veterans and their families.
“I lost a family. I lost a ministry. Point Man is now my calling,” Clark explained. He said helping other veterans has brought him great healing. He encourages other veterans to reach out to those with similar experiences.
The Newark Outpost meets on Tuesday evenings for a support group, which involves sharing experiences and providing support, but Clark said members try to avoid discussing politics. People new to the group are not pressured to participate, some come just to listen.
“A vet may come for the first time and not say a word. But the fact that he or she is there is a huge step,” Clark said.
Point Man’s stated mission is “to provide aid and comfort to the men and women who have served their country in the past and are serving in the present.” They believe they can help other veterans by providing spiritual, physical and social support for veterans.
go here for the rest
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/07/09/21/rel.point.man.html
Post Traumatic Stress Updates
There are too many reports coming in so here are the links for them
Native American veterans seen at risk (PTSD)
By Thunderwolf Mental health workers are looking for new ways to help Native American service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In some parts of the United States, specialists are ...allnurses.com Nursing for Nurses - http://allnurses.com/forums
Caring For Our Troops and Veterans
By Brian Bresnahan(Brian Bresnahan) Requirements for a comprehensive plan on prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and authorization of $50 million for improved diagnosis, treatment, ...High Plains Patriot - http://highplainspatriot.blogspot.com/
Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on the Rise?
By default@goarticles.com (Abigail Franks) The national Institute of mental health states that post traumatic stress disorder is one of the five most recognized types of mental disorders. PTSD was originally identified as a post war syndrome ...GoArticles Health Category - http://www.goarticles.com
Support The 'Woodruff Fund'
By jimstaro Special emphasis is placed on the "hidden signature injuries" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan traumatic brain injury (TBI) and combat stress injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Fund works with private ...
ImagineATolerantWorld - http://bostonnow.com/community/blogs/jimstaro
Adequate post-combat care should be high priority
Daytona Beach News-Journal - Daytona,FL,USA... should help veterans navigate bureaucracy, the report said, and the VA should provide enhanced, life-long treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. ...See all stories on this topic
Vets Say Gloves Are Off for Omvig Suicide Bill, Two Others
PR Newswire (press release) - New York,NY,USASince Joshua's death, they work to inform others about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the illness that, as much as the handgun, took Joshua's life. ...See all stories on this topic
[RESEARCH] Mental health consequences of overstretch in the UK ... ...
By Rona, R. J, Fear, N. T, Hull, L., Greenberg,... Results Personnel who were deployed for 13 months or more in the past three years were more likely to fulfil the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (odds ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 2.32), show caseness on the ...
BMJ current issue - http://www.bmj.com
Iraq Vet Road Rager Has PTSD, Family Says
KOIN.com - Portland,OR,USA... been bothering him for miles, but more importantly, they say his service in Iraq has made him a changed man, with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). ...See all stories on this topic
Native American veterans seen at risk (PTSD)
By Thunderwolf Mental health workers are looking for new ways to help Native American service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. In some parts of the United States, specialists are ...allnurses.com Nursing for Nurses - http://allnurses.com/forums
Caring For Our Troops and Veterans
By Brian Bresnahan(Brian Bresnahan) Requirements for a comprehensive plan on prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and authorization of $50 million for improved diagnosis, treatment, ...High Plains Patriot - http://highplainspatriot.blogspot.com/
Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on the Rise?
By default@goarticles.com (Abigail Franks) The national Institute of mental health states that post traumatic stress disorder is one of the five most recognized types of mental disorders. PTSD was originally identified as a post war syndrome ...GoArticles Health Category - http://www.goarticles.com
Support The 'Woodruff Fund'
By jimstaro Special emphasis is placed on the "hidden signature injuries" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan traumatic brain injury (TBI) and combat stress injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Fund works with private ...
ImagineATolerantWorld - http://bostonnow.com/community/blogs/jimstaro
Adequate post-combat care should be high priority
Daytona Beach News-Journal - Daytona,FL,USA... should help veterans navigate bureaucracy, the report said, and the VA should provide enhanced, life-long treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. ...See all stories on this topic
Vets Say Gloves Are Off for Omvig Suicide Bill, Two Others
PR Newswire (press release) - New York,NY,USASince Joshua's death, they work to inform others about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the illness that, as much as the handgun, took Joshua's life. ...See all stories on this topic
[RESEARCH] Mental health consequences of overstretch in the UK ... ...
By Rona, R. J, Fear, N. T, Hull, L., Greenberg,... Results Personnel who were deployed for 13 months or more in the past three years were more likely to fulfil the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (odds ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 2.32), show caseness on the ...
BMJ current issue - http://www.bmj.com
Iraq Vet Road Rager Has PTSD, Family Says
KOIN.com - Portland,OR,USA... been bothering him for miles, but more importantly, they say his service in Iraq has made him a changed man, with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). ...See all stories on this topic
Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention bill still tied up by Coburn
VMFP ad VCS Call on Washington to Resolve Differences for Veterans
WASHINGTON, Septtember 20, 2007 -- Ellen and Randy Omvig channel the grief they suffer into service to other military families. Their son, Joshua, took his own life following a second tour of duty in Iraq, three days before Christmas 2005. To make sense of the 22-year-old’s death, the pair work to spread the message of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the illness that, as much as the handgun, deprived their son of life. The Iowa couple’s ultimate goal is to see the Joshua Omvig Veteran Suicide Prevention Act get signed into law this year.
“A single Senator is holding it up,” Tom Howe, mentor of the bill for Veterans and Military Families for Progress said. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has reservations about the bill, sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and co-sponsored by 31 other Senators, which the House passed 423-0 in March. Coburn is taking advantage of a Senate rule that gives him the power to delay the bill’s final passage.
The Department of Veterans Affairs reports more than 5,000 veterans die at their own hands annually and the numbers are increasing. Worse still, an August, 2007 Pentagon reports indicates the problem is not limited to veterans as a record number of active duty service members committed suicide in 2006 as well. With but one vote in the senate standing between veterans and suicide prevention, VMFP demands leadership on this issue.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/8470
WASHINGTON, Septtember 20, 2007 -- Ellen and Randy Omvig channel the grief they suffer into service to other military families. Their son, Joshua, took his own life following a second tour of duty in Iraq, three days before Christmas 2005. To make sense of the 22-year-old’s death, the pair work to spread the message of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the illness that, as much as the handgun, deprived their son of life. The Iowa couple’s ultimate goal is to see the Joshua Omvig Veteran Suicide Prevention Act get signed into law this year.
“A single Senator is holding it up,” Tom Howe, mentor of the bill for Veterans and Military Families for Progress said. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has reservations about the bill, sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and co-sponsored by 31 other Senators, which the House passed 423-0 in March. Coburn is taking advantage of a Senate rule that gives him the power to delay the bill’s final passage.
The Department of Veterans Affairs reports more than 5,000 veterans die at their own hands annually and the numbers are increasing. Worse still, an August, 2007 Pentagon reports indicates the problem is not limited to veterans as a record number of active duty service members committed suicide in 2006 as well. With but one vote in the senate standing between veterans and suicide prevention, VMFP demands leadership on this issue.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/8470
In 'Elah,' war's casualties are found beyond the battlefields
In 'Elah,' war's casualties are found beyond the battlefields
By Norma Meyer
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
September 21, 2007
Their only son's skeletal remains were housed in a cardboard box and tagged as prosecution evidence for more than three years. Finally this spring, in a cemetery in California's high desert, Vietnam vet Lanny Davis and his retired Army medic wife, Remy, laid to rest the bone fragments etched with stab marks from a knife.
“This ain't my America. My son tried doing the same thing his daddy did. He made me proud,” says a still grief-stricken Davis from his home in St. Charles, Mo. His voice is raspy, a permanent condition caused when a Viet Cong soldier jammed a rifle butt into his throat and damaged his vocal cords.
Army Spc. Richard Davis, 25, had been at the forefront of the bloody invasion of Iraq, but he didn't die in one of those fierce battles. A day after returning to Fort Benning, Ga., from their tour of duty, he and four platoon members celebrated by drinking at a Hooters and a topless bar.
The men he had fought alongside in Iraq would later be convicted on charges stemming from the stabbing of Richard at least 33 times that night and their driving to a convenience store to buy lighter fluid that they poured on his body and torched.
click post title for the rest
By Norma Meyer
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
September 21, 2007
Their only son's skeletal remains were housed in a cardboard box and tagged as prosecution evidence for more than three years. Finally this spring, in a cemetery in California's high desert, Vietnam vet Lanny Davis and his retired Army medic wife, Remy, laid to rest the bone fragments etched with stab marks from a knife.
“This ain't my America. My son tried doing the same thing his daddy did. He made me proud,” says a still grief-stricken Davis from his home in St. Charles, Mo. His voice is raspy, a permanent condition caused when a Viet Cong soldier jammed a rifle butt into his throat and damaged his vocal cords.
Army Spc. Richard Davis, 25, had been at the forefront of the bloody invasion of Iraq, but he didn't die in one of those fierce battles. A day after returning to Fort Benning, Ga., from their tour of duty, he and four platoon members celebrated by drinking at a Hooters and a topless bar.
The men he had fought alongside in Iraq would later be convicted on charges stemming from the stabbing of Richard at least 33 times that night and their driving to a convenience store to buy lighter fluid that they poured on his body and torched.
click post title for the rest
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Mentally Ill Woman in Wheel Chair Shot With Taser Gun Ten Times Within Minutes
A Clay County woman's family said it's seeking justice after their loved one died shortly after being shocked 10 times with Taser guns during a confrontation with police.
The family of 56-year-old Emily Delafield said it would take the Green Cove Springs Police Department to court, according to a WJXT-TV report.
In April 2006, officers with the police department said they were called to a disturbance at a home in the 400 block of Harrison Street just before 5 p.m.
In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in danger:
Dispatcher: And what's the problem?
Delafield: My sister is waiting on my property.
Dispatcher: Your what?
Delafield: My sister (inaudible) is on my property trying to harm me.
Officers said they arrived to find Delafield in a wheelchair, armed with two knives and a hammer. Police said the woman was swinging the weapons at family members and police.
Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.
Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.
"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said.
click post title for the rest
The family of 56-year-old Emily Delafield said it would take the Green Cove Springs Police Department to court, according to a WJXT-TV report.
In April 2006, officers with the police department said they were called to a disturbance at a home in the 400 block of Harrison Street just before 5 p.m.
In a 911 call made to the Green Cove Springs, Delafield can be heard telling a dispatcher that she believed she was in danger:
Dispatcher: And what's the problem?
Delafield: My sister is waiting on my property.
Dispatcher: Your what?
Delafield: My sister (inaudible) is on my property trying to harm me.
Officers said they arrived to find Delafield in a wheelchair, armed with two knives and a hammer. Police said the woman was swinging the weapons at family members and police.
Within an hour of her call to 911, Delafield, a wheelchair-bound woman documented to have mental illness, was dead.
Family attorney Rick Alexander said Delafield's death could have been prevented and that there are four things that jump out at him about the case.
"One, she's in a wheelchair. Two, she's schizophrenic. Three, they're using a Taser on a person that's in a wheelchair, and then four is that they tasered her 10 times for a period of like two minutes," Alexander said.
click post title for the rest
Colbert Report: Bush keeping trauma vets in Iraq for their own sake
Colbert: Is the answer to the trauma of returning vets not to bring them home?
Mike Aivaz and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday September 19, 2007
Susan Sarandon appeared on Tuesday's Colbert Report to discuss her new film, In the Valley of Elah, which concerns a military cover-up of the murder of an Iraq War veteran
"I think it might start a dialogue about the fact that, actually, war changes you," said Sarandon. "There's a big disconnect between the politicized war and the actual war. ... All the guys who got us into this war never went to a war. They avoided a war, so they don't really have any idea what war means.
"They didn't avoid this war," objected Colbert. "They actively went after this war,"
"You're saying there's some trauma these people experience and they have to deal with that when they come home?" asked Colbert. "Isn't the answer, maybe, to not bring them home? I mean, the president has done his part in that regard."
click post title for link and the video
Mike Aivaz and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday September 19, 2007
Susan Sarandon appeared on Tuesday's Colbert Report to discuss her new film, In the Valley of Elah, which concerns a military cover-up of the murder of an Iraq War veteran
"I think it might start a dialogue about the fact that, actually, war changes you," said Sarandon. "There's a big disconnect between the politicized war and the actual war. ... All the guys who got us into this war never went to a war. They avoided a war, so they don't really have any idea what war means.
"They didn't avoid this war," objected Colbert. "They actively went after this war,"
"You're saying there's some trauma these people experience and they have to deal with that when they come home?" asked Colbert. "Isn't the answer, maybe, to not bring them home? I mean, the president has done his part in that regard."
click post title for link and the video
Survivors cope with guilt over grenade heroism
Survivors cope with guilt over grenade heroism
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TodayPosted : Thursday Sep 20, 2007 12:45:05 EDT
Army Staff Sgt. Ian Newland spotted the enemy grenade inside the Humvee. Almost simultaneously, he saw Spc. Ross McGinnis, 19 — a gunner standing in the turret of the vehicle — lower himself onto it.
“I saw him jam it with his elbow up underneath him,” said Newland, who was sitting inches away. “He pressed his whole body with his back [armor] plate to smother it up against the radios.”
The heat and flash of an explosion followed, and McGinnis was killed. Hours later, after surgery for shrapnel wounds, Newland realized the enormity of what happened: McGinnis had sacrificed himself to save four other soldiers in the Humvee on Dec. 4.
“Why he did it? Because we were his brothers. He loved us,” Newland said.
Since the Iraq war began, at least five Americans — two soldiers, two Marines and a Navy SEAL — are believed to have thrown themselves on a grenade to save comrades. Each time, the service member died from massive wounds.
Heroic acts mark every war. Among the most remarkable involve self-sacrifice.
“What a decision that is,” said Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist who studies bravery. “I can’t think of anything more profound in human nature.”
Survivors, while deeply grateful for their lives, find the aftermath complicated. According to interviews with a dozen surviving soldiers, sailors and Marines, there remains an overpowering sense of guilt and an unspoken feeling that they need to be worthy of the sacrifice.
click post title for the rest
By Gregg Zoroya - USA TodayPosted : Thursday Sep 20, 2007 12:45:05 EDT
Army Staff Sgt. Ian Newland spotted the enemy grenade inside the Humvee. Almost simultaneously, he saw Spc. Ross McGinnis, 19 — a gunner standing in the turret of the vehicle — lower himself onto it.
“I saw him jam it with his elbow up underneath him,” said Newland, who was sitting inches away. “He pressed his whole body with his back [armor] plate to smother it up against the radios.”
The heat and flash of an explosion followed, and McGinnis was killed. Hours later, after surgery for shrapnel wounds, Newland realized the enormity of what happened: McGinnis had sacrificed himself to save four other soldiers in the Humvee on Dec. 4.
“Why he did it? Because we were his brothers. He loved us,” Newland said.
Since the Iraq war began, at least five Americans — two soldiers, two Marines and a Navy SEAL — are believed to have thrown themselves on a grenade to save comrades. Each time, the service member died from massive wounds.
Heroic acts mark every war. Among the most remarkable involve self-sacrifice.
“What a decision that is,” said Frank Farley, a Temple University psychologist who studies bravery. “I can’t think of anything more profound in human nature.”
Survivors, while deeply grateful for their lives, find the aftermath complicated. According to interviews with a dozen surviving soldiers, sailors and Marines, there remains an overpowering sense of guilt and an unspoken feeling that they need to be worthy of the sacrifice.
click post title for the rest
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Chip away at PTSD? Try a jack hammer and get it done!
Health officials chip away at PTSD stigma
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 19, 2007 12:55:30 EDT
The concept of getting rid of a stigma can be a little nebulous, but experts on a post-traumatic stress disorder panel offered up some concrete changes that could help people overcome years of stereotypes.
“Mental health issues are in many ways the top issue of veterans of our generation. It needs to be treated like a pulled hamstring,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, at a forum sponsored by the Military Officers Association of America and the U.S. Naval Institute.
And he said he thinks the military is ready for that change.
“Beyond all the macho and hard-headed culture, I think we understand we have to perform,” Rieckhoff said.
If service members get the help they need, they’ll perform much better on the battlefield, he said. But convincing them that a trip to mental health won’t ruin their careers can be the toughest issue.
Marine Col. Keith Pankhurst, Combat/Operational Stress Control Program Coordinator for the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, said it wasn’t very long ago that he believed Marines who had PTSD just didn’t have what it takes to serve.
“I would have been the first to say, ‘What kind of weakness is that?’” He said. “It took a lot of education to overcome that attitude.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/military_ptsd_070919w/
It's great they are doing this but it is so late in coming they need to pull out the biggest jack hammer they can find to totally get the stigma out of PTSD. I can't count how many blogs I go into and get sick because they are attacking veterans with PTSD as if getting wounded is now something they should be ashamed of.
The recent "war" movies coming out cause outrage from "war bloggers" when they say it makes the rest of the "troops" and the "veterans" look bad. It makes them all come of as "crazy" and all kinds of other remarks. They do this because they don't understand what PTSD is. In the process of defending their own ego problems, they end up attacking combat wounded veterans instead of helping them heal. What is it with these people when they think the "brotherhood" should end when one of them needs help? Twisted!
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 19, 2007 12:55:30 EDT
The concept of getting rid of a stigma can be a little nebulous, but experts on a post-traumatic stress disorder panel offered up some concrete changes that could help people overcome years of stereotypes.
“Mental health issues are in many ways the top issue of veterans of our generation. It needs to be treated like a pulled hamstring,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, at a forum sponsored by the Military Officers Association of America and the U.S. Naval Institute.
And he said he thinks the military is ready for that change.
“Beyond all the macho and hard-headed culture, I think we understand we have to perform,” Rieckhoff said.
If service members get the help they need, they’ll perform much better on the battlefield, he said. But convincing them that a trip to mental health won’t ruin their careers can be the toughest issue.
Marine Col. Keith Pankhurst, Combat/Operational Stress Control Program Coordinator for the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, said it wasn’t very long ago that he believed Marines who had PTSD just didn’t have what it takes to serve.
“I would have been the first to say, ‘What kind of weakness is that?’” He said. “It took a lot of education to overcome that attitude.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/military_ptsd_070919w/
It's great they are doing this but it is so late in coming they need to pull out the biggest jack hammer they can find to totally get the stigma out of PTSD. I can't count how many blogs I go into and get sick because they are attacking veterans with PTSD as if getting wounded is now something they should be ashamed of.
The recent "war" movies coming out cause outrage from "war bloggers" when they say it makes the rest of the "troops" and the "veterans" look bad. It makes them all come of as "crazy" and all kinds of other remarks. They do this because they don't understand what PTSD is. In the process of defending their own ego problems, they end up attacking combat wounded veterans instead of helping them heal. What is it with these people when they think the "brotherhood" should end when one of them needs help? Twisted!
Coburn burns veterans over guns
Where is the Republican Leadership? Stalled Suicide Prevention Bill Irks Iowa Democratic Veterans
by: T.M. Lindsey
Tuesday (09/18) at 11:16 AM
Like death itself, suicide is a nonpartisan issue, but Sen. Tom Coburn's, R-Okla., procedural hold on a bill that would help prevent suicide among veterans has thrown a partisan cog into the congressional machine. The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention bill (S. 479), introduced in the House by Iowa Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-3rd District, sailed through the House in March, passing by a vote of 423-0. And now, Iowa Democratic veterans are speaking out against silence on the matter among the Republican leadership -- in particular, the GOP presidential candidates.
"This is clear bipartisan support for a bill of vital importance," said Bob Krause, chair of the Iowa Democratic Veterans' Caucus. "We are surprised that none of the Republican presidential candidates has publicly voiced objection to Senator Tom Coburn's action that continues to block debate on the measure in the Senate."
Coburn has vowed to continue his hold on the Joshua Omvig bill, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, before the August recess. Coburn called the bill insulting to veterans and warned that its mandatory mental-health screening could harm their future job options. "I'm going to continue to hold this bill until we work on the issues to guarantee freedoms of the veterans in terms of the tracking," Coburn said on the Senate floor.
go to link above for the rest
He thinks suicide is ok as long as the veterans have a gun to do it with!
Col. Theodore Westhusing, suicide and Petraeus
New Military Report Acknowledges Signs of Police State in Baghdad
Huffington Post
Tom Hayden
September 18, 2007
Virtually ignored in last week's national debate on the US military surge was a report by military experts recommending that the Iraqi police service be scrapped because of its brutal sectarian character.
The scathing report stopped short of acknowledging that continuing US support for the Iraqi Security Forces is in violation of the 1997 Leahy Amendment barring assistance to known human rights violators.
So far representatives Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee have raised the issue with their HR 3134, which would end funding for the repressive Iraqi security forces. The Center for American Progress [CAP], headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, takes the same view in its July document, "Strategic Reset." Perhaps the most important sign of rising awareness is the new willingness of Senate leader Harry Reid to remove the provision for funding American trainers in the timetable legislation he is co-sponsoring with Sen. Russell Feingold.
The little-noticed new report exposes the lethal nature of the counterinsurgency doctrines promoted by Gen. David Petraeus and the official warfighting manual developed in collaboration between the Army, the Marines and Harvard's Carr Center.
In comparison with past public outcries about "tiger cages" and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, death squads in El Salvador and Honduras, or ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, there is little or no attention today to the issues raised in the new report. All the major Democratic presidential candidates support maintaining thousands of American trainers embedded with what the new report calls "dysfunctional and sectarian" forces. In short, whether intentional or not, all the major proposals on Iraq are based on a lower-visibility, lower-casualty dirty war reminiscent of Algeria, Central America, South Vietnam and, today, Afghanistan.
Gen. Petraeus was the commander of US transitional forces [MNSTC-I] in 2004-2005, in charge of training, arming and organizing Iraq's military and police forces. A scandal involving tens of thousands of missing weapons on Petraeus' watch has been pursued by the American Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction since that time.
A Petraeus subordinate, Col. Theodore Westhusing, committed apparent suicide on June 5, 2005, leaving a note which said,
"I cannot support a [mission] that leads to corruption, human rights abuses, and liars...I don't know who to trust anymore." [Newsweek, Aug. 20-27]
read more here
Huffington Post
Tom Hayden
September 18, 2007
Virtually ignored in last week's national debate on the US military surge was a report by military experts recommending that the Iraqi police service be scrapped because of its brutal sectarian character.
The scathing report stopped short of acknowledging that continuing US support for the Iraqi Security Forces is in violation of the 1997 Leahy Amendment barring assistance to known human rights violators.
So far representatives Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee have raised the issue with their HR 3134, which would end funding for the repressive Iraqi security forces. The Center for American Progress [CAP], headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, takes the same view in its July document, "Strategic Reset." Perhaps the most important sign of rising awareness is the new willingness of Senate leader Harry Reid to remove the provision for funding American trainers in the timetable legislation he is co-sponsoring with Sen. Russell Feingold.
The little-noticed new report exposes the lethal nature of the counterinsurgency doctrines promoted by Gen. David Petraeus and the official warfighting manual developed in collaboration between the Army, the Marines and Harvard's Carr Center.
In comparison with past public outcries about "tiger cages" and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, death squads in El Salvador and Honduras, or ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, there is little or no attention today to the issues raised in the new report. All the major Democratic presidential candidates support maintaining thousands of American trainers embedded with what the new report calls "dysfunctional and sectarian" forces. In short, whether intentional or not, all the major proposals on Iraq are based on a lower-visibility, lower-casualty dirty war reminiscent of Algeria, Central America, South Vietnam and, today, Afghanistan.
Gen. Petraeus was the commander of US transitional forces [MNSTC-I] in 2004-2005, in charge of training, arming and organizing Iraq's military and police forces. A scandal involving tens of thousands of missing weapons on Petraeus' watch has been pursued by the American Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction since that time.
A Petraeus subordinate, Col. Theodore Westhusing, committed apparent suicide on June 5, 2005, leaving a note which said,
"I cannot support a [mission] that leads to corruption, human rights abuses, and liars...I don't know who to trust anymore." [Newsweek, Aug. 20-27]
read more here
From Queens to Kuwait, Where a Life Was Ended
Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman fatally shot herself in Kuwait last year.
From Queens to Kuwait, Where a Life Was Ended
In the space of three months last year, three members of the U.S. Army who had been part of a logistics group in Kuwait committed suicide. Two of them — a colonel and a major — had power over contract awards and had been accused of taking bribes just before they killed themselves.
The third was Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman of Queens. In a war that has cost the lives of more than 3,700 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis, the death of one woman by her own hand has attracted little attention beyond the circle of shattered family and friends.
Yet those who know her say that questions about Sergeant Lannaman’s death remain unsettled, and go well beyond psychic agonies that she struggled with her entire life. “From the day she was born, she was different,” Barbara Lannaman, her mother, said. “Life was just not satisfactory to her.”
Gifted as a mechanic, fastidious as an administrator, brave in a combat zone, Sergeant Lannaman at the end of her life had landed in a spot where, investigators say, officers were able to scoop up millions of dollars in bribes from merchants who wanted the contracts the Army awarded for everything from water to laundry.
Far as it was from the bombs that she drove past in Iraq, the logistics operation in Kuwait would lead to its own peculiar casualties.
That Sergeant Lannaman was in the Army at all — whether in Iraq or behind a desk — could be seen as a testament to her own shrewdness, or to the Army’s hunger for recruits in a grindingly long war.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she spent nine years in the Navy, then bounced from job to job. By the time she was 42, in the spring of 2003, Denise Lannaman had been a firefighter, a sailor, a filmmaker, a scuba diver, a paramedic and an auto mechanic.
She also had been a frequent psychiatric patient, her family says, an iron-willed perfectionist who had dealt with life’s ragged edges by making four suicide attempts.
click post title for the rest
Womack Army Medical Center braces for wounded
Womack prepares for returning boom
By Gregory Phillips
Staff writer
As head of Womack Army Medical Center, Col. Terry Walters is preparing for what she calls the coming storm of soldiers returning to Fort Bragg in the next year.
“There’s going to be huge medical fallout from this war,” said Walters, who has directed Womack since July 2006.
The conflict in the Middle East has led to the Army’s lowest fatality rate in the history of warfare, Walters said, but the Army’s medical system is a victim of that success.
More soldiers than ever are surviving serious injuries and needing medical care when they get home. The injured soldiers have overwhelmed some Army hospitals, including Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where neglect of patients was exposed earlier this year.
click post title for the rest
By Gregory Phillips
Staff writer
As head of Womack Army Medical Center, Col. Terry Walters is preparing for what she calls the coming storm of soldiers returning to Fort Bragg in the next year.
“There’s going to be huge medical fallout from this war,” said Walters, who has directed Womack since July 2006.
The conflict in the Middle East has led to the Army’s lowest fatality rate in the history of warfare, Walters said, but the Army’s medical system is a victim of that success.
More soldiers than ever are surviving serious injuries and needing medical care when they get home. The injured soldiers have overwhelmed some Army hospitals, including Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where neglect of patients was exposed earlier this year.
click post title for the rest
PTSD veterans face combat and Katrina
PTSD has strong presence on Coast
Veterans face both combat and Katrina
By MEGHA SATYANARAYANASUN HERALD
BILOXI --The number of Gulf Coast veterans seeking treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder rivals that of major cities such as San Antonio, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, according to an internal document obtained by McClatchy Newspapers through the Freedom of Information Act.
With the New Orleans and Gulfport facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the stress of nearly 1,400 veterans with PTSD and their 10,700 outpatient visits during 2006 fell on remaining facilities of the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Mobile, Pensacola and Panama City. The workload is intense, said Kelly Woods, assistant chief of psychology services in the Gulf Coast system. They see at least 20 people each month in a residential program and do at least 100 new and followup appointments each month in Biloxi and at other sites.
Many PTSD vets are from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and the numbers needing treatment are expected to grow as more come home.
Several will have to deal with both combat stress and losses suffered from the hurricane, he said. PTSD symptoms, from the vague, "My wife says I'm different," to things like nightmares, violent outbursts and substance abuse, take months to years to surface. The combination of war and Katrina has pushed some to exhibit symptoms earlier. "Katrina was a trigger - I need help," Woods said. "Lots of guys lost their home while in an active war zone."
go here for the rest
http://www.sunherald.com/278/story/143265.html
Veterans face both combat and Katrina
By MEGHA SATYANARAYANASUN HERALD
BILOXI --The number of Gulf Coast veterans seeking treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder rivals that of major cities such as San Antonio, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, according to an internal document obtained by McClatchy Newspapers through the Freedom of Information Act.
With the New Orleans and Gulfport facilities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the stress of nearly 1,400 veterans with PTSD and their 10,700 outpatient visits during 2006 fell on remaining facilities of the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Mobile, Pensacola and Panama City. The workload is intense, said Kelly Woods, assistant chief of psychology services in the Gulf Coast system. They see at least 20 people each month in a residential program and do at least 100 new and followup appointments each month in Biloxi and at other sites.
Many PTSD vets are from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and the numbers needing treatment are expected to grow as more come home.
Several will have to deal with both combat stress and losses suffered from the hurricane, he said. PTSD symptoms, from the vague, "My wife says I'm different," to things like nightmares, violent outbursts and substance abuse, take months to years to surface. The combination of war and Katrina has pushed some to exhibit symptoms earlier. "Katrina was a trigger - I need help," Woods said. "Lots of guys lost their home while in an active war zone."
go here for the rest
http://www.sunherald.com/278/story/143265.html
Suicides in Military view from veteran
Suicides in Military at an All Time High
By John Waltz Published Sep 17, 2007
Click to contact me
Near the end of a long deployment, the thoughts of coming home fill your mind and your heart yearns for the familiarity of loved ones. Once getting home it all seems great until you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and realizing, you had the most horrific nightmare of your life. A nightmare so vivid you thought you were back on a patrol in a foreign country. The smells, the sights and the tastes are all there just like the day it happened. The days keep passing by and you start to isolate yourself, withdrawing from those around you. Every time you go out in public, you are on guard watching everything around you. The slightest sounds startles you and you have that feeling you are coming under fire. Your old friends call and ask if you want to go fishing but you tell them that you are just not feeling it. This soldier has no clue what is going on to him but can tell something is not right. What he is suffering from is a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a recognized disorder by the American Psychological Association using the DSM IV.
READ MORE>>
By John Waltz Published Sep 17, 2007
Click to contact me
Near the end of a long deployment, the thoughts of coming home fill your mind and your heart yearns for the familiarity of loved ones. Once getting home it all seems great until you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and realizing, you had the most horrific nightmare of your life. A nightmare so vivid you thought you were back on a patrol in a foreign country. The smells, the sights and the tastes are all there just like the day it happened. The days keep passing by and you start to isolate yourself, withdrawing from those around you. Every time you go out in public, you are on guard watching everything around you. The slightest sounds startles you and you have that feeling you are coming under fire. Your old friends call and ask if you want to go fishing but you tell them that you are just not feeling it. This soldier has no clue what is going on to him but can tell something is not right. What he is suffering from is a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a recognized disorder by the American Psychological Association using the DSM IV.
READ MORE>>
PTSD have you feeling like you can't live with it? Call for help that is waiting for you
VA Suicide Prevention Hotline Flooded with Calls
Joyce Kryszak
BUFFALO, NY (2007-09-17) Thousands of distressed veterans have flooded the the Veterans Affairs new suicide prevention hotline.
The VA opened the new national call center about a month ago to respond to the growing number of returning troops experiencing mental health problems. The 24 hour call center is located in Canandagua, New York but takes calls from veterans anywhere in the country.
About 4,500 people, including some non-veterans, have called the hotline for help. Of those, 100 were admitted to VA hospitals for treatment. Three of those cases were referred to Buffalo's VA Medical Center.
Michael Finegan is Director of the Center. He says they have long provided emergency mental health care at the facility. But he says the hotline adds another level of critical response.
It's estimated that roughly 50,000 returning veterans suffer from some type of combat related mental health stress.
The hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK.
Click the "listen" icon above to hear Joyce Kryszak's story now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.
© Copyright 2007, WBFO
http://publicbroadcasting.net/wbfo/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1149028§ionID=1
This is wonderful! Think of the lives being saved because there is someone there for them! Veterans risk their lives for us, for a nation sending them into combat. It's our turn to fight for them. It shouldn't be this way. They should all have whatever they need waiting for them to help them heal their wounds, but until that day comes, we have to make sure the same government sending them, takes care of them.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Combat PTSD From violence back to society
From violence back to society
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder conference to be held next week at Eden Resort Inn.
By ANYA LITVAK, Staff
Lancaster New Era
Published: Sep 18, 2007 11:12 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Jan Yupcavage, a Vietnam War veteran and a readjustment counselor at the Harrisbug-based Vet Center, recently met with a young veteran of the Iraq War who was traumatized while watching "Monday Night Football."
The former soldier was stunned watching his friends cheer and yell at professional football players, as he had once done.
To muster such emotion for something so meaningless, he thought — comparing the experience to his time in battle — seemed, for the first time, ridiculous.
Now, Yupcavage said, the veteran dreads Monday nights.
That's just one way Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can hinder a soldier's readjustment into civil society, he said.
Yupcavage is scheduled to speak on the issue at a conference sponsored by the YWCA of Lancaster and Samaritan Counseling Center called "The Many Faces of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."
The two-day event, focusing on soldiers and others with PTSD, will be held Thursday and Friday, Sept. 27-28 at Eden Resort Inn.
A keynote speech given by Dr. Sandra Bloom of Community Works will kick off the event at 6:30 p.m on Sept. 27. The following day, lectures and workshops will run from 7:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Registration is open until Monday, Sept. 24, at $65 per person, or $75 for those obtaining continuing graduation credits at the event.
Yupcavage's presentation — "When the Soldier Comes Home: The Impact of PTSD on Relationships" — is scheduled for 10:20 a.m. on Sept. 28.
"The experience of war is so intense that you come back altered," Yupcavage said.
go here for the rest
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/209625
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder conference to be held next week at Eden Resort Inn.
By ANYA LITVAK, Staff
Lancaster New Era
Published: Sep 18, 2007 11:12 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Jan Yupcavage, a Vietnam War veteran and a readjustment counselor at the Harrisbug-based Vet Center, recently met with a young veteran of the Iraq War who was traumatized while watching "Monday Night Football."
The former soldier was stunned watching his friends cheer and yell at professional football players, as he had once done.
To muster such emotion for something so meaningless, he thought — comparing the experience to his time in battle — seemed, for the first time, ridiculous.
Now, Yupcavage said, the veteran dreads Monday nights.
That's just one way Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can hinder a soldier's readjustment into civil society, he said.
Yupcavage is scheduled to speak on the issue at a conference sponsored by the YWCA of Lancaster and Samaritan Counseling Center called "The Many Faces of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."
The two-day event, focusing on soldiers and others with PTSD, will be held Thursday and Friday, Sept. 27-28 at Eden Resort Inn.
A keynote speech given by Dr. Sandra Bloom of Community Works will kick off the event at 6:30 p.m on Sept. 27. The following day, lectures and workshops will run from 7:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Registration is open until Monday, Sept. 24, at $65 per person, or $75 for those obtaining continuing graduation credits at the event.
Yupcavage's presentation — "When the Soldier Comes Home: The Impact of PTSD on Relationships" — is scheduled for 10:20 a.m. on Sept. 28.
"The experience of war is so intense that you come back altered," Yupcavage said.
go here for the rest
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/209625
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