Post Traumatic Stress

Discussion in 'Veteran Accounts' started by Trincomalee, Oct 3, 2007.

  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  2. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

  3. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    By Marques Chavez
    Army News Service

    November 30, 2010 - Science and technology is leading the approach for treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and those treatments were discussed by medical experts at a topical panel at the 27th Army Science Conference Nov 30. The treatments discussed ranged from cognitive therapy and pharmaceutical treatment to virtual reality.

    The panel on PTSD comes a day after Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, stressed the importance of treating soldiers with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs).

    "The fact remains, these wounds are not well understood," Chiarelli said during the opening session of the conference. "Yet they affect a significant portion of the Army's Wounded Warrior population. And although the Army is taking a holistic approach to dealing with these very serious injuries, the reality is that a study of the brain is incredibly complex and rather immature."

    Dr. Edna B. Foa, professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, kicked off the discussion by offering a presentation on a treatment called prolonged exposure (PE), its effectiveness in treating PTSD and whether PE can be effective in treating PTSD among active personnel.

    The first component of PE is imaginable exposure, where a patient is asked to revisit and recount the traumatic event for record. The patient is then allowed to listen to the recounted event to gain perspective. In the second component of PE, in vivo exposure, the patient visits safe situations and places that are now avoided because they trigger trauma reminders.

    "There are more than 40 studies on PE all showing the process is effective," said Foa.

    Dr. Patricia A. Resick, from the National Center for PTSD, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Boston University, focused her remarks on Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).

    "It is not an exposure therapy," said Resick. "It is predominantly a trauma-focused cognitive therapy with or without written accounts of worst traumas. It is a very specific, session-by-session protocol that teaches the clients to challenge their own thoughts."

    During the early sessions of CPT, the patient writes detailed accounts of the incident including sensory details, thoughts and feelings. In the middle sessions, the patients start learning about patterns of faulty thinking and how those thoughts are affecting their beliefs of themselves and the world. The final sessions are targeted to help patients overcome over-generalization or when the patients think that the world is entirely too dangerous.

    "Once they learn these skills, we'll have them walk through various themes," said Resick.

    Dr. Murray A. Raskind, from the VA Puget Sound Health Care Center, was the only presenter who talked about a pharmaceutical treatment for PTSD symptoms.

    "Contributing factors to PTSD include the brain "adrenaline rush" that saves lives in combat but appears to become persistent and maladaptive when leaving this [combat] environment," Raskind said. "What Prazosin does is reduce the brain's response to this arousal. It is non-sedating and non-addictive and has no daytime hangover."

    Raskind went on to explain that Prazosin is in the same family of medications as Flowmax, but it is the only one that crosses the bloodbrain barrier. It has a short duration of action-about six to ten hours-and it is relatively inexpensive. He also explained that the drug provides significant advantages for sleeping at night.

    "When you get a good night's sleep, your clinical global sense of well being will improve as well," Raskind explained. "With Prazosin, sleeping was greatly improved. When nightmares are reduced or eliminated and sleep is normalized, alcohol self medication is reduced or eliminated and suicidal ideation is also reduced or eliminated."

    The final presenter on the panel discussed the role Virtual Reality (VR) technology is now being applied in clinical care issues.

    "VR is a way for humans to interact with computers and extremely complex data in a more naturalistic fashion," said Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, research scientist for the Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California. "Over the last 15 years, we've seen VR go from the realm of expensive toy into that of functional technology.

    "We can design virtual environments to assess and rehabilitate," continued Rizzo. "Since 1994, we've seen pretty dramatic growth in VR technology."

    Rizzo explained that exposure therapy still has the most positive results for its use, but there may be challenges for some patients. Some are unwilling to imagine their trauma situations and VR can be used in place of exposure therapy.

    "This is an ideal merger of therapy and technology," Rizzo said.

    Col. Carl Castro, director for the U.S. Army Military Operational Medicine Research Program at Fort Detrick, Md. was the chair for the panel and wrapped-up the proceedings following the panelists' remarks.

    "I hope that one of the things that everyone takes away is that none of these procedures is mutually exclusive," said Castro. "You can do prolonged exposure therapy, CPT, pharmaceutical treatment and virtual reality. I just hope folks don't leave here thinking you have to pick just one," Castor concluded.
     
    Formerjughead likes this.
  4. Formerjughead

    Formerjughead Senior Member

    By Marques Chavez
    ....The first component of PE is imaginable exposure, where a patient is asked to revisit and recount the traumatic event for record. The patient is then allowed to listen to the recounted event to gain perspective. In the second component of PE, in vivo exposure, the patient visits safe situations and places that are now avoided because they trigger trauma reminders.

    "There are more than 40 studies on PE all showing the process is effective," said Foa.

    ........

    Very effective indeed and it's not 'that' new of a development, in theory, sounds like it's just packaged a little differently.
     
  5. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

  6. Capt Bill

    Capt Bill wanderin off at a tangent

  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    In Our Name

    Looks quite good but why o why can they not get the basics right of shaping a beret. Petty I know but it really bugs me so much that I end up shouting at the TV.

    The recent TV Drama 'Accused' set in Afghanistan was the same-They were all ment to be switched on dudes but all had berets like HLS's. :mad:

    Rant over.

    I must post some of the PTSD related personal accounts I have of chaps coming home from Dunkirk on here. A book I read whilst in hospital has quite a few in it. Proof that it did exsist in WW2 amongst some British veterans who were on the frontline in the thick of it during 1940.

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    We had an order come through to us one day. Every man for himself. And then the soldiers, Belgian, French and British were side by side in silent soddy ranks in columns of three, zig zagged across the beaches. I still believe that this was done to minimise casualties. We had to wade out up to our necks in water to get onto a boat, ducking under the water when the Germans tried to mow us down. Eventually I managed to grab a chain hanging off a naval motorboat, and it was fully loaded, but I hung on even though they tried to push me off!

    With a boat hook after being dragged about a mile out to sea, we eventually pulled alongside the 'SS Yewdale'. Somehow, tired and bedraggled, we clambered up nets which were thrown over the side. The deck were crowded with troops so we had to go into the hold which ment going down a ladder. I can remember hearing the continous attacks by dive bombers, and the Lewis gunner on the ship as far as I'm concerned deserved a VC! He never stopped firing at the German planes.

    About six o'clock in the evening some bombs struck the ship but somehow God spared us, and we didn't sink although a large hole was blown in the hold where I was. There was a blinding flash, and shrapnel flew all around and a terrible blast blew my trousers off and a wave of vibration went through my body. I knew I had been hit, but being momentarily blinded by the flash it wasn't until I felt blood tricling that I felt around me. I had a chunk of flesh torn from my thigh, and gashes under my chin, on my temple and cuts all over my face. The Frenchmen next to me had been killed.

    The water sprinklers came on, but someone shouted the boat was sinking. Panic followed for a few moments as men tried to get up the ladder, front, back and sides. At that time I just didn't care as I felt horrible, but a voice shouted down that the boat was not sinking and anyone who was wounded and could walk was to get on deck for treatment. I was bandaged up and put in the galley. The boat eventually got underway and went I think sideways across the Channel! I think by this time most troops were that weary that they fell asleep. Men lay on top of one another as the boat was that packed.

    I woke with someone hailing the boat in thick fog and asking the name of the ship. Somehow, I do not know how, I was sitting on the ship's handrail with my back against a lifeboat. I looked up and saw on the side 'SS Yewdale'. I shouted back as they said they were pilots from Deal. They said they were coming aboard. They got onboard and awoke the captain and he must have anchored. I presume that he had done that because of the shelling damage and had tried to off-load at Deal, but was unable to do it. So we were taken to Ramsgate.

    The wounded were taken off first. I was carried off and we were put in some huts where tea was being served by helpers. This was about 7.30 am on 28th May. The wounded were then taken to Ramsgate station and at about 9.00 am we moved off. Postcards were put through windows at various stations for us to write home. These were then collected and then given in at the next station. Somehow, somewhere at some station, someone found me a pair of grey flannels to put on.

    I was eventually taken off the train at Derby, and laid on a stretcher after documentation, and we were taken to Derby Royal Infirmary. I was in there five weeks and then sent back to my unit in Bulford.

    However, I was taken off the train at Salisbury and ended up at Salisbury Royal Infirmary, with delayed action shell shock. After a week I was transferred to Tidworth Military Hospital, and after another week taken all the way to Sutton Emergency Hospital in Surrey for treatment for shell shock. I spent a further 17 weeks there and was finally discharged as unfit for further military service.


    We Remember Dunkirk-Frank and Joan Shaw
     
  9. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

  10. Lofty1

    Lofty1 Senior Member

    Hi, I hope this is not to far of topic, some years ago, my wife pointed out, that I was more interested in strangers KIA, than family members, who perished in WW1, time to change tack for a while me thinks. So four of us including one who knew how to research, had a day out to Kew. I took along her granddads army no , once shown the ropes there I began my search, up came sixty odd pages on him, not knowing how many is normal, I started at the beginning, and read slowly through, the usual stuff, I guess, until, Court of Inquiry, into the death of Staff Sgt. Robert Waring ASC
    It would appear he was brought back from the front to just outside Rouen, no 8 military hospital Bois Guillaume ( a large private house), reading on, there are copies of hand written reports by two orderlies, statements of facts, it would appear from their statements, his mind had left him, he told them he was covered in disease and was no good to anyone , on asking to go to the toilet seemingly escorted, he fought with escort, and another orderly, and managed to break free and jump through the upstairs window to his death, leaving behind three kids and a wife. Reading on, showed his CO agreed his Army pension and his medals were sent, his wife never married an received a pension until she died at 90,
    The very last page is a letter (copy) from his wife to his CO asking for the circumstances of her husband’s death, as they had been informed only, that he had been buried in the communal cemetery, if this letter was ever answered she never let on, My wife and I visited the grave that year, the only family members to have done so, and I believe the only people that new any of this, thankfully.
    I phoned my wife from Kew and told her a little of this sad tale and then got told off for not leaving things alone, she is calm now especially after visiting the grave. Her granddad had joined up in 1909 and was 33 when he died, a professional soldier, but alas what he experienced tripped him, If there is a name for this, be it shellshock or any of the other abbreviated titles, I am happy to go along with very sad. Just wanted to share this. Regards lofty
     
    Theobob likes this.
  11. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    By Fred W. Baker III
    United States Department of Defense

    December 26, 2010 - Military leaders and troops alike need more time at home between deployments to help diagnose and receive treatment for the "invisible" wounds of war such as posttraumatic stress, a senior Army officer said today.

    "It affects everything. It affects the divorce rate. It affects substance abuse. It affects everything. And we've kind of taken our focus and shifted it to ensure that we're getting at that," Army Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army, said on ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour.

    "You want to get at these issues. We need more time at home before deployment," Chiarelli said.

    Complicating matters, the symptoms of posttraumatic stress take sometimes months or years to show. More research is needed to understand the brain and the effects of stress, Chiarelli said.

    "I think we're doing everything we possibly can to learn as much as we can about the brain. And that's really the issue. It's trying to understand the brain as well as we do the other organs in the body," he said.

    "We just don't know that much about the brain. We automatically assume so many times that a person that's in a blast has a concussion. Many times, they don't have a concussion. Instead, they have posttraumatic stress," Chiarelli said.

    The Army has implemented new programs both in theater and here at home to identify and treat those who show signs of suffering from posttraumatic stress, but there is still much to learn about the brain and how it responds stress and treatment.

    In Afghanistan, soldiers are now sent to resiliency centers after suffering a bomb blast.

    If a soldier is in a vehicle that is damaged, within 15 meters of a blast, in a building with a blast or if they lose consciousness, they are given an initial medical evaluation and pulled from the fight for 24 hours.

    "Sometimes the symptoms of concussion don't display themselves for 24 hours. We give them a second evaluation, and if they pass that, they in fact go back to duty. If they fail either one of those in that 24-hour period, they go to a resilience center where we rest them until the brain has had an opportunity to heal from that concussion," Chiarelli said.

    Before, the soldiers would have likely simply continued on duty.

    "We had soldiers who knew that they'd had a concussion, knew that they had had their, quote, 'bell rung,' and they did nothing about it," the general said.

    Chiarelli said that treating the stress on the battlefield is more effective than waiting until the soldier returns from deployment for medical help.

    "We know in treating PTS the closer you treat PTS to the event that occurs, the more likely you are to help that individual," he said. "So much so that ... if the event occurs in the morning, it's very important that you bring the individual's anxiety level down before they go to sleep that night, because in [rapid eye movement] sleep, something happens in the brain that causes an individual to remember that and make the PTS harder to treat."

    Once the soldier returns from combat, military leaders at Army installations work to identify those troops who engage in high-risk behaviors.

    "What we see is a soldier who's down range for 12 months in a very high adrenaline environment, where every single day, he or she finds themselves facing an enemy. And they come home, and many times, want to replicate that," he said.

    "We're looking at programs that, first of all, ensure that we are identifying early on those who are going to have a rough time reintegrating. And then taking soldiers and putting them in high-stress kind of events that are safe for them, such as water rafting and out doing those kind of sports to burn off that adrenaline, rather than getting on a motorcycle and traveling down the road at 100 miles an hour without a helmet on," he said.

    Chiarelli said he briefs the leadership of every brigade combat team before deployment on tt[y;he effects of traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress and needed treatment.

    Also, Chiarelli added, the Army works closely with Veterans Affairs to ensure soldiers leaving the service understand their ongoing treatment options.

    "You know, the problem with posttraumatic stress is that in the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health will tell you, for regular civilians, it is 12 years between the initiating event and when someone first seeks help. Now the issue there isn't that they finally seek help. It's all the things that happen in between," he said.
     
  12. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

  13. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Sy Brenner Was POW In Nazi-Occupied France During World War II

    POSTED: 5:44 pm PST January 17, 2011
    UPDATED: 6:52 pm PST January 17, 2011



    SAN DIEGO -- A former prisoner of war is using his experiences during World War II to help military veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.Rancho San Diego resident Sy Brenner came home after World War II and tried to put what he experienced behind him."I didn't feel like talking about it even if I wanted to, so I didn't," said Brenner. However, for Brenner, the war never really left him.Brenner was captured in Nazi-occupied France, and because he is Jewish, he was sent to a Nazi prisoner of war camp. A combat medic, Brenner was called on to perform a variety of medical emergencies as well as endure the hardship of the camp and keep his identity hidden.Weighing 97 pounds and sent to 8 different hospitals upon his release, Brenner had four reoccurring nightmares."I didn't want to go to sleep because I didn't want to have those dreams," said Brenner.Brenner said he kept his feelings bottled up for decades, which took its toll at work."I became abrasive, insulting, obnoxious; it got to the point where I couldn't go down to the office," said Brenner.Eventually, he came in contact with the Veterans Administration, which put a name to what he was experiencing -- post-traumatic stress disorder. Brenner began to talk about his experiences with other veterans and to other veterans, especially those involved in today's conflicts."What I've learned is that the more I talk about it the more it's helped me," said Brenner.
    Since 2003, more than 40,000 members of the military have been diagnosed with PTSD, and that number only includes those who have come forward.For Brenner's daughter, Mo Bailey, getting her father to talk about his experiences has been transformative."It's really feeling like I've met a man for the first time that I've known all my life but didn't know," said Bailey.Brenner, now 92 years old, is involved in helping get a POW statue put up at the newly dedicated Miramar National Cemetery

    WWII Veteran Helping Local Vets With PTSD - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego
     
  14. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Military doc slams stress 'gravy train' | Herald Sun

    War-stress rort claim under fire



    ONLY 2900 ex-military personnel are being paid compensation for post traumatic stress disorder. Veterans groups and the Federal Government have reacted angrily to claims by a senior navy doctor that up to 90 per cent of recent PTSD claims were bogus.
    Commander Doug McKenzie said it was not his intention to upset genuine claimants, but in his experience many compensation claims, particularly by navy personnel, were fraudulent.
    He called on the government to launch an independent inquiry into the PTSD "epidemic".
    Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon has denied any epidemic and said that a rigorous process was undertaken to determine liability for all claims made to the Department, including those for mental health conditions.
    His spokesperson said the government took fraudulent claims very seriously and people accused of manipulating the system were thoroughly investigated.
    Another senior Navy Reserve clinical psychologist and PTSD expert, Dr Stephen Rayner, said the disorder was a long recognised and unfortunate feature of military service.
    "If there were simple answers, we would have heard them by now," Dr Rayner said.
    "It would be appealing to have definitive blood tests for everything, but they simply don't exist."
    A government spokesperson said the mental health of veterans was taken very seriously.
    "When we put our service men and women in harm's way, they know that the systems of health care will be there when they need it," they said.
    "When they return home, they know that their recovery, care and assistance to family will be supported."
    There are 27,500 veterans with PTSD as an accepted service-related condition. These include 20,000 from the Vietnam War.
    But only 2900 claimants served in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.
    Queensland PTSD sufferer Barry Gracey said he had taken Dr McKenzie's rorting charge personally.
    "Exposing rorters is good, but generalising about percentages with 27,000 people is not acceptable," Mr Gracey said.
    Dr Rayner said there was no doubt suitably motivated individuals could fake the symptoms and obtain a diagnosis.
    "Just because malingering or suggestibility exists, the suffering of genuine victims should not be trivialised," he said.
    Veterans Affairs says PTSD can occur months or years after exposure to a traumatic event.
    For urgent help,call Lifeline on 13 11 14
     
  15. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Hi Spider
    Just had to edit your post as it was showing adverts from the linked article. When you copy a page containing images or rolling adverts be sure please to keep only to the text and not scroll down the page. Otherwise it might produce some odd results... preview your post before posting to check if unwanted URLs have been included automatically ... some sites do do this.

    Sy Brenner Was POW In Nazi-Occupied France During World War II

    POSTED: 5:44 pm PST January 17, 2011
    UPDATED: 6:52 pm PST January 17, 2011



    SAN DIEGO -- A former prisoner of war is using his experiences during World War II to help military veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.Rancho San Diego resident Sy Brenner came home after World War II and tried to put what he experienced behind him."I didn't feel like talking about it even if I wanted to, so I didn't," said Brenner. However, for Brenner, the war never really left him.Brenner was captured in Nazi-occupied France, and because he is Jewish, he was sent to a Nazi prisoner of war camp. A combat medic, Brenner was called on to perform a variety of medical emergencies as well as endure the hardship of the camp and keep his identity hidden.Weighing 97 pounds and sent to 8 different hospitals upon his release, Brenner had four reoccurring nightmares."I didn't want to go to sleep because I didn't want to have those dreams," said Brenner.Brenner said he kept his feelings bottled up for decades, which took its toll at work."I became abrasive, insulting, obnoxious; it got to the point where I couldn't go down to the office," said Brenner.Eventually, he came in contact with the Veterans Administration, which put a name to what he was experiencing -- post-traumatic stress disorder. Brenner began to talk about his experiences with other veterans and to other veterans, especially those involved in today's conflicts."What I've learned is that the more I talk about it the more it's helped me," said Brenner.
    Since 2003, more than 40,000 members of the military have been diagnosed with PTSD, and that number only includes those who have come forward.For Brenner's daughter, Mo Bailey, getting her father to talk about his experiences has been transformative."It's really feeling like I've met a man for the first time that I've known all my life but didn't know," said Bailey.Brenner, now 92 years old, is involved in helping get a POW statue put up at the newly dedicated Miramar National Cemetery

    WWII Veteran Helping Local Vets With PTSD - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego
     
  16. Stormbird

    Stormbird Restless

  17. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

  18. spider

    spider Very Senior Member

    Professor Sandy McFarlane AO is a psychiatrist specialising in treating those who have lived through disaster.
    Professor McFarlane's first contact with a community devastated by disaster was in 1983, after Victoria's Ash Wednesday fires.
    He has since made the study and treatment of people suffering the psychological effects of trauma his life's work, and has worked with survivors of some of the world's most horrific events including warfare, violent crime and natural disasters.
    Professor McFarlane is the head of Adelaide University's Centre for Veteran's Health and he's also the Senior Advisor in Psychiatry to the Australian Defence Force.

    Sandy McFarlane - ABC Brisbane - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
     
  19. elyncho

    elyncho Member

    Hi guys,

    Interesting thread.

    In a piece of shameless self publicity, I wanted to draw attention to my book 'Courage Under Fire' (Tim Lynch published by Eliot & Thompson 2010). It's in aid of Combat Stress and describes some of the problems faced by veterans over the past century.

    My own background is Falklands/NI and I've been working in and around the PTSD field for over 20 years. It's not just about PTSD but also about the wider problems faced by veterans coming home.

    I've frequently heard that the veterans of today are somehow weaker than their ancestors. In fact I once got an incredibly abusive letter from a guy telling me how pathetic we Falklands vets were because he'd been through WW2 and never seen any problems. He then included his service record - as a cook at a hospital in Iceland! In the next post (this was back in 1987), I got a letter from a WW1 veteran expressing full support. In all the years I've been working, whenever I've spent time talking to a veteran of any generation, the effects of war are the same.

    It doesn't matter if you're at war for years or just minutes (think opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan). It's about seeing your friends die and having to kill other people, usually when you're little more than a kid yourself. Who wouldn't be disturbed by that?

    It's good to see how this forum has approached the discussion. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post.

    All the best

    Tim
     
    von Poop likes this.
  20. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Hi guys,

    Interesting thread.

    In a piece of shameless self publicity, I wanted to draw attention to my book 'Courage Under Fire' (Tim Lynch published by Eliot & Thompson 2010). It's in aid of Combat Stress and describes some of the problems faced by veterans over the past century.

    My own background is Falklands/NI and I've been working in and around the PTSD field for over 20 years. It's not just about PTSD but also about the wider problems faced by veterans coming home.

    I've frequently heard that the veterans of today are somehow weaker than their ancestors. In fact I once got an incredibly abusive letter from a guy telling me how pathetic we Falklands vets were because he'd been through WW2 and never seen any problems. He then included his service record - as a cook at a hospital in Iceland! In the next post (this was back in 1987), I got a letter from a WW1 veteran expressing full support. In all the years I've been working, whenever I've spent time talking to a veteran of any generation, the effects of war are the same.

    It doesn't matter if you're at war for years or just minutes (think opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan). It's about seeing your friends die and having to kill other people, usually when you're little more than a kid yourself. Who wouldn't be disturbed by that?

    It's good to see how this forum has approached the discussion. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post.

    All the best

    Tim

    No need to be coy Tim.
    Direct links to buying the book here:
    Profits From Book Sales - Fundraising - Combat Stress
    http://www.combatstress.org.uk/data/files/courage_under_fire__order_form.pdf

    Courage Under Fire: Amazon.co.uk: Tim Lynch: Books

    Best of luck with it,
    ~A
     

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