Washington Times-PTSD-Treatments

(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

While we’ll take Any In Depth Reports about what already should have been common knowledge on Post Traumatic Stress I do have just a couple of minor irritations with an otherwise Stellar Report on the Treatments for PTSD in the Washington Times edition today. let me get them out of the way.

The report, called VA grapples with veterans’ mental traumas, is a six page writeup of which one Audrey Hudson deserves alot of credit for reporting and apparently has done a few others this year as the previous link would show.

It starts out with the following:

Service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq increasingly are suffering from mental trauma that dampens their homecomings, hobbles their re-entry into civilian life and imperils their continued military service – a situation the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has sought to address with treatment, counseling and even drug experimentation.

But even as the VA has worked to provide quality health care for millions of veterans at its facilities across the country, it has endured a series of failures – from not notifying test subjects about new drug warnings to ignoring safeguards during experiments. Those failures have damaged the reputation of the agency charged with supporting vulnerable veterans.

But it also has compromised the speedy recovery of those vets.

President-elect Barack Obama, who has named retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki as incoming VA secretary, will have to deal with those long-standing discrepancies in the agency, as well as seek out new solutions to remedy the mental health problems plaguing an ever-growing population of veterans.

What I would ask is why the pointing at the incoming President Obama and his named Appointment of Gen. Shinseki to head the VA? Where is a start to this report of the total incompetence of the present administration and the republican controlled congress, who you were beating the War Drums with in the lead up to both occupations?

We know what you, and others wrote, about us Veterans, 300 to 400 strong at American University on the weekend of “Shock and Awe”  for “Operation Dire Distress”, where much of what the New Generation of Veterans were going to face, not only as to the occupations but Long After, was discussed, it was even televised live, all day, on C-Span.

We also know where you, the rest of the media, and the american public have been for thirty plus years on the subject of Post Traumatic Stress, Combat PTSD, you’ve been absent from the discussion and condemning those who either suffered from or are advocates for those suffering, as lier’s, as we’ve tried to raise the knowledge of Post Traumatic Stress and that it isn’t only some sort of Combat Theater Mental Disorder Alone, but can be brought on by any traumatic experience any individual lives through, but only in the ‘Hell On Earth’ of Mans Wars can it become such a debilitating result and can we learn more about and how to help.

It isn’t only the media and civilian population,

“Wars are supposed to end when the last shots are fired, but some of our new veterans will unfortunately have to cope with internal demons that may last their lifetime,” said Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Mr Davis, brother vet, you’re right and that score, but if you look most of us ‘Nam Vets didn’t join your ranks in the VFW nor the American Legion, you folks not only thought our War and Occupation wasn’t a War you All have been more than a Day and a Whole Bunch of Dollars Short as to PTSD, TBI, and in recent history ‘Gulf War Syndrom’! Where were your supposed strong advocacy for the Veterans as us Veterans were Fighting to be Heard!!

And great job there Washington Times:

The Washington Times has focused throughout the year on the VA and scrutinized the agency’s handling of human subject drug tests using veterans, its treatment of veterans and the impact it has on service members and their families.

Five and Six years into these occupations and this sixth and seventh year You Noticed what Citizen Journalists, NPR, the Washington Post, CBS, and ABC, along with McClatchy and a few other media outfits have been Finally Reporting these last three or so years.

But at least You are now following everyones leads, why not inform FOX and Rush to take this meaningful National Subject into their folds as well!

It is a great report you have here, hitting on very important issues and care as to the Veterans of these two occupations which in their care will only help their communities and the nation, but also help the civilians who experience traumatic events in their lives and develop their own Post Traumatic Stress, and we as a Nation have the responsibility to help those citizens of the Countries we occupied and destroyed come to terms and re-build, their countries and their own Trauma’s we’ve waged on them.

It also will increase pressure on the federal government to conduct even more questionable clinical trials on this vulnerable population to find a cure for the elusive psychological trauma.

“Despite heightened risks in trying to study drugs in a vulnerable population like recently returned vets with PTSD, the currently available treatments are not especially useful or efficacious,” said Arthur Caplan, medical ethicist and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

“So more studies will surely be undertaken,” he said. “This means those charged with human subjects protection will have to be especially vigilant.”

In our already drug filled society if threating PTSD or any other development of war with more, and especially experimental, there must be a strong will as to control, oversight and warning to the patients who must know the potential possible long term dangers, we as a Nation have used Military Personal as Guinea Pigs to many times before than walked away from our National Responsibility of caring for them!

The trend likely will continue. Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are increasingly being recruited for new experiments.

“Medical research is vital to understanding and treating such maladies, but equally important is that research subjects know what they’re getting into,” Mr. Davis said.

“Military veterans have already voluntarily done more for their country than virtually everyone else. They must not be used unwittingly for the sake of science,” Mr. Davis said.

Drug testing on vulnerable veterans, failures by the VA to notify study participants when new drug warnings were issued and high suicide numbers among the retirees dominated the agenda of veteran support groups and Democrats on Capitol Hill this year.

Gen. Shinseki will be responsible for shaping the future of medical research conducted on veterans with PTSD and to develop new and innovative treatments including stricter ethical standards.

Once again my hats off to Audrey Hudson for a fine piece of reporting and hitting on a number of important issues. These should have been in the National Language for over thirty years, not only as to the Washington Times but all the Media and the Population, they should have been One of Many issues Discussed in Congress and the Administration in their Rush To War, With No Exit Plan For Neither Theater!

So you don’t have to scroll back up to get the link I give it to you once again, a report you should read, along with all the others you might see on these subjects!

But as back in our day, Lets look at the Real Cause and the Incompetence and Neglect from those Responsible, not just pushing off the search for solutions on to someone else.

We didn’t look at our years of ‘Nam and what the country put the returning troops through,  and we’re repeating those mistakes, as to care, as to occupations, as to this false sense of being superior beings in a world of human beings!

We have a responsibility to care for those we send to invade others and that responsibility extends to the countries we invade and their innocent populations!!