tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15244825.post7221865083016219913..comments2024-01-02T05:16:56.424-06:00Comments on This Just In: Foreseen Subject: My Soldier Babies and Post Traumatic Stress DisorderLori Stewart Weiderthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04601450336245218356noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15244825.post-74358127404590166272010-05-12T14:27:19.312-05:002010-05-12T14:27:19.312-05:00Unload.Please do.
Tight {{{HUGS}}Unload.Please do.<br /><br />Tight {{{HUGS}}Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15244825.post-52667444466588709942010-05-11T14:05:56.260-05:002010-05-11T14:05:56.260-05:00I hardly know how to talk about this extremely imp...I hardly know how to talk about this extremely important issue, except to agree that people should absolutely have access to high-quality mental-health care when they need it, and of course, they shouldn't feel any reticence about seeking help. Sigh. I feel with/for you and understand your worry.Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01970997615781244805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15244825.post-2071153389075707512010-05-08T01:09:27.299-05:002010-05-08T01:09:27.299-05:00Unburden as needed, sweetheart. You'll always ...Unburden as needed, sweetheart. You'll always have a sympathetic ear here.Larry Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13425250800667058263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15244825.post-61359429136523936282010-05-07T20:35:22.728-05:002010-05-07T20:35:22.728-05:00It's such an odd thing... made more so by the ...It's such an odd thing... made more so by the various ways it can present itself, both in symptoms and severity. When one starts digging through the history of supposedly related conditions (such as shell shock) it gets even more confusing. At different times, different symptoms (sometimes entirely different and/or far more severe) were the psycho-babble cliche. I imagine if our psychology/neurology/etc understanding were still a century behind that the signature wound of this war, traumatic brain injury, would be part of the mix.<br /><br />PTSD is an odd duck all around. It's not just some signature or stereotypical combat effect (though most of the coverage seems to be to that effect). It's various symptoms shared by traumatized people that leaves them with their "fight or flight" switch on the fritz... and the host of other symptoms that seem to result from that (e.g. emotional extremes - all or none, irrational avoidance of triggers, isolation, etc).<br /><br />Rape victims, people with near death experiences, first responders who were either threatened or were helpless as others were, and of course combat veterans who have a unique risk on all of the above... throughout time, personal accounts of someone going through such things are littered with examples where so-n-so "just wasn't the same after that." As poorly understood as the condition is now, it's no wonder that historical accounts generally didn't end well. It may explain at least some of the reason for "cycles of violence" in communities. Unfortunately the nation's largest mental health facilities are prisons. Which has proven detrimental for both civilian and veteran populations imo.<br /><br />Most of the folks I see seeking treatment for PTSD are Vietnam veterans, though the mix seems to be shifting to more current conflicts. I'm not sure if there is an effective way to push a more proactive approach to treatment (both by providers and those with it) before people have spent decades coping (often badly) with the way their brains are playing shenanigans with their lives. The military and VA attempts have been predictable at best and with all sorts of urban legend or actual catch-22s that scare off sufferers at worst.<br /><br />The frustration seems all too justified to me. Many of the military issues with getting people the treatment they need are behind an iron curtain of bureaucracy to fix. The VA, in spite of all of the improvements in the last generation, still suffers from a lot of the same. For some reason the idea of fixing our country's mental health system evokes images of building pyramids... needing thousands of people to trudge through mud and hardship to move massive stones... but with only a handful of people aware of the project, and wondering when everybody else will show up to help.<br /><br />Trudge, trudge, trudge...Glock21https://www.blogger.com/profile/03963381850606106973noreply@blogger.com