Post by Janet-Beth's Mom on Nov 14, 2010 12:48:43 GMT -5
I am of course very interested in articles about PTSD, because I have it. I went to therapists for years to learn how to manage the symptoms (better than I could before anyway). Most of what I found written about it these days is focused on soldiers of course. This article is too, but many parts of it struck a chord with me. I think I might have sought help sooner if I had read more things like this in the beginning.
I've also read in more than one book on the subject that about 60% of parents whose child is murdered will have symptoms of PTSD, that 100% of children who see a parent murdered will have symptoms too. These are significant numbers amongst us.
I guess my main point in posting this is: if even a trained general in our armed forces needs help to deal with a significant trauma disorder, with trying to live with the existence of violent acts in his life, why should any of us be afraid to say we need help doing that?
PTSD is not the only possible thing that could affect us after the violence of murder has affected our lives. There can be others too, and these are normal reactions to abnormal horrific things.
Sorry for such a long post, but I think this is an interesting article. Especially perhaps for someone who may unfortunately be another soul suddenly and unexpectedly trying to learn to walk around in this reality.
A general speaks out about his battle with PTSD
www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/11/14/1047537?sac=Home
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
While everyone else danced at a New Year's celebration to start 2008, Maj. Gen. David Blackledge couldn't stop picturing a suicide bomber blowing up the ballroom.
After nearly losing his life twice during consecutive deployments, Blackledge rarely felt safe.
He couldn't shake the nightmares. He couldn't control his temper. He couldn't focus.
"I started to think, well, this is just the way it's going to be," Blackledge said.
But later that year, after his routine physical, he described his symptoms to a doctor.
Classic post traumatic stress disorder, the doctor said. He sent Blackledge to behavioral health, where he saw a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
They confirmed the diagnosis and told the general they could help.
Now Blackledge - commander of the Army's Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command - is speaking publicly about his invisible wounds to let other warriors know their reactions to combat are normal.
PTSD is one of the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A 2008 Rand Corp. study estimated that as many as 300,000 veterans of those wars suffered from PTSD or depression.
Yet it remains difficult to persuade soldiers to get the help they need.
Reluctance
An Army report released this summer said soldiers who need mental health care the most are the least likely to seek treatment. They worry it will hurt their career, or they will appear weak.
Blackledge was unsure how speaking to a psychiatrist would affect his career. He said his first psychiatrist promised to be careful when taking notes so the sessions wouldn't come back to haunt the general.
Now, five years later, he's defying the culture of military silence and openly talking about his own troubles.
"We have our warrior ethos. Sometimes that can get in the way of helping us recognize that we need some help," Blackledge said.
"War is an abnormal event and it's a traumatic event. These kinds of issues are normal reactions. If you're struggling with that and it just doesn't seem to be getting better, there's help available."
Leaders have taken steps to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health care, including adding counselors to primary care clinics and embedding them into units with the troops.
But personal experiences shared by someone with Blackledge's stature will be a necessary part of changing the military culture, said Kathy Beasley, a retired Navy nurse who now works with the Military Officers Association of America.
"We've put a lot of energy into those campaigns. But I think leaders who have actually experienced it, and are able to come out and talk about it, to me is the most powerful tool that we have," Beasley said.
"It's going to take people like him at those levels to assure others, particularly junior soldiers, to be comfortable to come forward and express the fact that they might need help."
Iraq invasion
Blackledge was part of the invading force that went to Iraq in 2003. Ten days before his 14-month tour was set to end, he traveled in a three-truck convoy on a mission to meet tribal leaders.
The convoy came under attack, and Blackledge said his interpreter was shot in the head. The truck rolled over several times, breaking Blackledge's back.
He and another soldier crawled out of the truck and into a firefight, using a ditch for cover.
As Blackledge returned fire, he said, he saw the last truck in the convoy explode. It had been shot in the gas tank.
Blackledge escaped and spent 11 months recovering from the broken back and other injuries.
Almost immediately, Blackledge said, he had trouble thinking about anything besides the ambush.
He spoke with a psychiatrist several times at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The psychiatrist told him to think of the event as a movie, and to turn the movie off in his head.
But the bigger focus, Blackledge said, was on healing his body.
Three days after a medical board cleared him for duty, Blackledge learned he was going back to Iraq.
"In my case, it didn't give me the mental recovery time to really get past the post traumatic stress I'd experienced," he said.
During the next deployment to Iraq, Blackledge said, he was in Jordan to meet with a team of soldiers there.
He and the team had just eaten dinner at their hotel in Amman. As they were walking through the lobby, Blackledge said, a suicide bomber set off his blast close enough to knock the general off his feet. The bomb killed dozens and wounded hundreds. Blackledge had a whiplash-type injury that took months to heal.
Blackledge said he had thought he was safe outside Baghdad, but the explosion taught him otherwise. It added another layer of stress.
"It just made you kind of feel like you weren't safe anywhere," he said.
Not even at a party years later, in the United States, on New Year's.
"It wasn't really until I came back from that tour that I realized this stuff really isn't going away," Blackledge said.
He'd become outraged in traffic, or in arguments with his wife. The anger, he said, would be disproportionate to the problem.
Blackledge, an avid reader, couldn't finish a book. His attention span wouldn't allow it.
And the nightmares persisted.
Since Blackledge mentioned his problems to a doctor in 2008, he has undergone therapy with psychiatrists and psychologists.
Blackledge said he still deals with some of the symptoms of PTSD, but he knows now how to handle them.
Soldiers and their families should treat the emotional damage of war as seriously as a broken leg or a bullet wound, he said.
Blackledge said he hopes his story can help soldiers get past the stigma and realize it's OK to ask for help.
"No one's going to think less of you," he said.
I've also read in more than one book on the subject that about 60% of parents whose child is murdered will have symptoms of PTSD, that 100% of children who see a parent murdered will have symptoms too. These are significant numbers amongst us.
I guess my main point in posting this is: if even a trained general in our armed forces needs help to deal with a significant trauma disorder, with trying to live with the existence of violent acts in his life, why should any of us be afraid to say we need help doing that?
PTSD is not the only possible thing that could affect us after the violence of murder has affected our lives. There can be others too, and these are normal reactions to abnormal horrific things.
Sorry for such a long post, but I think this is an interesting article. Especially perhaps for someone who may unfortunately be another soul suddenly and unexpectedly trying to learn to walk around in this reality.
A general speaks out about his battle with PTSD
www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/11/14/1047537?sac=Home
By John Ramsey
Staff writer
While everyone else danced at a New Year's celebration to start 2008, Maj. Gen. David Blackledge couldn't stop picturing a suicide bomber blowing up the ballroom.
After nearly losing his life twice during consecutive deployments, Blackledge rarely felt safe.
He couldn't shake the nightmares. He couldn't control his temper. He couldn't focus.
"I started to think, well, this is just the way it's going to be," Blackledge said.
But later that year, after his routine physical, he described his symptoms to a doctor.
Classic post traumatic stress disorder, the doctor said. He sent Blackledge to behavioral health, where he saw a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
They confirmed the diagnosis and told the general they could help.
Now Blackledge - commander of the Army's Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command - is speaking publicly about his invisible wounds to let other warriors know their reactions to combat are normal.
PTSD is one of the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A 2008 Rand Corp. study estimated that as many as 300,000 veterans of those wars suffered from PTSD or depression.
Yet it remains difficult to persuade soldiers to get the help they need.
Reluctance
An Army report released this summer said soldiers who need mental health care the most are the least likely to seek treatment. They worry it will hurt their career, or they will appear weak.
Blackledge was unsure how speaking to a psychiatrist would affect his career. He said his first psychiatrist promised to be careful when taking notes so the sessions wouldn't come back to haunt the general.
Now, five years later, he's defying the culture of military silence and openly talking about his own troubles.
"We have our warrior ethos. Sometimes that can get in the way of helping us recognize that we need some help," Blackledge said.
"War is an abnormal event and it's a traumatic event. These kinds of issues are normal reactions. If you're struggling with that and it just doesn't seem to be getting better, there's help available."
Leaders have taken steps to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health care, including adding counselors to primary care clinics and embedding them into units with the troops.
But personal experiences shared by someone with Blackledge's stature will be a necessary part of changing the military culture, said Kathy Beasley, a retired Navy nurse who now works with the Military Officers Association of America.
"We've put a lot of energy into those campaigns. But I think leaders who have actually experienced it, and are able to come out and talk about it, to me is the most powerful tool that we have," Beasley said.
"It's going to take people like him at those levels to assure others, particularly junior soldiers, to be comfortable to come forward and express the fact that they might need help."
Iraq invasion
Blackledge was part of the invading force that went to Iraq in 2003. Ten days before his 14-month tour was set to end, he traveled in a three-truck convoy on a mission to meet tribal leaders.
The convoy came under attack, and Blackledge said his interpreter was shot in the head. The truck rolled over several times, breaking Blackledge's back.
He and another soldier crawled out of the truck and into a firefight, using a ditch for cover.
As Blackledge returned fire, he said, he saw the last truck in the convoy explode. It had been shot in the gas tank.
Blackledge escaped and spent 11 months recovering from the broken back and other injuries.
Almost immediately, Blackledge said, he had trouble thinking about anything besides the ambush.
He spoke with a psychiatrist several times at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The psychiatrist told him to think of the event as a movie, and to turn the movie off in his head.
But the bigger focus, Blackledge said, was on healing his body.
Three days after a medical board cleared him for duty, Blackledge learned he was going back to Iraq.
"In my case, it didn't give me the mental recovery time to really get past the post traumatic stress I'd experienced," he said.
During the next deployment to Iraq, Blackledge said, he was in Jordan to meet with a team of soldiers there.
He and the team had just eaten dinner at their hotel in Amman. As they were walking through the lobby, Blackledge said, a suicide bomber set off his blast close enough to knock the general off his feet. The bomb killed dozens and wounded hundreds. Blackledge had a whiplash-type injury that took months to heal.
Blackledge said he had thought he was safe outside Baghdad, but the explosion taught him otherwise. It added another layer of stress.
"It just made you kind of feel like you weren't safe anywhere," he said.
Not even at a party years later, in the United States, on New Year's.
"It wasn't really until I came back from that tour that I realized this stuff really isn't going away," Blackledge said.
He'd become outraged in traffic, or in arguments with his wife. The anger, he said, would be disproportionate to the problem.
Blackledge, an avid reader, couldn't finish a book. His attention span wouldn't allow it.
And the nightmares persisted.
Since Blackledge mentioned his problems to a doctor in 2008, he has undergone therapy with psychiatrists and psychologists.
Blackledge said he still deals with some of the symptoms of PTSD, but he knows now how to handle them.
Soldiers and their families should treat the emotional damage of war as seriously as a broken leg or a bullet wound, he said.
Blackledge said he hopes his story can help soldiers get past the stigma and realize it's OK to ask for help.
"No one's going to think less of you," he said.