I am pissed. Irked. Enraged. Angry.
As some of you might know, and most of you probably don't, I am getting my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in order to do volunteer work and advocate for war veterans who are suffering from PTSD. My father was drafted to Vietnam, both of my grandfathers were in WWII, and although they did not come down with PTSD, I personally know veterans who have. One of my main inspirations for this line of work is one of my best friend's dad, who was a medic in Vietnam (with a Purple Heart). He has been suffering from PTSD since he came back 30 years ago and the Veteran's Affairs hospital will not treat him for it*****(edited, see below). He can't even go to a movie or loud restaurant because of the extent of his traumatization. This kind of treatment from the VA is unacceptable, but is the only treatment they provide for PTSD.
The VA does not even recognize PTSD anymore. They call it "Adjustment Disorder" now (as mentioned in a letter from the TX Veteran's Affairs hospital in response to the elevated number of troops coming back from Iraq with PTSD in order to cut cost of treatment down). If you are not "coded" (diagnosed) with PTSD, you are not eligible for veteran's benefits or VA hospital treatment, so very few veterans with PTSD ever get treated. Especially since the Doctors doing the diagnosing for the veterans are employed by the VA as most veterans do not have another mode of healthcare. The number of veterans with PTSD going undiagnosed also includes the veterans who are afraid to mention their symptoms for fear of ridicule and embarrassment. It is time that we shine a light on this disorder for what it is. A real mental illness that requires real treatment (both therapy and medication) that is not something to be ashamed of and is more rampant than we can imagine. Almost one-third of troops coming back from Iraq suffer from PTSD, whether diagnosed, undiagnosed, or hidden.
This is what really pissed me off last night.
I was having trouble sleeping and started watching Keith Olbermann's countdown on MSNBC. One of the news pieces was about some recent comment by Cindy McCain (John McCain's wife for the politically challenged) about her husband and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. You can watch the Countdown's piece on these comments and an interview with a retired army captain about PTSD here. I had trouble embedding the video. Here is the direct quote from the Marie Claire interview.
MC: You met your husband after his POW days. To what extent is that still with you — or is it a part of history?
CM: My husband will be the first one to tell you that that's in the past. Certainly it's a part of who he is, but he doesn't dwell on it. It's not part of a daily experience that we experience or anything like that. But it has shaped him. It has made him the leader that he is.
MC: But no cold sweats in the middle of the night?
CM: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. My husband, he'd be the first one to tell you that he was trained to do what he was doing. The guys who had the trouble were the 18-year-olds who were drafted. He was trained, he went to the Naval Academy, he was a trained United States naval officer, and so he knew what he was doing.
This is incredibly insulting to our troops who have had the best training and have all voluntarily gone into service (especially in reference to Iraq and Ahfghanistan). How can she possibly say that PTSD is a result of involuntary service with meager training? This is incredibly insensitive and ignorant.
Olbermann had a retired veteran on his show to discuss PTSD with him. This was really awesome because Capt. Jon Soltz (Retired Army Vet) mentioned all of the reasons that I have become so active in bringing this issue to the attention of the media and public. He was livid over the comments from Mrs. McCain.
So, there you have it. Even if I were a Republican (that left a dirty taste in my mouth! Ha), and had planned on voting for McCain, these disparaging comments would have lost my vote.
*****edit- I was corrected. The original sentence said that the VA gave this man Xanax, but I was misinformed. They didn't even do that.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment