Iraq vets and post-traumatic stress: No easy answers - CNN.com

Iraq vets and post-traumatic stress: No easy answers - CNN.com: 

"According to the latest Pentagon study, published in 2004, about one in six veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from PTSD, depression or anxiety. Learn more about PTSD

A more recent RAND Corp. study, released in April this year, found that nearly 20 percent -- or one in five returning war veterans -- reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression. But, only slightly more than half of them sought treatment, the study found.

That compares with a prevalence of 4 percent for the general U.S. population, according to a 2005 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry."

Suicide Attempts for Vets Jump 500% in Five Years

Suicide Attempts for Vets Jump 500% in Five Years, and Government Ignores It : 

"This year, in recognition of National Suicide Prevention Week (Sept. 7-13), the Army chose the theme 'Shoulder-to-Shoulder: No Soldier Stands Alone,' 'to emphasize the strength of the Army Family when it works together to tackle tough problems.'

It has not been a good week for the Army Family in spite of the special attention."

Soldier in famous photo never defeated 'demons'

Soldier in famous photo never defeated 'demons'
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Story from CBS News with photo

This is the story of Joseph Dwyer, who became famous for being the subject of a photo taken in the first days of the Iraq war. The photograph made him a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. He was hailed as a hero, yet the war and its aftermath became a personal nightmare that eventually took his life.


Returning to the U.S. in June 2003, after 91 days in Iraq, Dwyer seemed a shell to friends.

When he deployed, he was pudgy at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds. Now he weighed around 165, and the other Musketeers immediately thought of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dwyer attributed his skeletal appearance to long days and a diet of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). He showed signs of his jolly old self, so his friends accepted his explanation.

But they soon noticed changes that were more than cosmetic.

At restaurants, Dwyer insisted on sitting with his back to the wall so no one could sneak up on him. He turned down invitations to the movies, saying the theaters were too crowded. He said the desert landscape around El Paso, and the dark-skinned Hispanic population, reminded him of Iraq.

Dwyer, raised Roman Catholic but never particularly religious before, now would spend lunchtime by himself, poring over his Bible.

When people would teasingly call him "war hero" and ask him to tell about his experiences, or about the famous photo, he would steer the conversation toward the others he'd served with. But Dwyer once confided that another image, also involving a child, disturbed him.

He was standing next to a soldier during a firefight when a boy rode up on a bicycle and stopped beside a weapon lying in the dirt. Under his breath, the soldier beside Dwyer whispered, "Don't pick it up, kid. Don't pick it up."

The boy reached for the weapon and was blasted off his bike."

In and out of treatment for more than 4 years, Dwyer's condition worsened.

"On Oct. 6, 2005, when superiors went to the couple's off-base apartment to persuade Dwyer to return to the hospital, Dwyer barricaded himself in. Imagining Iraqis swarming up the sides and across the roof, he fired his pistol through the door, windows and ceiling.

After a three-hour standoff, Dwyer's eldest brother, Brian, also a police officer, managed to talk him down over the phone. Dwyer was admitted for psychiatric treatment.
In a telephone interview later that month from what he called the 'nut hut' at Beaumont, Dwyer told Newsday that he'd lied on a post-deployment questionnaire that asked whether he'd been disturbed by what he'd seen and done in Iraq. The reason: A PTSD diagnosis could interfere with his plans to seek a police job. Besides, he'd been conditioned to see it as a sign of weakness.

'I'm a soldier,' he said. 'I suck it up. That's our job.'

Dwyer told the newspaper that he'd blown off counseling before but was committed to embracing his treatment this time. He said he hoped to become an envoy to others who avoided treatment for fear of damaging their careers.

'There's a lot of soldiers suffering in silence,' he said.

In January 2006, Joseph and Matina Dwyer moved back to North Carolina, away from the place that reminded him so much of the battlefield. But his shadow enemy followed him here."

-----

"In July 2007, Dwyer checked into an inpatient program at New York's Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He stayed for six months.

He came home in March with more than a dozen prescriptions. He was so medicated that his feet flopped when he walked, as if he were wearing oversized clown shoes.

The VA's solution was a "pharmaceutical lobotomy," his father thought.

But within five days of his discharge, Dwyer's symptoms had returned with such ferocity that the family decided it was time to get Matina and 2-year-old Meagan out. While Dwyer was off buying inhalants, his parents helped spirit them away.

On April 10, weary and fearful, Matina Dwyer filed for custody and division of property.

Without his wife and daughter to anchor him, Dwyer's grip on reality loosened further. He reverted to Iraq time, sleeping during the day and "patrolling" all night. Unable to possess a handgun, he placed knives around the house for protection.

In those last months, Dwyer opened up a little to his parents.

What bothered him most, he said, was the sheer volume of the gunfire. He talked about the grisly wounds he'd treated and dwelled on the people he was unable to save. His nasal membranes seemed indelibly stained with the scents of the battlefield — the sickeningly sweet odor of rotting flesh and the metallic smell of blood.

Yet despite all that, Dwyer continued to talk about going back to Iraq. He told his parents that if he could just get back with his comrades and do his job, things would right themselves.

When Maureen Dwyer first saw Zinn's famous photo, she'd had a premonition that it might be the last picture she'd ever see of Joseph.

"I just didn't think he was going to come home," she said. "And he never did."

On June 28, 2008, the famous soldier, Joseph Dwyer, died of an accidental overdose by a refrigerant-based aerosol normally used to clean electrical equipment.

America's Medicated Army

America's Medicated Army - TIME:

Some excerpts from this interesting article on the use of medication to treat the emotional and mental trauma, not within the theater of war and on the battlefield.

"When it comes to fighting wars, though, troops have historically been barred from using such drugs in combat. And soldiers — who are younger and healthier on average than the general population — have been prescreened for mental illnesses before enlisting.

"The increase in the use of medication among U.S. troops suggests the heavy mental and psychological price being paid by soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pentagon surveys show that while all soldiers deployed to a war zone will feel stressed, 70% will manage to bounce back to normalcy. But about 20% will suffer from what the military calls "temporary stress injuries," and 10% will be afflicted with "stress illnesses." Such ailments, according to briefings commanders get before deploying, begin with mild anxiety and irritability, difficulty sleeping, and growing feelings of apathy and pessimism. As the condition worsens, the feelings last longer and can come to include panic, rage, uncontrolled shaking and temporary paralysis. The symptoms often continue back home, playing a key role in broken marriages, suicides and psychiatric breakdowns. The mental trauma has become so common that the Pentagon may expand the list of "qualifying wounds" for a Purple Heart — historically limited to those physically injured on the battlefield — to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on May 2 that it's "clearly something" that needs to be considered, and the Pentagon is weighing the change.

"At least 115 soldiers killed themselves last year, including 36 in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army said on May 29. That's the highest toll since it started keeping such records in 1980. Nearly 40% of Army suicide victims in 2006 and 2007 took psychotropic drugs — overwhelmingly, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac and Zoloft. While the Army cites failed relationships as the primary cause, some outside experts sense a link between suicides and prescription-drug use — though there is also no way of knowing how many suicide attempts the antidepressants may have prevented by improving a soldier's spirits. 'The high percentage of U.S. soldiers attempting suicide after taking SSRIs should raise serious concerns,' says Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, who teaches psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. 'And there's no question they're using them to prop people up in difficult circumstances.'"

War’s Stresses Take Toll on Military’s Chaplains

War’s Stresses Take Toll on Military’s Chaplains - NYTimes.com:

It is not only the combat soldier who can experience the effects of war. Those who minister to them are also at risk. This article focuses both on the effects of personal trauma as well as the toll of chaplains who do their best to be of service.

"Just as it has claimed so many other members of the military, the war in Iraq has taken a toll on chaplains. Although they do not engage in combat, chaplains face the perils of war as they move around Iraq to visit troops. None have been killed, but some, like Chaplain Brunk, have been wounded. Many report post-traumatic stress disorder and other stress problems."

After being injured by a bomb blast, Chaplain Brunk was returned to service several times. Even after losing 3 days of memory and passing out during a meeting, it took a Vietnam vet to recognize the signs of PTSD and get him returned stateside, where he how ministers to soldiers at Ft. Hood in Killeen, TX.

Reports of stress disorder leap in military

Reports of stress disorder leap in military - CNN.com:

Army statistics provided by a source that could not be identified because she was not authorized to do so show that incidents of PTSD jumped 47% between 2006 and 2007. Some of the increase is attributed to "better awareness and improved record-keeping." Most of the new cases are found in the ranks of the Army.

Also in this article is an interesting observation by one soldier that shows another disturbing potential trend: diagnosing brain injury as PTSD because it is less expensive to compensate.

"A study published in January indicated that troops who suffered concussions were far more likely to experience PTSD.
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"One soldier who suffers frequent nightmares because of PTSD suspected the military preferred to diagnose the disorder rather than brain injury to save money.

"'The military doesn't want to diagnose people with brain injury,' Sgt. Ryan Kahlor told CNN in January. 'So what they'll do is play it off as PTSD as the sole injury for everyone, because PTSD and traumatic brain injury have very similar symptoms. The disability [compensation] is a lot higher for traumatic brain injury.'"

Memorial Day 2008

My draft number was 37. I had already made the trip to Dallas for the mandated physical exams and tests, and with that low number, it was very clear that I would be in basic training within the next few months. It was a very scary time for me. I thought about Canada a lot, but just knew that was out of the question.

What would it be like to be drafted? As a thin, weakling of a teenager with really bad eyesight, would I even survive boot camp?

Then, Richard Nixon ended the draft and, I truly believe, saved my life.

Memorial Day Holidays are always odd for me. For the most part, I don't know what to feel. The sacrifices of tens of thousands of men - and now women - in wars fought for righteous as well as questionable reasons are really very dear. But it is not only those who die that need to be remembered.

My work as executive director of Ravens Grove Foundation for Healing and the Returning Warriors program it sponsors has made it clear to me first hand that the ravages of war are visited on more than those who die. Vietnam veterans, as well as many survivors of World War II, continue to suffer physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wounds. This is not academic. This is as real as it gets.

Many soldiers returning from the Middle East are raw. They have not yet recognized how deeply wounded they are. Estimates range between 30% to 50% of these warriors face the unrelenting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or fierce depression. The latest studies suggest that the number of suicides among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan will eventually exceed the number actually killed in battle. And this does not take into account those fighting in other "little wars" around the globe.

It is not only the veteran who suffers. Families are broken or destroyed, as well. Wives awaken in the night being beaten by their husbands in the grip of a flashback fueled nightmare, or watch helplessly as they rummage through closets and drawers looking for clues about who they used to be. Children hide from once loving parents, not comprehending what is happening, what they might have done. Employers see once productive workers return with problems so serious they can no longer even come to work some days.

These stories are certainly not true of all veterans. This I know. But it is true for far, far too many.

We cannot comprehend the horror of this kind of warfare from our office desks and living room sofas. We see images; we hear the stories; yet we cannot really begin to imagine. The only ones who can are brothers in arms. If you are one of them, you know. If not, you cannot understand and no amount of explaining can ever truly awaken your comprehension. You remain outside no matter how much you care or how much you try.

Many who attend the Returning Warriors retreats have been carrying their scars for more than 40 years since Vietnam. Some have become fairly successful in managing their wounds and do fairly well, according to our cultural standards. Others walk alone the dark shadows at the fringe of society. working at odd jobs or even seeking handouts - constant, uncomfortable cornerside reminders that the American Dream has many holes and a small net, even for those who sacrificed everything but their lives.

So, for me, Memorial Day is about more than remembering those who have given their lives. It's also about honoring the "walking dead and wounded" among us, their families, and their communities as well.

In a very real sense, Memorial Day includes us all. Let us remember. Let us be grateful. Let us DO something to help.

For Women Warriors, Deep Wounds, Little Care

Op-Ed Contributor - For Women Warriors, Deep Wounds, Little Care - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com:

Some quotes from this excellent article:

"Last month, when the RAND Corporation released the biggest non-military survey of the mental health of troops since 2001, it unwittingly reflected this lack of research. The survey found that women suffer from higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression than men do, but it neglected to look into why this might be, and asked no questions about abuse from fellow soldiers."

"As the more than 191,500 women who have served in the Middle East since 2001 return home, they will increasingly flood the Veterans Affairs system. To ask those who need help for post-traumatic stress disorder to turn to a typical Veterans Affairs hospital, built in the 1950s and designed to treat men, is untenable. Women who have been raped or sexually assaulted often cannot face therapy groups or medical facilities full of men."

"Women are the fastest-growing group of veterans, and by 2020 they are projected to account for 20 percent of all veterans under the age of 45. Not all of these women will have suffered sexual assault, but many will have medical or psychological needs that conventional department hospitals cannot meet."

Being sexually assaulted by one's fellow soldiers is very much like abuse within the family. Nearly every soldier in every branch reports that the armed forces becomes their "family" and other soldiers become their "brothers." In that way, military sexual abuse is very much like incest abuse. The feelings of betrayal, shame, and outrage are virtually identical.

The Returning Warriors retreat program is also very capable of addressing the trauma of female survivors of such abuse.