Veterans in need of counseling, support or information to deal with mental and emotional issues can now turn to an online, interactive program called Vets Prevail. The services are provided confidentially and free of charge.
The website allows veterans to connect with other vets through forums, blogs and multimedia content. Vets can also sign up for a six-week online mental health program tool designed to help them build resilience and readjust to life after deployment. The aim of the training is to help vets tackle negative emotions and keep the trauma of the battlefield from affecting daily life and relationships.
About 500 veterans will be able to access the training program based on funds provided by Major League Baseball and the McCormick Foundation. However, organizers aim to continue the service with additional funding.
READ MORE @ LS ANGELES TIMES
Showing posts with label veterans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label veterans. Show all posts
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
From War to Home: Psychiatric Emergencies of Returning Veterans
Since the time of Homer, warriors have returned from battle with wounds both physical and psychological, and healers from priests to physicians have tried to relieve the pain of injured bodies and tormented minds.1 The "soldier’s heart" of the American Civil War and the shell shock of World War I both describe the human toll of combat that since Vietnam has been clinically recognized as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).2 The veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) share with their brothers and sisters in arms the high cost of war. As of August 2009, there have been 4333 confirmed deaths of US service men and women and 31,156 wounded in Iraq. As of this writing, 796 US soldiers have died in the fighting in Afghanistan.3
Yet, there are also unique aspects of the combat experience of these veterans that influence their psychiatric presentations in acute settings.
First, far more of the troops (up to 45%) are reserve or National Guard rather than active duty compared with earlier wars.4 Their combat exposure, severity of PTSD, and impairments in interpersonal functioning are more similar to those experienced by career military.5 These individuals are most likely to appear in crises in community emergency departments (EDs); they may present with problems that may be different from veterans of previous wars or from soldiers in active military duty.
Typical presenting symptoms are marital stress from unexpectedly long deployments of 15 months (rather than the standard 12), employment concerns, financial stresses, and overall difficulty in reintegrating into civilian life. The absence of a strong military identity and cohesion, geographical separation from comrades, greater stigma, and misunderstanding from communities without exposure to the military or combat trauma serve as formidable barriers to care for these citizen-soldiers.
READ MORE @ PSYCHIATRIC TIMES
Yet, there are also unique aspects of the combat experience of these veterans that influence their psychiatric presentations in acute settings.
First, far more of the troops (up to 45%) are reserve or National Guard rather than active duty compared with earlier wars.4 Their combat exposure, severity of PTSD, and impairments in interpersonal functioning are more similar to those experienced by career military.5 These individuals are most likely to appear in crises in community emergency departments (EDs); they may present with problems that may be different from veterans of previous wars or from soldiers in active military duty.
Typical presenting symptoms are marital stress from unexpectedly long deployments of 15 months (rather than the standard 12), employment concerns, financial stresses, and overall difficulty in reintegrating into civilian life. The absence of a strong military identity and cohesion, geographical separation from comrades, greater stigma, and misunderstanding from communities without exposure to the military or combat trauma serve as formidable barriers to care for these citizen-soldiers.
READ MORE @ PSYCHIATRIC TIMES
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
After Combat, Victims of an Inner War
Sgt. Jacob Blaylock flipped on the video camera he had set up in a trailer at the Tallil military base, southeast of Baghdad.
He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, blew the smoke upward.
“Hey, it’s Jackie,” he said. “It’s the 20th of April. We go home in six days. I lost two good friends on the 14th. I’m having a hard time dealing with it.”
For almost a year, the soldiers of the 1451st Transportation Company had been escorting trucks full of gasoline, building materials and other supplies along Iraq’s dark, dangerous highways. There had been injuries, but no one had died.
Their luck evaporated less than two weeks before they were to return home, in the spring of 2007. A scout truck driving at the front of a convoy late at night hit a homemade bomb buried in the asphalt. Two soldiers, Sgt. Brandon Wallace and Sgt. Joshua Schmit, were killed.
The deaths stunned the unit, part of the North Carolina National Guard. The two men were popular and respected — “big personalities,” as one soldier put it. Sergeant Blaylock, who was close to both men, seemed especially shaken. Sometime earlier, feeling the strain of riding the gunner position in the exposed front truck, he had switched places with Sergeant Wallace, moving to a Humvee at the rear.
READ MORE @ NY TIMES
He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, blew the smoke upward.
“Hey, it’s Jackie,” he said. “It’s the 20th of April. We go home in six days. I lost two good friends on the 14th. I’m having a hard time dealing with it.”
For almost a year, the soldiers of the 1451st Transportation Company had been escorting trucks full of gasoline, building materials and other supplies along Iraq’s dark, dangerous highways. There had been injuries, but no one had died.
Their luck evaporated less than two weeks before they were to return home, in the spring of 2007. A scout truck driving at the front of a convoy late at night hit a homemade bomb buried in the asphalt. Two soldiers, Sgt. Brandon Wallace and Sgt. Joshua Schmit, were killed.
The deaths stunned the unit, part of the North Carolina National Guard. The two men were popular and respected — “big personalities,” as one soldier put it. Sergeant Blaylock, who was close to both men, seemed especially shaken. Sometime earlier, feeling the strain of riding the gunner position in the exposed front truck, he had switched places with Sergeant Wallace, moving to a Humvee at the rear.
READ MORE @ NY TIMES
Friday, July 17, 2009
Vets’ Mental Health Diagnoses Rising
A new study has found that more than one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who enrolled in the veterans health system after 2001 received a diagnosis of a mental health problem, most often post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
The study by researchers at the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, also found that the number of veterans found to have mental health problems rose steadily the longer they were out of the service.
The study, released Thursday, was based on the department health records of 289,328 veterans involved in the two wars who used the veterans health system for the first time from April 1, 2002, to April 1, 2008.
The researchers found that 37 percent of those people received mental health diagnoses. Of those, the diagnosis for 22 percent was post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, for 17 percent it was depression and for 7 percent it was alcohol abuse. One-third of the people with mental health diagnoses had three or more problems, the study found.
READ MORE @ NYTIMES
The study by researchers at the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, also found that the number of veterans found to have mental health problems rose steadily the longer they were out of the service.
The study, released Thursday, was based on the department health records of 289,328 veterans involved in the two wars who used the veterans health system for the first time from April 1, 2002, to April 1, 2008.
The researchers found that 37 percent of those people received mental health diagnoses. Of those, the diagnosis for 22 percent was post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, for 17 percent it was depression and for 7 percent it was alcohol abuse. One-third of the people with mental health diagnoses had three or more problems, the study found.
READ MORE @ NYTIMES
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD Announces: Vets' Sudden Cardiac Deaths Are Not Suicides or Overdoses
Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD today announced the results of his research into the "series" of veterans' deaths acknowledged by the Surgeon General of the Army.
Upon reading the May 24, 2008, Charleston (WV) Gazette article "Vets taking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder drugs die in sleep," Baughman began to investigate why these reported deaths were "different." And, why they were likely, the "tip of an iceberg."
Andrew White, Eric Layne, Nicholas Endicott and Derek Johnson were four West Virginia veterans who died in their sleep in early 2008. Baughman's research suggests that they did not commit suicide and did not overdose as suggested by the military. All were diagnosed with PTSD. All seemed "normal" when they went to bed. And, all were on Klonopin (a benzodiazepine), Paxil (an SSRI antidepressant) and Seroquel (an antipsychotic).
On January 15, 2009, the New England Journal of Medicine (Ray et al), reported that antipsychotics double the risk of sudden cardiac death.
On February 7, 2008, Surgeon General Eric B. Schoomaker, said there has been "a series of deaths in Warrior Training Units" -- "often as a consequence of the use of multiple prescription and nonprescription medicines and alcohol ... we all saw the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger, the 'Brokeback Mountain' star, who died from an accidental overdose."
READ MORE @ PR NEWSWIRE
Upon reading the May 24, 2008, Charleston (WV) Gazette article "Vets taking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder drugs die in sleep," Baughman began to investigate why these reported deaths were "different." And, why they were likely, the "tip of an iceberg."
Andrew White, Eric Layne, Nicholas Endicott and Derek Johnson were four West Virginia veterans who died in their sleep in early 2008. Baughman's research suggests that they did not commit suicide and did not overdose as suggested by the military. All were diagnosed with PTSD. All seemed "normal" when they went to bed. And, all were on Klonopin (a benzodiazepine), Paxil (an SSRI antidepressant) and Seroquel (an antipsychotic).
On January 15, 2009, the New England Journal of Medicine (Ray et al), reported that antipsychotics double the risk of sudden cardiac death.
On February 7, 2008, Surgeon General Eric B. Schoomaker, said there has been "a series of deaths in Warrior Training Units" -- "often as a consequence of the use of multiple prescription and nonprescription medicines and alcohol ... we all saw the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger, the 'Brokeback Mountain' star, who died from an accidental overdose."
READ MORE @ PR NEWSWIRE
Friday, January 2, 2009
Researchers Look for Link Between Brain Injury, Psychiatric Illness
A range of psychiatric symptoms can follow combat-related head injuries, but establishing cause and long-term effect awaits longitudinal research.
Traumatic brain injury, the hallmark wound of the war in Iraq, may cause a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders, but more prospective research is needed to understand its long-term effects, a committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in December 2008.
"There is a paucity of information in the scientific literature regarding the sequelae of blast injury, and there is a need for prospective, longitudinal studies to confirm reports of long-term effects of exposure to blasts," said the report, commissioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs and based on an analysis of 1,900 peer-reviewed studies.
READ MORE @ PSYCHIATRIC NEWS
Traumatic brain injury, the hallmark wound of the war in Iraq, may cause a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders, but more prospective research is needed to understand its long-term effects, a committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in December 2008.
"There is a paucity of information in the scientific literature regarding the sequelae of blast injury, and there is a need for prospective, longitudinal studies to confirm reports of long-term effects of exposure to blasts," said the report, commissioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs and based on an analysis of 1,900 peer-reviewed studies.
READ MORE @ PSYCHIATRIC NEWS
Saturday, November 8, 2008
US general bucks military silence on mental health
It takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did in Iraq.
It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.
Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.
"It's part of our profession. ... Nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said about mental health problems among troops who return from America's two wars.
"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."
As the United States marks another Veterans Day on Tuesday, thousands of troops continue coming home with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.
Up to 20 percent of the more than 1.7 million who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to have symptoms. In a sign of how tough it may be to change attitudes, roughly half those who need help are not seeking it, studies have found.
READ MORE @ INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.
Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.
"It's part of our profession. ... Nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said about mental health problems among troops who return from America's two wars.
"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."
As the United States marks another Veterans Day on Tuesday, thousands of troops continue coming home with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.
Up to 20 percent of the more than 1.7 million who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to have symptoms. In a sign of how tough it may be to change attitudes, roughly half those who need help are not seeking it, studies have found.
READ MORE @ INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Suicide by Guard, Reserve Troops Studied
National Guard and Reserve troops who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan make up more than half of veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those wars, according to new government data obtained by The Associated Press.
A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars — obtained exclusively by The AP — found that Guard or Reserve members were 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.
The research, conducted by the agency's Office of Environmental Epidemiology, provides the first demographic look at suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who left the military — a situation that veterans and mental health advocates worry might worsen as the wars drag on.
Upon learning of the VA's findings on Tuesday, the Veterans of Foreign Wars called for the Pentagon and the VA to combine their efforts to track suicides among those who have served in those countries in order to get a clearer picture of the problem.
"We're very concerned for the overall well-being of our military men and women as well as our veterans and want to know, is there a growing problem that needs to be addressed by both the (Defense Department) and the VA?" said Joe Davis, the VFW's public affairs director. "To fix a problem, you have to define it first."
Military leaders have leaned heavily on Guard and Reserve troops in the wars. At certain times in 2005, members of the Guard and Reserve made up nearly half the troops fighting in Iraq.
Overall, they were nearly 28 percent of all U.S. military forces deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or in support of the operations, according to Defense Department data through the end of 2007.
READ MORE @ ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars — obtained exclusively by The AP — found that Guard or Reserve members were 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.
The research, conducted by the agency's Office of Environmental Epidemiology, provides the first demographic look at suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who left the military — a situation that veterans and mental health advocates worry might worsen as the wars drag on.
Upon learning of the VA's findings on Tuesday, the Veterans of Foreign Wars called for the Pentagon and the VA to combine their efforts to track suicides among those who have served in those countries in order to get a clearer picture of the problem.
"We're very concerned for the overall well-being of our military men and women as well as our veterans and want to know, is there a growing problem that needs to be addressed by both the (Defense Department) and the VA?" said Joe Davis, the VFW's public affairs director. "To fix a problem, you have to define it first."
Military leaders have leaned heavily on Guard and Reserve troops in the wars. At certain times in 2005, members of the Guard and Reserve made up nearly half the troops fighting in Iraq.
Overall, they were nearly 28 percent of all U.S. military forces deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or in support of the operations, according to Defense Department data through the end of 2007.
READ MORE @ ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Veterans are denied mental health help
After two combat tours in Iraq on a "quick reaction team" that picked up body parts after suicide bombings, Donald Schmidt began suffering from nightmares and paranoia. Then he had a nervous breakdown.
The military discharged Schmidt last Oct. 31 for problems they said resulted not from post-traumatic stress disorder but rather from a personality disorder that pre-dated his military service.
Schmidt's mother, Patrice Semtner-Myers, says her son was told that if he agreed to leave the Army he'd get full benefits. Earlier this month, however, they got a bill in the mail from a collection agency working for the government, demanding that he repay his re-enlistment bonus, plus interest — $14,597.72.
Schmidt, 23, who lives near Peoria, Ill., is one of more than 22,000 service members the military has discharged in recent years for "pre-existing personality disorders" it says were missed when they signed up.
"They used these guys up, and now they're done with them and they're throwing them away," Semtner-Myers said.
Her frustration extends to Capitol Hill, where the stage is being set for a confrontation between Congress and the Pentagon.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, calls the treatment of these troops "disgraceful."
READ MORE @ ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
The military discharged Schmidt last Oct. 31 for problems they said resulted not from post-traumatic stress disorder but rather from a personality disorder that pre-dated his military service.
Schmidt's mother, Patrice Semtner-Myers, says her son was told that if he agreed to leave the Army he'd get full benefits. Earlier this month, however, they got a bill in the mail from a collection agency working for the government, demanding that he repay his re-enlistment bonus, plus interest — $14,597.72.
Schmidt, 23, who lives near Peoria, Ill., is one of more than 22,000 service members the military has discharged in recent years for "pre-existing personality disorders" it says were missed when they signed up.
"They used these guys up, and now they're done with them and they're throwing them away," Semtner-Myers said.
Her frustration extends to Capitol Hill, where the stage is being set for a confrontation between Congress and the Pentagon.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, calls the treatment of these troops "disgraceful."
READ MORE @ ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
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