Have PTSD & Traumatic Brain Injury recognized as legitimate combat injuries & recognized far sooner. This question extends outside the US & beyond the uneven & haphazard attention of the past century.
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PTSD & TBI Dealt With Better
- Thread starter Carl Schwamberger
- Start date
Bullet and shrapnel wounds, burns and missing body parts were easy to diagnose, but cowardice, shell shock and concussion were not. MRIs and CAT scans helped some, but medical science don't have all the answers yet. It used to be courts martial and death squads, but it's better now. Unfortunately, there are budgetary issues, so flagrant optimism doesn't seem all that viable an option. Sorry it's not a very good answer.
Probably a large study of concussion cases & follow up autopsies. It would have to be a large and long running study to sort through the competing hypothesis & observations, but throughly monitoring WWI concussion cases could give some early insights by the latter 1920s. Even today the methodical forensic examination of concussed brains is fairly thin.
PSTD I'm far less sure of. Not having Freud dominating psychiatry? "Sorry you ran away from your regiment Smith. Now tell me how you feel about your mother?"
PSTD I'm far less sure of. Not having Freud dominating psychiatry? "Sorry you ran away from your regiment Smith. Now tell me how you feel about your mother?"
In OTL, you had the rare war hero like Audie Murphy bring it up who nobody dared label a coward for it.
It still look until 1980 for it to gain recognition as a medical disorder.
One thing that would help? Kill all the Vietnam era movies that have PTSD as a plot device to turn veterans into monsters, that poisoned the well on public perception to this day.
It still look until 1980 for it to gain recognition as a medical disorder.
One thing that would help? Kill all the Vietnam era movies that have PTSD as a plot device to turn veterans into monsters, that poisoned the well on public perception to this day.
Yes, the Viet Nam vet as a angry dangerous man. That existed in the public mind by 1972, when I first heard a psycho vet story. There were a few sympathetic depictions on TV or the movies, but the Hollywood take on the Rambo story was the stereotype.
For the Wars like the civil-war War, World War I, World Warand Korea does not have, at first glance, as much
I love in particular to see what was the difference I realize a lot of people had it I self medication and Kenny are able to function. Is the size and popularity of the were they fight in, which I know that's hard to vary or varies because of the people not reporting it. If anybody link to it I think a percentage of soldiers versus population. Also I didn't man8 onsion be civilians even not in the battlefield can get a part of the PST syndrome to my father was in the Army at Iwo Jima to take care of any
Malcontents the
I think you can expedite treatment by society or the military, by looking at veterans with PTSD from a different angle. Namely, what characteristics make an effective soldier and, what factors negatively impact on this effective state. Consequently, when a soldier is outside of the optimal norm, he is treated to restore him to the ideal state. A roundabout way to establish better care for veterans, but a starting point nonetheless.
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This was approached in a fashion by some doctors all along, but never took hold. During the Viet Nam war battle fatigue-the early stage of PSTD was treated by 24-48 hours rest. The soldier was allowed to sleep for a day, & drugged if he couldn't. This removed the visible symptoms & the soldier was sent back to his unit. Little in the way of follow up was done to find corellations between the soldiers treated this way & post treatment behavior. Or if the soldiers even survived the next week of combat.
The psych evaluations used to screen recruits are aimed at eliminating recruits unfit for training & military discipline, but I doubt they relate in any way to fitness for combat.
A coworker of mine & I have twice discussed the possible relationship to male pattern schizophrenia. Several of the veterans we have dealt with fit that diagnosis & have been diagnosed such by the qualified. What we were struck by are the similarities between those & the others diagnosed with PSTD.
In terms of scientific progress in understanding the mind we are hardly past the level of the Stone Age surgeons who were attempting brain surgery.
Whether or not soldiers suffer PTSD depends upon how they are treated before and after battle. Modern armies now teach resiliency to soldiers before they deploy to fight overseas.
After the battle, soldiers are encouraged to talk over their experiences with buddies then quietly go home.
The worst thing you can do to a veteran is ask him/her to repeat his story dozens of times. Repetition burns miserable memories into long-term memory.
In my case, I was injured in a plane crash and was ready to forget the experience a couple of months after the accident. But lawyers forced me to testify a dozen times and dragged lawsuits out for 9 miserable years. They never compensated me for any lost wages, surgery or psychological problems that ocuured during the lengthy legal process.
Guess how much I trust lawyers now?
One ancient African tribe used to welcome warriors home with a big party. He told his tales to his entire tribe. His uniform was burned and his spear was buried. That ceremony marked the end of his fighting days.
As for TBI ... the stereotype of punch-drunk boxers has been around for centuries, but armies preferred to ignore it. They hoped that brain-injured soldiers would die before collecting much of their pensions.
The Afghan War saw two major changes. First armoured vehicles, body and head armour helped far more amputees survive.
Secondly, larger and larger road-side bombs tossed soldiers about inside armoured vehicles until tumbling did more brain-damage than blast.
After the battle, soldiers are encouraged to talk over their experiences with buddies then quietly go home.
The worst thing you can do to a veteran is ask him/her to repeat his story dozens of times. Repetition burns miserable memories into long-term memory.
In my case, I was injured in a plane crash and was ready to forget the experience a couple of months after the accident. But lawyers forced me to testify a dozen times and dragged lawsuits out for 9 miserable years. They never compensated me for any lost wages, surgery or psychological problems that ocuured during the lengthy legal process.
Guess how much I trust lawyers now?
One ancient African tribe used to welcome warriors home with a big party. He told his tales to his entire tribe. His uniform was burned and his spear was buried. That ceremony marked the end of his fighting days.
As for TBI ... the stereotype of punch-drunk boxers has been around for centuries, but armies preferred to ignore it. They hoped that brain-injured soldiers would die before collecting much of their pensions.
The Afghan War saw two major changes. First armoured vehicles, body and head armour helped far more amputees survive.
Secondly, larger and larger road-side bombs tossed soldiers about inside armoured vehicles until tumbling did more brain-damage than blast.
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Yeah its tragic. Tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting one vet to help work out a financial salvage plan. He's three months behind on the mortgage, has unpaid utility bills & has been unemployed for near six months. The county VSO has after two months of effort gotten him plugged into the VA treatment program. Later tomorrow I'll be doing a second interview on another with significant mental health issues, Last week I did a finical assessment on a vet & got up to speed on his supervision by the state veterans court. He's seeing a VA psychiatrist twice a week & a civilian MH therapist once a week. I do this part time a few hours a week, but it has added up to over 120 stories in the last four years.
Until the 21st Century most died before they saw their next pay day.
& the field surgeons are keeping more of them alive in the trauma treatment stage. Large numbers of US soldiers who would have returned in a casket are returning with major injuries to their brain & spinal cord. Often unrecognized at discharge. We have hardly started to recognize this problem let alone understand what we are really going to be dealing with.
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That's the thing, the US mental health treatment lagged badly. You'd need an earlier cultural overhaul around the subject of mental health. As you're pointing out even now we're criminally backwards on helping vets; thanks for doing what you're doing for these guys.
Same for the North American tribes. We held a ceremony for a returning vet who had been pretty badly wounded. Emotional, it doesn't even begin to describe it. It helped her a lot.
I've seen such things successful, and others backfire. Theres a delicate balance between drawing out & pushing too hard.
Too many for a one fit all policy. Best to try to keep things flexible with the treatments and followups. I can only sympathize and feel for those that have suffered these horrific situations. Both the physical and the mental toll continues to effect them throughout their lives.
I too wish to thank folks like Carl who try to do their best.
I too wish to thank folks like Carl who try to do their best.