From a new bill that expands our efforts to treat military members with PTSD to a controversial experiment trying to predict it, the country was buzzing with PTSD news this week.
Here are our picks for the top 5 stories that you might have missed:
1. The Many Faces of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – “Because what you have left to live for is the rest of your life.” Matt Gutman writes about PTSD in light of the Fort Hood Tragedy.
2. Teague Basks in Success of PTSD Bill – A win for warriors suffering from PTSD, getting more of the support they need.
3. The Hell of PTSD – An intimate look at a soldier’s struggle with PTSD by Tim McGirk.
4. Military Experiment seeks to predict PTSD – New study asks the question “Can we identify a person’s risk of getting PTSD?” and looks for the answer.
5. Military PTSD Study Way Off Target – Diana Hartman’s insightful perspective on the experiment linked above.
And here is a sixth story that is developing for next week:
6. Vietnam Vet Stages Hunger Strike in Front of White House to Raise Awareness About PTSD – Ongoing story of Thomas E. Mahany, a veteran who’s been on a hunger strike since Veteran’s day.
I am writing this entry to shed some light on the Fort Hood shootings from my perspective as well as to show my interview with FOX 5 regarding PTSD and pre and post deployment screenings for Mental Health issues.
I believe that social media outlets should be a part of this solution but it is also necessary to use other tools that will need to be thoroughly researched and evaluated. This will also need to be accomplished as soon as possible. I know that with the efficiency and dedication of the people currently working on the resiliency projects in the Army and Air National Guard will help get the job done, but I also know that a joint effort will more quickly enable solution to this issue.
What I find is that these games bring me back to when I was deployed. There is tons of action, explosions, small arms fire, bombers, mortars, air defense, compatriots, and stress. This stress is short lived and not constant but it is there. The sounds are there, the graphics are extremely life like. It brings me back to a place where I felt that what I was doing was important on a global level. It has instant highs and lows: one round you may do excellent and 5 minutes later at the end of the next round you are completely disappointed with your performance. It’s a way to get some of the good and bad feelings back from my deployment and without the bad you don’t realize how great the good ones are. I am sure this sounds odd to those who haven’t experienced a deployment. It is definitely a unique way to feel when you return home and since for me it has been almost exactly 5 years since my return it obviously has had a long lasting effect on my life.
