tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52629259834646830512024-03-14T00:31:48.215-04:00De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's GuideMaking life after combat better for veterans and their families while taking the mystery out of PTSDKathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-16239441210548656072016-02-07T07:49:00.001-05:002018-09-22T08:29:44.687-04:00PTSD Survivors Guide, Proceed With Caution<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Between working full time and posting on <a href="http://www.combatptsdwoundedtimes.org/">Wounded Times</a> plus everything else, there are just not enough hours in the day to post here as well. I left it up for the sake of what is already here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Reading about a PDF download available with "<a href="http://newbook.com.readingpdf.com/?book=1500965693">The Survivor's Guide to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder</a>" made me just about pop my cork! I don't know what is in it but I had nothing to do with whatever whomever put in it. So proceed with caution knowing that.</span><br />
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<br />Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-38935834562082637672013-11-16T08:22:00.001-05:002018-09-22T08:33:30.899-04:00Combat PTSD Videos for Rainy Day<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here are some of my older videos that can help you understand combat PTSD. Most of them were made before 2009 and used to be up on YouTube. They have helped veterans and their families even though the new generation said the music is "sappy" but they got the point.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iN5E4197lDA" width="460"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You Can Heal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you have PTSD, know that you are not evil. Evil people do not feel that kind of pain and the do not grieve for others. You can heal and love again.</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/tkLlIshzGoU" width="460"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Oct 21, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are many things that keep getting missed when we talk about Combat and PTSD. This is to clear up the biggest one of all. What is courage and how does it link to being "mentally tough" so that you can push past what you were told about "resiliency" training. Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare of Wounded Times Blog tries to explain this in interview done by Union Squared Studios. woundedtimes.blogspot.com</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Kq2EBL17-DA" width="460"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forever Young
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZqFrLk77HqE" width="560"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My wish for veterans in the New Year is that all of you know how much it means to be able to spend so much time with all of you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"May God bless you and keep you always</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May your wishes all come true</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May you always do for others</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And let others do for you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May you build a ladder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To the stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And climb on every rung</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And may you stay</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forever young"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Iraq Vet talks about PTSD and his work with Point Man Ministries and how he didn't want to live.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Part One</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5jU8kk2YVuU" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Part Two
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">PTSD I Grieve</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For National Guardsmen and why you grieve.</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Bi1HJV1ZvM" width="420"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">PTSD HERO AFTER WAR</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9xAamP2Gs9w" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nam Nights of PTSD Still
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KNIDiGVz4S8" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Turn The Page of PTSD
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xTv3Kb4uHYk" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coming Out of the Dark</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Why be afraid if I'm not alone" the song start with and you are not alone. You can come out of the dark of PTSD and heal.
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nAV1iWTiVaY" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">PTSD Is Not God's Judgment
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0_djZFeSpdk" width="420"></iframe></span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-82585053366124336422013-10-01T20:04:00.001-04:002018-09-22T08:54:40.692-04:00Soldiers nothing more than lab rats for research project<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Soldiers nothing more than lab rats for research project</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">De-Tour Combat PTSD Survivors Guide</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kathie Costos</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">October 1, 2013
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well Suicide Awareness Month is over and so far we have not learned much. At least nothing that is good or hopeful. We do know the answers are out there, just as they have been for the last 40 years but with the way most reporters act, it is almost as if nothing has been learned.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First you need to know that it is not your fault. PTSD goes all the way back to the Old Testament and if you ever read the Psalms of David, you'd see it in his words and his heartbreak. That depth of pain few find the words to express come pouring out of him. It isn't new.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was a news report released today about WWI soldiers in what was most likely PTSD cases.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Call to rethink cases of French WWI 'coward' soldiers</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The report said many soldiers must have had "a moment of weakness or despair"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A panel of French historians has called for the records of soldiers who were shot for cowardice and desertion in World War I to be rewritten.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The historians' report, commissioned by the government, called for the cases of 650 men shot during the war to be reconsidered.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many of them are "worthy and deserving of moral, civic and public-spirited rehabilitation", the report says.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Veterans' minister Kader Arif has promised to consider the issue.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The report was sent to him ahead of next year's commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the war.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It concludes that most of those shot "were not cowards: they were good soldiers, who had done their duty and did not deserve death. The shame which came with their convictions deserves to be lifted."
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">President Francois Hollande has said that marking the anniversary will be "a major event" in his term of office.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24356041"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">read more here</span></a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One more example of how terrible it was back then along with the simple fact, we haven't come very far from those dark days after all the research and funding has been spent. We may not shoot PTSD soldiers anymore but we let the DOD discharge over 30,000 of them under personality disorders.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We need to get something out of the way. I'd rather see you angry than believe any of this is your fault. It isn't.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=16290">Army has just released the suicide numbers for August</a>. We don't know how many committed suicide in September yet but as of August this year has brought the end to 106 Soldiers and 66 Army National Guardsmen and 36 Army Reservists. For 2012 there were 185 Soldiers, 93 National Guardsmen and 47 Army Reservists.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you consider the troops left Iraq in 2011, the deaths since then are even more telling of the fact they have been nothing more than lab rats for a research project passed off as resilience training. Comprehensive Solider Fitness was based on a research project. The following is from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Warrior-Saw-Suicides-After/dp/1484129369/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">David Rudd was scheduled to work with University of Texas Health Sciences Center, the Warrior Resiliency Program at Brook Army Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania. It was supposed to be “clinical trails” to see if they could reduce the number of suicides because as the article quoted Rudd, “For the first time in history this January, more soldiers died by suicide than in combat” but since we just went through the deadliest year five years after the fact, it should give you a better perspective on what is actually going on here.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The program was designed for school age children and the creator didn’t think there was a single reason it wouldn’t work on the military. Experts started to line up and explain that to put a “program” into this kind of setting without being tested were not justified to justify the Army program.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bryant Welch was a bit harsher but closer to telling the truth about what many experts had confirmed in a nicer way.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“They had schoolchildren, each night, write down three positive things about themselves. And then they noticed in a follow-up study that those children felt better about themselves. But to go from that to saying that we can have a soldier in a foxhole who says positive things about himself and follows the precepts of this program, is going to watch his buddy blown to smithereens and spend four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and come out feeling better about himself, there is a shallowness to the assessment that, from my vantage point, I find abhorrent.”
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">DR. BESSEL VAN DER KOLK, Boston University School of Medicine: “It doesn't make sense from a neuroscience point of view, because -- and what all of our research shows is that trauma affects cognition. And the very piece that you need to think clearly and to be optimistic gets severely impacted by being traumatized. So, traumatized people cannot think straight because their brains are sort of locked in horror and terror.”
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Recently, the Army released an evaluation of the program, which said, in part, "There is now sound scientific evidence that Comprehensive Soldier Fitness improves the resilience and psychological health of soldiers.” But there is disagreement over that statement in psychiatric circles from doctors and Ph.D.s who say the evaluation is flawed and doesn't prove anything. Meanwhile, the Air Force is in the process of implementing its own version of the program.” (Army Program Aims to Build Troops Mental resilience to Stress, PBS News Hour, Judy Woodruff, December 14, 2011)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“The Army and the National Institute of Mental Health have begun a five-year, $50 million research program into the factors behind soldier suicides and how to prevent them, Army Secretary Pete Geren.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">(American Forces Press Service J.D. Leipold October 30, 2008)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is important to mention what has been going on behind the backs of the American people, especially military families because they thought the military has actually trying to take care of the men and women risking their lives for this country. They weren't.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While I heard the horror stories from veterans dealing with suffering after thinking PTSD was their fault and they tried to kill themselves because of how horrible it made them feel, they pointed to this training above anything else giving them a false sense of their own courage and mental fitness.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While Welch said the program was "abhorrent" what ended up being said last week by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/ray-odierno-military-suicides_n_3984359.html?utm_hp_ref=invisible-casualties">Army Chief Ray Odierno</a> actually confirmed what the soldiers and veterans were feeling about the way they were treated in an interview he gave to David Wood of the Huffington Post.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First he blamed the soldiers,
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After pushing this programming since 2009 he confirmed what he really thinks so he has no problem at all with what soldiers end up believing.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then he blamed the families.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"But it also has to do with where you come from. I came from a loving family, one who gave lots of positive reinforcement, who built up psychologically who I was, who I am, what I might want to do. It built confidence in myself, and I believe that enables you to better deal with stress. It enables you to cope more easily than maybe some other people."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So when you read about all these deaths, consider this. In 2009 after reading about this program and their attempts to brainwash the troops with a research project, I offered this warning.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2009/05/comprehensive-soldier-fitness-will-make.html">suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down</a>. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was right and so were the troops. They believed the DOD was blaming them and it turns out, they were.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We do know how to treat PTSD but it doesn't cost billions a year. As a matter of fact, it is free to anyone wanting to heal and has been done for almost 30 years. If you want to be cured, you can't be but you can be healed. You can live a better quality of life and heal where PTSD lives. In your soul. Contact <a href="http://www.pmim.org/">Point Man International Ministries</a> or me and lets get the stuff the DOD told you out of your head. It doesn't belong there.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As for not being tough enough, put it this way. Ask yourself how you managed to survived combat if you were not tough enough? Bet you pushed all that pain you were carrying aside because your buddies lives depended on you and you didn't allow yourself to feel it until you got back home. How tough it that? How much courage did that take? How much love did that require of you? See anything evil in there anymore? Good. Those thoughts don't belong in you anymore than what the General said.
</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-81507286758008129222013-09-19T07:02:00.001-04:002013-09-19T07:02:32.710-04:00Note to readersI am on a temp assignment again so if you need to keep up on the news, I am doing the best I can on Wounded Times to make sure reports are not forgotten about. A good example of this was the fact <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/mefloquine-stopped-for-green-berets-and.html">Green Berets, other elite Army forces ordered to stop taking anti-malarial drug mefloquine</a> after reports came out in 2004 about how dangers this drug was.
Sorry there has been little time to keep this page updated, so please go to the Wounded Times link above. I hope to be able to post here over the weekend.Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-19119816442528226482013-09-11T19:08:00.001-04:002018-09-22T08:55:04.927-04:00Do you think you are evil because of PTSD?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/suicide-prevention-starts-with-what.html">Suicide prevention starts with what works</a> and you can get a basic idea of what I'm talking about. It all boils down to one simple fact. What you need to heal is already within you. You just need help getting it all connected back again.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 21px;"><b>Do you think you are evil because of PTSD?</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">by Kathie Costos</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wounded Times Blog</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">April 22, 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hear it all the time. Veterans thinking PTSD is some kind of punishment from God. They start to believe they are evil because of the flashbacks and nightmares centered around what happened during combat. The things they see stay with them. That is why I wrote the title of THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. With the bombings in Boston, many said they saw things no one should ever have to see. Most of them were veterans. Seeing what man can do to others hits hard. It was not just seeing the evil that happened, but what came afterwards that was loving, kind and compassionate as total strangers rush to help the wounded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two people decided to do evil but hundreds decided to do good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When men and women are involved in combat they tend to focus on only the bad around them but even during war, there are acts of kindness and compassion surrounding them and when people are able to hang onto what is good surrounded by what they view as evil, there is evidence of God. It is hard to see Him when they see so much horror but He is always there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many believe because they are being haunted, it is punishment and then they do things based on that belief. They push people away, afraid to let them get too close or judge themselves to no longer be worthy of being loved. They cannot see the goodness that still remains within them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are questions that have to be asked of them usually centered around things they have forgotten. Ask them why they wanted to join the military and usually it is about someone else. They wanted to serve the country. They wanted to help the others serving. They wanted to give back. Is there anything evil or selfish in any of those answers? No. They forget that part. Ask them what they want to do once they heal and usually the answer is they want to help others heal too. Anything evil in that? No. Ask them if they grieve. Usually the answer is centered around other people they grieve for and not for themselves. Anything evil in that? No.</span><br />
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How do they go from being so unselfish to believing they are evil? They are judging themselves with focusing only on what was wrong, what they did wrong and the wrong done to others. No one showed them what they were unable to see. Once they see they grieve because they still have goodness within them, they begin to heal. They heal faster when they can forgive their enemies and even faster when they can forgive themselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/learning-to-forgive-yourself" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Learning to Forgive Yourself</a>, by Jean Lawrence on WebMD explored forgiving.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I think people often try to forgive themselves for the wrong things," says Joretta L. Marshall, PhD, a United Methodist minister and professor of pastoral care at the Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. "We think we ought to forgive ourselves for being human and making human mistakes. People don't have to forgive themselves for being who they are -- gay or lesbian, or having some kind of handicap. Forgiveness means being specific about what we did that needs forgiving."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forgiving yourself isn't a slogging, long-term, "good day/bad day" type of thing, Marshall says. "At some point," she says, "you reach a turning point. Something shifts. You feel less burdened, you have more energy. You live longer, you have better health."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"We all screw up sometime,"</span> Hartman says.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Forgiving ourselves is as close as we come to a system reset button."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is no trick to healing them. It is not magic. It is not anything I can do for them. It is what is already inside of them to heal. They just have to find the connections again and that has to start with helping them to see the goodness that still lived through everything they faced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is not up to us to dismiss what they feel they need forgiveness for but it is up to us to help them find it. It is not up to us to judge what they have done but to help them find peace. This is not about one group or denomination among Christians. It is not about one faith over another. I am a Christian, so that is what my work is based on but no matter what faith they have or lack, they are addressed as other humans based on what they already believe. My job is to help them rediscover everything they were born with and help them get past the pain by reminding them that evil people do not grieve for others or regret anything they did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That is the mission of Point Man International Ministries. It isn't expensive. Taking time and talking to veterans doesn't cost more than some books and coffee usually. Done in small groups, over the phone or thru emails, veterans have been healing since 1984 but this "moral injury" has been reported going back the the days when King David wrote about it in Psalms. You won't see huge fundraisers since most of us operate out of our pockets and don't have a clue how to raise money. Most of us are supported by generous churches valuing the work we do. It takes time, patience, compassion and love. We wouldn't do this work for "evil" people simply because it wouldn't work on the selfish. Selfish people do not care what God thinks of them. Loving people do. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">Last week I wrote two posts on healing and survivors guilt.<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/03/walking-point-out-of-ptsd-darkness.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Walking Point out of PTSD darkness</a> and <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/03/it-should-have-been-you-said-dying.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">"It should have been you" said dying Marine</a> Looking for more details to put into my new book, THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, I found one going back to a month after I started this blog. Considering yesterday I celebrated the fact this blog has been read 1 million times, I thought it would be good to share it with some of the new readers.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">Wednesday, September 26, 2007</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">Kathie Costos for Wounded Times</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/09/to-lay-down-his-life-for-sake-of-his.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">To lay down his life for the sake of his friends</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Do you think God abandoned you still? Come on and admit that while you were in the center of the trauma, you either felt the hand of God on your shoulder, or more often, never felt further from Him. In natural disasters, we pray to God to protect us. Yet when it's over we wonder why He didn't make the hurricane hit someplace else or why the tornadoes came and destroyed what we had while leaving the neighbors house untouched. We wonder why He heals some people while the people we love suffer. It is human nature to wonder, search for answers and try to understand.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">In times of combat, it is very hard to feel anything Godly. Humans are trying to kill other humans and the horrors of wars become an evil act. The absence of God becomes overwhelming. We wonder how a loving God who blessed us with Jesus, would allow the carnage of war. We wonder how He could possibly forgive us for being a part of it. For soldiers, this is often the hardest personal crisis they face.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">They are raised to love God and to be told how much God loves them. For Christians, they are reminded of the gift of Jesus, yet in moments of crisis they forget most of what Jesus went through.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Here are a few lessons and you don't even have to go to church to hear them. ( Matthew 8:5-13)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">This sounds like a great act Jesus did. You think about the Roman Centurion, powerful, commanding, able to lead men into combat, perhaps Jesus even knew of the other men this Centurion has killed. Yet this same man, capable of killing, was also capable of great compassion for what some regarded as a piece of property, his slave. He showed he didn't trust the pagan gods the Romans prayed to but was willing to trust Jesus.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Yet when you look deeper into this act, it proves that Jesus has compassion for the warriors. The life and death of Jesus were not surprises to Him. He knew from the very beginning how it would end. This is apparent throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. He knew He would be betrayed, beaten, mocked, humiliated and nailed to the cross by the hands of Romans. Yet even knowing this would come, He had compassion for this Roman soldier. The Romans had tortured and killed the Jews since the beginning of their empire as well as other conquered people. The Roman soldiers believed in what they were doing, yet even with that, there was still documentation of them suffering for what they did.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Ancient historians documented the illness striking the Greeks, which is what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is evidence this illness hit every generation of warriors. Jesus would be aware that saving the Centurion's slave, because of the faith and trust He placed in Jesus, would be reported from soldier to soldier. Jesus showed compassion even to the Romans. How can we think that He would not show compassion to today's soldiers? How can we think that He would look any differently on them than He did toward the soldiers who would nail Him to the Cross?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">God didn't send you into combat. Another human did. God however created who you are inside. The ability to be willing to lay down your life for the sake of others was in you the day you were born. While God allows freewill, for good and for evil, He also has a place in His heart for all of His children. We humans however let go of His hand at the time we need to hold onto it the most.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">When tragedy and trauma strike, we wonder where God was that He allowed it to happen. Then we blame ourselves. We do the "if" and " but" over and over again in our own minds thinking it was our fault and the trauma was a judgment from God. Yet we do not consider that God could very well be the reason we survived it all. PTSD is a double edge cut to the person. The trauma strikes the emotions and the sense that God has abandoned us strikes at the soul. There is no greater sense of loss than to feel as if God has left you alone especially after surviving trauma and war. If you read the passage of Jesus and the Roman, you know that this would be impossible for God to do to you. Search your soul and you will find Him still there. For the last story on this we have none other than the Arch Angel Michael, the warrior angel. If God did not value the warrior for the sake of good, then why would He create a warrior angel and make him as mighty as he was?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Michael has a sword in one hand and a scale in the other. God places things in balance for the warriors.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">And in John 15:</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.</span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;">When it comes to waging war, issuing orders, God will judge the hearts and minds of those who sent you and He will also know yours. If you feel you need to be forgiven, then ask for it and you will be forgiven. Yet if you know in your heart the basis of your service was that of the willingness to lay down your life for your friends, then ask to be healed. Know this. That if Jesus had the compassion for a Roman how could He have any less compassion for you?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Because the military is in enough trouble already trying to evangelize soldiers for a certain branch of Christianity, understand this is not part of that. It's one of the benefits of having I don't care what faith you have or which place of worship you attended. If you were a religious person at any level before combat, your soul is in need of healing as well. There is a tremendous gift when the psychological healing is combined with the spiritual healing. If you have a religious leader you can talk to, please seek them out.</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d9rfHT52eaQ/UVINsMV7r-I/AAAAAAAASNg/XMA65LE16HE/s1600/for_those_i_love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #336699; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d9rfHT52eaQ/UVINsMV7r-I/AAAAAAAASNg/XMA65LE16HE/s400/for_those_i_love.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; position: relative;" width="400" /></a>If you doubt this, the top post on Wounded Times is "<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2011/08/for-those-i-love-i-will-sacrifice.html" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">For those I love I will sacrifice</a>" and has been read over 35,000.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">If you don't have one, or one who will listen to you, call me at 407-754-7526 or email me woundedtimes@aol.com.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">If you don't want to talk to a woman than go to<a href="http://www.pmim.org/" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none;">Point Man International Ministries</a> site and use the drop down menu for OUTPOSTS find your state and contact them.</span></span></div>
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Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-87175483570394266182013-09-10T17:07:00.004-04:002018-09-22T08:55:39.918-04:00De-Tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide, healing<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Start healing by understanding. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Shay/e/B000APL572/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0">Jonathan Shay</a> has been trying to get you to understand combat and PTSD before it became popular to do it. He wrote <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211">Achilles in Vietnam</a> so it is a good place to start with what he has to say.</span></div>
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Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-48889976632826573802013-09-09T19:11:00.000-04:002018-09-22T08:56:18.661-04:00Step four, De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now is the time to start healing. Hopefully you did the first parts of this and have taken a look at why you wanted to join the military in the first place. That should prove to yourself that it was far from selfish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Every part of your life before you were deployed went with you just as every part of you returned home after deployment. Everything you went through is a part of you.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can't run from it, hide it with booze or drugs or legal medications. You can't shove people out of your life because you are afraid they will see who you think you have become. Hopefully you have finally discovered that you are not evil, crazy or anything else that popped into your head.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you grieve, then you are still able to love even though you may think you can't.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Frankly there is only one reason I am doing this and that is my husband. I remember what it was like in his darkest times but this month we're celebrating our 29th anniversary. We still hold hands, kiss goodbye and hello and manage to even hug when our dog cannot see us. He jumps in between us every time he catches us.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So let's get a few things out of the way.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You are not alone with feeling the way you do.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The VA study said that 22 veterans a day commit suicide but there was a VA lawsuit in 2007 that showed there were <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/veterans-seeking-death-over-life-is-at.html">1,000 veterans attempting suicide every month within the VA system</a>. That means there are 55 of you every day feeling so hopeless that suicide seems to be the only answer. It isn't.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/veterans-committing-suicide-at-twice.html">Veteans are double the rate of civilians committing suicide</a>.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/almost-half-of-ptsd-patients-are-not.html">Almost half of PTSD patients are not identified</a> "PTSD is currently diagnosed solely on the basis of clinical interviews, and patients sometimes misrepresent their feelings, often because they are trying to avoid the memories and emotions associated with their trauma. Nearly half of PTSD patients are not identified, by some estimates."
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2011-12-13/military-divorce-rate-increases/51888872/1">USA Today story Military divorce rate at highest level since 1999</a>.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is not even addressing the suicides and attempted suicides of servicemen and women. We also know that <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/09/suicide-prevention-results-on-efforts.html">2011 showed that attempted suicides have been under-reported</a>.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Results</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2011 Air Force 50
241 attempted suicide</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Army 167</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">440 attempted suicide</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marines 32</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">156 attempted suicide</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Navy 52</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">87 attempted suicide </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Department of Defense Suicide Event Report for 2011</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For 2011 there were 935 attempted suicides in the military with 915 individuals trying to kill themselves. 896 tried once, 18 tried twice and 1 tried three times.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What do you need to stay here? Obviously you want to heal or you wouldn't be reading this. There may be a part of you believing that you are a burden to your family. Well, you're not alone on that feeling either and Medal of Honor hero Dakota Meyer knows that feeling all too well. While the media jumped all over the time when Dakota had the medal put around his neck, they didn't pay much attention to the fact that before that day, <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2012/09/moh-dakota-meyer-tests-of-valor.html">he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger</a>. Someone took the bullets out, probably his Dad.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you feel like a burden, then understand something. You are not a burden, they just don't understand what is happening to you, so they get sad, they get angry and they wish to God that you'd just <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2011/08/healing-ptsd-new-person-was-better-than.html">go back to the way you were before</a>. I know because in the beginning I felt all of that with my own husband but the kicker is, I knew what PTSD was way back then.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I loved him and it was hard to see him suffer but when it came to the time when he wanted to die, I did all I could to keep him here.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In an article called '<a href="combat:Shattering%20of%20the%20soul">Shattering of the soul</a>' that inspired me to write more on this, there was what a Vietnam veteran had to say.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, Maine's adjutant general, issued orders this year for every National Guard member who returns from Iraq or Afghanistan to talk one on one with a counselor.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We are all Type A's," Libby said. "Lots of us don't like talking about our feelings. We'd rather do something."
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, Libby knows the emotional healing needs to happen.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"These men and women have been forever changed by their experiences," said Libby, a veteran of the Vietnam War. "Thirty-eight years later, I am still struggling with my experiences."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Explain it to them. No, not the details. At least, not the details you really don't want to talk about. Let the professionals listen to them. All your family and friends need to know is why you act the way you do and that you need their support to get better.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They care about you but they don't understand something they never experienced. Don't expect them to. Tell them you are hurting because you cared so much, after all, you were willing to die for the sake of someone else. That takes a lot of love. It is probably the quality that made people care for you before but they are assuming you are just turning into a jerk. Let them know you are still in there.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now for the healing. There is the biological changes your brain goes through but the biggest change came within you spirit.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tomorrow we'll talk more about your healing, not just your life, but being able to help others are you are stronger.</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-80191439940997435782013-09-06T16:44:00.002-04:002018-09-22T08:56:56.978-04:00Step three De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What did you think about while deployed?
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Being away from home actually began back at home. Everything that happened in your life was part of "who" was deployed.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your hopes, dreams, history, joys and heartbreaks were all packed up and every detail of your life before that mattered even if you didn't notice.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You may aware of the fact you have a memory of your first love, but if you do not try to remember more than that, it is all you have. The memories are still there but filed away in your brain because it is not necessary to function on a daily basis with that memory. You didn't pull up to a drive-thru to order a taco and think of him/her unless a taco had something to do with an important moment between you. When you need to remember, your brain does a search much like the way Google does searches of what information is available on the web. The memory data base you walk around with does not quit. It is taking in what you may think as useless as well as important details.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Think of the first time you saw something amazing, like the ocean. Huge, powerful, constantly moving and even though you may know it is part of the weather system, that fact is the last thing on your mind when you put your feet in the sand.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your eyes see the view as you get closer. Your nose takes in the scent of the salty air. If it was during the winter at a beach like Revere in Massachusetts, the smell was a lot different than during low tide in August.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your ears take in the sound of the waves, seagulls, people and vehicles.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your skin feels the sun, moisture and gritty sand.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you walk closer to the water, the sand turns from hotter than hell to soothingly cool and it feels good.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nothing changed from the time you first laid eyes on it but your experience of it changed with every move of your body and your senses were being fed new information.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of that went with you, how you got there, what you were wearing, what the others were wearing, what you said, what they said, what kind of mood you were in and what you say from the corner of your eyes without really paying attention. Bet you didn't think a relaxing day at the beach was actually that busy for your brain,
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once at home you deal with sand all over your body, clothes and car, sun burned on the parts of your body you forgot to put lotion on and the strange echo of the waves in your ears. Most of it is forgotten as you moved from the past event at the beach to the current event of dealing with what came with being at the beach. Depending on what you thought was important and didn't matter, your brain keeps all of it but sorts it out so unimportant stuff is pushed into the recycle bin but as hard as you try, it never really gets emptied out even though my Mom said after a while your brain runs out of room so stuff starts to fall out.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It stays.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you have a hard time understanding this, think about school. How much did you learn in your last year? Even if you scored 100% on a test, it is more likely than not to have been forgotten about. It was not lost, it is just stored and you have to try to find it if you need it again. Usually it takes a trigger to get your brain to search for it. A word or a question will send it on a search.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While you are deployed the same thing happened. Your brain took it all in. When you have PTSD there are memories that do not get sorted as well as they should.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Flashbacks and nightmares are usually based on something real that happened even if they are not the exact event. Triggers to set your mind searching are words, sounds, smells and often going unnoticed, an anniversary date.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The event that starts PTSD taking hold may not be the biggest one because as with life, things pile up so you need to take them down starting with the one that haunts you the most.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The worst part of the event is usually what freezes everything else out of view. It is the strongest part you are connected to.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Take that event and try to remember to the beginning of that day. What was going on, what were you doing, what were you thinking and then try to remember what emotions were the strongest before the worst moment.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Look at it as if you were watching a movie. If you think you need to be forgiven for something you did, you can be but the hardest part is forgiving yourself. That is why the first part of this guide is so important.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Remembering you were willing to join the military to help, to defend, to save, then you will remember that you were not evil and there is nothing evil in your now except for things your mind is doing that you don't understand.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Forgiveness is vital. Forgiving others for what they did or did not do. Forgiving yourself for what you had to do and what you did because you were in pain begins the healing.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After something terrible happens humans question God. What did He let it happen? What wasn't He there? How could a loving God just stand there and do nothing?
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Look at it another way. He was there because no matter what happened, you still cared about others. You still grieved. You are in pain now because your ability to care was strong while others ability was not as strong.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are all different types of people. There are some more selfish than others so they tend to walk away concerned with their own lives. Some are a pretty good blend of selfish and caring. Then there is the type of person usually putting other people first. It is a safe bet that you were that way when you were growing up. Your ability to care also included the ability to feel more pain.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What you need to heal is already inside of you. I hope this helped so far to have all of this make more sense to you.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next week we'll start talking about healing. For now, look back on what you wrote down for the reasons you gave about joining.</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-39466860104597714472013-09-05T16:09:00.000-04:002018-09-22T08:57:21.407-04:00Step Two De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Step Two De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kathie Costos</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">September 5, 2013
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What else did you pack for deployment? Sounds like a strange question and you must be thinking about some personal stuff you put in your bags, but that isn't what I'm talking about. You also packed your life with you. Everything that happened since the day you escaped from your Mom's body went with you. From that moment on, you became an individual growing and learning from everything around you.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You had people and things to love but you also developed emotions about things and people you didn't like.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each new experience, good and bad ones, became a part of who you were turning into. The same happens on a daily basis even now. You are not done changing yet because life is still happening all around you.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Get a piece of paper and write down what you were thinking about when you deployed. If it has been a long time it may be hard to remember but if you think about your life before, you can fill in the gaps.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Again, this is for your eyes only so be honest.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are observations we make all the time even though we may not think they are that important. I have a two year old Rottweiler-Rhodesian Ridgeback-Hound named Harry.
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J0bqTzGGqMg/UijS51frqdI/AAAAAAAATsk/5fTe0hFHhrM/s1600/harry_in_sun.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J0bqTzGGqMg/UijS51frqdI/AAAAAAAATsk/5fTe0hFHhrM/s400/harry_in_sun.JPG" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you know anything about the breeds that are in his DNA, he is a hunter, great guard dog, brave and really strong. He frightens a lot of people. Harry is also a Momma's boy.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wherever I am, he is usually nearby. When I go out of the house to smoke, he follows me. At night he is usually right by my feet unless he hears a noise and goes on high alert. During the day when the sun is shining, he will suddenly get up, put his head down as if he sees something and runs all over the deck near the pool. Sometimes he's paying so much attention to what is driving him he comes very close to falling in. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what he was doing until one day I noticed a really big butterfly over the pool cage leaving a big shadow on the deck. He was chasing shadows.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I thought about how most people spend the rest of their lives chasing shadows too. We all know a <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shadow">shadow</a> is formed when something is blocking the light of the sun but if you think of it in another way, it is also a <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/void">void</a>. If you look up the definitions of these two really simple words you are closer to understanding what is happening within you.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the definitions of "void" is "A feeling or state of emptiness, loneliness, or loss."
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is not so much the loss of "it" but the inability to see "it" even though it is all still there. A shadow does not remove what is beneath it. It just blocks your eyes from seeing it.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you got on the plane, left your family, friends and everything that was "normal" to your life, it all went with you and one second piled onto another the whole time you were gone.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The day you arrived wherever you were stationed, you were probably in your early 20's and sure that you had nothing left to learn, but you didn't notice your brain was still developing.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you look at how your body works, <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/why-does-ptsd-hit-whole-you.html">you can see why PTSD hits all of you</a> but also know that the part of your brain where emotions are controlled does not stopped changing until you turn 25.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Military training attempted to break you away from thinking like an individual but while they had all of you dressing the same, eating the same, sleeping at the same time, they really didn't manage to make you all the same, thinking the same way of feeling the same way. There was a buddy you liked but others didn't. There was someone you didn't like but others gravitated to. It is just the way life goes.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It all got on the plane and landed just as you were wondering what would happen while you were there.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So think about your answers and save them with the first one you did. Tomorrow we'll talk about deployment.</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-74460461195812593862013-09-04T15:08:00.000-04:002018-09-22T08:57:54.031-04:00Step One De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Make sure you have a piece of paper and a pen. Don't use a keyboard or texting code. It is important that you actually make a connection between what you think and what you write for answers. This is for your eyes only so be honest with your answers.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>WHY DID YOU JOIN THE MILITARY?
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is a good place to begin thinking about why you wanted to join the military instead of doing something else. When you consider that less than 1% of the American population serve today and only 7% are veterans, it is a unique decision to make.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There had to have been a strong reason to decide this life. To decide a career that was not only dangerous but also required many sacrifices for you and your family.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Think about why you made the choice and write it down on the paper. Don't try to sell it. No one will see it but you. Don't try to use the patriotic or duty response because there are a lot of careers you could have picked. Why this one?
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you were honest it is a safe bet for me to guess there was nothing selfish or simple about your answer. If you wrote anything that was along the lines of slogans take a look at the answer again and keep looking at it until you can honestly say, that is all there was to it.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">People go into all types of jobs for all sorts of reasons. Most of the time they are just trying to get a pay check to live off of while they search for the job they really want to do. Everyone has a dream job but not everyone wants one that will put their lives on the line or put them into contact with devastating outcomes.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A firefighter knows they are trying to save lives and property but they know there will be times when it is not possible to save every life. They know there are things they will see but what keeps them risking their lives are the times when they did save someone.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A cop knows they will stop crimes but they also know they may have to stop a criminal with a bullet. They do it because of the next time they can stop a crime from happening and pray to God they make an arrest instead of a mistake. They have to decide in less than a second what to do. Sometimes they are wrong but they can't take the bullet back into the gun. They also know they can't have a do-over and shoot instead of guessing wrong while the criminal got of a shot at another cop.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you wrote about why you decided to join the military over anything else, make sure you really understand the answer. If you don't, then nothing else here will make sense.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What did you think about during training?
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You showed up among a bunch of strangers you knew you would have to depend on. The trainers (different titles depending on which branch you went into) had to break you down in order to get rid of the way you already thought about everything. You were no longer independent. They decided what you ate, what you wore, when you went to sleep, woke up and what you would put your body through. They also handed you weapons and taught you how to use them.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You changed because of all of this. Write down what was different about you after training.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What were your strengths? Weaknesses? Who were you buddies and why did you like them? Who didn't you like and why not?
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you were among the troops discharged under "personality disorder" you need to be reminded that you not only had to take a physical fitness test, you had to pass a mental health evaluation as well. Either the military caused your problems or their test failed to find the "illness" they claimed was already there.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tomorrow we'll start with Deployment but for now, think about the reasons you joined and about the changes you went through.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Remember this is only way for you to see things differently. To remember things you may have forgotten. It is not a test and you will be the only one to see the answers.
</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-62585838214545652712013-09-03T09:44:00.001-04:002019-03-30T19:50:30.920-04:00The Soul Survivor of Combat<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The Soul Survivor of Combat</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kathie Costos</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">September 3, 2013
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before we begin, there are several things that have to get out of the way. The first thing you need to know is that God is not punishing you. You are doing a good enough job of that on your own. He didn't abandon you or put the whammy on your head. Just because you didn't notice what came from God during combat doesn't mean it was not all around you.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most wonder how a loving God can allow all the horrors and suffering in combat. The fact is, He has to allow it. God doesn't mess with freewill. Every human is free to make their own choices and that includes leaders of nations. Wars have been fought since one caveman clan decided they wanted what another clan had. When other humans decide to start wars, it is up to the war fighters to carry it out but when you really get to the bottom of why you were willing to die, it isn't for the deciders. You do it for each other.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The fact you are still grieving means you still care. You cared then. You cared when one of your buddies was killed as much as you cared when one was wounded. You cared when prayed, wished, hoped or screamed for an end to the horrors going on all around you. You cared when you put your arm around a friend but showed you cared even more when you comforted another soldier you didn't really like. When you shed a tear, you cared. Caring, especially in that kind of action, being able to think about someone else other than yourself, showed that God was there all along.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Another thing to get out of the way is the notion that Combat PTSD is the same as all others. While there are different levels there are also different types and Combat PTSD is much different from the others. The only type that comes close is what police officers get because most of the time they have to decide to use their weapons or not. They are not just responding to the danger, they participate in it must like you did.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you think PTSD means you are demented instead of tormented, you need to know the difference.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/demented">Demented</a> is Mentally ill; insane. Suffering from dementia or a loss of cognitive function</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tormented">tormented</a> is,
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Great physical pain or mental anguish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. A source of harassment, annoyance, or pain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. The torture inflicted on prisoners under interrogation.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. To cause to undergo great physical pain or mental anguish. See Synonyms at afflict.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. To agitate or upset greatly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. To annoy, pester, or harass.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">PTSD has nothing to do with what you were born with but has everything to do with what was done to you. The only way to get PTSD is by surviving a traumatic event. How many times did that happen while you were deployed and then add up the other deployments you had but don't stop there. You have to add in what happened during training as well. (We'll discuss this during the week)
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What you will read does not come from a "professional" but from a wise friend. I remember what it was like reading all the damn clinical books ending up more confused trying to stop what I was reading so I could look up the definition of the words they used. IT SUCKED! That was before the Internet so I had to have a dictionary right by the book from experts. I've been reading them ever since but at least now I have the ability to have different windows open instead of heavy books sitting in a hard library chair.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a friend I write the way I talk so don't expect it to be grammatically correct. I tossed out the rules of grammar when I passed my last English class. As for speaking, count yourself fortunate you are reading this instead of listening to me talk. If you had to listen you'd need a Massachusetts translation guide to figure out where the "r" is really supposed to be.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What we'll work on are the basics. I am tired of rehashing how things got this bad. I want to focus on what works instead so after today that is what we'll address. For now, you need to catch up on some things you haven't heard in the press as they begin to focus on <a href="http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2012/0812_suicide-prevention/">Suicide Awareness Month</a>.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Attempted suicides shows how screwed up all of this is.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/08/owen-wilson-suicide-attempt-big-news.html">
The report said that the 99 confirmed suicides</a> by active-duty soldiers compared with 87 in 2005 and that it was the highest raw number since 102 suicides were reported in 1991, the year of the Persian Gulf War. Investigations are pending on two other deaths.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/us/17suicide.html?ex=1188619200&en=91030c6fb2a2951f&ei=5070">Officials reported 948 suicide attempts</a>, but there were no comparisons for previous years.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Among soldiers who were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan when they attempted suicide in 2005 and 2006, a full <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/10/military-suicides-treatment-issue.html">60 percent had been seen by outpatient mental health workers</a> before the attempts. Forty-three percent of the deployed troops who attempted suicide had been prescribed psychotropic medications, the report shows.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As many as 121 Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007, a jump of some 20 percent over the year before, officials said Thursday.
<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-will-they-notice-us-falling-into.html">The rise comes despite numerous efforts to improve the mental health</a> of a force stressed by a longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the most deadly year yet in the now six-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.
Internal briefing papers prepared by the Army's psychiatry consultant early this month show there were 89 confirmed suicides last year and 32 deaths that are suspected suicides and still under investigation.
More than a quarter of those — about 34 — happened during deployments in Iraq, an increase from 27 in Iraq the previous year, according to the preliminary figures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The report also shows an increase in the number of attempted suicides and self-injuries — some 2,100 in 2007 compared to less than 1,500 the previous year and less than 500 in 2002.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://t2health.org/sites/default/files/dodser/DoDSER_2010_Annual_Report.pdf">863 suicide attempts across all Services in 2010</a> for 837 individuals. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <a href="http://t2health.org/sites/default/files/dodser/DoDSER_2011_Annual_Report.pdf">915 Service Members attempted suicide in 2011</a> (Air Force = 241, Army = 432, Marine Corps = 156, Navy = 86). DoDSERs were submitted for 935 suicide attempts (Air Force = 251, Army = 440, Marine Corps = 157, Navy = 87). Of the 915 Service Members who attempted suicide, 896 had one attempt, 18 had two attempts, and 1 had three attempts.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now you know more than the number of suicides we keep talking about. For a much larger view read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Warrior-Suicides-After-ebook/dp/B00CFSY56A">Suicides After War</a>, but for now, there is one article that is of great importance to read.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Col. Carl Castro, director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program, has been funding studies into post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, over the past five years, and he said the results are beginning to come in.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I really think the next eight to nine months are going to be the most exciting as the data comes on line and we can start saying, okay, this is really working, we really know what we're doing here, let's do this," Castro said.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Apparently he forgot about another program he was instrumental in "providing" after "research" and "funding" produced it. <a href="http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA481083">Battlemind</a> came in 2006. "<a href="http://www.armyg1.army.mil/dcs/docs/Pre-deployment%20Battlemind%20Training%20Brochure%2011%20SEP%2006.pdf">What is Battlemind</a>? A Soldier’s inner strength to face fear and adversity during combat, with courage. It is the will to persevere and win. It is resilience."
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Castro must have forgotten how much they paid for it as well as what the results proved. An increase in suicides and attempted suicides.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Ten years ago, I think most people would be appalled that we hadn't already done those studies. I know I was surprised that we hadn't done them."
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Castro said if people are really honest with themselves, nobody thought these wars were going to last this long, so nobody really felt the need to energize and make changes.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Finally we started changing when we realized we can no longer say the war is going to end any day because it hasn't ended in the last five years and if you really look at when funding started being provided for medical research and development, or R and D, and when people started changing, it was about five years ago," he said.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first time medical R and D received any big increases in its budget was when a congressional special interest group gave $301 million in fiscal year 2007.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(<a href="http://www.army.mil/article/81916/">Army research looks at new PTSD treatment</a>, Army By Rob McIlvaine June 20, 2012)
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">More than 1,100 U.S. servicemen and women killed themselves between 2005 and 2009.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In July, the Army announced a $50 million study of suicide and mental health involving about 500,000 service members and four other research institutions. That is separate from this initiative, which will be directed by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Denver and Florida State University.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We know we're not going to solve the suicide problem in the military with this three-year research consortium," Castro said. "But what we hope to do at the end of this three years is to lay a very solid foundation on which other research can be built."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-6996422.html">Army Putting $17 Million toward Suicide Research</a>, CBS News, January 19, 2011)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you believe Castro, then you are just not aware of the fact that research programs started over 40 years ago. If Castro thinks everything available before he came along popped out of thin air, then he has a lot to learn. Very little of what he is talking about is working. Evidence isn't just found by how many successfully killed themselves. It isn't proven just by how many attempted it. It is found when everything is put together including the reports from the men and women no longer in the military. <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/">Wounded Times</a> covers these reports everyday. While I keep waiting for evidence they finally have it right, more and more sad stories come. So whatever the military told you about "what is wrong with you" (since they clearly don't understand how you are hearing what they are trying to say) is tossed out, common sense has room to get into your head.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For now we'll walk together until they catch up.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is only one reason a person decides to commit suicide. They lost the last sliver of hope that tomorrow would be any better than this day was. Whatever you have going on in your life think of it this way. If yesterday sucked but you got up this morning, you can get up tomorrow too. You survived a lot worse than this before. Today is already a bit better because you are learning what you need to know to heal. There is no cure for PTSD but there is a lot of healing going on all over the country.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If that doesn't give you enough hope think of this little tidbit of news. When nothing was being done for PTSD in the 60's and 70's, Vietnam veterans with PTSD were still able to not just survive but are still walking around today. My husband is one of them. This month we'll be married for 29 years, still holding hands and still in love.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your family and friends don't understand you, give them a break because honestly you are pretty hard for most people to understand in the first place. If they have no clue what combat is like then they are in the majority since veterans are only 7% of the population. WWII veterans had the most people understanding them simply because most able bodied men went. For your family and friends, they may be expecting you to just get over it and go back to the way you were before. You need to get them to think of you in a different way.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you know them really well, there is a little trick I use when I talk to an audience full of civilians trying to understand. I make it personal to them. I talk about traumatic events most people experience. Someone had a shocking death of someone close to them in their past. Remind them what that felt like. Then tell them PTSD is like feeling it everyday the same way. If they don't have that experience, then use one of the other events that are traumatic. Natural disasters, fire or floods can cause PTSD. Crimes and accidents can cause PTSD and does abuse. If all that is not part of their lives then remind them of the event that hit everyone in this nation. The attack of September 11th when everyone was in shock plus changed by it. No one was really the same after that day.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Talk to them afterwards. You don't have to give them details they probably couldn't handle. Just help them to have a basic understanding of what it going on with you. Tell them you are hurting and sometimes you act out inappropriately but you don't mean any harm. You just need help. If they think you are just being a jerk, they will get defensive. If they understand it is coming from pain, they will want to help. It is human nature especially when they care about you.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You are hurting because your soul survived. What you need to heal it is already inside of you. Tomorrow your reconnection begins.</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-40817767171543801392013-08-29T19:29:00.000-04:002013-08-29T19:29:52.976-04:00Cure for PTSD has been found<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Cure for PTSD has been found</b></span><br />
De-Tour Combat PTSD Survivors' Guide<br />
Kathie Costos<br />
August 29, 2013
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After 40 years, billions spent by the government, mental health community and countless universities along with an ever growing list of charities, the cure for PTSD has been discovered, so they can all give back the money they collected. They can stop writing prescriptions. Stop telling everyone what to do while bucking against what other organizations are doing and pretending they have all the answers.
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While there is no one size fits all PTSD cases because there are different levels along with just as many causes, the solution used most has been medicate it with legal drugs as well as street drugs and alcohol. That leaves the pharmaceutical companies searching for a cure for old age instead of PTSD numbing pretending the pills fix everything.
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The cure is to stop all trauma. End it. Boycott it. Stop sending young men and women into combat. Stop letting people cause accidents. Stop letting people commit crimes. Stop letting parents and other adults abuse kids. Stop domestic violence of every kind. This will stop police officers from having to risk their lives. Stop bullies. Stop health issues. Stop fires. This will stop firefighters from having to risk their lives. Stop storms. Stop floods. Stop other countries from doing what they do and then stop this country from feeling the need to do something without having a clue what that "something" will end up producing after they do it.
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Stop people from dying? Ok that is going a bit too far. We'll have to settle for a warning before anyone dies from this point on. Naturally that also causes trauma because just getting the news that someone will die will be traumatic in itself.
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You can't stop with those. Childbirth is also traumatic. If a woman discovers she is pregnant and wants to keep the baby, put her to sleep at a certain time and she'll never know what happened during childbirth. If she doesn't want the baby, put her in a coma for seven or eight months and take the baby out but don't tell her you did it. That way she'll never have to deal with deciding what to do or wonder for the rest of her life what happened to the baby later on. As for the shock of discovering she was pregnant in the first place there isn't much you can do about that unless you boycott sex. As for the Dad of the unwanted, just send him the bill for contributing to the child he not only wouldn't have cared about but probably didn't even know about in the first place.
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Since none of the above are possible it is easier to understand why there is no cure for PTSD. No cure has been found in all these years but researchers have discovered a long list of things to do to help heal from the traumatic events we survive.
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The best thing to do is talk about it with someone you trust in a safe place that takes your emotions out of the event and into the safe surroundings. Trust is important so that you don't hold back and you know what you have to say is important. I've seen people check their watch when they are only pretending to listen. It it important that they do not try to fix you on the spot or treat what you're saying as if it is a contest they want to compete with you on. It is your moment to really matter and the way you are treated afterwards can either prevent the trauma from taking hold or changing you from that point on.
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When you know you have a problem that will usually show up about 30 days after the event. If the feelings are not getting weaker then you may need to go see a professional to be evaluated. They have tests as well as pills and while most are not experts on trauma, they have enough knowledge to figure out what is going on.
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Then if you find out it is PTSD, you need to keep seeing the professional but you also need to hook up with a program to teach your body how to work without the adrenaline rush. Not as easy as it sounds because what may work for your buddy, bores the hell out of you. Just like medications are not the same for everyone, body works are an individual thing.
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Oh, but you are not done yet. You have to take care of the spiritual part of you too. No, I'm not talking about going to church or getting hit over the head with a bible and someone telling you are you suffering because you are sinful. I am talking about the kind of spiritual stuff Christ talked about. Talking to God, asking for forgiveness for whatever you feel you need to be forgiven for and forgiving other people including the ones trying to kill you. But then you have to work on your relationships starting with the people you treated like crap as well as the forgiving them for pushing you away. Not so easy but necessary.
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Once you accept the fact that the only cure for PTSD is to stop all traumatic events, you are a lot closer to understanding why it hit you. You, my dear, are human and other humans come into your life for better or worse. Unless you live in a cave from the day you are born, which comes with a whole other set of issues, things happen that you were really not ready for but as you saw in the list above, getting the warning is also shocking itself. Besides would you really want to never come into contact with another human ever again?
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Stop hearing a child laugh? Stop hearing a joke? Stop hearing I love you? Stop hearing music? Stop hearing someone tell you that you matter to them?Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-13376712609513502062013-08-19T09:21:00.002-04:002018-09-22T08:58:50.040-04:00Early treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2008 after taking crisis intervention training to become a Chaplain I was sure I found the answer I had been searching for. There had to be a reason I did not have PTSD after too many times with my life on the line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While I have never served in combat just living had me facing many times when I should have died along with another time when I wish I did.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The fact I am still here, changed by what I survived proved to me that the difference was my family. I had a large Greek family much like the movie <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhiDLzd3EJw">My Big Fat Greek Wedding</a>. Nothing was a secret. Everything was talked to death by everyone. I knew they loved me, were willing to spend as much time as I needed to listen and while most of the time they gave lousy advice, I always knew I could talk to someone anytime I needed to. There were things I talked to my Mom about, other things I talked to my Dad or brothers or cousins or Aunts. Sometimes I talked to friends.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You have to know that my first experience with facing death happened when I was only 4. Doctors said I should not have survived what someone did to me, but I did even though <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-life-after-tbi.html">I had TBI</a> when no one really knew what damage was done to the brain. Someone did it to me. It was another kid getting impatient with me on a high slide I was too afraid to go down by myself. He pushed me too hard on one side and I hit the concrete head first.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wrote about what my life taught me and how some psychologists have it all wrong. <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/10/psychologist-is-wrong-on-critical.html">Psychologist is wrong on critical incident stress debriefings</a> but that isn't really new. The problem is when they get attention as "training professionals" and I as a lowly person go up agains them. The fact is when you spend over 30 years researching something as if your life depends on the answer, it matters a hell of a lot more than what someone reads is a book while planning to make a career out of it.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2009/11/healing-after-traumatic-crisis.html">healing after traumatic crisis</a> no matter what caused it. I have said too many times that while we <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Can%20we%20prevent%20PTSD%20in%20everyone?">cannot prevent PTSD in everyone</a> we need to understand what works and what has failed.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well finally the MAYO Clinic has produced yet another report on how effective this is.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.tele-management.ca/2013/08/early-treatment-for-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/">Early treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder</a>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Early therapy can stop post-traumatic stress disorder from taking hold, say doctors at the Mayo Clinic.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after a car crash, an assault, or a major catastrophe like the terror attacks of September 11 last year. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance, lack of concentration, sleep disturbance, irritability and guilt. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Left untreated, someone with PTSD will lapse into a state of chronic anxiety.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have worked with police and firefighters as well as veterans because I not only believe it works, I am living proof it does.</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-13732659394449051332013-08-17T09:30:00.001-04:002018-09-22T08:59:09.646-04:00Combat PTSD numbers prove you have a lot of company<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you think you are alone with Combat PTSD numbers prove you have a lot of company.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Phila VA holds summit on vets' mental health problems</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Inquirer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Curtis Skinner Staff Writer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">August 16, 2013
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For 30 years, L. Bunny Johnson flew in combat zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan, rescuing fallen soldiers by medevac. But when she got back, she was the one needing medical help for her invisible wounds. "Mistrust, PTSD, mental health problems in general . . . Let's just leave it at that," said Johnson, 60, of Abington.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Asked about the scale of mental illness in the veteran community, she said, "On a scale of one to 10, I'd go to 30." Her trauma - and desire to help others - led her to a summit Friday at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. About 80 people - from experts to veterans - came to discuss the growing epidemic of mental illness among veterans and what could be done to help them.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nationwide, the number of VA patients being treated for mental illness spiked 45 percent between 2005 and 2012, reaching about 1.8 million. But over the same period, the number of veterans in the system grew by only 16 percent. In 2010, an estimated 22 veterans committed suicide each day. In response, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs called for centers across the country to hold summits like the one in Philadelphia. Eight are scheduled through September in Pennsylvania and another one is set for Sept. 18 at the Lyons Campus of the VA New Jersey Health Care System to get input on ways to help struggling veterans.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130817_Philly_VA_holds_mental_health_summit_to_treat_rising_tide_of_mental_health_problems_among_veterans.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">read more here</span></a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However I am not optimistic about this summit unless they are actually looking for what has worked instead of just focusing on what the DOD and the VA have been doing. The results prove too much has already failed.
</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-60945994158797358782013-08-14T08:19:00.003-04:002018-09-22T08:59:36.673-04:00Idiots among us on PTSD still<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you know anyone attacking PTSD veterans you'll want to pass this on. I just posted on Wounded Times about a manager telling a <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/08/medical-supply-company-manager-said.html">Gulf War veteran that vets like him are a "bunch of babies"</a> and he's facing a lawsuit. The fact that after all this time people like the boss are still running around the country attacking men and women willing to die for the sake of someone else but can't manage to learn a damn thing about them only shows some people will never learn. My answer to this fool is simple. There is a list of people he should go talk to face to face to discover just who he called baby.
</span>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-31713002366921870332013-08-12T15:16:00.000-04:002018-09-22T09:00:02.466-04:00Telehealth Counseling Makes PTSD Treatment Accessible For Veterans<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Telehealth Counseling Makes PTSD Treatment Accessible For Veterans</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">KPBS News</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By Tarryn Mento</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Monday, August 12, 2013
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">EL CENTRO, CALIF. — After an hour-long commute from Yuma, Ruben Moreno Garcia arrives at his El Centro apartment and immediately boots up his laptop. First thing: he checks his inbox for the two emails he receives every Monday.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One email is a reminder for his weekly counseling session; The Army veteran was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving three tours in combat. The other email has a username and password for that he needs in order to connect to those weekly counseling sessions.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He logs into Jabber, a Skype-like service, and inputs the newly-generated credentials. A few rings later and he's connected to Kathryn Williams, a psychologist located more than 100 miles away at the San Diego VA.
<a href="http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/aug/12/telehealth-counseling-makes-ptsd-treatment-accessi/">read more here</a></span>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/l32I1822cmk" width="460"></iframe>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-89523258420036883422013-08-08T07:10:00.000-04:002013-08-08T07:10:15.318-04:00Combat roles in Middle East more likely to cause psychological traumaI could not do this work if I did not read reports from other countries. Why? Because PTSD is not a national illness. It is a human illness that hits after traumatic events. It is the only way to "get it" which has been proven following a list of traumatic events.
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Reporters tend to lump everything reported together as if there is no difference in the outcome of the experience, the duration and the factor of continuation of the threat.
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We talk about how firefighters are hit by PTSD yet return to fight fires over and over again, risking their lives each time. For them it is not just the fires they rush to put out or the lives they save. It is also the threat of the alarm sounding while they are simply eating a meal together.
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We talk about police officers and the treats they face on a daily basis but we don't talk about the different type of PTSD they get hit by because the nature of their work also comes with having to make split second decisions about killing someone or not. As with firefighters, a day of risking their lives is followed by a never ending chain of risks for as long as they are on the force.
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With combat veterans their type of PTSD is similar because it also involves the use of force. They risk their lives everyday they are deployed as with cops on the job but they cannot simply go home at the end of the day to their families. They cannot get an emotional debriefing at the end of event to sort it all out. Most of the time they cannot even do it when they are back on base or when National Guardsmen return to their homes at the end of the tour.
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So tracking what is happening in other nations if vital to discovering what works and what has failed. So far no nation has treating PTSD right. This is about Australian veterans. They are suffering the same way our troops are.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>ADF study finds combat roles in Middle East more likely to cause psychological trauma</b></span><br />
ABC Australia<br />
By defence correspondent Michael Brissenden<br />
Posted 1 hour 13 minutes ago
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A Defence Force study into the health of soldiers deployed to the Middle East over the past decade shows those who have served in combat roles are at greater risk of psychological trauma.
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The report into more than 14,000 soldiers found significant increases in mental health problems were experienced with increasing exposure to traumatic events.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It also showed greater combat exposure leads to greater risk of subsequent mental health problems, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
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PTSD is now recognised as a significant issue for veterans, and it is estimated between 15 to 20 per cent of veterans will return home from deployments with some form of PTSD.
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However, symptoms may take many years to present.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The report states "significant increases in mental health problems were found with increasing traumatic and combat exposure, with the adjusted risk for some problems increasing five to fifteen fold.
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"These findings covered PTSD symptoms, major depressive syndrome, panic and other anxiety syndromes, and alcohol misuse," the report stated, and found "greater combat exposure does lead to greater risk of subsequent mental health problems, including PTSD."<br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-08/defence-health-study/4874428">read more here</a></blockquote>
Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-50713851337509035512013-08-04T08:54:00.000-04:002013-08-04T08:54:11.645-04:00Marchers call for awareness of PTSDMarchers call for awareness of PTSD<br />
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT<br />
By KEVIN McCALLUM<br />
August 3, 2013
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About 100 people turned out in Howarth Park on Saturday to help raise awareness of and support those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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Organizers of the first PTSD Awareness Walk said they hoped the event could help people understand that veterans aren’t the only ones who can suffer from the syndrome that often includes anxiety, flashbacks, trouble concentrating and irritability.
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“We feel PTSD isn’t just for soldiers,” said Rita Constantini, a former Army Black Hawk helicopter crew chief who deployed for Operation Provide Comfort II in northern Iraq. “Anybody who’s working their way back from trauma can stand with us.”
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About 60 people signed up for the event, which included a walk along Lake Ralphine and opportunity for people to make contact with various groups offering services for veterans.
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The money raised may help support projects with some of those groups to help reach out to those who suffer from PTSD, Constantini said.
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Steve Bossard, a Marine who served in Vietnam before becoming a police officer, said PTSD used to be known as “shell shock” and “battle fatigue.” People now realize that it can affect people exposed to all kinds of trauma.
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“I’ve had incidents in police work that were even worse than some of the stuff I’ve seen in Vietnam,” said Bossard, who is now retired.
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He said he’s suffered flashbacks, bad dreams and a limited range of emotions. Bossard “self-medicated” with alcohol until he learned to recognize that he had PTSD, he said.<br />
<a href="http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130803/articles/130809832">read more here</a>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-64063412009922158672013-08-03T19:34:00.000-04:002013-08-03T19:34:44.289-04:00Waking Up Scared (Healing, PTSD & Sexual Abuse)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Waking Up Scared (Healing, PTSD & Sexual Abuse)</b></span><br />
Bangor Daily News<br />
Jim LaPierre<br />
August 3, 2013
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4am is her witching hour. She wakes each morning with adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her heartbeat hammers rapidly and every muscle in her body is impossibly tense. She’s in fight or flight mode but there’s no one to fight and nowhere to run.
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The first 30 seconds feels like half an hour. It’s the time in between sleep and waking. What’s real? What isn’t?
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It’s much worse than a bad dream. It. Feels. Like. It. Just. Happened. Again.
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The tears come but she fights them. She checks the sheets but they’re clean. She sits on the side of the bed – rocking back and forth but it’s a little too fast to bring comfort. “Breath!” Can’t get enough oxygen.
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Hyperventilating is terrifying. Head pounding. Need light. Need air. Must get out of this room.
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She walks outside. Lights a cigarette. Nicotine helps. Start the coffee – no chance of going back to sleep now.
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Go to the bathroom but turn away from the medicine cabinet mirror. Cold water on her face stings but feels real.
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Still avoiding the mirror, can’t stand the image there. She needs a shower but it doesn’t feel okay to do that yet.
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Settle in with some reading – daily affirmations. Get centered. Prayers are sent but feel futile. She never got the hang of meditation. It just gets her stuck in her head.
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Song on Pandora grabs her attention:
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“I’m still alive but I’m barely breathing .Just praying to a God that I don’t believe in.”
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The Script “Breakeven”<br />
<a href="http://recoveryrocks.bangordailynews.com/2013/08/03/addiction/waking-up-scared-healing-ptsd-sexual-abuse/">read more here</a>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-86348939594202671382013-07-31T08:19:00.000-04:002013-07-31T08:19:02.009-04:00Vietnam Veteran's Daughter Struggles to Make Sense of PTSD<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>A Daughter Struggles to Make Sense of PTSD</b></span><br />
The California Report<br />
State of Health
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">He tried committing suicide when I was 11 years old. And we saw it as a huge cry for help because he did it in the parking lot of the VA hospital in Loma Linda.</span></blockquote>
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Twenty-one-year old Caitlin Bryant lost her father, Richard Lewis Bryant, to a heart attack in 2008. But she and her brother Mitchell had grown up watching him battle a war within himself after returning from serving in Vietnam. As part of our first-person series What’s Your Story, Caitlin Bryant describes what her family’s life was like, living with her father’s illness.
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My dad suffered really badly from PTSD -– post-traumatic stress disorder. And that was due to the traumatic things that he had seen in the war and he never really sought proper treatment.
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“He tried committing suicide when I was 11 years old. And we saw it as a huge cry for help because he did it in the parking lot of the VA hospital.”He just never seemed comfortable. He never seemed at peace. He always seemed like he was trying to relax and he could never fully relax.
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He started doing a lot of drugs –- specifically speed -– to kind of alter his reality and see a different side of things from the war.
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They put him in the psychiatric unit of the hospital for a week. He kind of just tried to laugh it off and play it off with me and Mitchell saying, “Do you really think I belong with these crazy people here?” You know like, “Ha, ha ha.”
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It was really hard for us. We were really confused. And we knew how much my dad loved us, but we didn’t know that it still wouldn’t be enough for him to not want to go.
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He tried to tell us that Mitchell and I were all that was keeping him alive. And I really believed him until that had happened. And he still tried saying even after that, you know, “I’m so sorry that this happened and I know now more than ever that you and Mitchell are my sole reasons to stay alive and to try and make it right in this world.”
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But he was struggling. He never got the help that he needed.<br />
<a href="http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/07/29/a-daughter-struggles-to-make-sense-of-ptsd/">read more here</a>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-22945723739220202512013-07-28T09:52:00.000-04:002013-07-28T09:52:28.844-04:00War fighters justified even when reason for war was not<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>War fighters justified even when reason for war was not</b></span><br />
De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide<br />
Kathie Costos<br />
July 28, 2013
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When humans do something unselfish, end up suffering for it afterwards, we tend to forget why we even tried. We may try to save a life but if they die, we blame ourselves for missing something we should have done. When we try to stop someone from committing suicide, it is even worse. We keep torturing ourselves believing we failed them. We can't see how many other factors contributed to the anguish that made them want to leave.
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-xeNBtx4hY/UfUhwhdPT7I/AAAAAAAATbk/5C8SEuCHgFw/s1600/ptsd_haunted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d-xeNBtx4hY/UfUhwhdPT7I/AAAAAAAATbk/5C8SEuCHgFw/s320/ptsd_haunted.jpg" /></a></div>
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Doing something for a good reason with a bad outcome eats away at our core. Believe me, I know how that feels. When we act on what our heart tells us to do, end up feeling used and betrayed, we think it is our fault and the next time, we are not so willing to even try again.
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For the men and women in the military it is even worse. They have a good reason to want to go into the military. Sometimes it is because someone they admire in their family served. Sometimes it is because they never thought of doing anything else. It is a good reason to want to serve the country and an even better reason when they want to save the lives of others.
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Lately there has been a lot of talk about the "<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/06/defining-deep-pain-ptsd-doesnt-capture.html">moral injury</a>" veterans must face to heal <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/search/label/combat%20and%20PTSD">Combat PTSD</a>. Like many before them, the reason they were sent pushes the reason they wanted to serve into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_of_war">fog of war</a>. This fog goes far beyond the battlefield. It makes it very hard to focus on the beginning when the end brought so much pain.
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Here is yet another article on this "moral injury" that shows how people still do not understand this timeless wound.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Stafford: ‘Moral Injury’ follows troops home from war</b></span><br />
Metro West<br />
By Meg Stafford<br />
Guest Columnist<br />
Posted Jul 27, 2013
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Suicide among veterans now outpaces combat death. This stunning fact is something to be taken seriously and understood if we are to arrest the trend.
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Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist who has studied and written extensively about this attributes the deep unrest to a condition he calls “Moral Injury.” He states that this type of injury (not illness) is sustained when “there has been a betrayal of what’s right by someone who holds legitimate authority in a high stakes situation.”
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The distinction between Moral Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, another recognized result of time spent around combat, is that PTSD happens TO a soldier. It is not a stretch to imagine witnessing death or dismemberment of comrades being traumatizing. Human beings cannot simply switch off the emotions that arise from this, nor can they shut down the responses that have developed over a period of months as an absolute survival mechanism in an extraordinarily taxing environment.
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Moral injury is about the inner conflict that surfaces as veterans examine the role they play in the killing that occurs, whether it is giving the order, relaying communication about where and when to drop bombs, or direct assault of another. This cannot be new. For as long as there have been wars, there must have been some individuals who question their responsibility and grappled with what is right and who defines that.
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<a href="http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x853696027/Stafford-Moral-Injury-follows-troops-home-from-war?zc_p=0">read more here</a></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Achilles-Vietnam-Combat-Undoing-Character/dp/0684813211">Achilles in Vietnam</a> is one of the best books on Combat PTSD and the wound that lives within every man and women sent into combat. Everyone? Yes, everyone. No one ever comes back from combat the same way they entered it. All of them change. They carry it with them and taking off their uniform does not strip away what they went through.
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Sometimes it is change in a good way but that depends on how they justify what they did. If they are emotionally mature and have a strong sense of self, they are able to retain the original intent and that overcomes any negative thoughts they have. They stop letting the reasons the war was begun and focus on what they contributed for the sake of the others they were with. In other words, the reasons were above their pay grade. Politicians start wars, congress comes up with the money or debt approval and brass comes up with the plans. The rest is up to the men and women sent to carry all of it out with what the chain of command has provided them with.
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A good place to start is with the controversy centering on Vietnam. History has shown the reasons given for sending the troops there were not honorable however the actions of the war fighters were to still honored.
<a href="http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/mohstats.html">246 Vietnam War heroes earned Medal of Honor with 154 posthumously</a> but while the war itself may have been wrong, the actions of these heroes did not become worth less. The lives of the fallen and the thousands of wounded were not less valuable just because some view their suffering as a waste. They no more wasted their lives than anyone else doing something for a good reason. They didn't risk their lives for any other reason than for the others they were with.
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So that you have a better understanding of how rare these men and woman were <a href="http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/history/history_statistics.html">3,459 different individuals received the Medal of Honor</a> out of millions in different wars. "Only one woman has received the <a href="http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/home/repository/moh-faq.pdf">Medal of Honor. Dr. Mary E. Walker</a> was given the award by President Andrew Johnson on November 11, 1865 for her work as a Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon in a series of battles from First Bull Run in 1861 to the Battle of Atlanta in 1864."
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The <a href="http://www.mrfa.org/vnstats.htm">average age of the G.I. in 'Nam was 19</a> and 97% of Vietnam era vets were honorably discharged. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_E._Smedley">Larry Smedley</a> was an 18 year old Corporal when he earned the award with his life. <a href="http://www.homeofheroes.com/sammydavis/frame.htm">Sammy Davis</a> was only 21 and was a Private at the time of his actions to save the lives of others. Here are just a few more of the others.
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_for_the_Vietnam_War">List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Vietnam War</a><br />
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James Anderson Jr., Richard Anderson, John Baca, Donald Ballard, Jedh Barker, John Barnes III, Ted Belcher, Leslie Bellrichard, Michael R. Blanchfield, Hammett L. Bowen, Jr., Bruce W. Carter, Peter S. Connor, Thomas Creek, Larry Dahl, Rodney Davis, Emilio A. De La Garza, Jr., Douglas E. Dickey, Daniel Fernandez, Charles C. Fleek, Michael F. Folland, Paul H. Foster, Frank R. Fratellenico, Peter M. Guenette, Robert W. Hartsock, Frank A. Herda, Charles E. Hosking, Jr., James D. Howe, George Ingalls, Robert Jenkins, Ralph Johnson, Donald Johnston, Steven Karopczyc, Terry T. Kawamura, Allan Kellogg, Thomas Kinsman, Garfield Langhorn, Robert Law, Donald Long, Garry Miller, Frank Molnar, James Monroe, David Nash, Kenneth Olson, William Perkins Jr., Jimmy Phipps, Larry Pierce, Laszlo Rabel, Anund Roark, Ruppert L. Sargent, Ruppert L. Sargent, William Stout, Robert Stryker, John Warren Jr., Dale Wayrynen, Roy Wheat, Dewayne Williams, Alfred Wilson and Kenneth Worley covered explosive devices with their bodies to save others.
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Vincent R. Capodanno a Chaplain, was killed while trying to rescue a wounded corpsman and Angelo Liteky, Chaplain who carried 20 wounded men from the battlefield under heavy fire who later renounced his medal of honor and Charles J. Watters chaplain who sacrificed himself to rescue several wounded men.
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Raymond M. Clausen, Jr. went into a minefield to save others.
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In every case they were willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of others. Were their lives wasted? Were their lives worth any less because the reasons they had to go into combat were subjected to debate? No, their lives mattered to the men they were with almost as much as they mattered to their families back home.
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This is how to justify what the men and women did no matter how worthy or unworthy the cause of war was.
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The moral injury comes in many different forms. When you add in the reasons behind the war it adds to what they carry within them.
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When they think about what they did and the actual reason they did it, it helps them heal.
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The last part is forgiveness. Forgiving their opponents, knowing they are forgiven for whatever they need to be forgiven for and forgiving themselves is how to get out of the darkness. Until experts understand this, many more will suffer needlessly.
Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-33611636241464438622013-07-27T12:16:00.000-04:002018-09-22T09:13:35.821-04:00Are veterans men or mice?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Are veterans men or mice?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kathie Costos</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">July 27, 2013
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There have been many reports of researchers tackling PTSD using mice. Mice? Yes, mice. Now they are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/07/26/3811591.htm">implanting false memories in mice</a> as if that has anything to do with being a veteran with PTSD. "The technique could lead to treatments for phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder in humans."
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While the report comes out of Australia, they are doing it here in the US as well, among many other stupid mice tricks that would make even <a href="http://www.petcentric.com/Read/articles/david-lettermans-stupid-pet-tricks.aspx?articleid=a36ab935-54f2-4b09-b8ba-9e71424043cf">David Letterman</a> blush.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While some researchers have done good work, especially with the <a href="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/181/2/102.long">brain scans of PTSD veterans</a> along with showing the benefits of the holistic approach addressing the spirituality of veterans, not much else new has come out over the last decade.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">That sends chills down the spines of researchers around the world looking toward the US for guidance. They are now sure after over 40 years of mind-numbing money being wasted we are still not using what works. We're seeing the results of our failures in the rise of military suicides, multiple attempted suicides within the military and as veterans go without proper care.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We see the bad numbers rise. The military scratches their heads trying to find excuses when the answer to their failure has been right under their nose for years. "Resilience" training is part of the problem, proven by the devastating rise in suicides, yet they push it pretending it is the solution. The VA has done a better job but when we consider that <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/03/57-military-suicides-happened-after.html">57% of suicides tied to military service</a> occurred after seeking treatment, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what they have doesn't work either.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What we know is totally different than what they have managed to consider. It is human nature not <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rodent">rodent</a>.
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZFCynyF2d1w/UfPvL8Gq-dI/AAAAAAAATbU/7vLJQ7JP3Js/s1600/pointman_homefront_love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZFCynyF2d1w/UfPvL8Gq-dI/AAAAAAAATbU/7vLJQ7JP3Js/s320/pointman_homefront_love.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">How can mice know what it is like to have survivor guilt? Feel as if someone's death is their fault? Believe they are unworthy of love? What it is like to feel as if you just don't matter anymore, that what you did didn't mean anything or worse, that what you did was evil?
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Do they know what it is like to pray from the pit of their soul? To need to be forgiven? To need to forgive someone else? Or do they know what it is like to carry around guilt because they cannot forgive themselves? Do they know what it is like to have hope slip away? Or to wake up one day when you can't even remember what having hope felt like?
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Would a mouse risk life for another mouse? Never seen that done. Do they know what it is like to love strangers so deeply that their lives means more than their own?
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While brains are pretty much all the same mechanically, they can only show what researchers are looking for. Under stress brains react. Terrorize a subject and they will react differently to the introduction of that terror again, no matter if it happens of not as long as the threat is there, they fear. Every creature on the planet experiences fear and learns from what they survived. Not every creature on the planet knows what it is like to grieve.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Don't wait for science to study the soul in relationship to Combat PTSD because if they can't see it, it doesn't matter and that, that is the answer they have been missing all along.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Want to see your veteran heal? Then fight the battle for them when they come home. They loved enough to be willing to die. You have to love them enough to fight to keep them alive.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Help them remember why they wanted to serve in the first place and that it was because they loved and that is one of the biggest reasons you still love them. If they did not have the ability to love that much, they wouldn't grieve as much as they do now.</span><br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Bi1HJV1ZvM" width="560"></iframe>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-3610265985603378262013-07-26T07:31:00.001-04:002013-07-26T07:31:34.766-04:00Veterans of Long-Past Wars Find Hope in PTSD DiagnosisSome seem to want to go on pretending that PTSD is a new injury hitting only Afghanistan and Iraq veterans but the truth is, it is as old as the Bible. They didn't use the words but if you read the words of King David in Psalms along with many others, you will clearly see it. Every war has caused this but it used to be called different names. The outcome has always been the same. We train them to go then leave them on their own coming home.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Veterans of Long-Past Wars Find Hope in PTSD Diagnosis</b></span><br />
The California Report<br />
Reporter: Scott Shafer
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More than a quarter-million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, but younger vets aren’t the only ones dealing with it. Even today, veterans from conflicts as far back as World War II struggle with symptoms.
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Donald Foster, an 86-year-old veteran of World War II, only recently began getting treatment for his PTSD. As a soldier in Japan, he worked in a Japanese orphanage. He said it made him feel patriotic -- at first.
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“But when you see these little tykes dropping dead from aplastic anemia, and the burns on adults wandering around dazed before they died of radiation sickness -- rather than make me more patriotic I just felt, I just threw up,” Foster said.
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After he returned home, he married, had several children and began an impressive career. His work with the United Nations and World Bank took him to dozens of nations. He retired about five years ago.
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All that globe-trotting helped mask his struggles with depression and anger, issues he never linked back to his military service. But two years ago, after a massive earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami, the scenes of devastation brought back a flood of memories.
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He had an urgent, almost desperate, need to find out what happened to the kids he saw on television.
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That incident led him to Grass Valley psychologist Page Brown, who works with veterans. She said PTSD symptoms are very often triggered by scenes of war, violence or devastation.
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Foster was diagnosed with PTSD about two years ago. He said he didn't expect to learn that his symptoms were related to his military experience. Brown said that's not an unusual reaction of older vets.<br />
<a href="http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201307260850/a">read more here</a>
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Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-81656528286202316102013-07-25T18:46:00.000-04:002013-07-25T18:46:12.802-04:00Major news stories of PTSD veterans and suicides ignoredOn JULY 18th the Army released suicide report totals April and May<br />
<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/07/army-released-suicide-report-totals.html">Army Releases May 2013 Suicide Information</a>
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For April 2013, the Army reported 11 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers: five have been confirmed as suicides and six are under investigation.
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The Army released suicide data today for the month of May 2013. During May, among active-duty soldiers, there were 12 potential suicides. None have been confirmed as suicides and 12 remain under investigation.
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For calendar year 2013, there have been 64 potential active-duty suicides: 31 have been confirmed as suicides and 33 remain under investigation. Updated active-duty suicide numbers for calendar year (CY) 2012: 183 (162 have been confirmed as suicides and 21 remain under investigation).
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For April 2013, among that same group, the Army reported 16 potential suicides; however, subsequent to the report, one more case was added bringing April’s total to 17 (14 Army National Guard and three Army Reserve). None have been confirmed as suicides and 17 cases remain under investigation.
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During May 2013, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 10 potential suicides (eight Army National Guard and two Army Reserve). None have been confirmed as suicides and 10 remain under investigation.
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For CY 2013, there have been 70 potential not on active duty suicides (45 Army National Guard and 25 Army Reserve): 22 have been confirmed as suicides and 48 remain under investigation. Updated not on active duty suicide numbers for CY 2012: 140 (93 Army National Guard and 47 Army Reserve). Of these, 138 have been confirmed as suicides and two remain under investigation.
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This is the 4th week of July yet they have not released the June suicide numbers along with the entire report for <a href="http://t2health.org/programs/dodser">2012 Suicide Event Report</a> This is the data researchers depend on to get the facts. It isn't as if they can really trust what they are told since we've all been told too many things that turned out to not be true too many times before.
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While journalists have been focusing on <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/25/justice/zimmerman-juror-b29-interview/index.html?hpt=hp_t1">Zimmerman</a>, <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/25/weiner-chat-partner-sydney-leathers-felt-manipulated/?hpt=hp_c2">Anthony Weiner</a> there were two families searching for sons they loved, both with PTSD and both lost their lives.
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FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — A family member of <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/07/spc-brandon-david-bertolos-body-found.html">Spc. Brandon David Bertolo</a> has confirmed that the body found in a Fort Campbell training area Friday morning is that of the 23-year-old “Strike” Brigade soldier, missing since July 14.
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In California it was the family of <a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2013/07/another-family-searching-for-missing.html">Erik Jorgenson </a>searching for him. "On Thursday night he sent out a mass text message basically saying he was a waste of oxygen on this earth," said Cindy Crow, Erik’s mother. A message to make a mother's heart stop but their search came to a sad end as well.
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You may think you know what is going on if you watch the news but you really don't know what else is happening and that is really sad. Our troops and veterans deserve so much better and so do their families.
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Over the next couple of weeks there won't be much posting done here since I had to take a temp job to pay my bills. I'll post as much as I can but if you don't see anything here make sure to to do the tab up top for Wounded Times.
Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262925983464683051.post-62037502371957324172013-07-22T08:46:00.000-04:002013-07-22T08:46:43.386-04:00These Generals are not in PTSD denialIf you are new to discovering Combat PTSD, here is a great video report on Generals talking about their own unseen wound.<br />
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Uploaded on Mar 9, 2009<br />
Two Army generals talked to CNNs Barbara Starr about their experience with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in hopes that it will convince more suffering soldiers to come forward.<br />
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Brig. General Gary S. Patton and Gen. Carter Ham have both sought counseling for the emotional trauma of their time in the Iraq war.
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One of our soldiers in that unit, Spec. Robert Unruh, took a gunshot wound to the torso, I was involved in medevacing him off the battlefield. And in a short period of time, he died before my eyes, Patton told CNN in an exclusive interview. Thats a memory [that] will stay with me the rest of my life.
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Ham was the commander in Mosul when a suicide bomber blew up a mess tent. Twenty-two people died.
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The 21st of December, 2004, worst day of my life. Ever, Ham said. To this day I still ask myself what should I have done differently, what could I have done as the commander responsible that would have perhaps saved the lives of those soldiers, sailors, civilians.
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Both generals have been back from Iraq for years, but still deal with some of the symptoms of the stress they experienced.
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This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Mar. 9, 2009.<br />
RawReplay.com</blockquote>
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<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/11/thankful-for-general-carter-ham.html">General Carter Ham</a>
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<a href="http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/11/ptsdmaj-general-david-blackledge-shows.html">PTSD:Maj. General David Blackledge shows what courage is back home</a>Kathie Costoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05930848909252282916noreply@blogger.com0