War - PTSD

[BLUEHAWK]

So many among us mention Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... Zoomie found something which provoked thought in me about how PTSD is dealt with, made me think maybe there's another way... maybe a better way.

Excerpts from: "The Grief Industry", by: Jerome Groopman, NEW YORKER MAGAZINE, January 26, 2004, pp 30-38

"A 1996 study of American pilots who were prisoners of war in North Vietnam underscores the importance of baseline mental health. Although the pilots endured years of torture and, in many cases, solitary confinement, they showed very low incidence of PTSD - presumably because pilots are screened for psychological health and trained for high-stress combat."

"Foa, who is an Israeli, has taught her technique to therapists with the Israel Defense Forces. These therapists recently treated thirty soldiers who had severe PTSD. Some had been in continuous psychotherapy until they received Foa's treatment, which typically requires only twenty hours of therapy. Twenty-nine of the thrity experienced a marked improvement in both their symptoms and their ability to function."

"At the same time, the scientific critique of debriefing has begun to have an impact. The Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Red Cross, the Department of Health and Human Services have all abandoned it as a therapeutic method... This week, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Task Force on Terrorism will release a paper recommending that debriefing be abandoned as a mainstream prevention method. Nevertheless, many for-profit companies in the so-called "grief industry" continue to offer single counselling sessions that are fundamentally linked to Mitchell's seven-step technique."

I'd suggest, read the article in whole... come to your own conclusion.

[MORTARDUDE]

Mike :

Very interesting. Thanks !

Larry

[BLUEHAWK]

At your service... Zoomie out!

[Desdichado]

Sam Stone came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.

But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew 'round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a purple heart and a monkey on his back.

There?s a hole in daddy?s arm where all the money goes
And Jesus Christ died for nothin? I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears
Don?t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

Sam Stone?s welcome home
Didn?t last too long.
He went to work when he?d spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealin'
When he got that empty feelin'
For a hundred-dollar habit without overtime.

And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose
While the kids ran around wearin? other peoples? clothes.

There?s a hole in daddy?s arm where all the money goes
And Jesus Christ died for nothin? I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears
Don?t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair.
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air

But life had lost it?s fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on a GI bill
For a flag-draped casket on a local heroes? hill.

There?s a hole in daddy?s arm where all the money goes
And Jesus Christ died for nothin? I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears
Don?t stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios

John Prine