A Word About PTSD

[Nuclear Unicorn]

Soldiers with PTSD are not psychotics waiting to explode. They are not looking to shoot-up shopping malls or churches or even mosques. Their reactions are not about violence.

Their reactions are about feeling insecure. The habits and reactions they develop while in a combat zone become second nature. They have self-preservation reactions to ordinary stimuli and often they have recurring memories while awake or asleep.

Our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan--as terrible as those wars are--have not sublimated memories of atrocities they have committed. They are not war criminals. They are our friends, neighbors, co-workers and even family members/loved ones who just need to feel safe again.

They are not freaks. They love and admire America and by extension Americans.

Please stop treating them as cheap caricatures in a bad Hollywood script.

Thank-you

BTW - if you or anyone you know is suffering from PTSD there is help. For all its ills the military takes care of it own. Contact the VA, TriCare or even your own doctor who can get in touch with military support services to cover any costs. There is help and people with PTSD need to know we love them and want them home healthy and whole...ALL of them because they are good people.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/

eom

[rucky]

1. I'm going to a comedy club tonight with a PTSD vet.

Just got back after 3 tours in Afghanistan. My SIL's been dating him for a couple of months, and he's had some episodes. Hopefully the comedy will cheer him up before the 2-drink minimum kicks in - then who knows?

[Arctic Dave]

2. Correct, the military people are not a bunch of crazies waiting to shoot the place up,

that is the job of the Post Office.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. I lol'ed...

...but you still get a finger wagging.

[Arctic Dave]

8. I'm Sorry.

:D

[Ozymanithrax]

3. We shoudl remember that Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom can and is caused by any trauma...

Rape, assault, and other traumatic experiences can and do cause Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. Good point

Thank-you

:hug:

[cutlassmama]

6. yes. It's not just limited to the military.

[bobbolink]

9. Yes, many of us suffer it from various causes.

It is no laughing matter.

[Odin2005]

11. I was going to post the same thing.

I volunteer at a rape and abuse crisis center and have a friend who was raped so I know that very well.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. I was going to make this point too

Thank you

doesn't have to be short term trauma either. Traumatic conditions like abuse during childhood and chronic illness can cause PTSD

there are effective therapies, some of them alternative (in my experience, THE most effective was an "alternative" therapy. I mention this in case anyone is looking for such--feel free to ask)

[Bluerthanblue]

16. thank you for pointing that out- And thanks for this OP-

K&R

[bobbolink]

7. Thank you for an EXCELLENT--and much needed--post!

The ignorance you are seeing is partly the result of the denigration of "mental illness" that is so common.

There was a post a while back, decrying the use of terms to dismiss anyone we disagree with as "crazy", and it was mocked by many.

Yes, ignorance is alive and well.

:cry:

[stray cat]

10. And the murderer had never served overseas - if he had PTSD it was by diffusion

[EFerrari]

14. Trauma is not confined to battlefields. n/t

/oops

[Sinti]

12. Thank you - this needs to be understood. n/t

[EFerrari]

13. Most people who have psychotic episodes do it quietly

and they don't hurt anyone. eom