God, the Army, and PTSD - Is religion an obstacle to treatment?

[Are_grits_groceries]

<snip>
During the Iraq war, however, the great difficulty veterans experienced in getting psychiatric care—greater than before—was not a product of cost-cutting, but of conviction: many Bush administration officials believed that soldiers who supported the war would not face psychological problems, and if they did, they would find comfort in faith. In a resigned tone, one prominent researcher who worked for the VA, and asked that he not be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press, explained that high-ranking officials believed that “Jesus fixes everything.” Benimoff and the others who returned with devastating psychological injuries found a faith-based bureau within the VA. At veterans’ hospitals, chaplains were conducting spirituality assessments of patients.

The story of the mistreatment of returning veterans from Iraq is well known and shocking. But the role of religious ideology in that mistreatment—how, inside the government, it was a potent tool in the betrayal of an overwhelmingly Christian Army—is much less known.

“I couldn’t stand to hear that phrase any longer—‘God was watching over me,’” Benimoff wrote.

He wasn’t watching over the good men I knew in Iraq. Faith was the center of my life yet it failed to explain why I came home and those soldiers did not. The phrase was a Christian nicety, a cliché that when put to the test didn’t fit reality.
<snip>
Sullivan was working as an analyst at the Veterans Benefits Administration in Washington in early 2005 when he was called to a meeting with a top political appointee at the VA, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Michael McLendon. McLendon, an intensely focused man in a neatly pressed suit, kept a Bible on his desk at the office. Sullivan explained to McLendon and the other attendees that the rise in benefits claims the VA was noticing was caused partly by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were suffering from PTSD. “That’s too many,” McLendon said, then hit his hand on the table. “They are too young” to be filing claims, and they are doing it “too soon.” He hit the table again. The claims, he said, are “costing us too much money,” and if the veterans “believed in God and country . . . they would not come home with PTSD.” At that point, he slammed his palm against the table a final time, making a loud smack. Everyone in the room fell silent.

“I was a little bit surprised,” Sullivan said, recalling the incident. “In that one comment, he appeared to be a religious fundamentalist.” For Sullivan, McLendon’s remarks reflected the views of many political appointees in the VA and revealed what was behind their efforts to reduce costs by restricting claims. The backlog of claims was immense, and veterans, often suffering extreme psychological stress, had to wait an average of five months for decisions on their requests.
<snip>
Nevertheless, McLendon was open about the skepticism he felt toward the diagnosis of PTSD, calling it “a made-up term,” which has “taken on a life of its own.” As he spoke about the diagnosis, he pounded the table with the side of his hand more than ten times, hitting it so hard that the wooden surface shook. “Do I think they have a mental illness and should be stigmatized for the rest of their life?” he asked. “What gives a psychiatrist the right to do that?”
<snip>
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.6/mckelvey.php

This is a long article, but worth reading in order to get more of an idea why veterans may have had or be having such trouble when they return.

I can't think of a worse way to treat someone who is ill. By assuming that they should be okay because of faith will just make them feel even worse. It may make them feel that it is their fault, and that they are lacking. That would leave them with no place to go if they couldn't afford other help.

This is personal for me. When I first went through my depression, I had no idea what was happening. I was scared to death, and I went to see the family doctor. I think he knew what was happening, but he had the same idea about using faith as a treatment.

After the examination, he looked at me and said,"Have you found Jesus?"

I got up, looked him straight in the eye, and said,"I didn't know he was lost." People are already questioning their faith enough. When someone believes you aren't ill and shouldn't be sick, it just dumps more guilt and worry on you. You are already lost enough and feel horrible. I didn't have PTSD or awful nightmares. I can't imagine dealing with that added to depression.

My depression was so bad I was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. This was in SC in the 1970's. The treatment there was a little different, but at least I didn't go to Bull St. (the State hospital). There was one psychiatrist who gave his patients shock treatments, and then they would come back and sit in a group and sing hymns. I called them "The Church of the Ready-Kilowatt." My doctor was an anesthesiologist who became an alcoholic. He recovered, and then became a Christian psychiatrist. We got along. :sarcasm:

I finally checked myself out, and went to DC to stay with a cousin. Her husband was a physchotherapist, and he found somebody in the area to help me. They probably saved what became something of a life. If I had known better when I was in SC, I would have headed down to Beaufort, and found Dr. Buzzard. I would have asked him to work some roots for me. If I have to, that's what I'll do now.

If you think I'm bigoted and hate all religions and Christians in particular, I don't. However, I do loathe with all my being what a lot of them do with their faith. You either believe, and believe like they do or they don't have time for you. They wouldn't know Jesus if he bit them on the butt.

I leveled my Mama one time when I told her I didn't think you had to believe in Jesus to get to Heaven assuming there is one. I didn't mean to, but I should have realized what this might mean to her. I tried to explain. I told her that I believed that if someone was a good person on par, then they should get a shot at Heaven. If God didn't want them, he could sure send them on their way.

I told her that if you literally had to say the word Jesus and believe no matter how good you were to get into Heaven, the game was rigged. I had had pitched battles with people in Sunday school over this notion. I didn't buy it and if that was the way, I'll pass. Needless to say I was an outlier there.

I had been told that without literally using his name, you were a goner. I said Meh! If that was what they were saying, then Jesus wasn't much better than 'Open Sesame.' I told those people at church that if people tried to do what was right and felt bad when they came up short, it was the same damn thing to me. If God wanted to play Twenty Questions, then I was never gonna make it. I wasn't going to worry about it though. I'd find out at some point what was going to happen. They certainly weren't going to be the nosey people deciding although I can see them at the Pearly Gates whispering to St. Peter all the bad things I had been up to.

I digress.

Those soldiers need help. God works in mysterious ways so I was told. He'll be manifest in what is done not what is said. They need to be listened to without judgement and hugged all the time somehow. In fact, if they need to lay on the floor all day hugging someone or a therapy dog, then let them. There shouldn't be any caveats or bargains with a faith. They are probably having to wrestle with that too if they were brought up in the church. Just be there when needed, and be kind to them. I learned at some point that being there may be all you can do. It may be all that is necessary whether you know it or not.

People who are depressed know it. They also know how horrible they are making people feel who love them. They can't help it and that makes guilt and anger. So you stop asking because seeing the price some pay is hard to bear too. Don't make those soldiers ask. Be there and offer an ear and kindness. That is what they should try. To think of what the people in charge have been doing sets my hair on fire.

So there you have the treatment according to Grits. I also belong to "The Church of Grits and Shrimp." We believe in eating well, helping others when we can, and minding our own business. Our guiding principle is to do the kindest thing possible in any given situation. We also don't take any shit.

Lest you think I hold grudges, I went to see a new psychiatrist one time. I found out when I got in their offices that they were a Christian practice. I considered running but then I thought, let's see what happens. I met the doctor and began to see him. Religion never came up, and he was one of the best people I have ever seen. I asked him about it, and he said that whatever the patient needed was what they would do. Faith couldn't be forced.

That's the rest of the story or part of it.

[saracat]

1. Great article and great argument why Faith Based Initiatives should be abolished!

[donco6]

2. What a great story.

I came out of a fundamentalist background. For about five years I worked in a Bible church, running a publications department. The church had a large counseling component . . . well, it did, until the head pastor finally ran them all off, with basically the same argument you talk about - "Jesus will make it all better. What they need is prayer, not counseling." And that was the end of that.

[Warpy]

3. Wonderful article and your addition to it is also great

Religion, at its heart, is a tool for conformity. When you understand that, you understand why anyone who doesn't conform is regarded with suspicion or downright hostility.

Religion has always obstructed medical treatment, thinking that only forced conformity could possibly heal people with the invisible illnesses like depression and PTSD. After all, you look OK. All you need to do is act OK.

Then there is the burden of being part of Satan's work. What did you do to bring this upon yourself? Why not just repudiate Satan and get over it?

There is no way a healthy person can possibly understand what it's like to be sick, especially with a disease of brain chemistry like depression or even some of the more dramatic mental illnesses. They always expect reason from people who are incapable of it. Religion just adds the extra burden of blaming the victim of such an illness for lack of faith or being open to the influence of the devil.

That being said, religion can also have certain abilities to heal after trauma, but it has to come from within. It can't come from someone else. Coming from within, a sense of higher purpose can be comforting. Coming from someone else, it just feels like bullying.

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. They are bullies of the worst kind. nt

[C_Lawyer09]

5. Something else that blew my mind

Was General William Boykins comments that you are probably familiar with, so much for seperation of church and state, especially during the Bush admin.