Be...all that you can be...
...unless you have PTSD:
Last month, the Air Force Times reported that "as many as 300,000 troops had PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and received inadequate care." The Department of Veterans Affairs noted at the time that only "about half of all disability claims for PTSD are approved." It appears now that the Army's neglect of soldiers with symptoms of PTSD -- including nightmares, flashbacks, and "an inability to think clearly or remember things well, which makes performing basic daily takes difficult" -- is by design. An audio tape acquired by Salon provides evidence that "the military does not want veterans to be diagnosed with PTSD" because treating the condition is too expensive. Secretly recording a conversation with his doctor, a soldier asked why he had been diagnosed with an "anxiety disorder" rather than PTSD. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public," psychologist Douglas McNinch told the patient. "Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder." McNinch added, "Unfortunately, yours has not been the only case. ... I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It's not fair. I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers." Salon reports that "after the Army became aware of the tape, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate its implications." The Army has conducted an internal investigation but "cleared itself of any wrongdoing."
Source.
Last month, the Air Force Times reported that "as many as 300,000 troops had PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and received inadequate care." The Department of Veterans Affairs noted at the time that only "about half of all disability claims for PTSD are approved." It appears now that the Army's neglect of soldiers with symptoms of PTSD -- including nightmares, flashbacks, and "an inability to think clearly or remember things well, which makes performing basic daily takes difficult" -- is by design. An audio tape acquired by Salon provides evidence that "the military does not want veterans to be diagnosed with PTSD" because treating the condition is too expensive. Secretly recording a conversation with his doctor, a soldier asked why he had been diagnosed with an "anxiety disorder" rather than PTSD. "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public," psychologist Douglas McNinch told the patient. "Not only myself, but all the clinicians up here are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder." McNinch added, "Unfortunately, yours has not been the only case. ... I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It's not fair. I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers." Salon reports that "after the Army became aware of the tape, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate its implications." The Army has conducted an internal investigation but "cleared itself of any wrongdoing."
Source.
posted by Editor at Large at 11:18 AM
2 Comments:
I'd say that's par for the course! It's been the gov't message for years: As long as you hold a gun and shoot at this week's designated "bad guys" or "axis of evil", we love you!! However, as soon as you put down your gun and return to civilian life (or what's left of it), we don't know ya!!
RT: Nice to see you! Yeah, I guess I should be used to the military's modus upyourendi by now...but then, war doesn't make sense to me, so it makes sense that I can't make sense of anything else the Army does!
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