Happy New Year, readers of PTSD Combat. I do hope that all of you, old friends and new, have had a great Christmastime, and that your holiday season has been filled with some light and wonder and many moments free from worry and stress.
For those of you who have followed my work since '05, or for new friends to be made in this new decade, I send you a generous New Years Day dose of gratitude. Thank you for your interest in my work. While the need to continue spotlighting issues near and dear to the American military family and their supporters is motivation enough to keep going...your positive support fuels me onward, too.
I'm spending the day today preparing for my facilitator duties at tomorrow's NIU Veterans Club Community Roundtable.
It's always a great honor to listen to the stories and thoughts of our local vets. And there are many, many such initiatives, big and small, gaining ground across the country.
Community members -- professionals and lay men and women of every skill set and sort -- are finding ways to help veterans process their experiences of combat while supporting their move from military life back into the civilian stream.
Educational institutions, in particular, are finding interesting ways of engaging on the issue and creating spaces for these necessary reflections. For instance, at NIU, Dr. Jeffrey Chown -- The Communication Department's Presidential Teaching Professor in Media Studies -- has been leading the charge.
Last week, Henry Gustav Molaison -- a name most would not recognize even though he was the neuroscience field's most famous of patients -- passed away at the age of 80. Since 1953, when experimental brain surgery to alleviate severe epileptic seizures severely damaged his ability to lay down new memories, Molaison was known simply as "H.M."
Henry Gustav Molaison (February 26, 1926 – December 2, 2008), better known as HM or H.M., was a memory-impaired patient who was widely studied from the late 1950s until his death. His case played a very important role in the development of theories that explain the link between brain function and memory, and in the development of cognitive neuropsychology, a branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes.
Before his death, he resided in a care institute located in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, where he was the subject of ongoing investigation. Audio recordings from the 1990s of him talking to scientists were released in early 2007. Henry loved to do crossword puzzles, play bingo, watch TV, and socialize with the people who took care of him.
Not surprisingly, in February 2007, NPR's Weekend Edition [listen] introduced their audience to the man whose ill-fated surgery gave scientists a clearer window into the body's most complex and vital organ: the brain. The program also provides a short introductory primer on memory and the brain.
Due to PTSD and memory's unique relationship -- with past traumatic experiences feeling vivid, painfully immediate and even more "real" than recent events rather than the distant memories they should be for its sufferers -- H.M. (who was an "n of 1," or the only person who is known to have had the surgical procedure performed on him; therefore, the only one available in this specific research pool) increased our knowledge base in this area, too.
In extended, a journey into the world of Molaison's amnesia, along with a host of fresh research coming out on the subject.
New data from a public health registry that tracks the health effects of 9/11 suggest that as many as 70,000 people may have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terrorist attacks.
The estimate, released Wednesday by New York City's Department of Health, is based on an analysis of the health of 71,437 people who enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry. They agreed to be tracked for up to 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the study was based on answers they volunteered about their health two and three years after the attack.
Of the estimated 400,000 people believed to have been heavily exposed to pollution from the disaster, data suggests that 35,000 to 70,000 people developed PTSD and 3,800 to 12,600 may have developed asthma, city health officials said.
They include rescue and recovery workers, lower Manhattan residents, area workers, commuters and passers-by.
One of those people on the scene was a man named Kenny Johannemann, a WTC janitor who worked part-time in the basement of the North Tower. Michael Daly picks up the story in the New York Daily News:
Johannemann often said he might have been killed on 9/11 had he not stopped to get a cup of coffee just before the plane hit. Otherwise, he might have been on an elevator when a jet crashed and flaming fuel poured down the shaft.
Instead, he was waiting for an elevator when he heard a huge bang and the doors burst open. A man tumbled out on fire and Johannemann helped him to an ambulance. "He was burned up bad but he was still alive," Johannemann told People magazine.
In the aftermath, Johannemann appeared on the "Jenny Jones Show" and received the letter from the White House. Privately, the hero became a reclusive alcoholic.
"He just started backing away and not bothering with anyone," Joseph Maya recalled. He avoided family, even on the holidays he had always loved. He seemed convinced he was friendless and alone.
Eleven days ago, on August 31, he committed suicide.
For those of you who've been along with me on my personal journey these past seven years, you'll probably remember that I was a former 15-year flight attendant with American Airlines the day two of our airplanes were used in the terrorist attacks on our country.
In years past, I've written and shared photo essays on my experience of the events and my journey to Ground Zero three weeks after the attacks to pay my respects (my entire 911 collection of pictures is now on Flickr as well).
While I personally was far removed from any danger that day, my life -- or, more directly, my career trajectory -- was directly affected by the day's unraveling. In fact, my advocacy for our returning veterans today can be traced back to the events of September 11, 2001.
I was one of the lucky stews.
Senior enough not to be among the 7,000 flight attendants at our airline suffering forced lay offs that fall, I also had a great husband (an AA Captain at the time; now a first officer due to their own division's sizable layoffs) who supported my choice to take the early retirement packages being offered to us.
It may be long in coming, slow in arriving, but Americans are finally beginning to realize that our defenders can use some defending, too.
And so, many are rising to the challenge and spreading the news, asking for others to join with us to care about our veterans. Gives me great hope. Though these are only videos, the sentiment behind them should shore up our courage to continue advocating for what's right.
These clips are varied, but the message is the same: America cares about you, and we're ready to cover your back dear soldier, sailor, airman and Marine.
My first column for the Northern Star appears today, reflecting on September 11, our residual fear in the wake of it, and an incident that took place a few weeks ago that seems only too fitting to examine.
I was a 15-year American Airlines flight attendant when our planes (along with those of United Airlines) were used to create so much physical and psychic damage to our country. In previous years, I've reflected and shared on my experiences and feelings of that day (2004 :: 2005-photo essay :: 2006).
This year, I observed the day with little public comment, and so, wanted my first column for the Star to touch upon it a bit. For many Americans the reverberations of that tragic day are still being powerfully felt six years beyond.
A snippet:
Seven Middle Eastern men gather in the departure lounge of a recent American Airlines flight bound for Chicago.
It’s late in San Diego, nearing the 11 p.m. departure time for Flight 590 and passengers are anxious to get going. A 35-year-old homemaker traveling with her two children observes the dark-skinned men. They’re talking to one another – not in English – and it makes her uneasy.
Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...
One more small graf:
In 1998, author Gavin de Becker published a best-seller called “The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect us from Violence.” Written before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the book directed people to tap into their sixth sense for protection against threats of violence.
de Becker claims that our “personal solution to violence” will come from within us. If we learn to follow our gut instincts, or “brilliant internal guardian,” then we can keep our loved ones and ourselves safe and free from harm.
But what happens when members of society become too fearful? Can we trust our intuition if we live in a culture of pervasive fear?
Most of us would agree that when we set about plans for our invasion in 2003, we might not have imagined that the war would still be raging, and that so many of our men and women -- and so many of Iraq's innocent men, women and children -- would still be dying in a hot and bloody conflict five years on.
Yet, we embark on year five in a matter of minutes.
Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...
My thoughts are with our troops tonight, with all of those in harm's way, with the innocents and with military family members and friends who surely must have had as difficult a day today as they did yesterday. For them, every day is a painful reminder of the true length and cost of war.
As candlelight vigils across the country wind down a day of remembrance and protest, what follows is a sampling of some of the day's events.
As it began, President Bush asked the nation for patience:
President Bush marked the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on Monday with a plea for patience and a stark warning against the temptation “to pack up and go home.” ... Mr. Bush’s commemoration of the anniversary, delivered beneath a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider, was notable for the sharp change in tone from his speeches in the heady, early days of the war — when it still appeared possible that a quick victory in Baghdad could be followed by a relatively swift withdrawal. In those first few months, Mr. Bush argued that he was on the way to spreading democracy throughout the Middle East through the euphoria that would surely follow the unseating of Saddam Hussein.
But on Monday Mr. Bush made no reference to democracy. In his only reference to the regional effects of the war, he cautioned, “If American forces were to step back from Baghdad before it is more secure, a contagion of violence could engulf the entire country; in time, this violence could engulf the region.” In an echo of the initial case for war, Mr. Bush warned that Iraq could become a staging ground for terrorists to plan devastating attacks on the order of 9/11.
Anniversaries of the invasion have become more politically fraught in the years since the invasion. Mr. Bush used his statement on Monday to argue that it was the responsibility of Congress to support the troops already there, and that he alone had the authority to decide the strategy and the timetable for adding or withdrawing troops. “They have a responsibility to get this bill to my desk without strings and without delay,” Mr. Bush said of the war financing package.
Also on Monday, the administration released a statement calling the House bill “unconscionable” and saying that the president would veto it if it was passed.
Democrats reacted harshly to the president's statement. They called it an open-ended commitment to a losing strategy. "The American people have lost confidence in President Bush's plan for a war without end in Iraq," said Pelosi. "That failed approach has been rejected by the voters in our nation, and it will be rejected by the Congress."
Democrats also sought to refute Mr. Bush's assertion that the House bill would reduce flexibility needed by the military to win the war. "There is nothing in this legislation that will be considered this week that micromanages the war," said House Majority Steny Hoyer, D-Md. No military general "will in any way be constrained from the tactics or the strategies that they deem best to employ on the ground in Iraq."
The democrats weren't the only ones countering back. Paul Rieckhoff, Iraq war veteran and exective director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America had this to say today:
On the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War, President Bush's talking points were so eerily familiar that if he didn't mention General Petraeus by name, I'd have to wonder if he accidentally gave last year's speech. The President can point to no more recent success than the twelve million Iraqis that voted in 2005, but he makes no mention of the nearly three million Iraqis now refugees of the ongoing violence. ...
All this was par for the course from a President who continues to confuse determination with stubbornness and vision with myopia. But what really stood out for me was this:
"I'm grateful to our service men and women for all they've done, and for the honor they've brought to their uniform and their country. I'm grateful to our military families for all the sacrifices they have made for our country. We also hold in our hearts the good men and women who have given their lives in this struggle. We pray for the loved ones they have left behind."
As the Walter Reed scandal made clear, our troops, veterans, and their families need a lot more than just prayer from the Commander in Chief. Hope is not a course of action. Our veterans need a plan.
At least one-third of returning troops will face a mental health problem. They need counseling. Fifteen percent of returning Iraq veterans under the age of 24 are unemployed. They need a real G.I. Bill that will pay the cost of college.
Over 200,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have already sought health care at a veterans' hospital. They need hospitals that are adequately funded. But instead of addressing these problems, the President offered only his "Greatest Hits" - asking the American people for patience but not a shared sacrifice, offering new packaging for the war effort but not a new plan, and giving lip service to troops and veterans but not real support.
Rieckhoff's group has a 31-point legislative plan that's worthy of everyone's attention. Take a look at it, print it out, and start making calls to your representatives and senators in support of this comprehensive veterans' care agenda.
Speaking of the Walter Reed scandal, more news arrived today:
An Army contract to privatize maintenance at Walter Reed Medical Center was delayed more than three years amid bureaucratic bickering and legal squabbles that led to staff shortages and a hospital in disarray as the number of severely wounded soldiers was rising rapidly.
Documents from the investigative and auditing arm of Congress map a trail of bid, rebid, protests, and appeals between 2003, when Walter Reed was first selected for outsourcing, and 2006, when a five-year, $120 million contract was finally awarded. The disputes involved hospital management, the Pentagon, Congress, and IAP Worldwide Services Inc., which has powerful political connections and is the only private bidder to handle maintenance, security, public works, and management of military personnel.
While medical care was not directly affected, needed repairs went undone as the nonmedical staff shrank from almost 300 to fewer than 50 in the last year and hospital officials were unable to find enough skilled replacements.
Meanwhile protests for and against the war marked the day, as this VOA report from Washington, D.C., noted:
Debbie Argel Bastian is with an organization called Move America Forward that backs President Bush and his policy of sending in more troops to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad.
Bastian's son Derek, an Air Force captain, was killed in Iraq two years ago. "People are tired of undermining the troops," said Debbie Argel Bastian. "So we are going to speak loud and clear and we are going to keep this campaign going as long as it takes. We are going to send the message to our troops that we love them, we care about them and we will not abandon them."
On Monday, Move America Forward launched what the group calls its "Win in Iraq" campaign with a new commercial it says will run on television channels throughout the United States. "The choice is clear, we win in Iraq [sound of explosion] or we face the terrorists here in America." The commercial is highly likely to be controversial since it ends with a nuclear explosion over an American city.
Protestors on the opposite side of the political fence, meanwhile, held candlelight vigils across the nation:
Here's one from snowy Milford, CT:
But what of the war itself? Where do we stand today?
CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports that four years on, few Iraqis feel there is anything to be thankful for, and many U.S. troops who hoped to be home long ago now feel as if they're trying to catch up. Col. Ray Celeste, U.S. Marine Corps, told Pizzey: "I think we gave the insurgents a window of opportunity and they have taken it. They have kind of got us in a hole and we're trying to get out of it right now."
While Mr. Bush did not mention anything he would have done differently in leading the U.S. war effort, earlier Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded the administration's focus on Baghdad, politically at least, may have been a miscalculation. "We might have looked to a more localized, decentralized approach to reconstruction," she told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. ...
In the opening days of the war, General David Petraeus asked the still unanswered question: "Tell me how this ends." Now the top commander in Iraq, Petraeus may not be able to answer his own question, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The American military simply doesn't have much control over what Frederic Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute says it will take to end this war. "It ends with a political solution," says Kagan. "It ends with the Sunni and the Shia and the Kurds coming to an agreement about how Iraq is going to be governed."
CBS News' Katie Couric rattled off the barest of numbers:
You'll find many more stats I've collected from various news reports far and wide in The War List: OEF/OIF Statistics (alas, this list will continue to be updated).
And finally, I came across and have been drawn to this video memorial recently on YouTube:
In honor of a friend I lost who loved life, music (especially The Cult) and his Country. He and other friends who have passed away would've loved it if I honored our Country, Veterans, their familes and friends with an animated gift.
Two new studies have arrived on the scene this first week of the New Year. Main findings:
A groundbreaking study of 1,946 male veterans of World War II and Korea suggests that veterans with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are at greater risk of heart attacks as they age. The new study is the first to document a link between the stress disorder symptoms and future heart disease, and joins evidence that veterans with the stress disorder also have more autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and psoriasis.
A second study, funded by the Army, found that soldiers returning from combat in Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder reported worse physical health, more doctor visits, and more missed workdays. The Army study is based on a survey of 2,863 soldiers one year after combat.
"The burden of war may be even greater than people think," said the first study's lead author, Laura Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health.
Kubzansky goes on to say that the results may be due to the repeated release of adrenaline in those who deal with PTSD after a traumatic event. This may end up wearing down the cardiovascular system over time.
Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more PTSD study results...
Another study, looking at the link between memory and trauma via experiences of those closest to the World Trade Center on September 11, may shed some light on PTSD flashbacks:
Most Americans remember where they were on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. But a new brain-scan study suggests that not all those memories were created equally. "If you were near the World Trade Center, your memories are qualitatively different from other people -- even those who were elsewhere in Manhattan," said lead researcher Elizabeth Phelps, a professor of psychology at New York University.
Specifically, people who were within about two miles of Ground Zero on that day now retain especially vivid, detailed recollections of the scenes and events of that morning -- a kind of recall that experts call "flashbulb memories." Brain imaging suggests that these memories are especially strong because the amygdala -- a brain area focused on fear and memory -- kicked into high gear as these people watched that morning's catastrophic events unfold.
Nearly all of the study participants who had been in lower Manhattan on 9/11 said they experienced first-hand the sights, sounds and smells of that day. And many said they feared for their own safety. All of that may have played a role in imprinting these highly potent memories in their brains, Phelps said. "This isn't unique to 9/11," she added, noting that flashbulb memories can be laid down in any kind of traumatic event, be it personal or very public....
The subdued parahippocampal function seen in the Downtown group might play a role in PTSD, Phelps said. "The amygdala helps you form a very strong memory," she explained. But in the normal brain, the hippocampus acts as a counterweight, "giving you the ability to keep it all in the right context."
With PSTD, the hippocampus' ability to reign in frightening memories may get lost. "We know that there are differences in the hippocampus in people that will go on to develop PTSD and those who will not," Phelps said.
Researchers are also examining the relationship between PTSD and pain:
PTSD may alter the way the brain handles pain, a new study shows. The researchers included Elbert Geuze, PhD, of the Netherlands' Department of Military Psychiatry. Their study appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Geuze and colleagues studied 24 male Dutch veterans who had served on U.N. peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Cambodia, or Bosnia. ... The veterans rated how much pain they felt when their hands were briefly subjected to heat at temperatures ranging from 104-118 degrees Fahrenheit. Those with PTSD had a higher tolerance for the heat, compared to those without PTSD.
The veterans also got brain scans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they took the heat test. Those brain scans showed different patterns of brain activity between the veterans with and without PTSD. For instance, the veterans with PTSD showed less activity in part of their amygdala, a brain area that's involved in the brain's pain response.
Last week, the Army released the following "snapshot of the morale and mental health" of our troops:
The recent data on troops who have deployed to Iraq, released in a Dec. 19 report, paints a stark picture. For example, the suicide rate among soldiers supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom almost doubled in 2005, going up to 19.9 per 100,000 troops from 10.5 per 100,000 the year before.
Yet the data from 2003 show the rate that year to be 18.8 per 100,000 troops, which makes officials cautious about drawing conclusions. “We haven’t made a connection between the stress on the force with a significant increase in suicides,” said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, Army surgeon general, who discussed the data Dec. 20 at the Pentagon. “That isn’t to say there aren’t any. [But] I don’t have any evidence that there is a correlation between PTSD and suicides.”
The report also found that troops who have deployed to Iraq more than once reported higher levels of acute stress symptoms as well as higher levels of anxiety and depression than those serving their first tours. Almost 19 percent of troops with at least one prior tour in Iraq reported acute stress symptoms, compared with 12.5 percent on their first tour.
On the plus side, troops say getting help in theater is now easier and the stigma of seeking that help is decreasing. The study was compiled the Mental Health Advisory Team III, established at the request of Multi-National Force-Iraq, using data collected in October and November 2005 in theater. Similar assessments were made in late 2003 and 2004.
Last year, European researchers measured the effect personality has on the incidence of PTSD:
[O]ne study suggests that, whether a veteran of combat or a victim of accident or crime, your chances of facing the anxiety or depression of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may hinge as much on your personality as on your experience.
Inge Bramsen, a psychologist at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, tested 572 men who participated in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the former Yugoslavia for PTSD. Men who reported seeing the highest number of stressful events—shootings or dead people, for example—showed the most severe symptoms. But those who rated highest on personality traits such as negativism and paranoia before deployment also tended to show more signs of PTSD later. A hostile person may see more personal menace in events than others do, says Bramsen. An anxious person may also cope with stressful situations less effectively.
A study released in October by the American Journal of Psychiatry .. of 613 U.S. soldiers revealed that as time goes by after war service, PTSD becomes more evident, particularly in veterans with physical injuries. When the soldiers in the study first returned from overseas, the level of PTSD was 4 percent. After four months, that rate rose to 12 percent. Of those who were diagnosed with PTSD after seven months, 78.8 percent had screened negative for the condition at one month.
About September 11th, I can't add anything more that hasn't already been said.
Many of you know I was a flight attendant for American Airlines on September 11, 2001. I'd been based in Chicago for most of my career, with side adventures flying international out of Miami and JFK in the mid-90's. I turned in my wings after 15 years in November 2001. I took the leap not out of fear, but out of a need to grow in new directions. Fortunately, I found that new direction last year: advocating for and writing about our returning veterans. (Steve Robinson of Veterans for America has asked me to share an LTE with you guys on this issue, and that follows below along with more news).
Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...
As for today, last year I submitted a photo essay in remembrance of the 4th anniversary, sharing pictures I took of my journey to Ground Zero three weeks following the attacks. Twelve months earlier, I'd submitted an essay describing my day and a few that followed, and asked others to share theirs as well. That diary turned out to be one of my most treasured, filled with some of the most incredible contributions.
The looking forward part of my diary has to do with looking for ways to try to make the world a better place, and find my way in it since I left a career behind that I'd loved.
The career, as anyone flying these days knows, isn't the same; so, I don't have any regrets. I was fortunate to see a lot of the world, meet a lot of interesting people, and made many good friends and even met my husband at AA. (If you're a nurse, don't ever say you won't date a doctor. And if you're a flight attendant, don't ever say you won't date a pilot. The fates will conspire against you every time. :o)
Anyway, last year at this time I'd just begun getting curious about what was happening with our troops as they returned home to us. Two events led me down what would become my new life's path: 1) losing a sister to suicide in 2000; and 2) reading an August 31, 2005 Seattle Weeklyarticle that talked about a handful of vets that had returned home only to commit suicide.
From that article, and questions that flowed from it (Is this happening a lot? What's the military doing? Why isn't the media reporting on this? What can I do?), I began the work that I had no idea would transform the direction of my life. Thanks to people at Daily Kos, and at My Left Wing, and at Political Cortex, but most most most especially the wonderful people, now friends and colleagues, over at ePluribus Media for the greatest support under the heavens.
It's been an incredible year, and we've done a lot in that timeframe. I'm now in the final weeks of finishing up my first book, Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops. The process has been grueling, but filled with small little pockets of miracles and help from far and wide. Working with the military families who extended themselves and their stories to help with the book has been a humbling and deeply moving experience.
One of those miracles came bundled in the work that I was able to do with Laura Kent, mother of 1st Lt. Phillip Kent, a soldier who committed suicide on September 28, 2005. His story will be presented among those of, sadly, many others. I believe I'm the first author she agreed to give the story to; her first news interview was just broadcast this evening. A video clip and transcript are now available at WIS-10/Columbia, SC.
I won't go into sharing what the miracle was that she and I shared, but suffice it to say that if nothing else is accomplished with the book, it will have been worth it for my having had the opportunity to get to know Ms. Kent if even just a bit. (A thank you and deep gratitude to Wade Hampton for being the person to bring us together).
So, while I pray for the victims of September 11th, I also pray for those lost in our new century's wars. I dedicate this diary to Phillip. And I continue to ask for your help as we move forward to do right by those who have been asked to give up so much.
Wishing you all peace today...
Paul Sullivan asked via Steve Robinson at Veterans for America that I share this with you.
To the Editor:
As a former Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters project manager who monitored returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, I agree with Paul Krugman's comment that the V.A. is a stunning success for quality medical care ("Health Policy Malpractice," column, Sept. 4). But the V.A. is running full steam into a brick wall because of a lack of capacity.
Why? This administration failed to plan for the consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The V.A. fell $3 billion short last year, and both wait times and the doctor-to-patient ratio rose.
Nearly 1.5 million men and women have been deployed to war since 2001. Army research indicates that one-third of recent war veterans may need mental health care. The V.A. can expect a staggering 500,000 combat veteran mental health patients in the next few years.
Sadly, Dr. Frances Murphy, the V.A.'s deputy under secretary for health, confirmed the V.A.'s lack of capacity this May, saying some V.A. clinics do not provide mental health or substance abuse care, or if they do, "waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible." Without adequate financing and a comprehensive plan to increase capacity, the V.A. may spiral further into crisis and buckle under a tidal wave of demand.
Paul Sullivan Washington Sept. 4, 2006
The writer, a Persian Gulf war veteran, is director of programs at Veterans for America
While a wide variety of events can trigger what's called post-traumatic stress disorder, this PTSD blog focuses solely on the combat-related variety.
As a new generation of warriors returns to civilian life and seeks out resources, PTSD Combat is here to help.
"The first shamans earned their keep in primitave societies by providing explanations and rituals that enabled man to deal with his environment and his personal anguish. Early man, no less than we, dealt with forces that he could not understand or control, and he attempted to come to grips with his vulnerablity by trying to bring order to his universe." -- Richard Gabriel in No More Heroes
"War stories end when the battle is over or when the soldier comes home. In real life, there are no moments amid smoldering hilltops for tranquil introspection. When the war is over, you pick up your gear, walk down the hill and back into the world." -- OIF vet John Crawford in The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell
"After wars' end, soldiers once again become civilians and return to their families to try to pick up where they left off. It is this process of readjustment that has more often than not been ignored by society. -- Major Robert H. Stretch, Ph.D in Textbook of Military Medicine: Vol. 6 Combat Stress
The information presented on this web site is based on news reports, medical and government documents, and personal analysis. It does NOT represent therapeutic prescription or recommendation. For specific advice and information, consult your health care provider.
Comments at PTSD Combat do not necessarily represent the editor's views. Illegal or inappropriate material will be removed when brought to our attention. The existence of such does not reflect an endorsement.
This site contains at times large portions of copyrighted material not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This material is used for educational purposes, to forward understanding of issues that concern veterans and military families. In accordance with U.S. Copyright Law Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. More information.
Happy New Year, readers of PTSD Combat. I do hope that all of you, old friends and new, have had a great Christmastime, and that your holiday season has been filled with some light and wonder and many moments free from worry and stress.
One of those people on the scene was a man named Kenny Johannemann, a WTC janitor who worked part-time in the basement of the North Tower. Michael Daly picks up the story in the 
As candlelight vigils across the country wind down a day of remembrance and protest, what follows is a sampling of some of the day's events.
Two new studies have arrived on the scene this first week of the New Year. Main 
2011: Jan