Tag: Mental Illness

We Sent Them To War

This is a lengthy post but PTSD is too important for it to be shortened….please read and understand…..for too long people have looked down on suffers….this is a disease that we have caused because of our countless wars and the task we ask our troops to do.

We as a country have no problem sending our young to war……it is when they return home and are in the grips of PTSD that we have NO idea what to do.

Perhaps only ancient Sparta claimed to support its military more than the United States. From the “soldiers get priority boarding” ritual that happens only in American airports, to elections where a decision not to serve is forever held against a candidate, there are daily reminders that “the troops” are a presence in our society like few others.

The desire to claim a piece of that presence leads to elaborate lies, known as “stolen valor.” People buy regulation uniforms and walk through society showing off medals, telling fake war stories, and accepting unearned thanks. They want the juice without having endured the squeeze. They are out there this Veteran’s Day, and they are to be loathed.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/we-sent-them-to-war-now-its-our-turn-to-pay/

We as a nation need to educate ourselves on PTSD and the whole nation can become part of the solution instead of part of the problem as it is now.

“PTSD is going to color everything you write,” came the warning from a stepmother of a Marine, a woman who keeps track of such things. That was in 2005, when post-traumatic stress disorder, a.k.a. PTSD, wasn’t getting much attention, but soon it was pretty much all anyone wrote about. Story upon story about the damage done to our guys in uniform — drinking, divorce, depression, destitution — a laundry list of miseries and victimhood. When it comes to veterans, it seems like the only response we can imagine is to feel sorry for them.

Victim is one of the two roles we allow our soldiers and veterans (the other is, of course, hero), but most don’t have PTSD, and this isn’t one of those stories.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/moral-injury-modern-war/

A personal story from a father whose son survived war but not PTSD…….

When my son Ricky was in sixth or seventh grade, I got a call from the principal’s office. They said I needed to pick him up because he was covered in mud and couldn’t return to class like that. I thought, Okay, that’s kind of weird. Ricky never got into trouble. Normally when you get a call like that your kid did something, but no, mine was just dirty. My brother picked him up (I couldn’t leave work at the time) and said the dirt was so caked on, Ricky had to ride home in the back of his truck. It had rained the day before and, as it turns out, my son had decided to roll down a hill behind the school. He wasn’t aiming for the mud puddle at the bottom but there it was. When I got home and asked why he would do such a thing, he replied, “Because it was funny.” I couldn’t fault him because it was funny. That’s the kind of person my son was before he deployed to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army — he would do anything to make people laugh.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a46862/veteran-ptsd-suicide/

Another first hand account about dealing with PTSD and the mental anguish that will accompany the disease……

I don’t go out to parties very much anymore. I can’t remember the last time I was at a party where there was lots of alcohol or drugs, because I know for a fact using either of them would be bad for me. Not because they are illegal, necessarily, but because it wouldn’t be good for me. They would put me in a bad place.

I was never medicated for post-traumatic stress disorder, but I did go through a lot of therapy. I still go back occasionally if I’m in a bad place.

I joined the US army in 2005 and served until 2012. I went from second lieutenant to first lieutenant and then from first lieutenant to captain.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/11/veteran-remnants-unnecessary-war-171111210101769.html

The more we know about PTSD the more we can help those in need as they reach out for our help….please help when you can….our vets deserve a country that is willing to help when they are in need.

A simple thank you is not enough.

Is It Really All That Healthy?

One of the pleasures that I may still indulge myself is food……I enjoy a good wine, fine cheeses and a filet…..yes I eat red meat….I realize that that may not be too damn fashionable these days but screw it!

I you seen this new drink that is in the supermarkets these days….it is green….and not a good green….looks more like pond scum….but it is so healthy that just looking at it will cut your health problems in half (and overstatement but you get the jest)…..

Today skinny is the way….if you are not skin and bones then there is something seriously wrong with you or your eating habits…..to these people I have one simple statement for them…..BITE ME!

Anyway….there seems to be a growing problem with so-called “clean eating”……

It’s called “orthorexia”—an obsession with healthy, “clean eating”—and as it gains traction in this age of Instagrammed food photos, some think it should be recognized as its own eating disorder. “It’s really a real fixation,” one nutritionist tells NBC News of those who take things too far. “They almost get like a fan club, especially on social media.” Steven Bratman, a doctor who coined the term back in 1997, says it’s time to recognize it as a type of disorder on par with anorexia but distinct—i.e. the objective isn’t weight loss but purity. Still, many in the medical field cite a lack of sufficient research and too much overlap with currently described disorders, from anorexia to obsessive compulsive disorder, to warrant its own classification, reports the Washington Post. “The dietary obsessions that people get into with anorexia often lead into these kinds of concerns with proper nutrition and healthy eating,” says the director of an eating disorders program. “There’s a great deal of overlap.”

Still, while he says “we treat people based on research,” he concedes it isn’t necessarily a bad thing for people to self-identify with orthorexia and seek to obsess a little less. Which is exactly what former vegan blogger Jordan Younger did—revealing on her wildly-popular Instagram page that she had become so anxious about the food she ate it was making her sick, reports Broadly. Once she went public, she says, “a flood of people came forward saying they identified with me.” Karin Kratina, a 30-year veteran therapist focusing on eating disorders, says the rise in orthorexic patients is “serious” and that the problem is “we have moralized eating, weight, food, and exercise. Food has become presented—more and more—as the answer.” The issue is not without precedent. People can, for instance, exercise themselves right into the grave. But for whatever the reason, eating healthily in moderation is for some easier said than done. (Is healthy eating a privilege of the rich?)

The last question is the best question that could have been asked…….

The more people that drink the “pond scum” the more filets there will be for me…..and for that I thank you……

VA to Iraq war vet: ‘We’re not accepting any new patients’

I have been bitching about the treatment of American vets for 40 years…..this country treats our returning vets like a worn out tool to be discarded when broken……this country should be ashamed!

Recently we have heard time and time again that the VA is improving……..there have been propaganda pieces in the media to show these improvements……but my question is……just how improved is the VA system?

VA to Iraq war vet: ‘We’re not accepting any new patients’.

Kinda sounds like the same old system to me……..

Any thoughts?

The Fort Hood Saga

Daily Agitator

I was not going to comment on the shootings at Ft. Hood until all the facts were in.  There is speculation flying around the web and the news rooms on why this guy went to this extreme.  We have heard he is a terrorist or that he is just suffering from PTSD or that he was just a whacko…..well so far there is NO definitive explanation…he is alive and alert but NOT talking.

Like I have said…I was not going to comment but things have progressed to the point that I feel compelled to comment….

All the “expert” analysts are saying that the military is going to be doing a review of the situation to see why this guy fell through the cracks and his actions were not more closely monitored.  All involved, including some in the White House,  have said that they want to make sure and promise that something like this will NEVER happen again.

That is a hollow promise…there is NO way they can guarantee that it will not happen again.  There is ABSOLUTELY NO way that they can guarantee that it will NEVER happen again!

But that is okay, we Americans are use to hollow promises….we have been living with them for over 200 years.

More Societal Sickos

I recently wrote an opinion on a pstory about the the killing of a baby by her mother who ate parts of the child.  I was immediately attacked by some who say that post partem was nothing to bitch about…I asked for any link that would confirm that it was the case…so far I have nothing.

Also asked the question of what type of society breeds that type pf mental sickness…well still no answer to that question either.  Then I read this story of the 13 year old girl in Wisconsin on the AP website:

A long-simmering feud between a 13-year-old girl and her step-grandfather erupted after the man allegedly poured her milk down the drain, prompting the girl to fatally stab him in the neck, court documents said.

The Milwaukee girl is charged as an adult with first-degree reckless homicide, which carries a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison. At an initial appearance Tuesday in Milwaukee County Children’s Court, she was ordered held on $150,000 cash bond.

Her mother and grandmother declined to speak with The Associated Press after the hearing.

Public defender Joy Sherard told the AP that county officials had intervened in the household on several occasions in the past but she declined to elaborate, citing concern for the family’s privacy.

In their criminal complaint, prosecutors said the confrontation began Saturday after Brown went shopping with her mother and Moon’s stepdaughter, Denitra Aldridge, and brought groceries back to the house.

Aldridge and Brown poured bowls of cereal, but when they tried to add milk Moon sarcastically told Brown she could have some only after Aldridge’s child was served, authorities said.

Aldridge told investigators Brown responded with a profane outburst, adding “Next time I’m going to bust you.”

Prosecutors said the 48-year-old Moon dumped what was left of the milk down the drain and turned his back, taking a glass of milk into the living room, apparently to prepare it for the baby.

Aldridge told authorities Brown grabbed a paring knife with a 2- to 3-inch handle from the sink and charged after Moon. Aldridge told investigators she previously had seen Brown threaten Moon with knives but never use them.

Brown knocked the milk out of Moon’s hand, and when he turned, she swung at him, according to the complaint. Aldridge said she thought Moon had been punched in the face, but then saw he was covered in blood.

State law mandates that children older than 10 accused of first-degree intentional or reckless homicide be charged in adult court, said district attorney John Chisholm. He said the case should remain in adult court, although he expected the defense would seek to have the case returned to juvenile court.

Okay there maybe some history of discontent between the two, but wasd this something to kill another person over?  I continue to ask, what type of society do we have that this type of thing is becoming common place?

One could argue that it seems more common because of the 24 hoour news cycle and this type of thing has been going on for some time and we are just now being exposed to it my readily.  Even it that is true…what type of society are we leaving for our children?