Article on PTSD

[jos]

I found this when I was trawling the web and thought it just about sums up some of the problems.
Written by a Marc Levy and is not the complete article which can be found at http://www.counterpunch.org/levy07242006.html.

Titled A Primer on the Whys and Wherefores of PTSD

Whatever You Did in War Will Always Be With You


'After a time you learn what war is: the fish like iridescent gleam inside a brainless head; the sleek white caterpillar of pulsing human gut; the grotesque tableau of charred bodies frozen stiff; the impossible music made by voices howling beyond human form; pure white bones piercing ruby ripped flesh; the strange oily feel of blood; the sudden slump of the man next to you. The business of flies on the mouths of the dead.

After a time, to a supernatural degree you learn to live with terror, rage, struck down sorrow, blocked out guilt or dumb-struck grief. Yes, the supernatural threat of catastrophe and the ways to survive it become preternaturally normal, second nature, a fully formed part of you.

Then one day you get shot, or if you are lucky, complete the tour, return home intact. But for those who have seen their share the equation might go like this: Johnny got his gun + Johnny marches home = HEEEREE'S JOHNNNNY!!!!

And the good soldier John or the good troop Jane, who under fire never once thought of your civil rights, your silly flag, your doofus politics, Good Johnny or Jane, I say, feel and act a tad differently when the locked down feelings, bottled up memories, instinctive behaviors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder fervently, unexpectedly kick in. The symptoms of PTSD, in plain bloody English, are as follows:

Flashbacks: seeing and feeling a combat event as if it were happening right now.

Hyper vigilance: being always on guard, always looking for where the next shot, next grenade, next rocket, ambush or IED will come next.

Survivor guilt: feeling bad, feeling real shitty for having survived, where others in the platoon or squad didn't.

Moral Guilt: wrestling with actions one did or did not take on one or more than one occasions.

Startle Reflex: dropping, flinching, turning fast at a sudden noise or unexpected touch.

Suicidal Ideation: thinking of killing oneself.

Homicidal Ideation: thinking of killing people. Friends or complete strangers.

Homicidal Rage: anger way out of proportion to an everyday event. It comes quick, down and dirty.

Sadness, depression, anxiety, crying spells. Staring into space, saying nothing.

Nightmares: violent dreams related to combat. Sometimes it's the same dream. Some vets make strange noises. Thrash in bed. Wake up scared, or sweaty.

Ritual Behavior: at night checking the lights, locking the doors, maybe keeping a weapon at hand.

Alienation: a vet feels as if no one understands him, doesn't fit in, feels as if he or she should have never returned.

Panic Attacks: for a short time the combat vet becomes suddenly and intensely afraid. He or she sweats breathe hard, has a pounding heart, might get dizzy, choke.

Social Isolation: staying alone for long periods of time. Or in public saying very little. To the point of being noticeably very quiet.

Drug and alcohol abuse: whatever works to dull the pain glowing inside one's head.

Fear of Emotional Intimacy: combats often won't let anyone get close to them. If someone gets too close, the vet backs off or pushes them away.

Employment: a lot of vets can't keep a job. Every couple of months quit or get fired.

Psychic Numbing: not have the ability to feel emotions. Vets talk about feeling hollow, blank, empty.

Denial: Problems? What problem? I don't have a f@#k' problem.


High Risk Behavior: doing daredevil stuff to re-live the rush of combat.

These symptoms are normal responses to extraordinary events outside the range of normal human experience. Most civilians are clueless about combat and its aftermath. '

[harry hackedoff]

That`s pretty accurate mate.
American psychy bloke is about the best I’ve come across. Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D. He`s a treatment pioneer with years of experience with American Vets, mostly from Nam to start with.
The Nam Vets are to thank for the PTSD being identified as an actual condition, them and computers. American researchers using huge data bases found a very specific set of conditions applied to huge numbers of guys who met common criteria, alcoholic, mental health probs, drug probs, violent behaviour, prison etc.. They had all served in frontline Units in the Nam. From that initial "discovery" in the early seventies the problem became more understood and also more accepted. Acceptance really is a huge problem and not just in the medical professions but more so among Sufferers themselves."There`s nowt wrong with me, I`m o.k."
Another difficult area is the idea that PTSD is an invented condition which never existed prior to Viet Nam, "my old grandad went through WWI and he was o.k." "Me dad was a gunner in Lancs and he was fine". Well, almost fine, he used to knock shite out of me mam and us kids, was always out of work and in and out of nick, but apart from that...."
One of Shay’s books could well be called "P.T.S.D. For Dummies" because it is such an easy book to understand. It`s called "Achilles In Vietnam" ISBN 0-684-81321-1 Besides a thorough explanation of the condition, it also dispels the seventy’s invention myth once and for all by comparing case studies from Grunts in Nam to people from Homer’s Iliad, Henry vth etc and by doing so he shows PTSD is as old as Combat itself.

If you haven’t read Achilles in Vietnam Jos, I`d seriously recommend it to you, Oppo

[jos]

Thanks for the Info harry.
The book you mentioned "Achilles In Vietnam" ISBN 0-684-81321-1 is now on my book list when I return to UK.
Funny enough yesterday I was recovering another dead body from the swamps area. Anyone who goes missing in water here and is involved in our company then I noprmally go out and assit with recovery.
I always thought it got easier with time but it doesn't believe me...

[harry hackedoff]

I don’t envy you that task mate.
On the back page of DIVER they used to have a Met underwater search guy who gave a few insights into the world of the old bill dive team. Kin hilarious he was Police underwater search teams must be the same the world over, same sort of dark black humour. He once told the story of the Sydney Harbour Police UST. It was their habit to finish the week on Friday morning with a training dive followed by a barby and a piss up. They had spent most of the previous week looking for a middle aged drowning victim. Old Bill gives a brief heads up on how bodies float at various depths as their buoyancy changes and so the Sydney team conducted their search at the depth appropriate to the time the bloke had been in the oggin.
One of the lads was three quarters through his dive time and hey it`s Friday mate, so he abandons the search and starts looking for a feed to chuck on the barby Can you see where this is going yet
He spies a gert big ball of the biggest fattest Tiger prawns he`s ever seen! He thinks "Won’t I be Mr Fcukin Popular at the barby hey?" and proceeds to stuff the big prawns into his keep-net, all the time wondering what they were feeding on.
He found out soon enough, it was the drowned guy’s head
They never did find the rest of him.
At the Team barby, our hero chucks the Tigers on and the guys are all amazed that he managed to find so many. They trough the lot and all agree they were the sweetest prawns they`d ever tasted at which point our hero produces a large evidence bag with a half-eaten skull in it
They beat the shit out of him just to show there was no hard feelings
Take it easy Jos

P.S. Shay know`s what he`s on about mate