Thousands Strain Fort Hood's Mental Health System

[Richard]

About every fourth soldier here, where 48,000 troops and their families are based, has been in counseling during the past year, according to the service's medical statistics. And the number of soldiers seeking help for combat stress, substance abuse, broken marriages or other emotional problems keeps increasing.

{snip}

• Fort Hood counselors meet with more than 4,000 mental health patients a month.

• Last year, 2,445 soldiers were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), up from 310 in 2004.

• Every month, an average of 585 soldiers are sent to nearby private clinics contracted through the Pentagon's TRICARE health system because Army counselors cannot handle more patients. That is up from 15 per month in 2004.

• Hundreds more see therapists "off the network" because they want their psychological problems kept secret from the Army. A free clinic in Killeen offering total discretion treated 2,000 soldiers or family members this year, many of them officers.

• Last year, 6,000 soldiers here were on anti-depressant medications and an additional 1,400 received anti-psychotic drugs.

Thousands Strain Fort Hood's Mental Health System
USAToday, 23 Aug 2010

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-08-23-1Aforthood23_CV_N.htm?csp=obinsite

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

[Ret10Echo]

• Last year, 6,000 soldiers here were on anti-depressant medications and an additional 1,400 received anti-psychotic drugs.[/I]

[Richard[/COLOR] :munchin


...regardless of whether or not they actually work. We'll just make them not care that they have a problem.

[Eagle5US]

It is unfortunate that now every disciplinary problem, leadership issue, failure to follow instructions or failure to train now begs a psych consult and invariably gets some sort of diagnosis related to "stress".

Gee friggin' whiz...shouldn't soldiers be able to handle a fair amount of stress? I would wager that of all those yahoo's clogging the system, they are preventing adequate care and rehabilitation of the 5-10% of the people who actually NEED to be seen for a REAL Dx of PTSD.

PTSD has become a "chic" diagnosis in the military. "No one wants another Fort Hood"...I hear that statement repeatedly when I call psy services for soldiers who come into the ER with "I have thoughts of hurting myself or someone else"...and in the two hours of medical clearance screening I have to do before psych accepts the patient, they talk on their phone, text, play games on their PSP, bullshit with their "escort" from the unit etc.

Psych is overwhelmed....but it isn't their fault. Some soldiers have PTSD and other real mental health issues....that isn't THEIR fault....but the US Military no longer has the backbone to uphold a standard and make people accountable for their actions. Instead, there has to be some "reason". There must be "someone or something to blame" other than the soldiers lack of intestinal fortitude or moral character. Hence, they get dumped to psych.

We are doing our troops a disservice.

Eagle

[AngelsSix]

Why don't we screen some of these weak asses out of the process BEFORE they join the military?

There are a good number of them that are getting the ideas (much like welfare) from family and friends that a "military medical disability" is a gold mine. It's time to start paying outside services to start weeding out the fakes from the ones who really need help. Most of these kids are just lazy and looking for easy money and a way out. One form of welfare to another.

I'll gladly render my services to the military to start bringing fraud claims against some of these people. There are a lot of "disabled" folks that have no disability except laziness and it pisses me off to no end. I am tired of seeing healthy young folks climbing into huge SUV's with military sticker parked in handicapped spots.

People disgust me.

[PRB]

I agree with the assessment of the 'chic' new way to go...
If you want some time off, an out, or just something fun to do then ante up for 'PTSD'.
This stuff is pushed and GI's are smart enough to figure out that this is a 'pass' for tons of shit.
The active Army and the VA is pushing this crap.
Some need it, got it, but probably can't get a fair shake because of all the posers.
This crap is going to cost billions in disability for all of us and I'd bet 95% that'll get it just went for the gravy train ride.
I have my own experience with the VA shrink trying to get me to sign up and I went to the VA for some education bennies...she screened DD214's for anyone that had been wounded and told them/me that we had to have PTDS. It was a given as far as she was concerned.
What crap.

[wet dog]

I agree with the assessment of the 'chic' new way to go...
If you want some time off, an out, or just something fun to do then ante up for 'PTSD'.
This stuff is pushed and GI's are smart enough to figure out that this is a 'pass' for tons of shit.
The active Army and the VA is pushing this crap.
Some need it, got it, but probably can't get a fair shake because of all the posers.
This crap is going to cost billions in disability for all of us and I'd bet 95% that'll get it just went for the gravy train ride.
I have my own experience with the VA shrink trying to get me to sign up and I went to the VA for some education bennies...she screened DD214's for anyone that had been wounded and told them/me that we had to have PTDS. It was a given as far as she was concerned.
What crap.

PRB - my wife, (before we divorced), thought I had PTSD because I couldn't sleep some nights. I simply told her I had worries about my employment, my oldest child starting the 1st grade, my parent's health, generally life's challenges. While she could not sleep for several weeks after she was rear-ended by a drunk.

While I might get teary eyed some days when I begin thinking about a brother who is no longer with us, or a memory enters my dreams, I tend to sleep well, rarely feel angry and rely upon my strength to overcome, adapt and survive.

I believe PTSD is very real for some, and not so real for others. Maybe one could get VA claims for "survivor guilt" or "stress by proxy". I've been wanting to return to school for some time now.

[SparseCandy]

I can add that my abnormal psych textbook said that 30% of those in any traumatic experience should meet the diagnosis for it, but I had a prof tell us that anyone who goes through trauma will meet the diagnosis for it initially and that we should consider those who heal on their own to be an exception, not the norm. I can't count the number of people who when I have said I want to study PTSD and severe trauma have piped up "I have PTSD from (insert random civilian life event here.) Ancidotally it seems very much in vogue, everywhere.

Not to mention, if the people writing the DSM-V listen to some of the loudest voices, PTSD will be made easier to qualify for, not harder. Under some of the proposed updated guidelines, almost anyone would qualify.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Revised+PTSD+criteria+proposed+for+DSM-V.-a0215844764

"The new proposed Criterion A is: 'The person experienced or was exposed to an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. Exposure may be indirect if it involves a close relative or friend or being confronted with aversive details of unnatural death , serious injury, or serious assault to others."

Under these new criterion, all you would need to do is have a friend who had been mugged in an alley and then claim the highly subjective effects of PTSD in order to get the diagnosis.

[PRB]

I guess the military world is just catching up with California culture and we all need our own 'therapist'.
We all react dif to stress and 'shell shock' exists, but it does not exist to the extent it's being marketed and sold.
Someone seeking counselling for stress does not nec have PTSD but that's the normal conclusion today.
Wonder how many shrinks the Spartans had at their disposal.

[greenberetTFS]

PRB - my wife, (before we divorced), thought I had PTSD because I couldn't sleep some nights. I simply told her I had worries about my employment, my oldest child starting the 1st grade, my parent's health, generally life's challenges. While she could not sleep for several weeks after she was rear-ended by a drunk.

While I might get teary eyed some days when I begin thinking about a brother who is no longer with us, or a memory enters my dreams, I tend to sleep well, rarely feel angry and rely upon my strength to overcome, adapt and survive.

I believe PTSD is very real for some, and not so real for others. Maybe one could get VA claims for "survivor guilt" or "stress by proxy". I've been wanting to return to school for some time now.

wet dog,

As usual we are on the same page together!..............;)

Big Teddy :munchin

[greenberetTFS]

About every fourth soldier here, where 48,000 troops and their families are based, has been in counseling during the past year, according to the service's medical statistics. And the number of soldiers seeking help for combat stress, substance abuse, broken marriages or other emotional problems keeps increasing.

{snip}

• Fort Hood counselors meet with more than 4,000 mental health patients a month.

• Last year, 2,445 soldiers were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), up from 310 in 2004.

• Every month, an average of 585 soldiers are sent to nearby private clinics contracted through the Pentagon's TRACER health system because Army counselors cannot handle more patients. That is up from 15 per month in 2004.

• Hundreds more see therapists "off the network" because they want their psychological problems kept secret from the Army. A free clinic in Killeen offering total discretion treated 2,000 soldiers or family members this year, many of them officers.

• Last year, 6,000 soldiers here were on anti-depressant medications and an additional 1,400 received anti-psychotic drugs.

Thousands Strain Fort Hood's Mental Health System
USAToday, 23 Aug 2010

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-08-23-1Aforthood23_CV_N.htm?csp=obinsite

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

Richard,

In your original medical training which I believe was in the early 70's,did you receive any training in spotting early detection of PTSD?........... :)

I don't know how many of my SF brothers went through PTSD after Vietnam,
but I'd bet my life it's nothing even close to the numbers experience here......:(

Big Teddy :munchin

[ZonieDiver]

I've never been in combat. I have many friends who have (most from RVN times). I have found that the guys who were in the deepest shit seem to be the most well-adjusted. They may have "issues" - but they deal with them.

Back then, beer was the drug of choice for dealing with it. Often, it was administered at Friday night or Saturday night "beer calls" after Reserve meetings, with those who could share the load.

[Nystagmus]

I was in the Army for 7 years. I was a 21B (Combat Engineer). I went to Iraq in 2003 and saw what some call the "worst" during the invasion.

Several years back I had to go to ASAP Counseling for getting drunk and starting a fight at a bar. The damn system is pressing it upon our soldiers to be posers. Everyone in my ASAP group was "Diagnosed with PTSD". Sad fact though, I was the only one there that had been deployed, and most of the "PTSD" cases came from people who just had a too-weak of a wing to fly in the military, and had problems like "my dog died". Seriously, there was a soldier in there for that crap.

My counselors constantly stated that I "must have PTSD" due to the way I acted when I was drunk, and kept testing me for it. When the truth was, I acted drunk when I was drunk...

I simply stated every time that, I have no issues, dreams, or flashbacks about Iraq, and they kept telling me that I was exhibiting signs of PTSD.

I am starting to think that the curriculum that these doctors and counselors are being taught is to blame... The professors in which "know" that it is all related to PTSD!

I look before I cross the street to avoid being hit by a car (as what happened to me once as a kid), but the professionals will say that "this is a form of PTSD". WTF? Seriously?!

[Lack of accountability for ones self, aka Pathway Through the Secret Door (Adjective) = P.T.S.D.]

I do not doubt that there are real forms of it, but I can not even believe that, for one second, most of these claimants are being at least 90% accountable to themselves.

My story, I fucked up, I paid for it, and I corrected it. I didn't blame anything but the person who propagated my actions, me.

[Guy]

My story, I fucked up, I paid for it, and I corrected it. I didn't blame anything but the person who propagated my actions, me.Good job there!:lifter

Stay safe.

[AngelsSix]

I've never been in combat. I have many friends who have (most from RVN times). I have found that the guys who were in the deepest shit seem to be the most well-adjusted. They may have "issues" - but they deal with them.

Back then, beer was the drug of choice for dealing with it. Often, it was administered at Friday night or Saturday night "beer calls" after Reserve meetings, with those who could share the load.

I second this....

[AngelsSix]

I was in the Army for 7 years. I was a 21B (Combat Engineer). I went to Iraq in 2003 and saw what some call the "worst" during the invasion.

Several years back I had to go to ASAP Counseling for getting drunk and starting a fight at a bar. The damn system is pressing it upon our soldiers to be posers. Everyone in my ASAP group was "Diagnosed with PTSD". Sad fact though, I was the only one there that had been deployed, and most of the "PTSD" cases came from people who just had a too-weak of a wing to fly in the military, and had problems like "my dog died". Seriously, there was a soldier in there for that crap.

My counselors constantly stated that I "must have PTSD" due to the way I acted when I was drunk, and kept testing me for it. When the truth was, I acted drunk when I was drunk...

I simply stated every time that, I have no issues, dreams, or flashbacks about Iraq, and they kept telling me that I was exhibiting signs of PTSD.

I am starting to think that the curriculum that these doctors and counselors are being taught is to blame... The professors in which "know" that it is all related to PTSD!

I look before I cross the street to avoid being hit by a car (as what happened to me once as a kid), but the professionals will say that "this is a form of PTSD". WTF? Seriously?!

[Lack of accountability for ones self, aka Pathway Through the Secret Door (Adjective) = P.T.S.D.]

I do not doubt that there are real forms of it, but I can not even believe that, for one second, most of these claimants are being at least 90% accountable to themselves.

My story, I fucked up, I paid for it, and I corrected it. I didn't blame anything but the person who propagated my actions, me.


Good on you for manning up! I am sick of kids today blaming all the shitty attitudes and bad behavior on everything else but themselves!

[Saoirse]

I see it as just another form of welfare. I have spoken to many combat vets that were urged by the VA to "sign up" for PTSD disability. To them it was a death sentence for any further employment, especially if they wanted to go into law enforcement or any other form of a "high stress" or gov't job.
In the civilian sector, my exhubby couldn't even get counselling after 911 (though everyone else in NYC was receiving it) because as a cop, it would have killed his career.
IMO I think the military is using it as a crutch to not have to deal with the "problem children", label and medicate is the easiest way to go. I hardly believe that they don't see the economic ramifications of it down the road. However, I have to wonder, are they also doing it out of fear because of the way the system treated the Nam vets?