ptsd Just Something To Read About The Latest House Of Va Hearings

[spike]

I figured this is something that should be read here.....It affects all those who have PTSD, Unemployability, etc. It is a Cut and Post from a Larry Scott article.

The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a roundtable discussion on PTSD on Wednesday, May16, 2007.The full witness list is here... http://veterans.house.gov/

hearings/schedule110/may07/05-16-07/witness.shtml

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN), Ranking Minority Member, invited Dr. Sally Satel to testify. Satel is the paid mouthpiece of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Satel's disrespect for veterans with PTSD is a matter of legend. Buyer's "suck it up soldier" attitude is also well-known.

Satel's "blame the veteran" approach is not well-received in the medical community. Quote: "Blaming the veteran for psychological reactions to war fosters stigma, a major reason why veterans do not seek mental health assistance." John A. Fairbank, Ph.D.

For more an Satel, use the VA Watchdog search engine. You'll be amazed at some of the things she has said. Search engine here... http://www.yourvabenefits.org/

What we heard from Satel and Buyer was the "M&M" agenda...minimize and marginalize...that is, minimize the disorder and that marginalizes the veteran. It's a tired old tactic.

Here are Rep. Buyer's opening remarks where he says that PTSD is often used as an "umbrella" and a "catch-all" for any mental disorder...click here to listen or download MP3, 3:36 in length.

Satel's remarks were equally repugnant. She talked about "recovery" and confusing PTSD with other disorders such as phobias, depression and anxiety. She says the VA should be careful of granting 100% benefits for PTSD. Satel added that there must be a "high threshold" for granting PTSD benefits, work is the best therapy and PTSD is a "time-limited" affliction. Here are Satel's opening remarks...click here to listen or download MP3, 9:01 in length.

Later in the hearing there was discussion of "return to work" programs for veterans with PTSD who receive unemployability benefits.

The hearing lasted over 2 hours and 40 minutes. Complete audio is here... http://veterans.house.gov/

hearings/schedule110/may07/05-16-07/05-16-07.wma

[Stretch]

If you listen to the 181 minute audio (Va watchdog.org) of the round table hearing by Congressman Bob Filner, you will hear buzzers, cross-talking, back ground Megaphones from outside, an different noises in the background in a show of how Sally's voice and theory is nothing more than propaganda.

In the audio hearing Sally, said that her experience came from the years of 1988 through 1992 at the Cross-Bones University (Yale). Could there be some connection here?

[Jay Johnson]

Good points stretch. This is a typical tactic used by politicians to sell an outrageous idea....they conflate something that is moderately true (early intervention can help) with something that has NO proof like claiming that 100% (severe) PTSD vets can be "cured" by sending them to work. I just found it disturbing that no one even questioned those claims or asked for even a hint of proof. Sure, therapy helps some vets deal with PTSD symptoms, but it is very rare that therapy will have any large impact on a very severe PTS case, because severe PTSD involves sooo many other factors (depression, suicidal/homicidal ideation, hallucinations, OCD, GAD, etc, etc).

The real disturbing thing to me is this notion that PTSD can be "cured" at ANY level. How can one cure something when they don't even know what it is?? Ask ANY psychiatrist what PTSD is (be sure that they don't merely list "symptoms")...they can't do it, because they don't truly know what causes it.

"Curing" PTSD would be like saying you "cured" a broken arm with morphine. What you've really done, in that example, is treat a symptom, which is all therapy and drugs can do for PTSD. The best one can hope for with PTSD is to learn to diminish their symptoms and/or learn to live a decent life with said symptoms.

Interesting fact: Did you know that parkinson's disease is basically identical (physiologically speaking) to schizophrenia (and other symptoms like depression, hallucinations, etc)? They both involve abnormal levels of dopamine (one being too high and one being too low). Could you imagine a parkinson's patient walking into a doctor's office and being told, "it's all in your head; get a job and use self-talk"?? No, that would be absurd. Yet, we tell people with physical problems in their heads (PTSD) that they should, in essence, "walk it off". It's a huge double standard and the field of psychiatry doesn't want to admit it because they want people to keep coming to them for a "cure".

The future of psychiatry is in the bio-medical side of things. PTSD, and other afflictions, are PHYSICAL disorders and, in time, we will know exactly how and why people have PTSD. But, for now, we let these over-educated retards spout their opinions as if they're facts, just because they spent 8 yrs in college and studied that idiot freud.

P.S. Interesting fact on freud: His theories are basically bent on the idea that all of our current problems have ties to childhood. Did you know that freud never studied children? How does one make such strong ties to development at a young age without ever having done studies on kids? What a joke:-)

Edited May 18, 2007 by Jay Johnson

[ladypoetry85]

Jay

Freud started out as a child psych. Most of them were during that period. They evolved into so-called higher forms and or levels of psych. As you know, a great portion of his a work was however based on lies and inflated stats! Majority of his research was conducted on his own CRAZY CHILDREN and his poor wife! He had a deep seeded hate for women. Well most women. Let's face it, the dude was a QUACK! If he were alive today, he would fit right in with the other quacks at the VA!

Take care and have a great day

Good points stretch. This is a typical tactic used by politicians to sell an outrageous idea....they conflate something that is moderately true (early intervention can help) with something that has NO proof like claiming that 100% (severe) PTSD vets can be "cured" by sending them to work. I just found it disturbing that no one even questioned those claims or asked for even a hint of proof. Sure, therapy helps some vets deal with PTSD symptoms, but it is very rare that therapy will have any large impact on a very severe PTS case, because severe PTSD involves sooo many other factors (depression, suicidal/homicidal ideation, hallucinations, OCD, GAD, etc, etc).

The real disturbing thing to me is this notion that PTSD can be "cured" at ANY level. How can one cure something when they don't even know what it is?? Ask ANY psychiatrist what PTSD is (be sure that they don't merely list "symptoms")...they can't do it, because they don't truly know what causes it.

"Curing" PTSD would be like saying you "cured" a broken arm with morphine. What you've really done, in that example, is treat a symptom, which is all therapy and drugs can do for PTSD. The best one can hope for with PTSD is to learn to diminish their symptoms and/or learn to live a decent life with said symptoms.

Interesting fact: Did you know that parkinson's disease is basically identical (physiologically speaking) to schizophrenia (and other symptoms like depression, hallucinations, etc)? They both involve abnormal levels of dopamine (one being too high and one being too low). Could you imagine a parkinson's patient walking into a doctor's office and being told, "it's all in your head; get a job and use self-talk"?? No, that would be absurd. Yet, we tell people with physical problems in their heads (PTSD) that they should, in essence, "walk it off". It's a huge double standard and the field of psychiatry doesn't want to admit it because they want people to keep coming to them for a "cure".

The future of psychiatry is in the bio-medical side of things. PTSD, and other afflictions, are PHYSICAL disorders and, in time, we will know exactly how and why people have PTSD. But, for now, we let these over-educated retards spout their opinions as if they're facts, just because they spent 8 yrs in college and studied that idiot freud.

P.S. Interesting fact on freud: His theories are basically bent on the idea that all of our current problems have ties to childhood. Did you know that freud never studied children? How does one make such strong ties to development at a young age without ever having done studies on kids? What a joke:-)

[john999]

With democrats in control of congress and soon to be in the Whitehouse the evil plans of Bush & Co. to screw PTSD and IU vets won't be realized. He wants to do as much damage as possbile before he leaves. I am sure the neo-cons would like to privatise the VA and sell it off to their buddies to reap a profit from the broken bodies of vets. Profit is what drives them and payoffs for their friends.

[allan]

Has anyone ever researched to see just what the political affiliation of VA employees are?

It would be interesting to see if it's stacked like the Justice dept. An ultra Conservative at every management, adjudication, directors, etc? Always making sure the money flows one way?

These people act like the KKK when it comes to the determination to hate vets.

Laws need to be passed to protect Vets from special interest hate groups like these, from continually atacking benefits of veterans, delaying proceedings to "assist" vets during a war.

They are just not comfortable with telling such young adults, just how messed up they are. So they feel instead of cutting these people their checks for getting them messed up, they're going to cheat them out of it, keep them from going home & getting normalized, than brain washing them in to thinking they don't deserve the rating for what hell they've been through.

How are these hate groups alowed to be in a position to assist veterans in any way? They're droids! They don't even think like humans.

I won't go to these people for mental health. I've been up against these types before.

[Josephine]

Jay 

Freud started out as a child psych. Most of them were during that period. They evolved into so-called higher forms and or levels of psych. As you know, a great portion of his a work was however based on lies and inflated stats! Majority of his research was conducted on his own CRAZY CHILDREN and his poor wife! He had a deep seeded hate for women. Well most women. Let's face it, the dude was a QUACK! If he were alive today, he would fit right in with the other quacks at the VA!

Take care and have a great day

Couldn't have sad it better myself.

Josephine