Va Said To Be Working To Provide Better Mental Healthcare To Returning Vets.

[allan]

VA Said To Be Working To Provide Better Mental Healthcare To Returning Vets.

According to the Whittier (CA) Daily News : http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_13939753 (12/6, Markus, 14K), "now that the war in Iraq is winding down and President Obama has set a timetable for a looming 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan, some experts said the country is not prepared to cope when soldiers battling post traumatic stress disorder compounded by multiple combat tours start returning en masse." The Department of Veterans Affairs, however, "has steadily rolled out mental health programs, launching a suicide prevention" hotline "in 2007 that includes an online chat feature. Some newly returned veterans said they are satisfied with services provided by the VA, but others complained it is slow and difficult to get timely help. But the VA is working to provide more mental health programs and facilities, staff all VA hospital emergency rooms with mental health experts and standardize mental health care nationwide, said Dorene Lowe, VA psychologist and director of trauma recovery programs in Palo Alto."

http://www.veteranstoday.com/article9659.html

[Pete53]

The VA is always working to correct problems but somehow it never gets done

[carlie]

VA's MH treatment for PTSD relies alot on cognitive therapy.

They want us to write - re-write - talk about - cry about -

write some more - talk some more, cry some more, until (as therapist

have told me) you stressor does not have a disabling effect on you.

I say BAH - HUMBUG - I am not going to write and talk about this crap

to satisfy your false statistics that you can now cure PTSD.

jmho,

carlie

[ruby]

From what I understand they want to limit PTSD to 3-6 months treatment with groups as Carlie pointed out and then your cured. Seriously, can't tell where I got the info but there is too many with the money restraints and mental health personnel to provide long term PTSD care.

If you can get to someone with a fresh trauma, yes, I think it could work, once you have lived with something for years, it is not an overnight fix.

The VA only uses researched based treatments with double blind studies. That's why they are slow in moving with other programs that are not as in depth and emotional as the cognitive therapy.

I swear by the horse therapy and warrior breathing- the horse therapy helps with the trauma and how you respond to others and the warrior breathing provides you with inner peace for a short period of time.

Ruby

[Vync]

From what I understand they want to limit PTSD to 3-6 months treatment with groups as Carlie pointed out and then your cured. Seriously, can't tell where I got the info but there is too many with the money restraints and mental health personnel to provide long term PTSD care.

If you can get to someone with a fresh trauma, yes, I think it could work, once you have lived with something for years, it is not an overnight fix.

The VA only uses researched based treatments with double blind studies. That's why they are slow in moving with other programs that are not as in depth and emotional as the cognitive therapy.

I swear by the horse therapy and warrior breathing- the horse therapy helps with the trauma and how you respond to others and the warrior breathing provides you with inner peace for a short period of time.

Ruby

I talked with my counselor yesterday because I was pretty stressed (out of nowhere) and she told me to try the warrior breathing technique to calm down, but she left out the 'warrior' part.

Is the horse therapy a form of operant conditioning where they tie you to a post and beat you with a stick until you are moving in the right direction?

[john999]

I am 70% and IU for a MH issue, and I get to see a shrink once every three months. That is not therapy. Me and my shrink agree not to even call it therapy. It is a med check and a chat. I probably have the best shrink at my VAMC and he tells his masters he will not sign off on giving therapy. He says it is a lie to call it therapy since he cannot see patients on a weekly or even monthly basis. You can't work on long term issues if you only see a shrink four times a year for 20 minutes.

[Commander Bob]

I had my first PTSD experience in 1968. The VA dismissed it as a personal problem and would only give me help, from time to time for an unknown anxiety disorder out of the goodness of the individual doctors' heart. I remember in the early 1970's, a doctor chastising me for seeking help for the non service related condition. LOL. 10 years later, and before PTSD was recognized by the medical community, I was given a NSC nervous disorder disability. After a while, I was service connected with a vague VASRD of 9400. Still no such thing as PTSD at that time. I recently requested a correction to reflect a PTSD rating, for CRSC purposes. . I was denied. The VA will not admit that they made a mistake, even though the entire medical community did not know of PTSD at that time. All of my VA medical records are based on observations and useless treatments based on misdiagnoses throughout the years. Why won't they just admit it.. Because it would open a can of worms, and reveal just how bad the combat wounded soldier was treated, back then. Today, we are made to believe that things weren't so bad back then. If the truth ever came out about the shameful way vets were treated back then, I assure you a lot of retro pay would be owed to many old vets. It's human nature for institutions not to admit they made mistakes...

Edited December 8, 2009 by Commander Bob