Transcendental Meditation For PTSD?

Vietnam: 122 rocket attack at Camp Books during Tet 68 (click to enlarge)

Transcendental Meditation For PTSD?

  

(from the S-2 Report)  

   

   I read a story recently about a veteran with PTSD who practices transcendental meditation.

  The article said this vet was an incident investigator in Iraq and had PTSD depression very bad. He said transcendental meditation helped him to function with his PTSD so he could support his family.

  This has been tried before along with other types of meditation, playing war games, jogging, medications, other forms of exercise, hypnosis, and everything in between….and has pretty much failed in the long run because there is no cure for PTSD.

  You have to learn to live with it like this veteran is supposed to be trying to do. In his own way, he is trying to cope with it.

  The big flag I got when I read this article was that the guy had  his wife and two kids in the room with him. He sat in a chair and put a gun to his head in front of them.

  This direct action in front of loved ones that could also change their lives forever is something very out of the ordinary for combat PTSD sufferers,  It may be done out of anger and frustration, but...

  This is not a cry for help.

  

  It’s as if the veteran is trying to convince the family he has PTSD and is going to possibly kill himself in front of them and pass on his PTSD for the rest of their lives.

  But he’s probably is not going to do it, but wants a witness to the fact he might do it. Most vets with severe or even moderate PTSD don’t want to admit it, ever.

  They may be hyper-vigilant, carry a weapon, have severe startle reaction, or maybe show signs of severe depression. Those vets with PTSD normally don’t go out of their way to parade the symptoms in front of people. They isolate themselves. Family can sometimes take the brunt of this frustration, but it also usually involves alcohol or drugs.

  At VET Center years ago we had two people hang themselves in their own yards where their kids could find them after school. One jumped off a bridge (this guy wasn’t really trying to die but wanted attention. He did die when they moved him to an ambulance because of a broken spine. He kept saying that he didn’t think he would hurt himself that bad.)

  We had one vet cut off his own arm in front of his son, for what reason, no one really knows, except he was trying to get 100% PTSD. He was just crazy.

  And that’s what concerns me when a vet threatens suicide in front of his family. There is something else going on besides PTSD, and this situation, though calm right now, has a good chance of ending bad.

  Alcohol or drugs could possibly make this happen. I can’t say 100% of the time. But I can say when a veteran makes his family witness his suicide attempt or possible suicide attempt, there is a lot more going on than PTSD. The veteran had mental issues before being exposed to a war situation.

  PTSD will not make you beat or rape your wife and children or terrorize them. It will not make you beat your mother or father or any relative.

  This is something I truly believe. PTSD alone will not make a veteran do some of the things the shrinks believe can happen because a veteran has PTSD.

Infidelity

  Infidelity can also play a role in PTSD or family reactions.

  (I believe this reaction to infidelity would apply whether a veteran has PTSD or not. It’s human nature to be hurt when your partner  strays.)

  Approximately 50 to 60 percent of military couples seek marital therapy as a result of infidelity, according to a paper released by researchers at the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Connecticut.

  Military relationships are marked by frequent and extended periods of separation, which prompted researchers at the National Center for PTSD in Connecticut to investigate the issue of infidelity among deployed service members.

  Researchers began by distributing surveys to recently deployed veterans who were in a relationship at the time of their deployment. The participants answered questions about their infidelity experiences and concerns, PTSD and depression symptoms and post-deployment stressors.

  Of the 573 veterans who participated, 22 percent reported that their partners were unfaithful during deployment. Of the participants who did not report infidelity, 37.8 percent indicated that they were concerned that their partners had been unfaithful.

  The results of the surveys also indicated that veterans whose partners were unfaithful during deployment were significantly more likely to experience depression and symptoms of PTSD. The research suggested that infidelity can function as a contributing stressor during deployment and ultimately leads to greater post-deployment stress.

  (I disagree that infidelity is a PTSD stressor, since any  normal person can be expected to react the same.)

Baby Boomers: from the S-2 Report

This is my idea of what hospital care will look like
for the few remaining baby boomers in the year 2060.

Baby Boomers

The number of people aged 65 and older is projected to reach 83.7 million by 2050, compared with 43.1 million in 2012. This sharp rise is due to aging baby boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964 and began turning 65 in 2011.

  

An aging population will have implications for health care services and providers, national and local policymakers. Businesses will also have to adapt to meet new demands as a rising number of elderly influences both the family structure and the American landscape.

  

Baby boomer-influenced growth in health-care related industries began a few years ago. According to the census bureau, there were about 819,000 health and social assistance-related facilities and businesses in 2011...a 20 percent jump from 2007.

  

As the population ages, the ratio of working-age Americans to retirees will change as well. There were 22 people aged 65 and older for every 100 working-age people in 2012. By 2030, that will rise to 35 people aged 65 and older for every 100 working-age people, which means there will be about 3 working-age people for every person aged 65 and older.

  

By 2050, there will be 36 people aged 65 and older for every 100 working-age people. But the Baby Boom generation will also begin to fade in influence, as well. The number of boomers will decline to 60 million by 2030 and to 2.4 million by 2060, when the youngest boomers will be 96 years old.

  

Baby boomers accounted for about 24 percent of the U.S. population in 2012. That will decrease to about 17 percent in 2030 and about 4 percent in 2050.

  

The trend is a global phenomenon, with people aged 65 and over accounting for a rising percentage of the populations of all developed nations over the next two decades. Seen from that perspective, the United States is expected to remain one of the younger developed countries during this time, with people aged 65 and older accounting for only about a fifth of its population.

  

(But since Americans don’t consider their old people national treasures like many cultures and countries, the trend is more of a push us aside attitude. Not everyone is like that to their older relatives, but there are enough to make it a trend.)

Creepy or Crazy Books By Dennis Latham

47 Years After Nam

USS Okinawa: BLT 1/3 August 1967 (click pic to enlarge)

47 Years

  

August 1 will be 47 years since I left active duty in the Marine Corps. I still think about Vietnam every single day. When I was in Vietnam I never thought it would be with me this far down the line.  I didn’t even know there would be  a “this far down the line.” I really did expect to die there.

   

There is a country road that goes past one particular field about a mile from my house. I pass many fields all the time, but this one puts me right back into Vietnam. 

   

The field looks like a rice paddy, especially when it rains. About a  hundred yards away across the field are several structures that look like hootchs in a jungle village tucked within a tree line.  Near the road is a long ditch like a fighting hole.

  

I can see Marines in fighting holes along the ditch, waiting for dark. And then I’m back there.  It doesn’t look exactly like Vietnam, but close enough to bring everything back again, and it’s not a positive thing. I had spent too many nights sitting in the dark waiting.

   

The next day my wife asked me if I was in a bad mood. I wasn’t in a bad mood but I was having trouble dealing with that damn war again. I just don’t understand why I can’t let it go. I’ve been through about every form of treatment the VA has to offer, and nothing seems to change.

   

I go back to the war every single day, and it’s horrible. The only time I really feel comfortable is when I’m with other combat vets or close relatives, or isolated at home with my wife. I love singing and performing, and when I do that, I  can escape for a few moments and be a performer. Then, no one can see the side of me that deals with PTSD each day.

   

Survival guilt is part of it, and feeling as if I didn’t do enough is another part. The fear of being ambushed if I fall asleep is still another part of it. Maybe my lack of empathy for the enemy is another part. While I was with 1/3, being responsible for the lives of enemy prisoners in the field is another part.

   

It was hard enough dragging my own body through Nam without having to keep some VC or NVA alive long enough to get them to the rear so they could be interrogated again. I participated in field interrogations, what today would be called torture. I felt nothing for them as humans, and I still don’t. Getting any information that would save Marines was our job, and some of the enemy were real hardcore. I would do it all again.

   

Even this far down the line, if I went back to Vietnam, I would want to start shooting.  I’ve never wanted to go back to that country.

   

I think some veterans believe they can find peace by returning to the war zone. I don’t believe it. Things always seem smaller and out of proportion when you visit some place that was a big part of your life at one time, and it’s never the same.

   

I’m still a Marine inside, with survival skills, wondering how all the time went by so fast.  Sometimes, a sight or sound will send me back. I hate it, but this is my life now. The person I was before Vietnam is gone forever.