More on PTSD - New Trauma Court Opening
Posted by Guest. Filed in Chaplains, Families, News, PTSD, Parents, Reserves, Spouses, Suicide Prevention |
Army Spc. Thomas Delgado saved lives as a combat medic, then returned home to help train new troops. Now, he’s accused of attempting to kill his wife. As CNN reported recently:
“Delgado’s case may become one of the first to be heard at a soon-to-be-opened special veterans’ trauma court in Colorado, if the family gets its way. The court was created to get professional medical care for military veterans suffering from trauma-related disorders who are accused of crimes. An estimated 20 percent of Iraq war veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder….
The veterans’ court is being set up in response to an alarming trend: A growing number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning home and committing crimes — from offenses like theft and forgery to more serious charges like domestic violence and murder. However, the court will not deal with homicide cases.”
The trauma court is being set up at Fort Carson, which has experienced 14 homicides and attempted homicides since 2005. Delgado and his wife moved to the base not long after he returned from deployment to Iraq. Fort Carson, home to about 25,000 soldiers, has seen the number of soldiers seeking help skyrocket to 2,400 walk-in cases a month — or nearly 1 in every 10 soldiers.
Col. George Brandt, the senior behavioral health officer at the base hospital, arrived last year with a mission to improve mental health care for troubled soldiers. Although the base does not have in-patient care available, Brandt has brought staffing up. A total of 14 psychiatrists, 14 psychologists and 29 social workers now work on the base.
Maj. Gen. David Perkins, the new commander of Fort Carson, told CNN the base has spent a lot of time assessing problems with PTSD and trying to develop solutions. One of the biggest concerns, he said, is overcoming the stigma of seeking help.
“This is the key point that we’re focusing on across the Army,” he said. “You have seen, from four-star generals on down, personally come out and talk about their issues with post-traumatic stress disorder. And this alone has created a large momentum to taking the stigma away.”
To read the full CNN story, click here.
Military OneSource has information about symptoms of PTSD here.
If you had a friend with similar symptoms, how would you try to help?
Tags: Fort Carson, PTSD, Thomas Delgado, trauma court
Saturday, August 8th 2009 at 10:43 am
This is such a complex issue, but one thing I have learned from all the PTSD experts I’ve interviewed for my own articles on the subject is this: any help to the family helps the PTSD sufferer. Lisa Jaycox, senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, says that the more stress a family is under, the harder it is to recover from PTSD. So even if I think I can’t possibly “cure” or “fix” the underlying issue, if I can help the family by mowing the lawn for them or bringing some meals, by offering to watch the kids for a while or by cleaning their house, that all serves to help relieve pressure that someone with PTSD just may not be equipped to handle. I would also encourage the veteran to get plugged in with other vets dealing with similar issues (preferably with a leader trained to really help), because so many times veterans don’t want to share their traumatic experiences with loved ones because they want to keep their minds innocent of the horrors of war.
Sunday, August 9th 2009 at 2:31 pm
PTSD has no cure nor treatment.
I suffered from limited exposure to Viet Nam vets with vivid stories and film of their tours of duty
while stationed in West Germany in 1973.My unit was the Charlie battery 6th & 14th field artillery
and had spent several tours in Vietnam. As a specialist in human relations-I worked with many of the walking dead
including combat journalists who often shared the live 16mm films of combat missions or attacks on their hill.
In Germany I also experienced many traumas at weapons facilities and other bases that held
some of the armys secrets. In a few civilian firefights at a NATO facility and I can tell you that PTSD-which was called battle fatigue syndrome lasts for decades…the only real relief I got was from using marijuana to mask the fears and nightmares-and allow me to relax and forget.
I feel for all these soldiers who are in harms way-and I am pissed off at the last administration for abandoning our troops-by all the corruption in the war in Iraq-and by slashing the VA budgets.
After exposure to combat you are never the same!
Sunday, August 9th 2009 at 4:40 pm
Doctors who give anti-anxiety drugs need to be on trial for criminal negligence, at the very least. THESE DRUGS DO MORE DAMAGE TO THE BRAIN THAN HELP!
Sunday, August 9th 2009 at 8:12 pm
My heart goes out to the Delgado family. My ex-husband suffered terribly when he came home from Vietnam. I remember telling the VA in Winston Salem, North Carolina that there was something very wrong with my husband and they politely told me I was crazy. Only a few years later we divorced, because my children and I could not take anymore and he committed suicide 2 years after that. He never got to see our children grow up, marry and my grandchildren have never known their grandfather. Maybe if some one had listened to me many years before and the military had acknowledged it he would be alive today.
Monday, August 10th 2009 at 10:21 am
Thank you for sharing this sad, personal story. Hopefully, the atmosphere is changing so that servicemembers don’t feel as reluctant to seek the help they need.
Monday, August 10th 2009 at 10:23 am
Thank you for sharing these ideas. It makes sense that every bit of help a stressed family receives will help. Even these seemingly simple ways to assist will let them know they are not facing their struggles alone.
Monday, August 10th 2009 at 10:25 am
Each person’s treatment and experience is unique. What may help one person may not work for someone else. It is very important to work with medical professionals who have training and experience dealing with PTSD so that the best plan for treatment can be developed.