Only you can stop PTSD

by: Thurman Hart

Thu Aug 14, 2008 at 01:48:34 PM EDT

The unfortunate fact for far too many veterans is that the wound they take in battle doesn't get noticed.  They get no Purple Heart because the wound can't be seen.  When they come home, they are expected to act as if they've never been wounded.  The gaping, gasping hole in their soul goes unnoticed.  Many times, they deny the wound themselves.

For a long time, the existence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was officially denied.  Thankfully, those days are gone.  But the efforts at preventing, identifying, and treating PTSD remain painfully inadequate.  We have to change that.  Now.

The election season is just starting, and now is the time to press the claim on behalf of our veterans.  I'm asking people to contact their elected officials and the candidates for office and ask them to support the following measures (please use the comments to indicate any responses from officials/candidates):

1) Set aside sufficient funding specifically for an anti-PTSD campaign.  This will reach out to returning veterans, their families, and civilian employers to inform them of the symptoms of PTSD and create a national hotline to alert the VA when emergency intervention may be necessary.
2) Utilize existing VA centers to network with civilian resources in all fifty states to identify counseling resources for PTSD veterans and their families. Guarantee intake and/or emergency services be made immediately available to any veteran seeking treatment for PTSD.
3) Require all personnel deployed to active combat zones be screened for PTSD at regular intervals after returning - twice during the first year after return and annually for the next three years.

These are only three simple steps, but they are important steps.  We owe a debt of honor to our returning veterans.  It is a debt we simply cannot afford to be left unpaid.  

"All gave some.  Some gave all."  It's time to give back.  Some online resources are listed after the flip.

General Guide on PTSD

Veterans Guide on PTSD

Wikipedia article on PTSD

PTSD Help Network

What is PTSD?