Post Traumatic Stress (PTS)

[ColinEssex]

What is all that about? One big con I say and a way to get free benefit money without having to prove an injury.

Thousands of ex servicesmen say they are suffering from "post traumatic stress syndrome" and therefore claim benefits from the state.

Is this a wangle in getting benefits for sitting home doing sod-all? There was a report recently that said many back pain sufferers and "mental illness" sufferers were faking it to avoid work and to claim benefits.

Why do ex servicemen get PTS? They know what the job is about before they go into it. Many paramedics and police see just as bad things as soldiers, yet they don't bleat on about having nightmares like the ex military do. It seems the ex military are a load of nancies.

PTS seems a big con to get out of work and to do nothing after being discharged from the army. Why can't they get a proper job and do something constructive, or stay in the army and fight is that's what they like to do.

I know people who are faking "mental illness" and get quite a good living in benefits and do nothing all day. (Including one or two with so say post traumatic stress)

Col

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Davep, you and Gen. George S. Patton would have gotten along famously. He had no patience with PTSD patients. However, the American Psychiatric Association recognizes PTSD as a legitimate and adequately diagnosable disorder. It is stress-induced as you would tell by the name. Stress wracks your body with all sorts of endocrines and enzymes and such. There is an actual biochemical component of it. I have high blood pressure due to stress that still lingers from my mother's slow, agonizing death from Alzheimer's Disease. And that wasn't even due to a shooting war.

From the nature of your rant, which is how I interpret what you wrote, it is obvious to me that you have never been in a psychologically traumatic situation. You have no patience with people who aren't blessed with your coping skills, or so it seems.

Why can't they get a proper job and do something constructive, or stay in the army and fight is that's what they like to do.

I'm sorry, this comes off as very immature. I suppose you have the right to have an opinion. However, you must remember that opinions are like arseholes. Everyone has one and often it stinks.

Col

Really, if this is our old friend Col, this sort of rant is beneath even you.

 

[ColinEssex]

Really, if this is our old friend Col, this sort of rant is beneath even you.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that this so called "illness" has become almost a "designer" illness. No-one can prove it is there or not there, it is easy to fake and many people seem to be faking it to get out of work and get on benefits.

Many occupations are witness to the horrors of what life brings these days (police/ firemen / paramedics etc) yet they seem to get on with things. What is different about the military? They are trained to deal with stuff, why don't they?

Maybe I know too many healthy people who are faking illness and claiming benefits. I suppose looking after a wife with MS and in a wheelchair does make these things a little more acute and sensitive to me. Maybe Brian will agree?

Col

 

[Brianwarnock]

Maybe Brian will agree?

Col

Not with everything Col, but it does seem to be a little too prevalent, even for the slightest thing. Did you know that Police at Hillsborough got compensation for the stess of the trauma they suffered for being there?
None of the Liverpool fans who saw their mates suffer due to the incompetence of the police did.

Brian

 

[MarkK]

Keywords:

* disaster;
* host community;
* distress;
* accounts;
* Hillsborough;
* Impact of Events Scale;
* PTSD

Abstract

This paper describes levels of psychological distress and accounts of disaster among the local host community following the Hillsborough Football Stadium disaster. Thirty-two participants were interviewed 4–6 months after the event. Rates of psychological distress symptoms were high in the sample as measured by PTSD (DSM III criteria), Impact of Events Scale (IES) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The study also explores the relationships between levels of exposure, levels of distress and participants' accounts of the disaster. Implications for community outreach projects after disasters are discussed.

 

[ColinEssex]

Not with everything Col, but it does seem to be a little too prevalent, even for the slightest thing. Did you know that Police at Hillsborough got compensation for the stess of the trauma they suffered for being there?
None of the Liverpool fans who saw their mates suffer due to the incompetence of the police did.

Brian

I think you summed it up in one word there Bri - Compensation.

Sadly we have inherited the American compensation culture and with this PTS syndrome, it is all too easy to get compo for it. The British way nowadays is if you can fleece a quick quid or two out of someone then do it.

Forget a boy named Sue - these days it's a way of life called sue. No win, no fee.

Col

 

[Galaxiom]

Davep. Why not sign up and find out first hand?

If you had spent one minute researching what military service people face on a daily basis you might think. ( I was going to continue "differently" but I will leave it there having realised you weren't thinking anyway.)

More remarkable is that some return unscathed. To be honest I think we have as much to worry about from them as we would from those gone crazy.

 

[Fifty2One]

I am sure there must be some able bodied and minded persons collecting benefits which they are not entitled to, people are greedy. If you know people are defrauding the system and you have proof then report them so they get off the handouts.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that this so called "illness" has become almost a "designer" illness. No-one can prove it is there or not there, it is easy to fake and many people seem to be faking it to get out of work and get on benefits.

Many occupations are witness to the horrors of what life brings these days (police/ firemen / paramedics etc) yet they seem to get on with things. What is different about the military? They are trained to deal with stuff, why don't they?

Maybe I know too many healthy people who are faking illness and claiming benefits. I suppose looking after a wife with MS and in a wheelchair does make these things a little more acute and sensitive to me. Maybe Brian will agree?

Col

 

[Vassago]

Servicemen who suffer from PTSD do so not so much because of the things they see, but the things they experience. It's totally different from what cops/doctors/firefighters see as they are still a part of civilian life. They get off work and go home to their families and blend into the general population. Someone overseas fighting a war lives an entirely different lifestyle. When they come back from that, it's hard for them to integrate into "normal" life because they have been away for so long. Many go through serious bouts of depression because they don't feel like they fit in, like the "normal" life is normal. It's a subconcious feeling. One of my friends recently returned from overseas and he's definitely changed. I wouldn't say it's a severe case of PTSD or anything, but something isn't quite the same with his attitude, he has a hard time enjoying the things he used to because he says it feels alien to him. And no, he hasn't tried to get anything as far as compensation for his issues, but they are definitely there and haunting him.

 

[Alc]

Why do ex servicemen get PTS? They know what the job is about before they go into it. Many paramedics and police see just as bad things as soldiers, yet they don't bleat on about having nightmares like the ex military do. It seems the ex military are a load of nancies.

Yes they do, but it's hardly 'bleating'.

http://priory.com/psych/ptsd.htm

http://www.bullyonline.org/stress/ptsd.htm

 

[Galaxiom]

Unless one has been a soldier I very much doubt that any of us would have a clue about this.

My uncle committed suicide. It twenty years after he served in World War II but he was basically stuffed that whole time from the war onward. I have often wondered how much his experiences played in his demise.

Another of his peers in my family circle lived to his eighties but was haunted by his war experience for his whole life. Although he never shared the detail he was deeply troubled by guilt as he contemplated "meeting his maker".

We do know that he was one of a group of soldiers who returned to camp to find one of their comrades killed and partially eaten by Japanese soldiers. He was not proud of the retribution they took against the Japanese.

This was in an environment where combat situations were clearly defined. The enemy was easily recognised. How much more confusing and destabilising must modern warfare be?

 

[Rabbie]

Why do ex servicemen get PTS? They know what the job is about before they go into it. Many paramedics and police see just as bad things as soldiers, yet they don't bleat on about having nightmares like the ex military do. It seems the ex military are a load of nancies.

I think one of the problems is that many people joining the army actually have no real idea of what they are letting themselves in for. The recruiting posters tend to emphasise the positives and ignore the downside. Most war films tend to glamourise war and play down the nasty bits. It's not so surprising that some people can't take it.

Paramedics have a straightforward job. They are trying to help everyone injured in an event and to a large extent are not going to get injured seriously themselves. For a soldier in combat situations there is always the nagging fear that they could be next to be injured or killed. Anyone can be brave for a short period - it takes real courage to deal with fear on a daily basis for an extended period

 

[dan-cat]

Perhaps you should check scientology out Col?

 

[Vassago]

And I still think a lot of the PTSD comes from returning into a civilian roll in society. For many soldiers, being in the military is all they know. They become accustomed to the life of deployement. To not having any interactions as a civilian. Doctors, policement, paramedics, they all do. They clock out, and go home to their families. It's completely different being in a battlefield constantly.

BTW, not all PTSD is military related. Any traumatic situation can cause someone to develop PTSD.

 

[jamesmor]

My father-in-law has PTSD from his time spent in vietnam, and has in the past 5 or so years started to let us in on some of his experiences there.

I really think for each individual what causes it could be different. For my father-in-law it was the actions he had to take while he was there, and the way he was treated when he came back.

The day in/day out stuff wasn't so bad for him, just specific instances. Some stories he tells are actually pretty funny.

 

[Adam Caramon]

And I still think a lot of the PTSD comes from returning into a civilian roll in society.

That's definitely a part of it.

It sounds like the concern is more over abuse of the benefits system than actual PTSD, anyhow. I wouldn't second-guess our soldiers; if someone was willing to go and risk their life for their country, I'd have a hard time imagining them as a person who is lazy and just wants to sit home collecting benefits.

These can be sticky situations though. Imagine if a prisoner claimed PTSD from his incarceration? I imagine most people wouldn't have sympathy for them, but if PTSD is a legitmate condition (which I think it is), how can you tell one person with PTSD that they qualify for benefits and tell another person with the same diagnosis to "suck it up".

 

[Thales750]

Imagine having a nice little drive in the Afghanistan countryside, its beautiful day, you and your buddies are taking much needed medicine to an Afghani village.

A child appears out of nowhere.

You stop to keep from running over her. The next thing you know is your old friend Brian’s brains are in your lap.

The following day, or week, depending on how long they let you mope around whining about Brian, and you’re out on patrol again. Oops too close to that IED. Bill’s head just rolled down the dirt road, without his body. You can’t hear shit, you walk around in a daze till some young Corpsman puts you in a stretcher.

Luckily that Hunvee was armored. Only that poor bastard Bill got the ride back to his kids and wife, in a bag.

Well it’s almost over. Next week you leave for home, I made it. One last patrol.

What is that up ahead? It’s a little girl in the street, right in the middle of a fucking fire fight…

Do you think 23 year old James will stop the vehicle?

I don’t know; maybe yes, maybe no.

But either way, he ain’t going home normal.

 

[AnthonyGerrard]

Imagine having a nice little drive in the Afghanistan countryside, its beautiful day, you and your buddies are taking much needed medicine to an Afghani village.

A child appears out of nowhere.

You stop to keep from running over her. The next thing you know is your old friend Brian’s brains are in your lap.

The following day, or week, depending on how long they let you mope around whining about Brian, and you’re out on patrol again. Oops too close to that IED. Bill’s head just rolled down the dirt road, without his body. You can’t hear shit, you walk around in a daze till some young Corpsman puts you in a stretcher.

Luckily that Hunvee was armored. Only that poor bastard Bill got the ride back to his kids and wife, in a bag.

Well it’s almost over. Next week you leave for home, I made it. One last patrol.

What is that up ahead? It’s a little girl in the street, right in the middle of a fucking fire fight…

Do you think 23 year old James will stop the vehicle?

I don’t know; maybe yes, maybe no.

But either way, he ain’t going home normal.

Hes not going home at all, unfortunately James was killed by US "friendly fire", a day later.

 

[Vassago]

Hes not going home at all, unfortunately James was killed by US "friendly fire", a day later.

With all the hatred against the US, I would think he would have died from some other country's "friendly fire."

 

[Thales750]

With all the hatred against the US, I would think he would have died from some other country's "friendly fire."

I think the point was lost on Anthony; I was emphasizing that war is different than almost any other human experience, and in an attempt to be glib, he diluted the message.

And then of course, you reinforced it with your response.

The discussion was about survivors of war, not casualties.

But, this is the internet.

Edit: Actually battle is different, war has many similarities.