Tyler Hooper's List: PTSD/Equitas Research

• ational Defence came under fire in January for failing to live up to a decade-old promise to have roughly 450 mental heath professionals on staff. Last December — at the height of the suicides — the department only had 380 of the jobs filled, despite an injection of $11.4 million in 2012 and complaints by the military ombudsman.
• There have been eight suspected suicides in the Canadian Forces since the beginning of the year but it’s unclear whether they represent a sustained pattern, says the military’s surgeon general
• Roughly 7.8 per cent of the military reported episodes of depression prior to the Afghan war, but the numbers are being updated, he added
• Officials are at a loss to explain the surge, but Bernier made a point of noting that media coverage of last fall’s string of deaths may have contributed to what’s known in the medical profession as suicide contagion — or copycat suicides. There has been considerable research in the U.S. into the apparent phenomenon among teenagers, but it remains a hotly debated topic.
• ational Defence came under fire in January for failing to live up to a decade-old promise to have roughly 450 mental heath professionals on staff. Last December — at the height of the suicides — the department only had 380 of the jobs filled, despite an injection of $11.4 million in 2012 and complaints by the military ombudsman.
• An investigation by The Canadian Press revealed that a bureaucratic and budgetary turf war at the department had stymied the hiring of those psychiatrists and other mental-health professionals.

4 more annotations...

• It's believed Cpl. Alain Lacasse of Quebec and Master Cpl. Tyson Washburn of Ontario took their own lives
• Both men served in Afghanistan

• Ex-Soldiers Are Being Given MDMA to Help Them Forget About War
• If hanging out with a bunch of strangers in a foreign country shooting at other strangers for a living isn't damaging enough, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is always there to prolong the trauma once combat soldiers return from war. Around 25 percent of discharged American soldiers suffer from the disorder.

• Dr. Justin Feinstein

  Dr. Justin Feinstein is a Clinical Neuropsychologist at the California Institute of Technology and expert in the study of fear in the brain. His research has been published in a number of top tier scientific journals and has been featured in the popular press including the New York Times, NPR, New Scientist, and the NBC TODAY Show.
   
   His presentation will focus on a new research project aimed at exploring the use of floatation tanks in the treatment anxiety, including Panic Disorder and PTSD.

• Whether you experience any altered consciousness or not, the float tank environment is extraordinarily relaxing. Our society is suffering something of a stress epidemic, and stress is recognized as a risk factor for every leading cause of death. More than two dozen studies have shown flotation significantly reduces anxiety, eases depression, helps sleep, and decreases blood pressure. Investigation is ongoing to its use as a therapy for PTSD.

• Clinical psychologist David Manfield discusses his history with di
• gnosing and treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, its physical and psychological ,mechanisms, and how floatation therapy could be beneficial to treating and resolving PTSD.

• A public uproar over how veterans are being treated has erupted in the United States, where shock and dismay over 22 suicides per day is reaching an angry boiling point because of a reported government coverup.
• The administration has also called a departmental probe and dispatched the No. 2 White House staffer to Phoenix to investigate separately. The director of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system and two other officials have also been placed on administrative leave. Members of Congress have called for hearings, and promised legislation

• For starters, when Canadian soldiers leave the military, they receive medical treatment through the regular health system. In the U.S., ex-soldiers are treated through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

   

  Also, Canadian military deployments in Afghanistan tended to last six months. As for the U.S., its overstretched military personnel were deployed for one-year stints that were often extended, then repeated, in a rotation that observers say exacerbated the risks to mental and physical health.

   

  Even comparing suicide statistics presents challenges.

   

  According to government figures, there were 21 suicides in the Canadian military in the worst year in recorded memory, 2011. In the U.S., there were between 21 and 22 in 2010 — every single day.

   

  That’s about 8,000 suicides per year.

   

  But the American figures are calculated broadly, and include ex-military personnel who might not have served for decades and whose suicide might not necessarily be linked to old combat duty. The Canadian figure, conversely, is narrow — so narrow it includes only active Canadian Forces males, and excludes not only women and reservists, but everyone who took their lives after leaving the military.

• A report produced by Canada’s Library of Parliament last year pointed to considerable psychological trauma from the Afghan war. Citing a variety of published research, it said 28 per cent of soldiers deployed to Kandahar had mental-health issues related to their service.

   

  The Canadian government has been accused of mounting smear campaigns against critics who have complained about services for veterans. One of those people, retired Canadian Forces officer Sean Bruyea, is upset that no one was ever fired for leaking his private medical records.

   

  “There’s just an absolute lack of compassion from bureaucrats and politicians,” Bruyea said in an interview from Ottawa.
• The federal government points to almost $5 billion in enhancements in veterans’ benefits since 2006. Much of the money, however, comes from previously existing programs. The variety of benefits offered by a new veterans’ charter includes $1,000 for eligible vets, or their survivors, to get help from an expert in finding civilian employment.

3 more annotations...

• As U.S. Veterans Affairs officials face an explosive scandal over mounting allegations of treatment delays, preventable deaths and a coverup to hide backlogged waiting lists, Canadian military experts warn that could be just a preview of what awaits Canadian soldiers looking for help

• “Veterans on both sides of the border are feeling left out, alone, with the closing of VA offices, referrals of people to 1-800 numbers, no more case managers. The needs are going to be huge when you take into account the physical and mental damage our people have suffered. I think it’s a bad situation to be in no matter, regardless of whether you come back to Canada or the U.S.”

   

  The Canadian controversy over veteran care is less overtly politicized, given that the future needs of former soldiers fall under the 2005 Veterans Charter, a document that predates the Harper government.
• But with the document now under review by a parliamentary committee — and with Canadian government lawyers earlier this year arguing that Canada has no binding legal obligation to veterans — the issue remains far from settled in Ottawa.

1 more annotation...

• The Canadian government has been accused of mounting smear campaigns against critics who have complained about services for veterans. One of those people, retired Canadian Forces officer Sean Bruyea, is upset that no one was ever fired for leaking his private medical records