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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I don't know where to start with someone as ignorant as you are. But may I ask what branch of combat arms you served in and when? And what's on your DD214? You have any medals for valor?
I know this might come as a complete shock to an idiot like you, but there are plenty of "liberals" serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. There were plenty of "liberals" fighting in Vietnam (I was one). There were "liberals" fighting in Korea and World War II also. My father, a World War II hero, was a labor Democrat. That made him a "liberal" also. You got something against him?
As an American veteran I find your pejorative use of the word liberal to be insulting to me personally. I have nothing to be ashamed of and even less to answer to you for, in terms of my political philosophy. I paid for my right to my political opinion with my blood. How about you?
And if you are so all fired up with patriotic zeal, what the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be over there?
This is largely a response to Patricia Schwarz's comments, but I'm posting because the information may be useful to anyone interested in PTSD.
While doubtless well-intentioned, I think Patricia is being (a) a little tough on KMR and (b) a little narrow in her genetic PTSD evaluation.
First, KMR didn't say there was no PTSD in WWII, she said there was less, possibly because of public support of the war. Since this article offers research showing that lack of support worsens PTSD, that seems a reasonable assumption. Also, as someone who's studied PTSD academically as well as personally (including the neuroscience of it), I know, and Patricia and KMR probably do as well, that shell shock, combat fatigue, and other names for PTSD have been around since before WWI, so it's certainly possible to discuss the syndrome pre-Vietnam. Simply because it wasn't brought up regularly in debates doesn't mean it wasn't being studied. Books and research are available for comparison. From a 1917 text, Shell Shock and Its Lessons:
A French doctor has said, "Il n'y a pas de maladies." (There are no sicknesses, there are only sick people)
Whatever the validity of this statement, it is undoubtedly true of the nerve-stricken soldier. Every case is a case by itself, and as such it must be considered by anyone, be he layman or doctor, who is interested in its nature and treatment. For the troubles displayed in the many disorders classed under the official title shell-shock are extraordinarily numerous and different, and their removal necessitates a similarly varied repertoire of "opening moves" on the part of the physician.
And here, in 1947, Abram Kardiner and a colleague wrote about war strain:
The subject of neurotic disturbances consequent upon war has, in the past 25 years, been submitted to a good deal of capriciousness in public interest and psychiatric whims. The public does not sustain its interest, which was very great after World War I, and neither does psychiatry.
So while in WWII the public didn't pay as much attention, it does not mean that "Prior to the seventies, all the problems that typically are exhibited in disturbed veterans were just chalked up to normal masculinity or normal alcoholic acting out."
My second point is that a purely genetic blame & cure approach is a little narrow. Certainly there are genetics involved. But as with so many things genetic, the results of the genes are interactive with the environment. Let's look at the two aspects of the discussion:
Having experienced PTSD in myself and witnessed it in my father (who was in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam), I know personally that it's possible to effect a cure without genetic treatment. Patricia may be right that information is being withheld from the public, but she is wrong to say we cannot treat the problem. Simply Googling the terms genetic marker and PTSD show articles from Nature, Science, the NIH, and private companies investigating the issue. A peer-reviewed journal ( Psychiatry Research) article states that "a broadly defined phenotype, specific requirement for an environmental exposure and high frequency of comorhid psychiatric illness all complicate genetic studies of PTSD," so perhaps it's not an attempt to hide something but rather a complex problem which is taking time to disentangle. Also, whether for good or ill, private pharmaceutical companies are also prone to privacy in the interests of profit.
Just an attempt to explicate the issues involved, and perhaps show that this is a much more gray area than some believe. It's also certainly a place for hope, now as well as in the future.
In my opinion, one of if not THE most important painter(s) of the 20th century. He volunteered for the Graman army, served in the trenches for most of WWI and made art constantly throughout the entire war. The process of his becoming a soldier, fighting, becoming disillusioned, apparently developing PTSD and apparently recovering from it in the years following the war are very evident in his body of work.
Any discussion of how veterans are treated in this or any other country immediately makes me think of his postwar painting "The Match Seller" (see: http://upper.usm.k12.wi.us/academics/History/History%20WEb/OttoDixPaintings.htm) Also on that page are "Skat Players", "Prague Street", and "Trench Suicide" each of which are enormously illustrative of various traumas faced by veterans of futile (or, ANY) war.
Not surprisingly, he was criticized for the "defeatist" tone of his work; his status as a repeatedly decorated war hero afforded him some protection from such criticism. He was later drafted by the NAZI regime for its war, and then not surprisingly jailed for his pacifist tendencies.
I find the development of his work over the years to be a very reassuring and hopeful thing; for many years after the war his work was filled with anger and insanity but in his later years his work became utterly peaceful and placid.
Have a look at: (http://www.nga.gov.au/Dix/index.cfm) or just Google.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
