Quit giving PTSD a bad name!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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When NPR ran a story about Fort Carson soldiers having difficulty getting treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it touched me personally.

I went to High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a city that is geographically and economically connected to this Army base. (For my friends in High School, Fort Carson soldier was considered a very good catch. :rolleyes: ) Listening to the story, it was easy for me to imagine the plain, Spartan base buildings that look so out of place against the majestic Rocky Mountains.

Another connection between me and these soldiers is that I have been treated for PTSD.
As a teenager, Father’s brother-in-law raped me regularly. This abuse continued until struck out on my own and cut myself off from the paternal side of the family. From personal experience, I know that Post Traumatic Stress is a nasty, isolating mental illness. There are no words that can effectively describe the sudden, gut wrenching panic and fear that can strike at any moment, reducing you to a quivering, helpless mass or a raving, raging lunatic. (I used to joke with my psychologist that the best diagnosis for me was OCD PTSD SOL.)

Any person with mental health issues should get help. The Army must see to the long-term well being of its members. With any service there is risk of abuse, but that is not an adequate excuse for denying or delaying treatment.

Unfortunately, this post has nothing to do with the men and women at Fort Carson Army Base. ::le sigh::

My mother claims to have PTSD. I’m uncertain of her diagnosis because she is not being treated by a mental health professional, Mother_Maven says that the illness originates from her experience with my father. (I’ll be the first person to say that my father is no saint. He has been dead to me for over a decade.)

What angers me is that Mother_Maven uses her PTSD claim to get special treatment. When she was struggling in a teaching certificate program, she told her professors about this mental illness and said that it made it hard for her to take exams. A few weeks ago, Mother was in a car accident. Today she told me that she’s suing the insurance company of the guy who hit her and claiming it aggravated her PTSD.

Fucking Hell! There are soldiers coming back for Iraq that can’t get treatment for all the inhuman imagines that have burned into their minds from their tour and she’s using this as a way to get a gods damned buck! Shit, I’d feel better if she’d claim a questionable back or neck injury. No wonder mental illness is still stigmatized in our culture. FUCK!

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Why did you roll your eyes at the statement that Ft Carson soldiers are a good catch?

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Mouse Maven, I wish you the best. I’m sorry you had to deal with something so horrible. I also feel bad that some people will abuse the system. People in the mental health field try to help people through the issues that are affecting them. Unfortunately, some will try to abuse the system. Some providers, in the interest of allowing insurance to pick up the tab, will write a diagnosis not supported by the symptoms. Not having met your mother, I don’t know if this is the case, but I hope that she can resolve her situation, not seek to profit from it.

I do my best to prevent PTSD while I am deployed and feel useless while in garrison. We try, but we can’t be everywhere, and even those we get to that have suffered a traumatic event, we can’t always make it right for them. I will keep trying as will the stateside doctors.

Sgt Schwartz

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The roll eyes was for the girls, not the soldiers. I did not mean to insult the service men.

I was raised by my father in a conservative town. In High School, my friends liked to date Fort Carson soldiers because they had money. IMO, they were using these guys. Also, my friends were “good girls,” they would let the guy pay for a date but not get very physical. There were a few times where the fellow (soldier or not) would get frustrated and abandon my friend (at best) or get too rough (at worse). I did not date in high school, but I was the third wheel friend on many dates.

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Best of luck to you and your men. :slight_smile: Its nice know that you are so devoted to them.

Looking back at my OP, I neglected to mention that my mother has an existing back condition. I got pissed off because she decided to use the PTSD instead of the back pain.