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By Army Pfc. Daniel M. Rangel
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Thousands of service members are returning home this spring. As they return to their regular lives, reintegration with their friends and loved ones can be a challenge; especially for those suffering from symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"PTSD can occur after any kind of trauma," said Air Force Dr. (Maj.) Kellie Griffith, Task Force MED psychiatrist at the Combat and Operational Stress Control Clinic.
The three primary symptoms of PTSD are: re-experiencing, where one relives a traumatic event through nightmares, flashbacks or intrusive images; hyper-vigilance, which includes irritability and jumpiness; and avoidance, not wanting to think about the trauma again and doing anything to avoid it, Griffith said.
Another common symptom is what's called sense of a foreshortened future. It's the belief that the future is not going to work out, like somehow it's going to be cut short.
Griffith confirmed the scope of those needing help stretches across the ranks.
"People will feel that since they're a platoon leader they should have their stuff together. They feel like they can't come in there, that it's showing that they're weak, that nobody else in their unit is seeking help. That's not true," Griffith said. "I've seen everybody from all different ranks come on in here."
Often service members are hesitant to seek help fearing possible professional retribution, but of those seeking help, treatment affects the careers of less than 5 percent of service members, according to Griffith.
Any questionnaire for future military employment divulging your mental-health history will be sent to a health care professional such as a flight surgeon for review, Griffith said.
"You should be judged by a mental-health provider as opposed to just some random person who may or may not be a fan of mental-health treatment," she said.
Plans to cope with PTSD include combinations of therapy, sleep medication and medication specifically for PTSD.
"The gold standard of therapy is exposure therapy," Griffith said. "The concept behind PTSD is that in your brain you have normal memories and you have abnormal memories — traumatic memories. The normal memories are stored in such a way that they're filed away appropriately. They don't intrude upon your day-to-day life. Traumatic memories are more like they're hanging around your neck. They can come up and intrude upon your day-to-day life at any moment.
"Exposure therapy seeks to bring up the memory, have you look at it, have you remember what you're able to tolerate ... face it, [realize] it's not going to kill you. It's not going to make it happen all over again," Griffith said. "Eventually, patients get to a point where it is better filed, it is more likely to just stay in their brain and not intrude upon their day-to-day life."
Griffith warns of the futility of self-medicating after returning home.
"If people [have avoidance type symptoms] a lot of times they'll start drinking more. They'll drink to sleep; they'll drink to feel numb. Well, alcohol is actually a depressant," Griffith said. "Even though you drink the first couple of drinks and feel kind of loopy, feel kind of good, overall it's a depressant. It's not getting those memories filed away any better."
Confronting the issues with those who have endured similar problems is far more effective for reducing symptoms, Griffith recommended.
"I encourage people to continue to talk with people from their unit, especially people who have been through the traumatic events with them," Griffith said.
Not only do mental-health professionals encourage service members to proactively deal with their issues and those of their battle buddies, it's the guidance from the senior leadership of Combined Joint Task Force - 82.
"The battle buddy is going to be the most important part of the chain," said Army Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Capel, 82nd Airborne Division senior enlisted Soldier.
Everyone returning from deployment will have issues reintegrating, which is normal, but Capel draws the line of where Soldiers and their buddies must seek help.
"We [define] post-traumatic stress as issues that individuals can't deal with on their own," Capel said.
Keeping combat stress to a minimum is a by-product of Capel's overall leadership method.
"Additional stress comes in depending upon what type of environment we operate," Capel said. "If you're in a well-trained, well-disciplined unit, your battle fatigue is going to be low because you know for a fact that any enemy you go up against, you're going to take them out."
"Nobody here is trying to fire anybody for going to see mental hygiene or get help because they're suffering from some type of post-traumatic stress — nobody," Capel said.
For Soldiers dealing with symptoms of PTSD there is a pre-screening program in place to determine an individual's stress levels at the Army's Medical Protection System through Army Knowledge Online Web site. Soldiers must complete the screening before returning home.
Capel recognizes all Soldiers returning home after such a long deployment will deal with issues but believes things will return to normal before long.
"Fifteen-month deployments almost broke everybody down to their knees, but guess what — it'll go away, and we're dealing with it," Capel said. "As we stand here now with about 30 days to go you see a smile on a lot of peoples' faces ... and as for those depression stages, they won't last long."
For thousands of Soldiers, reintegration will be a challenge, but now there is a system in place to help troops cope with their problems and begin their lives back home again.
| Date Taken: | 03.15.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 03.17.2008 11:54 |
| Story ID: | 17427 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 588 |
| Downloads: | 559 |
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