Well what do you know, there's someone in the VA's management that's not a complete idiot. Steve Vogel (Washington Post) reports that the VA is exploring whether or not meditation might be good in addressing or treating PTSD. W. Scott Gould is the deputy secrtary of veterans affairs and he tells Vogel, "The reality is, not all individuals we see are treatable by the techniques we use."
That's not a minor statement.
Granted most veterans who know the treatment did not work are ones who found success elsewhere with other treatments.
But there are those who suspect that the treatment didn't work. They also suspect that maybe something's wrong with them.
There's nothing wrong with them. A treatment didn't work on them. That means another treatment should be attempted. As Gould states, "The reality is, not all individuals we see are treatable by the techniques we use."
That's a huge weight off the shoulders of a veteran who tried the standard VA treatment and had no success at all. Hopefully, he or she will explore -- and certainly should be encouraged to -- other therapies and treatments, including peer-to-peer, group sessions, equine therapy, dogs trained to sense impending stress and trained to ease it, creative therapies, meditation and others.
The David Lynch Foundation (yes, that David Lynch) is funding two studies into transcendental meditation.
We've started noting, in our PTSD pieces, that PTSD was a natural response to heightened danger and that PTSD becomes a problem only when you're in a less dangerous zone and you can't turn off that heightened sense.
Why are we wording it that way? Because it's true. But also because the stigma needs to be removed. There is not something awful or bad about what you're going through. It was a natural response to an overwhelming situation, that's how your body was able to cope it with it. By explaining it as the preservation tool that it is, a lot more veterans might be willing to address the issue.
(TBI and PTSD are the two signature wounds of the modern wars. A veteran can have either or both -- or neither. But because you have PTSD does not mean you have TBI and vice versa. There's a columnist we're ignoring who has yet again rushed in to tell us all the solution but he's forgotten once again to first familiarize himself with the work in the field on TBI and PTSD. He always forgets to do that work step, he always rushes in witha solution. Whether it's practical or needed or even helpful, he always rushes in with a solution.)
It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
Last week, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4488. Tonight it's [PDF format warning] 4488.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
the ballet
