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Hideous treatment by the Navy.

I wonder if you could get that redressed . . . some of your stuff might be documented in your record.

BTW, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been demonstrated in replicated research to be over all, better than, meds. But it does take some dogged persistence in learning to change one’s thought habits.

Scripturally, TAKING EACH THOUGHT captive is a similar principle. I was probably clinically depressed most of the first 30 years of my life.

Great to be free of it.

Your warning is a very worthy one.

Congrats on your courage in sharing.

Thanks for your kind words. Although I have no hard feelings towards the Navy as a result of my experiences, I do have regrets. The really sad part is that the entire problem of untreated psychiatric illness in the services could be eliminated by a few simple, institutional changes in recruiting, entrance processing, and medical personnel training by the DoD.

I saw many shipboard personnel exhibiting abnormal and harmful behavior when at sea during my time aboard Enterprise. In my day, most of these cases were "treated" by threats and violence from above, along with plenty of the Navy's favorite RX, Boozacillin. When one considers the stress, lack of sleep, constant noise, lack of privacy, and other pressures of life afloat aboard carriers and subs, it's amazing that the Navy does not make psychiatry an integral part of shipboard medical care. Thank God I only hurt myself during my adventure with bad brain chemistry on the high seas -- the next crazy guy might do a lot more damage. Remember the Iowa...

And thanks for the advice about therapy. With God's help, I have been able to control my depression with a relatively mild dose of Paxil. I'd prefer not to take it (the side effects and withdrawal symptoms suuuuck), but therapy is expensive, and I'm a writer by trade -- you do the math. Maybe someday!