Posted on 12/07/2009 11:13:09 AM PST by Freedom2specul8
snip
Private Meier, who is seeking a medical discharge from the Army, was given counseling anyway. But he says he never opened up to his therapist, fearing that actions taken in the heat of battle might be disclosed to prosecutors. “How can you go and talk about wartime problems when you feel that if you mention anything wrong, you’re going to be prosecuted?” he said in an interview.
He is not alone in his wariness. Many soldiers, lawyers and mental health workers say that the rules governing confidentiality of psychotherapist-patient relations in the military are porous. The rules breed suspicion among troops toward therapists, those people say, reducing the effectiveness of treatment and complicating the Pentagon’s efforts to encourage personnel to seek care.
The problem with the military rules, experts say, is that they do not safeguard the confidentiality of mental health communications and records as strongly as federal rules of evidence for civilians. Both systems say therapists should report patients when they seem a threat to themselves or to others. But the military rules include additional exceptions that could be applied to a wide range of suspected infractions, experts say.
“There really is no confidentiality,” said Kaye Baron, a psychologist in Colorado Springs who has been treating soldiers from Fort Carson and their families for eight years.
snip
The issue has gained new attention with the recent mass shootings at Fort Hood that killed 13 and wounded 43. In the weeks before the rampage, the accused gunman, Maj. Nidal M. Hassan, an Army psychiatrist, told colleagues and Army lawyers that he wanted to report soldiers who had admitted in counseling sessions that they witnessed or committed war crimes in Iraq or Afghanistan. War crimes can include acts like torture, murder, sexual assault and cruel treatment.
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(Excerpt) Read more at goupstate.com ...
It’s impossible to reduce the effectiveness of therapy.
Are you saying that it isn’t effective to begin with?
All jihadist psychiatrists aside..the terrible thing IMHO, is the distrust of troops towards “counselors”... They need to have the opportunity to vent with full privacy if they want it.
A lot of the “therapy” only makes the trauma live on and on by having the soldier re-live it, again and again,,, by talking about it endlessly. Ever notice that the first time vets really had problems was when society treated them like crap?? (baby killers, prosecutions, soldiers are “uneducated”, the code pinkers,,etc,,,)
When you came back to a society that was almost universally proud of you, you dealt with the darker aspects of it with guys who understood. Down at the VFW over a beer or two,,,or fishing with a buddy.
The therapy model is in a silly zone these days,, a kid gets killed in a wreck after school, and the school is flooded with grief counselors.
The better way is to thank them,, ensure their return to society is as good as it can be,,, and move not make them talk about it endlessly. They’d be WAY better served by a Canadian fishing trip for a few weeks.
For what its worth.
“But he says he never opened up to his therapist, fearing that actions taken in the heat of battle might be disclosed to prosecutors”
Looks like he developed a useful survival instinct over there,,,,a good kid.
There’s a reason “Best Years of our Lives” was such a blockbuster after WWII, and won all those academy awards.
Hollywood paid tribute to the difficulties returning vets faced.
When you see it up on the screen, you know someone at least cares, and understands a little, then you go back to readjusting,, feeling a little better.
One small example,, hollywood, churches, freinds, schools, families, employers,, all need to do a small part. But acting like they all need this immersion in therapy is sick.
And they also need to worry about their 2nd amendment rights when they are diagnosed with PTSD,,, given meds,, etc. Brady check includes mental health,,,,
That’s the first time anyone has explained it like that...and it makes PERFECT sense. Thank you..
I haven’t heard of that movie, but will check it out. I agree 100% about the 2nd amendment issue. Studied the bill of rights vs privacy issues a little bit. We sign rights away every day on various forms.
Because of the 2nd amendment, when guys or gals have nightmares, flashbacks etc, they don’t see help.. what should they do in your best educated opinion?
Anybody remember the case of a top-notch Canadian sniper?
He comes home, and they force him to see a military therapist.
He won’t open up, so the therapist really pushes and the soldier becomes “verbally violent”.
Voila.
Gets the Canadian version of the Article 15 (plus).
I’m Googling it right now.
Uhoh this doesn’t sound good. I have to sign off for awhiel...Will be back online later tonight. Thanks for helping with research.
Curiously, the very first return was right here on FR:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1632457/posts
The psychological damage done to troops who were assigned to him for therapy incenses me.
General Casey should be horsewhipped for his defense of diversity, and the damage it is doing to our troops.
"I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers...I used 50-caliber machine guns...All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions..."
(Videotape, MEET THE PRESS, April 18, 1971)
http://mickc.whizardries.com/archives/2004/04/18/john-kerry-admitted-war-criminal/
Any soldier, engaging in a completely common, reasonable, LEGAL activity, might be suddenly redefined as a "war criminal."
DG
Therapists have replaced priests and pastors, who have gone on to emulate them in search of pew-sitters.
Like I've said to those who suggested "therapy" ~ How many times can you tell your story?
My recommendation:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. Philipians 4:8-9
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