The FReeper Foxhole Looks at PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) - Jan. 25th, 2003

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/companyg/ptsd.html ^

[SAMWolf]

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

To list previous Foxhole Threads
or
to add The Foxhole to your sidebar
Click on the Logo

Resource Links For Veterans

Click on the pix

What is PTSD?

The psychiatric definition of "trauma' is "an event outside normal human experience". Trauma leaves you feeling powerless, helpless, paralyzed. It tends to be sudden and overwhelming. It "owns" you. You can not think clearly during a severe trauma, yet you are forced to focus your consciousness in an attempt to deal. Trauma has been defined as "any sudden and potentially life-threatening event".

As the name implies, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurs after (post) an extremely stressful event (trauma). The more severe the trauma and the longer the person is exposed to it, the greater the likelihood is of developing PTSD.

The traumatic event is relived repeatedly. This can take the form of recurrent images, thoughts, dreams or "flashbacks" of the event. Even reminders of the event can cause extreme distress, so many people go out of their way to avoid places or events that bring to mind the traumatic event. Many experience increased anxiety, restlessness, sleeplessness, irritability, poor concentration, hypervigilence or an exaggerated startled response. Some are even plagued by feelings of "survivor's guilt" because they survived when others did not. The symptoms are obviously very disruptive and stressful to the victim, as well as their family and loved ones. It can even impair job performance and social functioning.

It has been called shell shock, battle fatigue, accident neurosis and post rape syndrome, and is too often misdiagnosed and misunderstood. PTSD is a diagnosis which was first made following the Viet Nam War. Veterans who saw combat in Viet Nam were found to have a number of symptoms not clearly documented in any other diagnostic category. These symptoms had been observed in combat veterans in many previous wars, so it seems that PTSD is constantly being rediscovered.

War has always taken a toll. Throughout history, accounts tell of nightmares and other emotional problems associated with the horrors of war. We repeatedly discover the effects of trauma on human beings every time we go to war. Terms like "combat fatigue" and "shell shock" were used in the past to describe the effects of combat. These terms were misleading because they imply that the effects of combat are short-term.



PTSD is not a mental sickness, but a "syndrome". In other words, a collection of symptoms. It describes the often chronic reaction experienced by people exposed to the particular kind of intense stress encountered in war zones and other catastrophic situations. This reaction is a normal human response to the impact of abnormal situations and events. The specific type of PTSD suffered by soldiers is known as Combat PTSD. There is no shame attached to it; it is often the most courageous man in a unit who gets hit by this syndrome.

A delayed stress reaction may surface after months or even years, including some or all of the symptoms below. Few suffer every symptom listed here; but if you recognize several of your own or some loved one's behavior, the chances are that person suffers more or less from severe post traumatic stress.

**"Intrusion" refers to the unwanted invasion of one's mind and body by memories of past traumatic events.

**"Constriction" refers to the strategies taken by the mind to stop this invasion.

**"Hyperarousal" refers to the state of constant alertness that is the legacy of having been involved in such events.

1. Nightmares, flashbacks, hallucinations and other forms of uncontrollable invasion of the present by memories of the past (intrusion).

2. Intense distress at exposure to events that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event, including anniversaries of the event; certain smells can trigger waves of fear, as can loud noises and certain television shows (intrusion).

3. Difficulty in recalling events from the war years, especially those that were traumatic; unwillingness to remember the war; reluctance to meet people, read books, see films, etc. that remind one of the war (constriction).

4. Sleeplessness; difficulty concentrating (hyperarousal).

5. Hypervigilance; unmotivated, keyed-up alertness (hyperarousal).

6. Episodes of severe rage (hyperarousal).

7. Violent impulses towards what may be indiscriminate or innocent targets; unnecessarily violent reaction on being taken by surprise (hyperarousal).

8. Severe survival guilt; feelings of guilt at having survived the war while other (who the victim sees as more deserving) have died (constriction).

9. Psychic numbing; feeling that one has no feelings (constriction).

10. Alienation from one's own feelings; reacting with emotions that do not seem appropriate to the situation; periods of acute depression, interrupted by periods of sometimes manic behavior (constriction/hyperarousal).

11. Markedly diminished interest in significant activities; apathy (constriction).

12. Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others (constriction).

13. Sense of foreshortened future; feeling of being older than one's true age (constriction).

14. Doubt about whether one can ever love or trust someone else again; pessimism about the very nature of love and life itself (constriction).

PTSD is defined in the following way:

A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present:

** The person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others;

** The person's response involved intense fear, hopelessness or horror.

B. The traumatic event is persistently reexperienced in one (or more) of the following ways:

** Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts or perceptions;

** Recurrent distressing dreams of the event;

** Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated);

** Intense psychological distress or reactivity at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

C. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

** Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings or conversations associated with the trauma;

** Efforts to avoid activities, places or people that arouse recollections of the trauma;

** Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma;

** Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities;

** Feeling detachment or estrangement from others;

** Restricted range of effect (as in, unable to have loving feelings);

** Sense of a foreshortened future (does not expect to have a career, marriage, children or a normal life span).

D. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:

** Difficulty falling or staying asleep;

** Irritability or outbursts of anger;

** Difficulty concentrating;

** Hypervigilance;

** Exaggerated startled response.

E. Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in B, C and D) is more than one month.

F. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
When identifying trauma and its' symptoms, it is always best to ask "What HAPPENED to this person" rather than "What is WRONG with this person"!

I understand when someone says they have PTSD. It can be very debilitating, affecting one's ability to work, maintain relationships and to simply function in everyday living.

But there is a light in the darkness where PTSD resides -- it is a treatable disorder. With the help of medications, therapy and an adequate support system, there is hope for healing.

Please remember ..

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

[SAMWolf]

Best I could do Aomagrat, there doesn't seem to be any pictures available of the USS Tampa or any of the Unalga Class Cutters.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks ImpBill, for your service and for your insight.

There are those who are going to do our best to see that the treatment the Vietnam Veterans received doesn't happen to our new Veterans.

Welcome Home.

[SAMWolf]

1970 Robert Altman's "M*AS*H" premieres

I always thought the movie was better than the TV series

[SAMWolf]

LOL! Yep and I can't find any pictures of the ship nor any in it's class.

[SAMWolf]

You're getting the Foxhole used to seeing a poem each morning. Thanks for your contribution Cote.

[Humal]

SAMWolf
This article really hits home for me. My father died of "Shell Shock" (he was in WWII), and my father-in-law won't talk about his experiences in the South Pacific during the same war. Even though my father died when I was two years old, my mother talked about some of these symptoms and how they affected him. It was a very sad situation for ALL concerned: my father, his parents, my mother, and for me, since I had to grow up without a father.

I have a cousin, Viet Nam veteran, who also experiences "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome", and it has cost him his healthy out-look on life and his wife. Also, my brother, Korean vet, has it to some degree. There are some things he just will not do, view, or talk about.

Hopefully, with more understanding of the disease and newer drugs and treatment, future warriors and their families won't have to go through this.

[aomagrat]

Thanks. You'd think that a ship that went down in combat with all hands would have more info on her. She seems forgotten except for American Legion Post 5 in Tampa FL.

BTW, can you guess which classic warship will be featured tomorrow?

[fatima]

Here's a bump

[SAMWolf]

Honor long overdue recalls crewmen's sacrifice during WWI

The Coast Guardsmen who went down with the USS Tampa in World War I are finally recognized

St. Petersburg Times, published January 25, 2001

TAMPA -- The first time Jack C. Edwards received a Purple Heart, more than 55 years ago, it wasn't much of a ceremony.

"I was at a hospital in Honolulu," said Edwards, a Marine wounded on the beaches of Okinawa during World War II. "They just rolled me out and gave it to me there in the bed, and that was that."

On Wednesday, as the U.S. Coast Guard band played, Edwards accepted Purple Heart medals for two men he never met: his mother's cousins who died when the USS Tampa was sunk by a German U-boat in World War I.

Seaman Homer B. Sumner and Ship's Writer Wamboldt Sumner were among dozens of local boys on the Tampa when it sank. Many of the dead were related to each other or were childhood friends who went down to the Port of Tampa together to join the Coast Guard.

Edwin T. Galvin knows the story of the Tampa well. His father and uncle served on the ship, but his father transferred off a month before it sank.

His father never got over the guilt, Galvin said.

"The ship left port here with his brother and his two best friends," Galvin said. "He never saw them again He talked about it through his tears many times."

During World War I, the Tampa escorted ships in the North Atlantic, protecting them from German U-Boats. It was after one such mission, on Sept. 26, 1918, that they were attacked. In the Bristol Channel of the Irish Sea, the Tampa went down, taking down 111 Coast Guardsmen, four Navy sailors, 10 British sailors and five civilians.

Because so many of the dead were from here, the sinking hit the Tampa Bay area hard. But besides a plaque or two and a stained-glass window at the American Legion post, the men weren't officially honored until recently.

Led by the effort of Coast Guard retiree James C. Bunch of Citrus County, some relatives of the ship's crew were awarded Purple Hearts in Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day 1999.

But the Coast Guard had trouble contacting all relatives for that ceremony. After an article was published in the St. Petersburg Times about the ceremony, more relatives came forward.

Galvin, of New Port Richey, broke down in tears when he saw the article.

So in the shadow of the modern-day Coast Guard cutter named Tampa, Galvin accepted the Purple Heart for his uncle, Charles Emmitt Galvin, who died long before Edwin Galvin was born.

"This is a great day for the Coast Guard family," said John Thorne, national community relations chief for the Coast Guard. "We want to remember those who died defending our shores."

[SAMWolf]

USS Oakland?

[firewalk]

Thanks for the ping (-:

[SAMWolf]

I thank your family for it's sacrifices and service.

Hopefully the Veterans can get the help they need in dealing with the aftermath of their service. I know the two years, I spent in a Vietnam Veterans "Rap Group" helped. The guy who ran it was a Vietnam Vet and that made a big difference in how we reacted to him.

[SAMWolf]

Cote, I know I've told you this before, but I thank your dad for his service.

[SpookBrat]

Isn't capitalisim the greatest? I love those pictures. I love seeing desperately poor people having a chance to sell things and make a living. Down with Socialism! Down with Communism! Down with evil doers! Boo! Hiss! God bless America!

I have to leave to take my kids to a party. I'll be back later to read the thread. You guys do a great job.

[SAMWolf]

On September 26, 1918, the day of the France-American attack in Argonne, the TAMPA was escorting a convoy to Milford Haven, Wales. The evening found them in the Bristol Channel. The night was black and a slight rain was falling, being driven before a heavy wind. The TAMPA, perhaps detecting some sign of a submarine, darted out ahead of the convoy. At 8:45 p.m., a loud explosion was heard by people aboard the other ships, and later when they arrived in port, the TAMPA was missing. A search was started by the U.S. destroyers and British patrol craft, but all they found was a few pieces of wreckage and two unidentifiable bodies in naval uniforms.

The TAMPA was believed to have been torpedoed, and later a man from a captured U-Boat, the U-53, reported that they had sunk a ship of the TAMPA's description at that time and place.

When the TAMPA sunk there were no survivors. Three Coast Guardsmen, four Navy men, a captain and 10 seamen of the Royal British Navy, and five civil employees -- a total of 131 persons -- lost their lives. This loss was the greatest single casualty incurred by any Navy unit as a result of known enemy action, and because of it the Coast Guard suffered the greatest loss, in proportion to its size, of any armed service in the War.

Admiral William S. Sims, a senior naval officer on duty in Great Britain, received the following letter from the Lord of the British Admiralty:

"Their Lordships desire me to express their deep regret at the loss of the USS TAMPA. Her record since she has been employed in the European waters as an ocean escort to no less than 18 convoys from Gibraltar, comprising of 350 vessels, with a loss of only two ships through enemy action. The commanders of the convoys have recognized the ability with which the TAMPA carried out the duties of the ocean escort. Appreciation of the good work done by the USS TAMPA may be some consolation to those left behind and Their Lordships would be glad if this could be conveyed to those concerned."

Eighty-one years after the ultimate sacrifice, the descendants of the men who perished received their Purple Hearts in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, held on Veterans Day, November 11th, 1999. Representatives from the American Legion USS TAMPA Post 5, of Tampa, Florida, were in attendance for the special presentation ceremony. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard presented the medals, in conjunction with the annual Veterans Day Wreath-Laying Ceremony at Arlington.

The American Legion USS TAMPA Post 5 has a Memorial Window located for the Tampians and the USS TAMPA crew who lost their lives. This beautiful, varicolored window first adorned the Ladies' Auxiliary room at the USS TAMPA Post in its first location at 513 Bay Street in Tampa, Florida. Built by the Works Project Administration (WPA) during World War I, the window now has a permanent home at 3810 Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa.

The window is five feet wide, the lower section is seven feet tall, with the arched portion above three feet high. Ranged around the Great Seal of The American Legion are the names of the 115 men (including the 24 Tampians) who perished with the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter, the USS TAMPA, on September 26th, 1918 in the Bristol Channel off the coast of Wales.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Spooky!

[top of the world ma]

Regeneration

WW I soldiers suffering from shell shock sent back from the front lines to be 'patched up' emotionally so they can be sent back to the front.