Movie raises awareness about 25 million veterans with PTSD

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Between

 11 and 20 percent of all veterans from the Iraq and 
Afghanistan wars have PTSD, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Some of the veterans end up divorced, losing their families, living on the streets, and in other cases committing suicide. This is the focus of a movie in production right now called “Stronger.” Part of the movie is being shot in Dripping Springs Friday and across Central Texas.

Read More watch vid Here

Why A British soldier and George Medal Recipient Has To Sleep In His Car

One of the youngest recipients of the George Medal says better support is needed for members of the British Armed Forces who leave the military with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Medically-trained fusilier Daniel Smith, from Rochdale, tried to help fellow soldiers in Iraq who had received terrible injuries.

The vehicle patrol he was part of was hit by roadside bombs twice in a week in 2005. The Ministry of Defence citation when he received his medal, at the age of just 21, said:

 "With no regard for his own safety and with his focus firmly on saving those in the vehicle, he commenced the evacuation of the casualties from the burning chaos."

(RG) I guess this sums up what is wrong with our Country.

Military veterans with PTSD learning to cope with creative writing

Australian author Tony Park has seen the impact of war on soldiers first hand.

Major Park, who serves in the Army Reserve and is an Afghanistan veteran, served as a public relations officer for the Australian Army in a bombed-out former Russian aircraft hangar at Bagram Air Base.

He said he witnessed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among soldiers at the base.

"This is Australia's longest war. We had guys having multiple deployments, sometimes three or four, and you could see this was wearing down people," Major Park said.

"When they went back for their second and their third [deployments], those same experiences became magnified and it was almost like the highs of combat got higher, but the lows got lower as they came back."

RG) I can highly recomend writing especially poetry for a tool in coping with PTSD

Screaming in silence Facebook group

 I have created a Facebook Group  to promote my new book Screaming In Silence  but also to advocate the use of Poetry in the self help of PTSD (post Traumatic Stress Disorder ) Please comment and if you do buy the book please leave a review, you can join the group  Here  

Screaming In Silence Trauma Poetry and Short Story

Tony McNally is a Falklands War veteran and the best selling author of Watching Men Burn. A tireless campaigner for better understanding and treatment of servicemen and women suffering from mental health problems like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) 

After leaving the forces he was diagnosed with PTSD by a civilian doctor and was at first unable to talk about his War time experiences, he was told to go home and try and write down his thoughts and feelings. He soon realized that writing was therapeutic and began to write poetry and short stories, Screaming in Silence is his first book of poetry and a short story about the First World War. Written from the heart this is a powerful collection of works that can only be written by someone that has experienced the brutality of War and mans inhumanity, which is apparent with his colourful and brutal and then at times beautiful, poignant and gentle words. He covers a wide range of subject matter, Politics, murder, homelessness, divorce, Religion and obviously War, McNally hits the readers with the ferocity of an exploding grenade then the gentleness of a poppy petal blowing gracefully in the summer breeze. 

You can buy my book here   Here   Also available in the USA and around the world

FINDING FRIENDS

Its not trendy to have PTSD

There has been some positives in the attitude of people towards ex military suffering from mental health issues such as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ) and that should be welcomed but obviously we cannot be complacent and warm words cannot fix everything but they help. Going back 15 to 20 years things were very different, when I spoke publicly to the press and TV and radio, I received a  relatively small but equally upsetting amount of abusive e-mails from people claiming to be serving and ex military, even one from a serving Metropolitan police officer who if I had chose to do so and reported him could have found himself in serious trouble. The ignorance of their statements , more drunken rants was evident when they called me such things as `Coward` and `Traitor`, amongst other things, which could not be further from the truth as anyone who knows me will tell you that I fought for my Country in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland with bravery and distinction, its seems they did not get the `Post` bit? So yes we have had improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, but the suicides from recent Wars are still extremely high and not something that the MOD and our political masters really want to discuss out in the open as this can have a detrimental  effect when it comes to recruitment. What I find disturbing is the increasing amount of veterans that may have medals but have never seen any military action now claiming to be suffering from PTSD. I completely understand that it is possible to have PTSD from a variety of incidents that have nothing to do with the military, however  I firmly believe that due to the public sea change towards our military at the moment its seems almost `trendy` to be suffering from PTSD. Genuine sufferers find this extremely upsetting, the same as a cancer suffer would find it offensive for a person to falsely claim they had cancer. I have no problem with, I welcome veterans to raise awareness about PTSD, but please do not insult our intelligence by making false claims, this actually makes genuine sufferers even worse.

Tony McNally

Most troops face trauma but few suffer from PTSD, study of active soldiers finds

Relatively few members of Canada’s armed forces suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, suggests a surprising new study that comes amid continuing concern about the after-effects of the Afghanistan war.

But even the scientists behind the analysis of federal survey data say it’s missing a key ingredient, and underscores the pressing need for more research.

The survey includes the responses only of active military personnel – omitting the experience of troops who have left the Forces, sometimes because their psychological troubles required them to quit.

No one has empirically studied the veteran population in Canada and, without that, it is impossible to get a complete picture of PTSD in the military, said Alain Brunet, the McGill University psychiatry professor who led the analysis.

“I am without a doubt convinced that this is an under-representation of the true state of affairs,” he said. “The only way to know how traumatic this job is, is to follow a cohort while they’re in the army, and once they leave.”

Meanwhile, the same data offers clear evidence that troops suffering from PTSD are several times more likely than others to have suicidal thoughts, Brunet said.

And Ruth Lanius, a leading PTSD expert at Western University in London, Ont., says other research suggests that soldiers who actually saw combat in Afghanistan have suffered higher-than-normal rates of the condition.Read more HERE    

(RG) 

Oh well thats ok then,maybe the 300 plus soldiers I served with in the Falklands War who killed themselves was not connected to combat? I was just being silly when I tried to kill myself also.The Government should just make having PTSD a crime and ban it.

Take me to Church

Take me to church so I can finally slam shut the door
I don’t believe in all that nonsense anymore
Hell is already here so you cant scare me
I wish I could take you to the places I go at night to see
Its all about control and fear to manipulate the masses
But I now see the world through these shit tinted glasses
If there is a creator up there he must be disgusted
By the children abused by the priests that they trusted
My church is my brothers that I went with to War
The alter the battlefield that we hate and adore
My holy water the blood that was spilled by the young
The dead my saints and my soul the songs that we sung
So take me to church so I can slam shut that door
You call me a heathen but your God created War.

© Tony McNally

MoD confirms more British soldiers commit suicide than are killed in battle

More British soldiers and veterans took their own lives last year than were killed in battle, it has emerged.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that in 2012 seven serving soldiers were confirmed to have killed themselves, while a further 14 died in suspected suicides but inquests had yet to be held.

Although the Government does not record suicides among former soldiers, an investigation by the BBC's Panorama revealed that 21 serving soldiers and 29 veterans committed suicide in 2012.Read more HERE

(RG) Its hard say anything positive about this, but at least the MOD are finally admitting the facts about PTSD deaths.

Paul Hardcastle - 19 (Ptsd Remix)

Proceeds will go to help charity TALKING2MINDS

Battling stigma: The British war artist who suffered post-traumatic stress after stint on Helmand front line

After Mark Neville spent three months in Afghanistan as an official war artist, he returned to Britain deeply troubled. In a new book, he reveals the extreme strains of working as a civilian among frontline soldiers – and how he struggled with the PTSD that ensued.My grandfather Jack Neville was captain of a ship during the Second World War. His behaviour when he came back from four years at sea, suffering from what I now clearly recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has had an effect upon everyone in my family.

He took a lot of photographs after he returned in 1945, and when he wasn't looking through lenses, he was barking orders at his family. The impact on me of his inability to communicate in a pleasant way, coupled with this need to mediate life via a lens, somehow transmuted into my career: for the past 10 years, I have used photography in a collaborative way, intended to be of direct, practical benefit to the subject.

In October 2010, I received an email from an arts organisation called Firstsite, regarding a residency working as a war artist in Helmand. The residency was to be hosted by 16 Air Assault Brigade, the largest regiment in the British Army, otherwise known as the "paras". It had never occurred to me to work in a war zone before, but I was highly curious. Perhaps the experience would illuminate my family's difficult history and perhaps I, in turn, could provide a unique perspective on the conflict in Helmand. Read more  HERE  

19 PTSD Trailer

Many of you will know that Paul Hardcastle has remixed his 1985 smash hit 19 for PTSD and has has hugely kindly given up all the proceeds for Talking2minds . The launch date is May19 but we are now able to circulate the trailer.

'Why Is Dad So Mad?' Veteran Writes Book to Explain His PTSD to His Daughter

He pulls up her colorful blankets and tucks his daughter Raegan in for bed, Retired Army 1st Sgt. Seth Kastle knows that tonight "bedtime" will be a little different. Tonight, Seth will read his daughters "Why Is Dad So Mad?" — a book he wrote about himself. Kastle served for 16 years in the Army Reserve, and was deployed to Qatar, Afghanistan, and Iraq. When he returned home to his wife and kids in Wakeeney, Kansas, he struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and had a hard time explaining it to his kids. "I struggle with anger. That's probably my main symptom. I also have some issues that go with my memory," Kastle said. "There's mornings that you go into the bathroom and you look at the cup that holds your toothbrushes, and you just stare at it because you don't know which one is yours." Kastle searched for resources to explain his PTSD to his children, but found the options lacking. So, he wrote a book and started a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to hire an illustrator and get the book published. The campaign met its $3,000 goal in just eight hours, and eventually swelled to more than $6,000. "In my book I talk about the fire inside dad's chest. To me, that's what it feels like," Kastle said. In "Why Is Dad So Mad?" a family of lions — representing the Kastle family — is battling to overcome the father lion's PTSD. In the book's colorful pages, the father lion is shown with a raging fire inside his chest. That image, and its message, made an impact on Kastle's 6-year-old daughter, Raegan. "No matter what, when they're mad or sad at you, they still love you," explained Raegan, admiring her father's book in her playroom. "There's always a fire in his heart, but no matter what, I know there's love." Kastle — with help from illustrator Karissa Gonzalez-Othon and designer Lyndsey Dugan — wrote his book for his family, but he hopes that it will serve as a resource for other military families as well. Read more and watch video HERE

Tragedy of Gulf War hero who died from fatal overdose after battling post-traumatic stress disorder for years

Coroner gives verdict of misadventure after hero dad Christian Walmsley was found dead in his Bolton flat wearing his five war medalsA war hero who battled for years with post-traumatic stress disorder died after taking a fatal overdose of prescription drugs, an inquest heard. Christian Walmsley, 42, was found dead in his Bolton flat wearing his five war medals after complaining the night before of 'chronic pain'. The father-of-three had served in the Gulf War, Bosnia, Angola and Northern Ireland in the Royal Engineers from 1989 until 2000. An inquest at Bolton Coroners Court heard how Mr Walmsley had been through 'significant violence only soldiers experience' during his duties. When he retired from the Army, the court heard how the corporal had struggled to adapt to civilian life due to his traumatic experiences. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and and Fibromyalgia, a chronic condition causing deep muscle pain.Read more HERE   R.I.P.


UBIQUE R.I.P.

Then it began……

Id read about it

Watched it on TV

Dreamt about it

Here is yours

WAR……

Then it was over

I stopped reading about it

Watching it on TV

Dreaming about it?

Then it began

Again

Again

Again

Again…….

When will it  end?

© Tony McNally

Think about what you are doing right now.

PTSD
Posted by Bud Parker on Wednesday, 16 July 2014

PTSD

Shell shock solved: Scientists pinpoint brain injury that causes pain, anxiety and breakdowns in soldiers

By the end of World War One the army had identified 80,000 cases of a new condition they termed as 'shell shock'.
Scientists have been perplexed by the symptoms - that include anxiety, facial tics as well as terrible nightmares - ever since but, after more than a century of research, the mystery may have been solved.
Experts now believe that a honeycomb pattern of broken nerve fibres in the brains of veterans that survived improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks, is responsible for the condition officially termed as blast neurotrauma.Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, conducted autopsies on US combat veterans who survived blasts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but later died of other causes.
They discovered that they had the same kind of brain injury – a distinctive honeycomb pattern of broken and swollen nerve fibres throughout critical brain regions, including those that control decision making, memory and reasoning.The pattern is different from brain damage caused by car crashes, drug overdoses or collision sports.
Vassilis Koliatsos, a professor of pathology, neurology, and psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the university, explained that survivable blasts may cause hidden brain injuries that play a role in the psychological and social problems some veterans face after coming home.”Read More   HERE  


(RG) Oh right well that's (PTSD sorted then.

PTSD