Ziggae_6
Active member
- Joined
- May 8, 2009
- Messages
- 345
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- Location
- Louisville, KY Hometown: Chicago
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Very Liberal
New veterans policy relaxes PTSD standards
Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress will more easily obtain benefits under a new policy being rolled out by the Obama administration.
The new policy to be implemented next week relaxes the standards for documentation that veterans must show to prove they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The changes are intended to make it easier for veterans to receive benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, senior officials from the agency said.
Veterans Affairs offices across the country are dealing with thousands of new veterans from nearly a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Constant fear of unexpected attack and concern for survival are among the “stressors” for veterans suffering from PTSD, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and recent research studies published by the National Academies on deployment related stress. The new policy is meant to address the complex nature of war experiences and impacts.
http://www.buzzbox.com/top/default/preview/new-veterans-policy-relaxes-ptsd-standards/?id=2556705&topic=ptsd%3Astandards
We probably wouldn't have so many soldiers with PTSD if liberals didn't take the side off Islamic extremists. Best way to lower the PTSD numbers is to end the liberal cowardliness and allow soldiers to shot back when they are being attacked.
Veterans have been getting treatment for PTSD since Viet Nam, if not before.
Not to the extend it should have been given. Although there is a better understanding and thus better treatment than in the past. But it was also denied in the past and those who claimed to have it were often said to faking or not tough enough. If diagnosed, it is a disability. There is also a stigma about seeking out mental counseling in a macho environment that goes on in the military. Seeking treatment would be considered to be weak. The military actually is recognizing that encouraging their members to seek it out can have a benefit to both the soldier and the military. This is quite a leap over past views of this disease. You hear that many Viet Nam vets did not seek out treatment for years.
Earlier treatment = better results.
PTSD is just a name given to how some people handle stress. Popularised by the affect of stress on people in the military, it is now applied to people involved in other high stress jobs. Sadly I think it has become a very abused diagnosis for people to get disability and other benefits. It is also used by anti-war types to further their cause against the military in general. I don't buy completely the "liberals care about the military too" bit. Different people under the same circumstances have completely different reactions. Seems like a very hard diagnosis and now it is given almost autiomatically.
I don't know if that's PTSD or not, but the poor guy said that it was driving him crazy. Very real. Not fun.
PTSD is just a name given to how some people handle stress. Popularised by the affect of stress on people in the military, it is now applied to people involved in other high stress jobs. Sadly I think it has become a very abused diagnosis for people to get disability and other benefits. It is also used by anti-war types to further their cause against the military in general. I don't buy completely the "liberals care about the military too" bit. Different people under the same circumstances have completely different reactions. Seems like a very hard diagnosis and now it is given almost autiomatically.
Despite other wrongminded threads on this board ( http://www.debatepolitics.com/us-pa...e-and-dedain-our-military.html#post1058849610), liberals are just as concerned about US soldiers as most Americans. They are just not in mindless support of all policies dictated by the military.
If it was up to some conservatives, vets would have to be bleeding to get treatment. This is an excellent step in the right direction to help vets who need it.
Anybody disagree with this policy?
So, the Liberals show up when there is someone to victimize?
Working toward better treatment is considered victimization?
Where there's a victim, a Liberal isn't far away.
This isn't about helping anyone. This is about, "look what them mean-ole neo-cons did to you!"
The Libs that are working with these vets are probably doing more harm than good. Do-gooders tend to have that affect.
Really? Where did you get your information about this? Who says that this diagnosis is "very abused." There are very specific criteria to being diagnosed as having PTSD. Are you aware of that criteria? Sources?
Trust me, Ziggae, it's abused. I see it first hand. The problem is that the more severe PTSD is, the more money these veterans get. There is no incentive for them to get better. In fact, I have never ever seen a veteran get better from PTSD--just worse. Even with medication and regular treatment, somehow these veterans are only getting worse. I think this change in the law is horrible. I wish you could see how abused PTSD is. Now, it will only get worse. I'll post a blog that someone sent me where it confirms what I have written. I have it saved on another computer.
The problem with this is that PTSD is real, and for some it is pretty horrible. To me, we owe it to our veteran's to give them the help they deserve, even if it does mean that some will abuse it. I would rather have it abused, and those who need it get help, than eliminate the abuse and have vet's not get the help they need.
That is the big part to me, it's veteran's. This is one group I would like to err on the side of being too generous.
I am a psychiatrist who has worked at the VA. The culture of entitlement is immense. It colors all the activities of the veterans. Once a veteran has ten percent disability his whole focus on his life is documenting the rest of the proof and displaying the symptoms to show that he is failing to improve. He can then qualify for $3000 tax free per month and free health care. Think about it! Isn't that an amazing incentive to stay sick?
Once I learned how to tell which vets were just playing games then I quit putting so much effort into it. No matter how hard I tried there were a certain class of veterans, the majority of PTSD claimants, who were not interested in getting better, but were only in the office or the hospital to see me just so they could thicken their file and have more documentary evidence of their disability. IF they prove they aren't getting better then they have a good chance of getting a check. I got so sick of it I left.
I'm a veteran and a VBA adjudicator and I've met plenty of people with bona fide PTSD. The vast majority of claimants filing years after their service do not have PTSD and likely never had PTSD. Some research has been done on this systemic mis-diagnosis phenomenon, and what many practitioners are calling PTSD is most likely a mid to late life depression with abnormal fixation on military events (likely because military service was the most significant and/or successful period in a lot of these claimants' lives). If psychologists and psychiatrists could be trusted to apply sound scientific principles during the course of their diagnoses(and they cannot), no one would have any heartburn over this new regulation.
Where there's a victim, a Liberal isn't far away.
This isn't about helping anyone. This is about, "look what them mean-ole neo-cons did to you!"
The Libs that are working with these vets are probably doing more harm than good. Do-gooders tend to have that affect.
Its weird that so many of you are saying that this is "very abused" when they just changed the guidelines. Can benefits be abused? Of course. Are they "very abused?" For crying out loud, they just changed it this week.
Ziggae, they were abused PRIOR to the easement of the requirements. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that they will be abused even more now that there is less evidence necessary to substantiate a claim for service connection for PTSD. But you keep accusing those of us who have personal knowledge of facts that we dont know what we're talking about if it makes you feel better. *rolls eyes*
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