What Is Combat PTSD?

[abnvet]

The VA .......does anyone have anything good to say about them?

Now I have found help from the VetCenters. I know the centers are funded by the VA but there seems to be a little difference. Mainly the centers tend to have people who are knowledgeable of ptsd. The counselor I see actually served time in Iraq and can relate......

 

[Jimmy1]

We are only starting to see therapists and psychologists who have knowledge of PTSD now. But this can sometimes work in reverse too. I remember veterans comparing on our course. Once had completed tours in Rwanda, Somalia, and Iraq, and this digger had only served in East Timor. He did not feel he had PTSD.
The Psych I originally saw, said I did not have it. He was a Vietnam Veteran with PTSD himself.

But in answer to your question, I have lots to say that is good about the VA in my country anyway.
I think once you are officially diagnosed and have your injuries and illnesses recognised its great, but if you are fighting them, its not.

 

[Bill Boltinghouse]

Once you are inside a VA Hospital - they are great people and dedicated!
It is the VA Admin (bunch of Military & Veteran hating Liberals!)
From what I have seen, they wish we would all just die so they had access to more money!

 

[blake1]

There is a very simple solution to this actually, and it goes like this:

1. If you had bipolar prior to your trauma, then you have Bipolar + PTSD.
2. If you had your trauma, and have then been diagnosed with both, you only have PTSD, as Bipolar is a commonly misdiagnosed diagnosis when PTSD is present.

If a physician has diagnosed you with PTSD, then with Bipolar, the physician is an idiot.

My niece who is active duty was labled bipolar and put on meds by a VA doc but was later found to have a brain tumor that was causing her behaviors.

 

[Deleted member 10645]

A brand new category of PTSD is referred to as "intergenerational PTSD." This is the grouping of family members who acquire the same symptoms as the war weary parent diagnosed with PTSD. Kids are at risk the most because they don't understand the behaviors, symptoms, and how to cope or live with a family member with PTSD. The children can grow up acquiring PTSD without even knowing it and carry this baggage around for many years without treatment. This happened to me and my siblings, all of us, from living with our WWII combat veteran father who survived the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor serving aboard the USS West Virginia and in the Asiatic Pacific Theater on the USS Belle Grove for 25 months before liberty was allowed. Dad had a total of 66 months of pre-war and WWII combat duty plus 12 additional months of combat duty during the Korean War. He was diagnosed with "Battle Fatigue" (now PTSD) and sent to a treatment center for six weeks following WWII. How could you not be a different man after all this direct exposure to combat for so long? I'm more than happy to answer questions about this subject which I have done extensive research. I am a lay person, not a mental health professional, however. I have worked with a mental health professional in doing my research so can say work is being done to help families of combat veterans heal.

 

[Jimmy1]

But PTSD is indiscriminate. Not all the family members are affected. My father also served in WWII and was then a Police Officer for 32 years. He was witness to many, many trauma's. Yes he displayed symptoms of PTSD which I only recognised after being diagnosed myself, but not all my family display symptoms.
Its just like how there could be 3 people in the same battle. One goes to jelly on the spot, one it does not affect at all and the other displays symptoms of PTSD some 10 years later.

Has this 'Intergenerational' PTSD been published officially??? Or is it like 'Combat PTSD'?

 

[anthony]

Jimmy, Intergenerational is a different way of saying how its already referred to, being Secondary PTSD and/or, actual intergenerations who serve in combat, ie. a family with 7 children, all seven serve in combat, four get PTSD.

There is no official name, its all called PTSD. There is no such thing as Combat PTSD, its simply a name that quickly states how you got PTSD. There is no such diagnosis as secondary PTSD or intergenerational PTSD, complex PTSD and the list goes on with names people use.

This is exactly why PTSD has been shifted out into a newly created trauma category in the DSM V... as you should expect to see that category grow over the decades of coming releases with more specific trauma categorisation for diagnoses.

 

[nothenemy]

"Intergenerational PTSD" What a perfectly apt term to describe the ongoing impact that Combat PTSD can inflict on families. Whilst I have been aware for several years now that Secondary PTSD is a very real condition that can affect immediate family members, I have recently become increasingly aware of how severe the impact can be on subsequent generations ie: grandchildren of WWI/II to Vietnam Veterans. This is a very disturbing knowledge that makes me very concerned about the possible ongoing impact that my husbands' condition may have, on not just our children, but also their children, especially when I have recently seen first hand, several examples that I believe would certainly fall under the heading of Intergenerational PTSD. Combat PTSD leaves an ongoing legacy that the world could well do without.

 

[Jimmy1]

You just have to work around it. As long as everybody is informed, and your husband is getting the right therapy etc, then it should be fine. Speaking from experience, my son is now displaying attributes from being raised by me with undiagnosed PTSD from when between the ages of 5-10 and then living with me on his own after my diagnosis.
He holds a lot of anger and cannot display it as it has a bad impact. But he now goes to therapy for his anger management, and resents the military for not diagnosing me.
But all in all, my children have a fair idea how far to push my buttons and I ensure that when 'The Cows Are Out', i.e. I am having a bad day, they steer well clear.

By the way, in case you have been away from the forum for a while, this is now a veteran only community.

Cheers

Jimmy

 

[nothenemy]

Yes Jimmy, I have been away from the forum for a while as I have not had a lot of spare time lately.
Not only do I have to care for my husband full time, a 12yo with Aspergers, a 15yo with Add/behavioural challenges, child doing her HSC and I suffer from a chronic pain disorder (as a result of stress). All of my kids are well informed about their fathers' condition and receive counseling to help them deal with his condition, though it still has a very marked impact on them, especially his constant overdoses, seeing him in ICU, his black and white thinking and his anger issues.

As for the right therapy, well, my husband has had about all the therapy anyone could possibly need but nothing seems to have any lasting benefits, he is in hospital again as of early this week, thankfully not an emergency visit but an attempt by his Psychiatrist to give me some respite from his behaviour and I think a wee bit of hope that something might have some lasting benefit, something we all hope for every time he spends time in hospital.
All any of us can do is hope for some improvement, any improvement, as this is no way for us to live.

I think the most unfortunate thing about all of it is that regardless of the excellent medical treatment he receives and unconditional love and support we have all give him, he can not treat us with the respect we deserve and we get very little of anything positive from him, we also get very little real support or desperately needed practical/physical/financial support from either my husband or anyone else, we are just collateral damage.
It now seems that here like most other Combat PTSD specific related support, that we, the spouses/family have been thrown back into the general population to try and manage as best we can by ourselves.
This is a great shame as regardless of my absence for what ever reasons I felt good knowing that there was somewhere I could go for information and understanding that is not really available elsewhere.

 

[Jimmy1]

The majority of the partners have gone over to the sister site. www.ptsdforum.org

At one stage Anthony was planning on migrating the Support area over there. You should be able to find support there though and a shed load of information.

Jimmy

 

[nothenemy]

Thanks Jimmy, I am a member over there also but I just found it more relevant here as I can get a lot out of reading posts and interacting with veterans, it helps me to understand what I am dealing with and there is always ideas about what treatments may be useful etc. I also believe that it may have been useful in regards to my role as a committee member of my local Vietnam Veterans, Peacemakers and Peacekeepers Association and wanting to make a difference within the young veterans community.
I am very greatful to Anthony for all his hard work and the wonderful information that he provides, I also understand why he may have made the decision.