Category: A03: PTSD Claims

PTSD Claims- amongothers13

13

“The amount of progress in Caleb’s six years of therapy has been frustrating for everyone. “

Caleb’s PTSD plays a role in his family’s lives because they are constantly trying to help and worrying about what happens next for Caleb.

Does the family ever worry about suffering from PTSD as well? Do they think it could happen to them if they start acting like Caleb without realizing it after being there for him for so long?

Perhaps some people are so frustrated that they are coming less hopeful for Caleb.

“Some state VA offices even offer group therapy.”

Group therapy is often used in situations where something traumatic happens to a family and effects everyone in different ways, like a house fire, or the loss of a parent. But, group therapy for people with PTSD means a lot of people have it and struggle with it. Could the number of people suffering from PTSD for different reasons prove it is contagious by association? What if group therapy really makes the PTSD worse?

“The VA also endorses eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), which is based on the theory that memories of traumatic events are, in effect, improperly stored, and tries to refile them by discussing those memories while providing visual or auditory stimulus. “

If this is true, that traumatic events are improperly stored, could it be true that I, myself, have PTSD from events I try not to think about because they caused me great sadness? Is it possible if I bring them back into memory I could develop PTSD? Could anybody have PTSD if they simply try to remember things in their life that effected them a great deal?

“Currently, the agency is funding 130 PTSD-related studies, from testing whether hypertension drugs might help to examining the effectiveness of meditation therapy, or providing veterans with trauma-sensitive service dogs, like Caleb’s.”

Studies are being done to see if the hypertension drugs help PTSD patients- they are looking for a cure.

Perhaps more people will admit to having PTSD if there is a known cure for it. Most people with PTSD don’t tell professionals or doctors and end up staying inside their houses everyday. If there is a cure, something might spark inside of them to try it, or for one of their loved ones to get the cure for them. And of course, puppies are always a positive.

“But a lot of FOV members and users are impatient with the progress.”

A lot of work has been done, but no true cure or drug has been proven to work to ease the memories. People are growing impatient for PTSD cases keep increasing, which adds setbacks to the research because they keep discovering new aspects.

Does this mean cases of PTSD are getting worse? More severe? Will there ever be something that helps these people suffering from PTSD?

PTSD Claims—moonlightsonata

BEGIN THE ONE HOUR EXERCISE

Section 20

  1. “Charles Marmar, a New York University professor who was on the team of the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, the most comprehensive study of combat stress ever conducted, points out that you really have to spend the money to treat PTSD since the costs of not treating it are so much higher.”
  • “the most comprehensive study of combat stress ever conducted” indicates the incredulous weight and the number of resources allocated to conducting this study.
    • “points out you really have to spend money to treat PTSD” indicates the idea that earlier low cost/resources treatments were ineffective in treating PTSD.
  1. “ “Stress-related health problems—cardiovascular, immunologic. Heart attacks, stroke, and even dementia. Residential rehab programs, and motor vehicle accidents because people with PTSD self-medicate and crash cars; the cost of domestic violence; the cost of children and grandchildren of combat vets witnessing domestic violence. The treatment and compensation disability programs have cost billions. And the costs of the untreated are probably in the tens of billions. They’re enormous.” ”
    • A categorical claim, it groups all the costs of PTSD into health and side effects.

 

  • Billions: The word “billions” is used to compare the whole severity of how much untreated PTSD costs, painting a picture of just how expensive it is.
  • Enormous: Similar to “billions”, paints an image of how big and expansive the roots and branches of PTSD goes into.

 

  1. “Experts say it’s nearly impossible to calculate what treating PTSD from Vietnam has and will cost American taxpayers, so vast are its impacts.”
  • “Experts say it’s nearly impossible to calculate” states the severity that those with expansive knowledge on the issue cannot accurately calculate the cost of the effects of PTSD.
  1. “…and while no one is sure what PTSD among them will ultimately cost us, either, everyone agrees on one thing: If it’s not effectively treated, it won’t go away.”
  • “Everyone agrees on one thing”, a generalization is made with no data to support it. Some may think it would go away as time goes on.
  1. “Vietnam vets still make up the bulk of Danna’s clients—though she is assisting traumatized men who served in World War II, in the early years of which half the medical disability discharges were psychiatric, and some of those men still show up at Danna’s office and cry, and cry, and cry.”
  • “Vietnam vets still make up the bulk of Danna’s clients–though she is assisting traumatized men who served in World War II,” indicates the time differences between her two types of clients, that time isn’t the answer to treating PTSD.
  • “…cry, and cry, and cry.” Repetition of words that indicate or stress the heavy emotional aspect that stricken veterans post-war for long periods.
  1. “The chaplain assured him that he shouldn’t feel bad about killing gooks, but the chaplain was paid by the Army, and who took moral advice from a chaplain carrying a .38?”
  1. “Back at home, Steve drank wildly. He waged war with his wife, attempted to work odd jobs where he had as little contact with humans as possible.”

 

END ONE HOUR EXERCISE

 

PTSD Claims- Doublea

15

Categorical- “.. or that it can it can exacerbate its symptoms of exhaustion, agitation, confusion, headaches.”

  • It is a categorical claim because it lists the symptoms of having TBI. TBI is a traumatic brain injury.

Casual- “Researchers posit that TBI can make the brain more vulnerable to PTSD…”

  • This is a casual claim because it lists a certain circumstance, they’re saying since the patient has a TBI they are more susceptible to having PTSD.

Casual- “James Peterson’s post-injection chill-out wore off after a month, faster than it does for other patients—maybe because of his TBI.”

  • This is a casual claim because they cannot prove that James Peterson’s PTSD was a factor in his recovery, but it shows a cause and effect that maybe because of his PTSD his recovery was so much quicker than others.

Factual-  ‘Maybe not. Either way, as for TBI, well, “there is no cure,” says David Hovda, director of UCLA’s Brain Injury Research Center and an adviser to the Department of Defense.’

  • Even though it is just one doctor saying “there is no cure” it is still a factual claim because it is a factual statement that there is indeed no cure to TBI.

Factual- “In one small study, trauma victims given beta-blockers within six hours of the incident had a 40 percent less likelihood of developing PTSD.”

  • In regards to this small study, this is a factual statement because they analyzed the data of the experiment. In analyzing the data of the experiment they were able to calculate the fact that 40 percent of the study within six hours of the incident had a less likelihood of developing PTSD.

Evaluative/Casual- “Treatment offered vets might be less effective than what’s offered to civilians with trauma. With veterans, there are important concomitant issues.”

  • In evaluating vets this is an evaluative claim because doing these studies they encountered that veterans have a harder time with PTSD because of the experiences and issues they faced in war.
  • This is also a casual claim because although they have evaluated the veterans and although the claim does seem reasonable it is not a proven factual claim yet.

 

 

 

 

PTSD Claims_thenaturlist201

1

  1. “Brannan Vines has never been to war. But she’s got a warrior’s skills”
    • the description of having warrior skills. Is showing this in the light that a warrior is something not everyone has. I believe these so-called warrior skills are actually just instinctive actions based on how humans are made up
  2. “Skills on the battlefield”
    • The author is comparing everyday life to the elements of war in Iraq but in doing so is making it seem as if no one else without the relationship to war whether through one’s family member or friend has ever felt these emotions before.
  3. “crazy-person behavior in a drug store, where she was recently standing behind a sweet old lady counting out change when she suddenly became so furious her ears literally started ringing. Being too cognizant of every sound—every coin dropping an echo—she explodes inwardly, fury flash-incinerating any normal tolerance for a fellow patron with a couple of dollars in quarters and dimes. ”
    • This whole section is purposely emphasized to show the relationship between her “symptoms”
      and her husband’s PTSD. without the comparison and elaborate imagery, I am sure everyone can relate to the aggravation of a slow customer unless I have PTSD as well.
  4. “Brannan Vines has never been to war, but her husband, Caleb, was sent to Iraq twice, where he served in the infantry as a designated marksman.”
    • In the next paragraph, the author repeats themselves to then have the reader have the “aha” moment of ” oh that’s why she was acting that way” without repeating themselves this moment would be less subtle and would not help them prove their point of the relationship between PTSD and being “contagious”
  5. He’s one of 103,200, or 228,875, or 336,000 Americans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and came back with PTSD, depending on whom you ask, and one of 115,000 to 456,000 with traumatic brain injury. It’s hard to say, with the lack of definitive tests for the former, under testing for the latter, underreporting, under or over-misdiagnosing of both.
    • The author is naming off a lot of data here to confuse the reader or to give the illusion that this solider is not a rare case but one of many with these symptoms.
    • he then goes to claim that most of these numbers are not accurate because of the lack of testing that has been performed on returning soldiers.
  6. “even less understood is the collateral damage, to families, to schools, to society—emotional and fiscal costs borne long after the war is over.”
    • I love how he uses the word damage suggesting that one man’s PTSD affects the rest of the world.
    • The author then claims that this one man’s PTSD is creating damage to their financial life as well
  7. “Like Brannan’s symptoms.”
    • Claiming that these emotions are indeed symptoms that they are, fact, PTSD
  8. “Hypervigilance sounds innocuous…a conditioned response to life-threatening situations.”
    • he is claiming that this emotion is the soling resulting in life-threatening situations and implying that is not a harmless emotion
  9. “imagine there’s a murderer in your house. And it is dark outside, and the electricity is out. Imagine your nervous system spiking, readying you as you feel your way along the walls, the sensitivity of your hearing, the tautness in your muscles, the alertness shooting around inside your skull”
    • This example that is given is trying to prove that you have to be in a life-threatening situation to feel that emotion.
    • Also notice that the author’s choice of words as he tries to imply the relationship between this and being in the war. Using words such as; shooting, sensitivity, alertness. all of these words are commonly used to describe the feeling of war.
  10. “And then imagine feeling like that all the time”
    • Here the author is claiming that people with PTSD, or in this case, soldiers with PTSD feel this way all the time
    • they are also implying that the soldier’s also feels this way all the time

 

PTSD Claims- MyrtleView

18

“Way up north, and nearly as west as you can go, in Ferry County, Washington, there’s a little town with no stoplights by the name of Republic. There’s an abundance of parks and lakes and campgrounds—though I lose track of how many people warn me not to walk any unknown path for fear of trip wire and booby traps.”

A factual claim since you can prove that there is a town in Washington called Republic with no stoplights. Also an evaluative claim because he believe that there are many parks and hazardous traps outside of the paths.

2. “Yeah,” a county commissioner says, squinting against the afternoon sun, speaking of the high proportion of Vietnam veterans who live here, “they wanted to get away from society. And for the most part, they’ve blended in really well.”

The county commissioner makes an evaluative claim stating that the veterans that moved into town fit in well with the locals.

3. Between 200 and 300 people show up, a big turnout in a county of 7,500 spread over 2,000 square miles. Dressed in a patriotic red shirt and blue jeans, Danna smiles easy but moves pretty slow because she threw her back out  again.

This is an quantitative claim that shows the number of people that come to this event.

4. It may take years for the verdict to come in on whether secondary trauma will be officially acknowledged as its own unique form of hell.

Amoral claim since it suggest the hell is similar to feel secondary trauma.

PTSD Claims- DudeInTheBack

Part 04

1. Granted, diagnosing PTSD is a tricky thing.

Claim: saying that ptsd diagnosises are tricky. explains in later passage saying how it is tricky

2. the incidence of PTSD goes up with the number of tours and amount of combat experienced.

Claim: does not give proof of this claim

3. As with most psychiatric diagnoses, there are no measurable objective biological characteristics to identify it.

Claim: saying that it cannot be identified with things causing the illness. its all in the brain

4. Doctors have to go on hunches and symptomology rather than definitive evidence.

Claim: should prove that doctors have to go on hunches and don’t have definite evidence to go on

5. Caleb knows that a person whose problem is essentially that he can’t adapt to peacetime Alabama sounds, to many, like a pussy.

Claim: saying calebs situation most people would say he’s a pussy for it.

6. Now if you’re knocked unconscious, or have double vision, or exhibit other signs of a brain injury, you have to rest for a certain period of time

Claim: stating the new rule for safety

7. but that rule didn’t go into effect in theater until 2010, after Caleb was already out of the service.

Claim: showing that the rule was made after calebs service, it could have helped caleb

8. Unlike PTSD, secondary traumatic stress doesn’t have its own entry in the DSM

Claim: secondary traumatic stress cannot enter the brain

  • end of one hour

PTSD Claims- pATricKStar123

SECTION 5

1. “Trauma is a contagious disease; it affects everyone that has close contact with a traumatized person”

Living with someone with PTSD can be very stressful. Especially if you have to see someone you care about and are close with deal with such a burden. They may have flashback and not remember you and or they may become violent. This could lead you to have anxiety around them waiting for their next episode. It could make you feel unsafe and on edge as stated in the article. If you have younger children like they can be affected  making them scared too or even mimic activities done. In this quote, Robert Motta, a clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Hofstra University calls trauma a disease. Now this I believe is a bit too far as it could affect others Trauma is more of a mental illness. It’s not contagious because it is not yet proven. Although, we look at couple of cases that say yes. There are still more then have a percentage that say no it is not contagious.

2. Katie doesn’t sound sure, or like she remembers exactly. One thing she’s positive of: “She just made me…so. MAD.” Brannan asks Katie to name some of the alternatives. “Walk away, get the teacher, yes ma’am, no ma’am,” Katie dutifully responds to the prompts. She looks disappointed in herself.

This quote describes a situation that happened in school with Caleb’s and Brannan’s  daughter Katie. Katie got in trouble for spitting on another classmate. When asked why she did so by her mom she doesn’t recall. Katie just remembers being mad. Katie at home always is kind and cheerful. It’s almost like Katie blacks out like her father Caleb. Her behavior mimics the violent outburst that her dad out have during his episiode which could give evidence to they claim of PTSD be contagious but the studies would need more support.

3. Secondary traumatic stress has been documented in the spouses of veterans with PTSD from Vietnam. And the spouses of Israeli veterans with PTSD, and Dutch veterans with PTSD. In one study, the incidence of secondary trauma in wives of Croatian war vets with PTSD was 30 percent. In another study there, it was 39 percent.

Although studies where shown they never really analyzies or mention how the studies were conducted. Even with there facts of the percent of veterans wives affected was 39 percent in one study and 30 in another, these results are way too low to be certain of anything. This fact could be descredited by having to small of a study as well as comparing to studies with each other.

PTSD Claims- Dancers

Section 22 Claims

1.“With a half million disability cases stuck in a VA backlog, and an estimated 25 percent of Iraq/ Afghanistan troops with PTSD not seeking treatment, her logic isn’t entirely off.”

  • Quantitative, Numerical, or Comparative Claim
        1. This quote is numerical because it gives you statics on how many cases the VA has put on a back burner and an estimated percent of how many troops that don’t even try to seek help.
  • Analyze Claim
        1. Author shows the the VA isn’t doing much to help troops who are suffering
        2. Some troops don’t seek help, either because they don’t find it necessary or they don’t want to wait for the help they deserve
        3. This claim shows that troops that protected our country return home and are not given an a fair opportunity to gain the help necessary for them to return back to a life at home
  • Ethical or Moral Claim
        1. “If they make an appointment at the VA and can’t get in for several weeks, how do they eat, they want to know, in the meantime?”
        2. This quote puts judgement on the social issue that when the VA decides not to take their cases for several weeks that these troops and their families are going through a hard time, they could even starve. This is not ethically correct for the VA not to worry about what these troops are going through.
  • Analyze Claim
        1. Can’t get in for several weeks shows that the VA once again is not doing the necessary means to help returning troops.
        2. The VA could potentially be busy helping troops but in the meantime other troops lives are falling apart by having to wait weeks.“His life didn’t fall apart until six years after his service, so when he walked into a VA emergency room asking for help to not kill himself, he was turned away until he could clear the requisite mountain of paperwork.”
  • Evaluative Claim
        1. “His life didn’t fall apart until six years after his service, so when he walked into a VA emergency room asking for help to not kill himself, he was turned away until he could clear the requisite mountain of paperwork.”
        2. This is an evaluative claim because it involves judgement of a situation, by stating that this troop could not receive help until after he filled out paperwork even though he was threatening to kill himself. It could also be an ethical claim because it isn’t right to refuse help to someone who is on the brink of suicide because he hasn’t filled out papers.
  • Analyze Claim
        1. By refusing this man help because he hadn’t filled out required paperwork even while he is threatening his own life is completely wrong.
        2. A person should not be denied care  
    2. “And the vet who got fired from his job for being unstable and is now homeless, like 13,000 other vets under 30, who now live with his wife and teenager in his car.”
  • Causal Claim
        1. This is a causal claim because it’s cause and effect he was unstable and for that he was fired, it was also a consequence for his actions so now he has no job and has to live out of his car.
  • Analyze Claim
        1. 13,000 returning troops should not be homeless and living out of their cars
        2. He shouldn’t of automatically been fired even though I don’t know the full circumstances
    2. “ And there it is, naive, and beautiful, and practically pure.”
  • Categorical Claim
        1. This claim is categorical because it is naming examples of what it’s like to be in love or to love somebody.
  • Analyze Claim
      1. When you love someone you are willing to do whatever it takes to help and better them no matter what the situation may be.

PTSD Claims – Nreina34

21

“Charlene has long, graying dark hair parted down the middle and super-serious eyes, which she has to lower to compose herself for a minute when I ask her, alone, if she saved Steve’s life.”

  • “Graying dark hair” can mean that she has had a lot of stress in her life and it has taken a toll on her.  This could also prove that PTSD is contagious if her graying hair is a result of Steve’s disease.
  • “Which she has to lower to compose herself for a minute when i ask her, alone, if she saved Steve’s life” shows that the process of healing Steve could have been very difficult.  But her composure shows that he is better now and is happier this way.

 

“These most recent years, Steve is funnier—after all…but it’s not all good days”

  • Steve can be showing signs of being happier and healthier and his family is starting to notice.
  • “But it’s not all good days” shows that this disease is seriously affecting Steve but the results are inconsistent.
  • What happens when he is having a bad day?
  • Was he a really funny person before everything that happened?

 

“And hypervigilant. He doesn’t like living on Five Cent Ranch Road, which runs through a decidedly vulnerable valley.”

  • “Hypervigilant” due to the anxiety brought on from the disease, he now feels vulnerable where he lives because of the location.  
  • This sense of insecurity can drive someone insane.

“At the very top of a largely uninhabited hill, it will be hell—and sometimes impossible—to get down in winter because of the snow, but Steve doesn’t care, and wants to grow old with Charlene and die up there. At that elevation, with that vantage point, it’s one of the most defensible pieces of land in town.”

  • Steve is moving to an inconvenient location I believe so that he feels safe and secluded from everyone else.  
  • Is Charlene okay with the move or is she just agreeing to help deal with him?
  • “it’s one of the most defensible pieces of land in town” What does he have to defend against?
  • His act of moving can be defined as another point that PTSD can be contagious.  Steve’s need to move because he may feel unsafe and vulnerable in his house directly alters Charlene.

“In the Vines’ household in Alabama, at any unpredictable time of night, the nightmare starts in Iraq.”

  • What does this mean? What happens when these nightmares start?
  • Shows how PTSD seriously affects soldiers back home, trying to live a regular life.
  • Is PTSD “contagious” because of these outrages and nightmares?

 

PTSD Claims- tjjones123

7

“In a family system, every member of that system is going to be impacted, most often in a negative way, by mental-health issues.”

  • Will “EVERY” member be impacted?
  • FAMILY– refers to relatives you live with all the time, what about friends and relatives you see often but not every day will they be impacted?
  • MOST OFTEN- is the majority of the time, however what are the other instances are there positive ways of being impacted?

 

“Children are “usually not” treated, but when necessary referred to child psychiatrists”

  • Why aren’t children treated just as adults or other adolescents are treated, can’t they develop the same issues?
  • CHILDREN- are usually under the age of 13, do 13+ go adult treating or do they not get treated at all?
  • Why do they get sent to psychiatrists?

 

“The Army only helps families of active-duty personnel.”

  • Why won’t they helped those who terms are up?
  • Just because they aren’t serving currently doesn’t mean they never did why don’t they deserve help anymore?

 

“When I asked the VA if the organization would treat kids for secondary trauma, its spokespeople stressed that it has made great strides in family services in recent years, rolling out its own program for couples’ counseling and parenting training.”

  • TREAT KIDS- the response was about family services and parenting instructions still no help for the kids suffering.

 

“If you asked the VA to treat your kids, they would think it was nonsense”

  • Why are they so against helping the kids of these families?
  • Being a child in the situation could be just are hard as a spouse and they should get the treatment they need.

 

“Our goal is to make the parents the strongest parents they can be”

  • How is this going to help or benefit the children that are affected?
  • What is the definition of a strong parent?

 

“You’re on your own”

  • If you don’t follow their guidelines and rules thats it you’re on your own.