Army in denial about PT-drug abuse link?
December 16th, 2007
Phillip Leveque, M.D., takes on the army’s denial or deceipt about the extent of PTSD-realted drug abuse in an article in the Salem-News:
PTSD and Psychosis Among Army Psychiatrists
Dr. Phillip Leveque Salem-News.com
Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician, Toxicologist and Pharmacologist.(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I was a combat infantryman for about 18 months in WWII where things were really crazy with various levels of officers demanding of their underlings (anyone of lower rank) that such and such a military objective be taken even if it killed every attacking soldier.
If that isn’t psychosis, what is?
I was also stationed in General Eisenhower’s headquarters for about six months. Of about 15,000 personnel, half officers, half enlisted, they acted like there wasn’t a war.
If such a psychic denial isn’t psychosis, what is?
The current seeming denial of PTSD and drug use on the highest army medical levels MUST BE a further example of psychosis.
I was absolutely flabbergasted that on ABC News 20/20 Col. Elspeth Ritchie, the psychiatry consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General, implied that there is no battle-induced PTSD causing drug use by soldiers, but like all other people using drugs, there were other “reasons”.
I was reminded that in WWI the Army swept it under the rug too, naming PTSD as “homesickness” or saying that the soldiers “missed their mothers”. What comes to my mind is SNAFU, FUBAR and even JANFU.
The VA’s own information says up to half of all PTSD patients treated also have a substance abuse problem.
Colonel Ritchie would only say that PTSD is a “risk factor” for the abuse of drugs and alcohol, but that the Army has not been able to quantify how strongly the two are linked. She said she was unaware of cases of soldiers turning to drugs to cope with the trauma of their experiences in Iraq.
She said, “That has not been my experience. My psychiatrists and social workers who see soldiers report to me of their experiences with soldiers all the time, and none of them are seeing that particular explanation.”
The Army actually goes so far to say there has been NO increase in the rate of illegal drug use among soldiers since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Who do they think they’re fooling?
I presume Dr. Ritchie got her MD from a real medical school, but I have heard that the Armed Forces has its own medical school. I was embarrassed as a physician at her comments.
Was she lying to maintain her quest for one star, or was she really ignorant about PTSD? It’s hard to believe she got to where she is today without intelligence, so that leaves: CHOICE. She is choosing her future star over the welfare of our troops.
Even other army spokespersons and the VA people say to expect about 20% of battle veterans to have PTSD. Paul Sullivan, Gulf War veteran, a former project manager at VA who monitored the disability claim activity of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and now is the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), said PTSD was a big problem. His reaction to the Army psychiatrist? “Shame on her!”
Some of the most pitiful comments were given by a woman described as the director of substance abuse programs, apparently with the U.S. Army. She spoke about their success. The 20/20 program didn’t indicate her rank, or even if she was a physician, but she obviously didn’t understand that a battle-scarred PTSD veteran will use anything he can get his hands on to remove the PTSD devils from his soul and mind, even if it is heroin, booze, or at the very least, cannabis.
Ten times the number of soldiers are using drugs now compared to when the Iraq war began. That’s the military’s number, a complete contradiction to what Col Richie said.
Hundreds of veterans have told me that cannabis works better than any prescription drug. It’s about time for a serious trial of cannabis for PTSD.
Some soldiers are breaking the rules and turning to drugs to give them relief from the consequences of trauma in war. We can help them seek the best treatment by not living in the psychosis of denial.
I have also heard that many VA psychologists are trying “fake battle sounds” as treatment. God preserve us.
We PTSD guys are trying to stay as far from that as possible.
Entry Filed under: Iraq, Mental Health, Psychiatry, Substance Abuse, US Troops, Veterans
5 Comments Add your own
1. Roman Frankel Ph.D. | December 27th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
I,m assuming that the powerful stigma associated with substance use disorders is creating such denial.Nothing else makes sense.I am stunned that no major proffesional body (Counseling Associations,Psychologists,Psychiatrists) has come forth to uncover the truth.There is also a strong corollation of Traumatic Brain Injury and Drug Use that has not even begun to be explored.In all fairness the proffesionals understading the intricate dynamics of multi diagnosis (TBI,Psychiatric and substance Use disorders) is very limmited,those wounded woriers deserve all our efferts to now protect and provide their rehabilitative processes the best that they deserve.
2. Angela | April 25th, 2008 at 10:59 am
No matter how strong are those two are related I thing the problem is serious and it should be held under control. We are talking about the army here, there is no place for finding excuses when it comes to drug abuse.
Narconon Vista Bay
3. Zachary | May 5th, 2008 at 3:19 am
I was in the Marine Corps stationed in Washington D.C., before and after 9/11, and let me tell you, there is ALOT of drug use going on where I was stationed at, Marine Barracks 8th & I. Lots of alcoholics too. I think our military really needs to get its act together and offer drug/alcohol treatment and counceling instead of jail time and getting kicked out. Its a disgrace, whats going to happen to the person afterwords? I say we need to offer treatment, because it should say alot that someone would risk their career and future just for such a short term fix, that they need our help, god bless our sons and daughters!!!
4. Rhonda Blair | May 12th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
My son has recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, and it doesn’t take much knowledge of combat related PTSD to observe the correlation between illicit drug use and soldiers self medicating for their PTSD. My son never had a drug problem before he deployed, and now we are watching him deteriorate right before our eyes because of the hell he lives in his mind, and we are helpless. He has been smoking pot because he says it’s the only thing that helps him cope, and he was arrested a month ago for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He has had numerous episodes of flashback and violence that he doesn’t recall afterward. The V.A. made him wait 3 months before addressing this issue, and when he finally got an appointment with the V.A. psychiatrist, she told him he needed to be referred to a substance abuse program, and prescribed sleeping pills. That’s it. I am outraged. Why in the hell does she think he is abusing marijuana?!!! Because he isn’t being treated for his PTSD. The Army wants to deny this tragic phenomenon, and the V.A. turns our veterans away to deal with it on their own. There are physical issues too, that when combined with the mental disabilities, makes working virtually impossible. So much for being grateful to our soldiers for their willingness to lay down their lives for our country. Something has to be done. This is a travesty of justice.
5. Rhonda Blair | May 12th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
“She said, “That has not been my experience. My psychiatrists and social workers who see soldiers report to me of their experiences with soldiers all the time, and none of them are seeing that particular explanation.”
I have to add, the reason she claims the Army has not seen it is because the “professionals” the V.A. and the Army train to treat our soldiers, are trained NOT to see it. My son kept telling me the V.A. counselors were asking him the same questions over and over. These questions were from non-trained laymen, and involved my son relating to them some “incidents” that he thought might have caused him to have PTSD. This was very painful for my son, as this is the LAST thing a soldier wants to do fresh from a war and without medication. I went to his first and only appointment to the V.A. psychiatrist and was appalled. She repeated this same request to verbally relate any “incidents” that he felt might have “bothered him”. He didn’t hold back. The whole session was a nightmare. She berated my son for telling her he would drink to pass out several times a month, and told him he had an alcohol problem. Really? What about the demons in his mind problem? Not a word.
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