Post Traumatic Stress Disorder @ MindSay

February 18, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) Police-Writers.com, a website that lists state and local police officers who have written books, relayed the announcement of the publishing of Police Under Pressure.

 

Police Under Pressue is an electronic book by the Australian author Roger F. Peters PhD.  Dr. Peters is a psychologist who has been in clinical private practice for over 20 years in NSW Australia. Dr. Peters works extensively in the fields of employee assistance, trauma intervention and psychotherapy. Dr. Peters’s largest client group is police and he has written extensively in respect to their psychological health.

 

Police Under Pressure discusses the impact that operational policing can have on its members and their families. It is based on the author’s experience in working professionally with more than 3,000 police over the last two decades. Why do only 5% of Police in the NSW Police Force and even other agencies reach retirement age? Some of the answers are in this book. A police officer of 17 years standing said “I thought he was talking to me”.

 

While this handy book is based on some sound science, it nonetheless weaves together the lives and experiences of so many officers that police from any agency in the western world will relate to it well.

 

Police Under Pressure is a book that has also been written for those who work with police, as well as all emergency service personnel who will undoubtedly relate to the subject matter. It includes some of the approaches that Dr. Roger Peters takes with clients, especially in relation to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He poses the question “is it only PTSD? What about occupational burnout?”

 

Police Under Pressure takes the reader from a person’s motivations for entering career policing, the academy, then explains the accumulative affects of police work on them psychologically, emotionally, physically and spiritually. In addition, the resources and treatments available that can help police are fully explored. Importantly, the impact of stress on relationships is also discussed as well as the strategies needed if marriage is not to become a secondary casualty of police work.  Finally, the major themes of resilience and ultimate skills of survival are taught.

 

This easy to read book will certainly assist families of police officers who may sometimes struggle to understand the changes in mood and attitude that so often occur among those who serve us, and who are involved in “civilian combat” and deal with human tragedy on an every day basis.

 

The book is an electronic book available from www.heas.com.au.  Other books written by Dr. Roger Peters include: Managing the Impact of Trauma and A Wish Before Dying. These books are also available electronically from the web site, also.

 

Police-Writers.com now hosts 842 police officers (representing 382 police departments) and their 1777 police books in 32 categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

I have done a lot of soul searching lately. I have looked back on all that has happened in my life to try to figure out where i am and what/who i have become. i have had good relationships and bad ones, difficult times and happiest times, i have had some bad experiences but also some amazing ones; have failed, but also succeeded...just like im sure everyone has. yes, i do realize that i have gone thru some diffucult things in my life - more than most peopple and worse than some, but i have realized that i have also had a better life than some people and that i shouldnt take things for granted. there was a large chunk of my life where i really felt like i had no friends, no love, and no hope...life felt like a neverending struggle; like even breathing, the most basic function of existance, was a chore. at the botton of that phase i actually tried to end my life, and by doing so i realized that there were sooooo many ppl that cared for me, but that i had just been too stubborn to see it; too depressed and locked in my own mind to understand anything that was real in the outside world. from that point on i tried to open myself up and trust people, but i found it very difficult because i had closed myself off for so long. i found that as i opened myself up to one person i would alienate and shut out other people which was not what i was trying to accomplish. i shut out some of the most important people in my life; the ones who had been there for me and loved me since birth; the ppl who took me in when i had nowhere else to go; the ones who had basically been my best friends - the ones i could tell anything to. I made them feel like horrible people. i made them think that i hated them and that i didnt give a shit about what they had done for me, and in reality i cared so much about them. i love them with all my heart and the last thing that i wanted to do was hurt them..and thats what i ended up doing. not only did i do that to them, but i did that to some of my closest friends who were just trying to look out for me. i lost some of my best friends and while we have still kept in touch i know that their trust in me is gone. most of them just dont understand me anymore since i have strayed so far from the path that i had originally been travelling on.

my senior year i hit the top of insanity. i managed to alienate and piss off everyone in my family that had kept their faith in me that i would get back on the right track. i had even worried my biological father and his mother, which i had really never done. i got mixed up with the wrong guy. a guy that all he wanted was to use me, but i thought that i loved him. i honestly wanted to spend the rest of my life with him at that point. so much so that i was willing to abandon my family, my school, and my future. i even left the security of my home and decided to live from house to house even going to milwaukee to live with my brother for 4 days. i was able to be thrust back into reality and a sense of sanity when he broke my heart. i was thrown from a high into an ultimate low in a matter of seconds and i wasnt sure if i was going to be able to handle it. but my friends were there for me..even the ones that i had made feel inferior or that i made feel unwanted..they stuck by me and helped me get out of a dark time in my life. with the help of my friends and my family i was able to pull my head outta my ass, move back home, and go off to college.

about a month before i started college i met another guy who i thought would be the love of my life. we became best friends almost instantly, which is exactly what a good relationship would be based on, right?...wrong!! i was so caught up in that relationship that i let my first semester in college go to complete shit. my relationship was going down the drain and i became so depressed that i didnt want to leave my room. i sat in my closet most days and didnt move until right before my roommate came back. which made my grades go down since i didnt go to class. but i figured i would make my relationship work because i loved him so much...eventhough he was cheating on me and the girl he was cheating on me with was making my life hell. i figured that i would just make up for it second semester. when i recieved a letter from my college over xmas break i thought that my life was over...i spent the next semester trying to prove myself to my college that i wanted to be there and that it really mattered...it was easy to do that once i made the decision to dump the one person in my life that, at the time, i loved more than life, but he was no longer making me happy. it was a very difficult time, one that my mother helped me thru. i was able to finish second semester with a B average.

this past summer i have spent most of my time in illinois meeting many new people and making wonderful friends and adding people to my "family". i thought that leaving wisconsin would help me get away from all of the drama that i had come into contact with..it in fact did not help and i have realized that i let drama come into my life. because i have a complex where i feel that intense need to fix things that are going wrong i invite the drama into my life. i have realized that i just cant do that anymore..i cant put everything aside in my life just so that i can not only add more stress but lose a sense of myself. while i will always be there for the people i love (friends and family) i cannot give my all to them, i must keep some of it to myself. this will be the most difficult thing i will have to do, but i believe that i can conquer it, and when i do i hope that it will drastically help my life.

i have been trying to become a better person. i am in the process of mending lost or broken relationships with people that i love while still meeting new people and maintaing the friendships that i have. i am also trying to keep a sense of myself. being bi polar and having PTSD can make those things slightly difficult, but i am going to keep my head up.

i have finally met someone that i have been able to connect with and who i think is actually right for me. hes eccentric, kind, funny, sexy and just absolutely adorable, and he accepts me for all of my flaws (which there are many). i truely love him. and i feel completely safe with him. there are no words really to describe my exact feelings. he and i are starting a journey together that i hope will last a lifetime. i am very happy and excited that i get to share my journey of life with him, because there is no one else on the face of the earth who i would rather share this with. he makes me want to be a better person and he motivates me to get my ass into gear in order to achieve my goals. he makes me feel whole, and that is one feeling that i never want to lose.

so thats my revelation for now...i am continuing to learn every day..and hopefully i will understand a little more about this insane thing that we call existance..but until then i will just try to keep my head up, keep persevering, keep trying to survive and keep trying to have some balance in my life.

By Gerry J. Gilmore

American Forces Press Service

 

Nov. 8, 2007 - President Bush today saluted wounded troops recovering at the Center for the Intrepid, in San Antonio, for their courage.  "The spirit of America is strong in facilities like this," Bush told a group of servicemembers being treated at the center. "Our country is a remarkable country, that has produced men and women who volunteer to protect our nation in the face of danger."

 

"And, there's no better example of finding those type of citizens than right here," the president said.

 

Wounded servicemembers undergoing rehabilitation at the Intrepid Center and at other medical facilities have demonstrated "incredible courage, love of country and resolve, Bush emphasized.

 

It was the president's first visit to the state-of-the-art Intrepid Center, which opened Jan. 29. Located next to Brooke Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston, the Intrepid Center provides rehabilitation services for servicemembers recovering from amputations, severe burns, blindness and head trauma.

 

Bush said he's thankful for "the instructors and preachers and volunteers who are helping these people get back on their feet" in the process of restarting their lives.

 

Construction of the $50 million center was funded by donations to the nonprofit Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Two new Fisher Houses that accommodate visiting family members are adjacent to the 65,000-square-foot rehabilitation center.

 

The center was funded entirely by the contributions of more than 600,000 Americans, Bush said.

 

"The center is a tribute to the generosity of the American people," Bush said. "Make no mistake about it, the American people support the men and women who wear our nation's uniform."

 

Servicemen and women undergoing treatment at the center "have borne the burdens of battle. They have kept our country safe," Bush said.

 

"We honor them and their families by helping them with all we can," the president said.

 

The center uses state-of-the-art medical technology in taking care of injured servicemembers and to provide them the opportunity to lead full and productive lives, he said.

 

"That's the mission," Bush said, noting the center features a pool, indoor running track, a prosthesis center, a climbing wall, and equipment that's used to teach patients how to drive an automobile. Nearby Fisher House facilities provide onsite living accommodations for up to 57 visiting families, he said.

 

The Intrepid Center provides a level of medical care for wounded warriors "that would have been unimaginable just a decade ago," Bush said.

 

Servicemembers being treated at the Intrepid Center and at other veterans' care facilities "are focused on what they have left to give, rather on what they have lost," Bush said.

 

Yet, although technology has advanced, the military's medical care system for wounded troops needs to be modernized, the president said.

 

"We have an outdated system that can bog down some of those recovering in a maze of bureaucracy," Bush said, adding that's what had happened at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The doctors, nurses and other trained personnel at Walter Reed are some of the best in the world, Bush stressed.

 

Nonetheless, patient-care mistakes reportedly caused by bureaucratic delays and administrative failures at Walter Reed are simply unacceptable, the president said.

 

"It's unacceptable to me as the commander in chief, it's unacceptable to the families who deserve the best care, and it's unacceptable to the American people," Bush said.

 

The presidential commission formed to study military health care for wounded troops headed by retired Sen. Robert J. Dole and former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services chief Donna E. Shalala has submitted its recommendations, Bush noted.

 

Bush said he supports the commission's recommendations "for modernizing and improving out system of care" for wounded warriors.

 

In the next several weeks the first federal recovery coordinators will be hired, Bush said, noting these trained specialists will guide seriously wounded servicemembers through their recuperation.

 

"We don't want people to fall through the cracks of care," Bush emphasized. "We don't want people to be confused by the system." It's also paramount that families are "comfortable with the care that their loved one is receiving," he said.

 

There's also a pilot program to replace the two current disability assessment exams, one by the Defense Department, the other by the Department of Veterans Affairs, with just one, Bush said. The purpose of switching to one comprehensive disability exam is "to analyze somebody to make sure that they get that what they're entitled to quickly and without confusion," Bush explained.

 

There's also ongoing work to aggressively prevent and treat post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, the president reported, noting several technical experts have recently been hired. Hiring PTSD and TBI experts harnesses the best practices available to treat injured troops, Bush pointed out.

 

"The real purpose is to make sure that we help those coming out of combat to be able to adjust to real life as a civilian," Bush said. The Defense Department also is working to ensure that the best health care professionals remain on duty at Walter Reed until the movement to a new facility in Bethesda, Md.

 

Tomorrow, the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin two studies that will help provide information needed to modernize the veterans' disability care system.

 

Bush recalled running with Army Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge on the South Lawn of the White House in June. Bagge, an Oregon National Guard soldier, had lost both of his legs near Kirkuk, Iraq, in June 2005. When Bush visited Bagge at Brooke Army Medical Center on New Year's Day 2006, the soldier said he wanted to run with the president some day.

 

Bush took Bagge up on his request. Thanks to his prosthetic running legs, Bagge was able to run with the president. The courage displayed by Bagge and other wounded warriors serves as inspiration to the American people, the president said.

 

"As the result of the courage of his heart, (Christian) came to run with the president at the White House," Bush said. "Plus, he outran me."

By John J. Kruzel

American Forces Press Service

 

Oct. 17, 2007 - President Bush urged Congress today to pass legislation that will realize recommendations made by a bipartisan commission tasked to fix problems with wounded servicemembers' care. Meanwhile, the group's leaders are slated to testify on the matter before lawmakers.  At a White House news conference today, Bush urged Congress promptly to consider a legislation package he submitted yesterday "so that those injured while defending our freedom can get the quality care they deserve."

 

In the wake of reports that troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here were receiving sub-par treatment, the president created the nine-member panel in March, citing a "moral obligation" to provide the best possible care to men and women in uniform. Joined yesterday by commission co-chairs Donna Shalala, a former secretary of health and human services, and former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, Bush endorsed the group's comprehensive findings.

 

"My administration strongly supports the commission's recommendations," Bush said during a news conference at the White House Rose Garden. "We've taken steps to implement them where we can through administrative action, and today we're sending Congress legislation to implement the recommendations that require legislative action."

 

The Bush administration has implemented 90 percent of the recommendations outlined last summer in a 29-page proposal; the remaining 10 percent require congressional approval. According to a fact sheet published by the White House yesterday, the administration is working with lawmakers to fully implement suggestions from six categories:

 

-- Modernizing and improving the disability and compensation systems;

 

-- Aggressively preventing and treating post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury;

 

-- Significantly strengthening support for families;

 

-- Immediately creating comprehensive recovery plans to provide the right care and support at the right time in the right place;

 

-- Rapidly transferring patient information between the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs; and

 

-- Strongly supporting Walter Reed by recruiting and retaining first-rate professionals through 2011.

 

Shalala and Dole today are expected to testify before Congress and implore lawmakers to further implement their panel's recommendations beyond the limits of administrative action.

 

"More than anything else, Congress now ... must modernize the disability system," Shalala said during yesterday's news conference. "It is old-fashioned; it doesn't reflect modern medicine; it's too slow; it's too confusing. We need a system in which any soldier, any sailor, any Marine, any member of their family understand it and can make it work."

 

The former health and human services secretary said she shares Bush's optimism that Congress will wholly endorse the panel's recommendations. "Our commission members believe we can do it; the young Americans who have been injured, many of them severely, believe we can do it. And we must do it," she said.

 

Dole said the mission of the commission -- which boasts four members who themselves are injured veterans -- transcends partisanship or political biases.

 

"Whatever your views may be on the war, we have one common view on taking care of those who are wounded or injured: whatever it takes," he said.

You're Invited... We've found a way to reach out to survivors of trauma in a different way each week!

Here at mindsay.com, we wish to spread our mission, and to ask for your help in keeping it going. We're featuring survivors of abuse and trauma on our website. This is done in order to share their experience, strength, and hope with our readers. So many of us feel alone. We get to the point where we feel stuck, and hopeless. We feel like it's never going to get better. We feel like giving up. We hate ourselves, and we feel guilty and responsible for our own trauma, abuse, and the feelings and thoughts that stem from it. We feel powerless.

But we're not any of these things. We never have been and never will be. But, as survivors, we need to unite and help eachother in our healing. We need to reach out and break the silence that keeps us in pain and isolation. For these reasons, we're looking to feature survivors of abuse/trauma, and we ask whats helped them. We do this in order to shed some light through the darkness of the past, towards a future of guidance and transformation.

Note: All featured survivors must be 18 years or older to participate for liability reasons.  It is important to note that we respect the right of any featured individual to remain anonymous.  Any information shared with us, that is not intended by the survivor to be shared within their archive, will be kept permanently confidential.  We can not emphasize enough that The Survivor Archives isn't a place to share any detailed, explicite descriptions of past abuse or trauma.  We focus on the here and now and primarily on what has helped one to heal, cope, and maintain functioning.   In this way we want to spread hope for healing to all readers.
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How Can I Help?
We're looking for as many volunteers as possible who are willing to complete an archive for eventual posting on our website.  The greatest gift that we can give each other as survivors is hope.  Hope that we're not alone.  Hope that we're not on this journey in vain.  And hope that healing is possible.  That is my personal mission. But I can't do it alone.  That is why a dear friend and I have completed the contruction of The Survivor Archives.  And that is why I'm asking for your help now.  Each week I work with survivors in the construction of their archives.  Each week I post a new Archive to be read by our growing audience.
 
What is an Archive? 
An archive is a expression of a survivors healing. 

It includes the following:

• Bio: Each survivor offers a short bio of themselves, explaining where they're at now in live's, how've they've made it to where they presently find themselves, and what goals they have for the future.  In biographies we ask that concentration be placed on the story of each survivor's healing more so than of their past abuse. We ask who they've become? What matters to them today? What are their goals in life, and what have they accomplished thus far? We want to concentrate not on what they haven't done - but on what they have done. We ask to keep focus on what they do have in their lives, rather than what they don't.

• Q & A:  They answer a series of nine questions such as "What is the best advice you've ever received in healing?", "What has and hasn't worked in their healing?" and "What has been their three biggest obstacles in their healing?"

• Artwork done in therapy, such as a painting or poetry is shared. Personal expression is an extremely important aspect of healing.  Abuse clouds it's victims in burdens of verbal and emotional secrecy.  Its wasn't okay to feel, or speak.  So, a very important aspect of healing is expressing those bottled up emotions and words.  The pain, fear, anger, and grief must be released, and this is often done through writing, painting, drawing, poetry, music, photography, etc.  Journal entries are very acceptable.  There are no limits in art, and in the minds ability to speak out.

• Letters are written by each survivor for their archives to an aspect of their abuse - such as to their abuser, to themselves as a child, to a child being abused, etc. This last section will hopefully allow featured survivors with a chance to do some inward reflection, and allow themselves to open up on a very powerful level. A letter written sometime during the course of therapy is perfectly okay to use, and even encouraged.  However, there are no by limitations on who or to what this letter is addressed to.

Could I Be Featured?
Yes!  We're looking for as many volunteers as we can get.  Ask and I'll do all I can to see that it happens.  You'll first need to fill out a request form and once it is accepted you can begin working on it.  Then, it is my job to help you in perfecting your archive until it is ready to be posted.  Theres no time limit.  It can take you the next five years and we'll be perfectly okay with that.  As long as you'll eventually complete it, that is all that we ask.   For any questions you can contact us at survivor.archives@gmail.com.

Questions or Comments?
For any other questions, please send an email to 'The Survivor Archives' at the following address: trauma.survivors@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Joanna Doane & Kristin Kathaleen
Authors
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The Survivor Archives
URL: http://survivor-archives.squarespace.com
Email: trauma.survivors@gmail.com