PTSD, Marijuana and A Million Dollar Medical Boondoggle

Combat Infantry Badge is the PTSD bio-marker.

(PORTLAND, OR) - Everybody and his dog Fido has jumped into the PTSD debacle with the aim of making big money. This latest one is the worst, most expensive quackery that I have ever heard of.

The NY Times published the article Feb 7 2013, titled: 'Study Seeks Biomarkers for Invisible War Scars (PTSD)'.

This subject has been like a honey pot for a whole bunch of really serious medical connivers. There have been dozens of investigators getting big money proposing a whole bunch of pseudo-psychological projects guaranteed to cure PTSD. Almost all of them either don't work or work only with the least severe cases of PTSD. At the same time, these fake treatments, whether pharmaceutical or psychological, do not work but frequently end up with alcoholism, serious drug abuse and frequently with suicide.

This new drivel has been proposed and promoted by Doctor Charles Marmar, chairman of psychiatry at New York University, Langone Medical Center. He wants to do objective lab tests. He doesn't like PTSD victims subjective reports of nightmares, panic attacks, insomnia and post traumatic terror recurrences. Several other medical facilities are plugged in.

These researchers plan to recruit 1500 PTSD victims and spend $17 Million to look for signs and symptoms of PTSD or its predecessor, battle terrors or battle horrors. He proclaims that "clear cut tests" will define true PTSD and prevent misdiagnoses and medical mistreatment. One of the worst features of current therapy, for example, morphine-like drugs, Valium-like drugs and anti-depressants don't work and make things worse, ending up with total psychiatric breakdown and/or suicide. It will supposedly weed out fraudulent PTSD claims for psychological disability.

To me, the statements of Dr. Marmar represent a very cavalier attitude about the ravages of PTSD. It is not like we were in Europe and Asia playing "Cops and Robbers" and/or "Cowboys and Indians". Being a combat infantryman is the most dangerous, terrifying and lethal job in history.

Most combat veterans can not talk about their experiences and they won't want to be reminded of those experiences by evidence-seeking possible skeptics.

They will be getting low-level PTSD victims but the really severe victims will not submit to this.

The best biomarker for this PTSD study is the combat infantry badge for surviving 30 days of combat. In my infantry outfit, I believe even cooks and clerks got CIB's. The actual fighters got Purple Hearts and 300,000 deaths.

One blood test, they probably won't do, is for the endocannabinoid anandamide which is the body's own cannabis like drug which would be produced by the patient's response to questions about battle experiences.

In the meantime, a whole bunch of medical investigators will be earning a lot of money at the psychological expense of PTSD battle veterans.

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