PTSD and the American Legion

The battle against Post Traumatic Stress- Help! Help! Help!

Courtesy: Veterans Today

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - This article in the American Legion magazine (September 2011) is one of the best in a non-psychological medical magazine, however as a PTSD-treating physician I must object to some of the "institutionalized errors" which have been practiced and published for years.

The author Ken Olsen did a 90 percent excellent job. I will critique the errors as I see them from studying the subject matter for about 50 years and successfully treating about 5000 patients. About 1000 were battle veterans from WWII up to the current Iraq and Afghanistan PTSD victims.

I am a bit astonished that the American Legion would jump into this with all four feet, but it has become an extreme problem and a threat to the very existence of the Veterans Administration medical system which has failed miserably in treating some one million PTSD victims from the Civil War to this day.

The sad part is that any sensible V.A. medical provider KNOWS that their system has failed but they continue the "same old same old" treatments which has destroyed probably hundreds of thousands of PTSD victims with their entrenched system.

In the Civil War, the author quotes 5,200 cases of PTSD, then called NOSTALGIA and 2600 cases of PTSD, then called INSANITY. We now call it PTSD or TBI.

He writes of victims not being able to talk about their horrible experiences.

This is one of its premier symptoms of PTSD along with this was the VA's insistence that the PTSD victims talk about their problems at length which is the worst form of mental torture and punitive in its effects.

The results have been suicide, alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse, homelessness, unemployment, domestic violence, divorce, and murder.

The VA and some psychologists/psychiatrists call it DEPRESSION. IT IS NOT. It is Anguish coupled with survival guilt from seeing one's buddies and even oneself constantly or repeatedly assailed with life-threatening terror frequently on a 24/7 basis.

He quotes that WWII and Korean war veterans scorned Viet Nam veterans and thought they were "pansies", this is while the WWII and Korean guys were becoming alcoholics and tobacco addicts in their clubs. Many of those killed themselves by their addictions.

Olsen wrote much about a Marine combat veteran who was medicated "up to the ears" with anti-depressants which he said did not help.

He possibly became addicted and when his prescription was not filled and in great despair, he shot and killed himself. Some PTSD veterans even commit suicide with the very medications given by the VA.

The medical care givers seem to have no concept whatsoever about military PTSD. In fact they probably ignore their own trauma surgeons and surgical nurses who also break down with PTSD. It is also known in ambulance EMTs and police detectives working brutal murder cases.

Many of the medical community considered PTSD to be a form of paranoid schizophrenia. Horrible "flashbacks" occur in almost all PTSD vets. Psychiatrists are inclined to consider these hallucinations which are a part of it symptomology of schizophrenia. We also have hyper vigilance like walking through a "booby trapped" mine field. This is NOT PARANOIA. We know people are out to kill us!

One fact Olsen points out the PTSD once settled in our brains is there forever. WWII vets still have it, 65 years later.

Olsen mentions other than medication treatment such as religious or quasi-religious counseling. Neuro-feedback works with some as does horseback riding, companion dog care, fishing, surfing, acupuncture, hiking, et cetera. The ability to find appropriate work and to keep doing it is very important therapy.

Olsen's article and the sequel next month are good, but the fact remains VA treatment is a scandalous failure. It is hoped that the American Legion's newly established PTSD/TBI committee will be able to address the veterans problems.

If not, we will see 1,000,000 PTSD/TBI veterans go down the drain.

HELP! HELP! HELP!

Visit this this link: "PTSD Leveque" to find dozens of articles on this subject by Dr. Phil Leveque.

Dr. Phillip Leveque has degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and minors in physiology and biochemistry. He was a Professor of Pharmacology, employed by the University of London for 2 years, during which time he trained the first doctors in Tanzania. After training doctors, he became an Osteopathic Physician, as well as a Forensic Toxicologist. Before any of that, Phil Leveque was a Combat Infantryman in the U.S. Army in WWII. He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder more than 60 years after the war, and specialized in treating Veterans with PTSD during his years as a doctor in Molalla, Oregon. Do you have a question, comment or story to share with Dr. Leveque?
Email him: ASK DR. LEVEQUE

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole". Order the book by mail by following this link: DOGFACE SOLDIER OF WWII If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.