Brain Injury and PTSD: Living in a Fog
May 13, 2009
Brain injury victims usually find themselves trapped inside a fog because of memory problems. Imagine walking down a sidewalk in a soupy fog. You cannot see anything in front of you or to your sides yet you know there is a cross street ahead. You also know other people are walking on the sidewalk. You move along slowly, cautiously.
Brain injury is similar to enshrouding the victim’s memory with fog; it slows down. The victim sees a familiar face and the brain trudges painstakingly slow in finding a name to go with it, and, in many cases, never produces the desired answer quickly enough.
There are other demands being made inside the foggy brain. All five senses are gathering information and sending it for processing. The name retrieval is dismissed as someone asks a question. A car passes by with music blaring. The scent of barbecue permeates the air.
Inside the fog the brain slows as more and more information lines up for processing. Stress builds. Heart rate and breathing quicken. The injured brain is being asked to do too much. Mental fatigue sets in as the Cycle of Response begins.
The Cycle is a natural one and is recognizable. Mental fatigue leads to confusion which leads to frustration which leads to guilt and, eventually depression. Inside the fog this happens several times each day. It is important to recognize the Cycle, recognize where you are on the Cycle, and begin taking steps to back away from guilt and depression.
|
Brain Injury Books at Amazon
 |
Soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder experience the same Cycle. The March 2009 shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad is an example. President Barack Obama’s statement shed light on what probably happened. “There were a total of five service members killed yesterday. Two were 55th Medical Company staff officers at the Liberty Combat Stress Control Centre.” The other three killed were being treated for stress.
Days before the incident, the Army had taken away the shooter’s weapon and recommended he get counseling at the centre. Depression, the last step on the Cycle of Response, indicates separation. A depressed person separates himself from society by withdrawing into his own world. A depressed person separates himself from family through divorce. A depressed person separates himself from life through suicide or a suicidal act.
It is clearly evident the shooter at Liberty Combat Stress Centre performed an act of separation. The immediate arrest outside the clinic was one side of the coin. The other side would have the shooter killed by military police, another type of suicide. In custody and charged with five counts of murder, the shooter is now separated from society, family and his former life.
The military, itself, is not without blame. A stigma has been attached to “mental health” issues, according to Major Gen. Daniel Bolger, the commander of Multi-National Division-Baghdad. The shooter’s father said of his son, “His life was over as far as he was concerned. He lived for the military.”
Think about the chain of events. The shooter had been in the military since 1988. His weapon had been taken from him and he was sent for mental health counseling. His father stated that his son was confused by the tests and their significance. “He lived for the military,” are certainly telling words. Guilt permeated his every thought. “His life was over as far as he was concerned.” Depression could not be stated more clearly or forcefully.
I have not used the shooter’s name in this article because he is not the primary focus, neither are his actions. He felt stigmatized by a system that could not treat him adequately.
Read more about PTSD:
War Veterans and Traumatic Brain Injury
VetVoice:: VoteVets.org and CREW Urge PTSD Investigation – Not only myself, but all clinicians up here are being pressured not to diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS instead.” Dr. McNinch continued, “yours has not been the only case . . . I and other [doctors] are under a lot of …
Balancing the Image of PTSD: The Synonmous Relationship of Combat … – The perception of PTSD as nothing more than “battle fatigue” is a thing of the past in American society. Or is it?
Witness: Ex-soldier had PTSD, was unfit for combat – KHQ Right Now … – Witness: Ex-soldier had PTSD, was unfit for combat. Associated Press – May 12, 2009 10:23 PM ET. PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) – A psychiatrist has testified that a former soldier convicted of rape and murder in Iraq did not receive a proper level …
Veterans Blog: Help for PTSD Sufferers! – There are many stories circulating about the shortfalls in adequately diagnosing and treating post traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD. Just recently, I spoke with a women working at a business here in Nashville …
Additional References:
Recent Comments