"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD" - Coming home: The Army's fatal neglect. Energy Psychology with David Feinstein Ph. D. WP Multimedia: Soldiers dealing with traumatic brain injury. About the Home Base Program | Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program 2010 Run to Home Base 9K. About the Home Base Program The Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program helps Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families heal from the invisible wounds of war -- post traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) -- through world class clinical care, community education and research. These invisible wounds are estimated to affect one in three returning veterans, and can affect the entire family.
The Home Base Program operates one of the only private sector clinics in the nation dedicated to healing the “invisible wounds” of war for returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families. Home Base is the first program of its kind, a philanthropic partnership between an Academic Medical Center and a Major League Baseball team, dedicated to serving returning veterans and their families. Home Base serves Post 9/11 veterans and military families throughout New England. To learn more or to make an appointment, visit www.homebaseprogram.org Mr. Soldiers Ordered Not to Kill Themselves. Brig. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, according to CNN, has “in effect ordered his soldiers Wednesday not to commit suicide” in the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell.
Why? After nearly one soldier per week committed suicide at the post between January and mid-March, the Army instituted a suicide prevention program that “seemed to be having good effects” until last week, when two more suicides occurred, he said. Yes, these are not positive numbers and the Army needs to do more to combat the stigma of seeking help for a psychological concern such as depression. They can begin by promising soldiers that such treatment seeking will have no negative effect on their ability to move up in the Army and get promoted in the future.
Dr. “It sounds like an order,” he told CNN in a telephone interview. I’d have to agree. Read the full story: ‘Tell somebody,’ if you’re thinking of suicide, says general Dr. Traumatic brain injury leaves an often-invisible, life-altering wound. The doctor begins with an apology because the questions are rudimentary, almost insultingly so. But Robert Warren, fresh off the battlefield in Afghanistan and a surgeon's table, doesn't seem to mind. Yes, he knows how old he is: 20. He knows his Army rank: specialist. He knows that it's Thursday, that it's June, that the year is 1020. Quickly, he corrects the small stumble: "It's 2010. " He knows that his wife is Brittanie, that she's due with their first child any day now, and that they "got married two to three weeks before I went to that country. " Stumble No. 2: "That country. " David Williamson doesn't let it slide. "Whatever country it was that I got blown up in," Warren says.
In a conference room at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, he purses his lips, and as he searches for the word "Afghanistan," he slides his hand over the left side of his head, which is cratered, like an apple with a bite taken out of it. "Crap, I can't remember," he says finally. Toxic Cocktail: Army Struggles With Mental-Health Care. BOSTON (TheStreet) -- On April 6, 2009, 21-year-old Army Specialist Adam Kuligowski took his rifle into a bathroom stall at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and shot himself.
His last words were found in a suicide note to his father, Michael Kuligowski: "Sorry to be a disappointment. " Just weeks earlier, Adam had visited his dad in Thailand. Michael Kuligowski works as an information officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. There had been problems the father didn't hear about. In a report about Adam's last disciplinary meeting, a commanding officer noted that the young soldier was falling asleep in front of him. A toxicology report on Adam's death mentioned the presence of an anti-malaria medication known as mefloquine hydrochloride. Five months after Adam Kuligowski died, the military went a step further. "My whole issue with mefloquine is that my son's death was entirely preventable," Kuligowski says. T r u t h o u t | Broken Promises: Thousands of Veterans Denied Crucial Care.
Despite Army’s Prevention Efforts, Suicides Continue. Michael Stravato for The New York Times Amelia and Armando G. Aguilar Sr. at home in Blessing, Tex., with a photo of their son, Specialist Armando G. Aguilar Jr., who killed himself in August. Specialist Armando G. Aguilar Jr. joined the Army partly to pay for music school. This moment had been a long time coming, his family said. Army doctors had put him on medications for , , and . “He wanted help — he was out there asking for help,” said his father, Armando Aguilar Sr. Specialist Aguilar was one of 20 soldiers connected to who are believed to have committed suicide this year.
The spate of suicides in Texas reflects a chilling reality: nearly 20 months after the Army began strengthening its suicide prevention program and working to remove the stigma attached to seeking psychological counseling, the suicide rate among active service members remains high and shows little sign of improvement. In July, Gen. RAND | News Release | One In Five Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Suffer from PTSD or Major Depression.