Posted on Jan 28, 2016
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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Do you know someone who is stuck in their trauma recovery? In trauma recovery, transitioning is difficult for many when their identity has become rooted in their woundedness. Send your questions in to be answered in webinars posted for free on my YouTube Channel. #MHCTALKS begins on Twitter Thurs. Feb. 4 8-9 EST.

Go to: http://www.militaryhealingcenter.net

Thanks Angela Benedict
Posted in these groups: Train2 Training78568930 PTSDDepression Depression
Edited 9 y ago
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Responses: 6
MAJ Ken Landgren
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Yes in passing with an E-5 who could not defeat the guilt in his heart.
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Angela Benedict
Angela Benedict
9 y
Dear Ken, If I may, I don't know the specifics of this....this is quite common especially among veterans. It is sometimes hard for people to let go of the past, as if they would be dishonoring someone if they did. Guilt is a profound self sabotage agent. What we need to help people understand better is you never get to have a NOW if you keep filling it up with THEN. Guilt is a carry over from THEN that is incredibly powerful and debilitating. It serves no one and will only lead to destructive behaviours. It honors no one. Stay safe.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
MAJ Ken Landgren
9 y
You are right Ms. Guilt is a circular motion of wanting to forget but cant or wont forget.
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SSG Michael Scott
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Yes, I do, and I see it everyday. Go to any VA Medical Center and you can see them in the ER, and the CBOC-outpatient treatment, in the lobby, see them on the streets, I see them while reading their PTSD blogs. I share my personal experience and I listen to them and it seems to make the connection. A real problem is a lot of the mental health treatments are in a group setting. A lot of Veterans have been asking for years requesting for individual psycho therapy. The problem is the therapists do not what to hear about "the details" of the incident, or personal experience. The clinicians do not want to hear about the evil, the demons in detail. The Therapists are afraid of it the
soldiers baggage in their rutsack.
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Angela Benedict
Angela Benedict
9 y
Dear Michael, I agree with your assessment on all counts.
The focus on treatment needs to become protocols personnel learn through training that helps them avoid needing treatment after an event. Psychology and its various treatment methodologies seem to prefer to not get dirty, meaning they like what is easy to organize, measure, predict, and falls within the mental realm.
Combat Stress is messy, disorganized, personalized, emotionally-based and a whole person/being experience. There is deep darkness of the psyche involved, and a wide array of experiences where human beings have done cruel things to each other. This is not unicorns and butterflies stuff. And that darkness can go a long way into our deepest recesses.
We will never catch up to the demand if we continue to rely on a treatment-based solution. We haven't caught up from Vietnam. Focused, integrated training solutions that can be easily taught across ranks is the way forward.
The civilian reaction to war and its aftermath has historical momentum. The soldier is to be the buffer between the darkness of war and the rest of society. It has always been a lonely place to be, in that in-between place.
Duty of care is a new concept. Teaching civilians to become part of the solution will continue to be a long process. Teaching soldiers to take better care of themselves and leaders to take better care of their troops has to be the focus. Countering Combat Stress has to be seen as a tactical issue not a mental health issue.
Thanks for the comment! Stay safe.
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SSG Michael Scott
SSG Michael Scott
9 y
I totally agree.
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LTC Stephen F.
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Thankfully I am not aware of anybody who is stuck in their trauma recovery COL Mikel J. Burroughs.
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