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Sorry, I guess I see this as focused on terminology hair-splitting rather than getting to the crux of treating troops. It's certainly not remotely anything I'm expert in, so I'll bow out.
medicineman said:This isn't something that's limited to soldiers or emergency service workers, though there is a high predomminance due to recurrent exposures and cultures of not talking things out with folks.
Now how is this remotely relevant to the naming of Stress Injuries/Disorders?! :mariomike said:In spite of the cumulative stress, I wonder how many would say ( at least privately ) that doing good work was the most fun ( outside of romance ) they remember in their lives?
Journeyman said:Sorry, I guess I see this as focused on terminology hair-splitting rather than getting to the crux of treating troops. It's certainly not remotely anything I'm expert in, so I'll bow out.
medicineman said:Really in the end it is about hair splitting and making something sound more palatable or as something soldiers can relate to. No matter what you call it, I personally don't think it'll make soldiers with problems seek out help any more readily than they do now. There has to be a cultural shift that makes it more acceptable to seek out help for problems (largely by those that have never been exposed to the situations themselves and so don't believe those problems exist) and a systemic one that forces leaders to lead and "Know [their] toops and promote their welfare" instead of manage business plans.
MM
the 48th regulator said:You do have to agree since the founding of the Program OSISS, and the concept of OSIs in 2001, many more people have come forward to get the treatment needed.
We have changed the attitude within the CF, that it is okay to deal with that kind of injury. Do we need more work, most definitely, but people are more comfortable talking about the issue.
medicineman said:Tess - I do agree that things are better than before, don't get me wrong, especially the Peer Counselling program. There are still issues out there with folks that seem to think if you can't see it, it doesn't exist. Good leadership helps - things are noticed, pointed out and the person is pointed in the right direction or taken outright to get the help they need, and are then supported throughout the process. Poor leaders take it upon themselves to either demean or ignore the problems and allow them to fester until it's too late...and then continue to give as little support as possible afterwards. There is that problem of people not trusting their leadership to do the right thing.
MM
A key leader in the psychiatric community has rejected the idea of altering the name of a traumatic condition affecting an estimated tens of thousands of U.S. combat veterans -- a move that effectively blocks growing efforts by a small group of psychiatrists and military brass concerned about reducing patient stigma.
Dr. Matthew Friedman, who is chairing the committee that is updating the trauma section of the dictionary of mental illness, said changing the name of the condition could have "unintended negative consequences" because "it would confuse the issue and set up diagnostic distinctions for which there is no scientific evidence." The dictionary, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is considered the bible by the psychiatric association.
Last year, then-Army Vice Chief of Staff Peter Chiarelli asked the American Psychiatric Association to modify the name of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The four star general says calling the condition a "disorder" perpetuates a bias against the mental health illness and is a barrier to veterans getting the care they need.
More recently, two leading trauma psychiatrists similarly asked the Association, which is updating its dictionary of mental health illness, to change the word "disorder" to "injury," calling the condition PTSI instead.
But at Monday's psychiatric association annual conference, Friedman said the net effect of such a modification would be to tinker with a psychiatric diagnosis rather than help patients. "To change to PTSI without anything else would accomplish nothing positive," Friedman said.
But Chiarelli, who is now retired and spoke on the same panel as Friedman at the conference, assailed the leading psychiatric professional organization's refusal to make a one-word change in nomenclature. "I believe language means something -- and it means something if your desire is to help and to treat everyone," he said. "To allow a word like disorder -- which may be no barrier to you whatsoever -- to get in the way of the help they need, I find this just absolutely unconscionable." ....