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PTSD / OSI [Merged]

If you were going to fake something why would you fake an injury that will potentially cost you your career , usually ends up in you loosing the respect of the other soldiers and friends.  have people look at you like you were poison, Result in hours of endless testing and expensive drugs that in themselves can destroy your health.  Make life generally unappetising,  make you a stigmatised out and last but not least eventually lead to depression from the stigma alone?  Days being laughed at and berated because you don't suck it up and called every name in the book.

 
No kidding, lower back injuries are waaay easier to fake, and will get you out just as fast, if that's what you're after.



edit for clarity.
 
Oldcook said:
If you were going to fake something why would you fake an injury that will potentially cost you your career , usually ends up in you loosing the respect of the other soldiers and friends.  have people look at you like you were poison, Result in hours of endless testing and expensive drugs that in themselves can destroy your health.  Make life generally unappetising,  make you a stigmatised out and last but not least eventually lead to depression from the stigma alone?  Days being laughed at and berated because you don't suck it up and called every name in the book.

If I could find a way to detect fake injuries, that was 100% effective, I would get out of the military and make a small fortune doing investigations for insurance companies! I honestly don't know what drives some people to pursue this course of action, only that it does happen.

 
Oldcook said:
If you were going to fake something why would you fake an injury that will potentially cost you your career , usually ends up in you loosing the respect of the other soldiers and friends.  have people look at you like you were poison, Result in hours of endless testing and expensive drugs that in themselves can destroy your health.  Make life generally unappetising,  make you a stigmatised out and last but not least eventually lead to depression from the stigma alone?  Days being laughed at and berated because you don't suck it up and called every name in the book.

I think your post demonstrates the entire point of this thread:

A valid injury such as this shouldnt cost you your career.  It is demonstrated to every CF member (or used to be) in the first aid movie showing field injuries and one soldier who is shown getting 'shell shock' and encouraged to rejoin his teamamates right away (cant remember the name of the film, but its been around since at least the early 90's and was shown during every annual First Aid course).  It can be overcome if spotted and correctly responded to.

A valid injury such as this shouldnt end up with friends losing respect.  I know former and current CF friends who wake up with nightmares because of their experiences and at least one admited to sometimes wetting the bed at those times.  Does this mean I should lose respect for them?  No, it means they went through a tough experience and they're damn lucky to be alive.   

I cant deny that these things happen (what you described), but the whole point is because it does happen, soldiers need more education about the problem.  I have no doubt that some of these members who condemn others may already have symptoms and are hiding them, or they be affected by it years down the road.  Psychologically, because they know 'it' could happen to them, they treat those with symptoms like pariah so they wont 'catch' it. 

These people need to be kept educated, and (IMO) the only reason that this type of negative behaviour is allowed to continue is because it is either encouraged or ignored by higher levels who allow it to happen. 
 
People are trying to Change things.  OSISS has a speakers bureau which is going out to educate the troops at all levels .  Some people will never change and that is sad .  Just remember there is your local ossiss rep and team.  you are not alone and there are good people out there trying to make a difference.  All injuries are valid and we should assume injury until we can prove different.  Look at the OSISS home page and trust them they do a great deal of good work on all levels.


Good luck.
 
PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of, and it would take a lot of work to be able to fake it for an extended period of time, unless they were left in a situation where they were unattended and need not fake it all the time. I suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder, Agoraphobia, General Anxiety Disorder and Chronic Depression. I have been hospitalized with soldiers who truly have PTSD and I have seen what they go through I have roomed with a couple and I know exactly how they feel it is very similar to my reaction when I attempt to leave my house, fear, panic, leading to irrational behaviour and often getting physically sick. You can give the doc a sob story all you want but unless you can fake some of these symptoms you are not going to last long. Faking PTSD only does one thing and that is puts the true suffers of this horrible condition under a microscope to see if they are really suffering from it. I roomed with a gentleman last fall in a specialized hospital in Guelph and he was in Afghanistan and was suffering from PTSD.  He would have panic attacks just trying to get to sleep and hence would go 72 hours without sleep until he was so exhausted and drugged that he finally passed out, he often slept on the floor because he felt safer there, he never said a word about his experiences to me and I never asked I knew the A: it was none of my business and B: it may be too much for him. We roomed together for 4 weeks and he rarely said a word, not to anybody, even me who was his roomie for a month. He was in great shape and about the longest conversation we had was we were outside and he bummed a smoke off me, he quietly commented that he had never smoked a cigarette until he was admitted to this hospital and that was it. I know all to well the stigma that goes along with a psychological disorder, when i was in my teens i was able to hide it, I sort of wore a mask of normality, when it finally became too much for me to handle and I told my friends about it, I never heard from most of them again, I was a pariah, I suspect a lot of PSTD sufferers have experienced similar situations and all I can say its like getting kicked in the nuts when you are already hurting.
 
The general public is still rather uninformed on the condition, and there has been a marked increase over the past year in claims by persons claiming they are suffering from PTSD as a result of car accidents...
 
I had a civilian "boss" of mine tell me a few weeks ago that "once a week is way too often for something like this, you're obviously not hurt or anything."

I'll admit, the thought of braking his face did cross my mind, and I still smile at the thought of it.
Maybe the pics from the tour that I won't let the wife see would do the trick.

I've had someone try and give me a "coaching" lesson, as someone on here put it.  I wasn't too impressed with that.  Even if the time came to talk to VA, I wouldn't have the slightest clue where to start or how to explain what is going on with me.
 
Ok I'll wade in.I fully expect sharks!

If none of you know me look at my profile and look at previous posts about OSI PTSD etc.I'm a firm believer in supporting your troops and getting them the help they need.

However.
I do believe some people fake it.For example;during one of the very late tours in Bosnia we had two members put in for it upon return to Canada.Nothing was stressful,nothing went boom,no one shot at us.These members had no issues going on courses,getting promoted,going on tours etc afterwards.AND had no issues bragging about their monthly payments to us in the smoking area.

I do believe there are people in this military who will fake it.For money.

Lets face it if you read any physc book on the subject you know the symptoms,you know how to act.

However like someone with a broken back do you become sceptical and say to every soldier with a back injury "you must be faking?"Of course not.

There are scum everywhere who will play the system,but our main concern should (and will in my case)be our troops.Full stop.
 
X-mo-1979 said:
Ok I'll wade in.I fully expect sharks!

If none of you know me look at my profile and look at previous posts about OSI PTSD etc.I'm a firm believer in supporting your troops and getting them the help they need.

However.
I do believe some people fake it.For example;during one of the very late tours in Bosnia we had two members put in for it upon return to Canada.Nothing was stressful,nothing went boom,no one shot at us.These members had no issues going on courses,getting promoted,going on tours etc afterwards.AND had no issues bragging about their monthly payments to us in the smoking area.

I do believe there are people in this military who will fake it.For money.

Lets face it if you read any physc book on the subject you know the symptoms,you know how to act.

However like someone with a broken back do you become sceptical and say to every soldier with a back injury "you must be faking?"Of course not.

There are scum everywhere who will play the system,but our main concern should (and will in my case)be our troops.Full stop.

And do people think that it is all about a free pay out?

There will always be scammers.  However, there is treatment with a psychiatrist , which may or may not involve medication.  Phycologists, that will be ready to take you on.

There are groups being run, via OSISS, with people who suffer that scammers will be directed to.

All of these services being recommended and "pushed" by VAC.  Gone are the day of the person calling up and saying he has a problem, and a payout is given.  Members are put throughout the whole range of treatment, as VAC is working on it as we speak.

I would welcome the scammers to try to get the magic payout, and they will learn that the system is catching up, big time.

dileas

tess

 
Glad to see the system is changing.
But what are guys gonna say when Cpl.Bugger is in the smoking pit bragging about his tax free cash.I don't know too many guys with PTSD who walk around bragging about it.And I know quite a few.

As you said there is always gonna be scammers.
 
X-mo-1979 said:
Glad to see the system is changing.
But what are guys gonna say when Cpl.Bugger is in the smoking pit bragging about his tax free cash.I don't know too many guys with PTSD who walk around bragging about it.And I know quite a few.

As you said there is always gonna be scammers.

>:D

Wonder what they will brag about, should they be found out to be faking it, and the Government wants to recoupe all the benefits they received?  It has been done to others who have "cheated the System".
 
the 48th regulator said:
And do people think that it is all about a free pay out?

There will always be scammers.  However, there is treatment with a psychiatrist , which may or may not involve medication.  Phycologists, that will be ready to take you on.

There are groups being run, via OSISS, with people who suffer that scammers will be directed to.

All of these services being recommended and "pushed" by VAC.  Gone are the day of the person calling up and saying he has a problem, and a payout is given.  Members are put throughout the whole range of treatment, as VAC is working on it as we speak.

I would welcome the scammers to try to get the magic payout, and they will learn that the system is catching up, big time.dileas tess

The biggest problem I can see is the lack of people being able to verbalize their difficulties.....if you have trouble communicating the feelings/symptoms it takes a skilled professional to see through the inability to verbalize the problem....

just my 2 cents
 
GAP said:
The biggest problem I can see is the lack of people being able to verbalize their difficulties.....if you have trouble communicating the feelings/symptoms it takes a skilled professional to see through the inability to verbalize the problem....

just my 2 cents


Agreed.

And skilled professionals will make the assessment.  Not some Public Service Employee working for VAC.

VAC now employs professionals that are in the forefront, in the study of OSi's.  Ahead of the USA, and European countries.  We are actually educating them.

So what I say, Take heed all those that can think that this is an easy payout.  You will have to pay the piper in testing and treatment.

Not an easy payout, anymore.

dileas

tess



 
This is a PTSD link from the USA:
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,168565,00.html
 
mariomike said:
This is a PTSD link from the USA:
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,168565,00.html

Spoken like a true member of the media, and not what is being recognized and understood by the military.....

dileas

tess

 
Its quite a disjointed rant - looked more like an excuse to criticise the military and Obama's administration ...
 
i was wondering if anybody going through same thing i  had to fill almoost 400 question surrey followed by 7  10 question one and that was a month ago and i still heard nothing back from mental heath they said we will get back to u and feels like a slap in face like i am asking for help  and it feels like they dont beleive me or something i wished they seen what i seen in my tours of duty ie afangistan 2003 haiti 2004 and afanistan 2005/2006 i already been dealing if this shit in my head for many years and now i just need help to get over the hurled so i can learn to deal with it.
 
Hello,

This is my first post here and hope it's in the right place, if not my apologies.

I retired 6 years ago with a normal pension after completing 20 years. In 2014 I was diagnosed with PTSD was off work for 6 months and went back. I went off work again in Sept this year with more complications related to the PTSD. Subsequently diagnosed with Chronic PTSD, Major depression as well as chronic pain. Basically my lower body has been destroyed in one shape or another in my 20 year career, as well as my brain now!

I currently have over 18 claims in with VAC as well as being reassessed in Jan for 5 reassessments for my lower body. In Feb I am scheduled to have my final assessment for the PTSD. I also have numerous claims still being looked at and up for final review. on 4 claims I'm past the 16 weeks by only 4 weeks. I am not sure that I will be able to go back to my old job due to the severe chronic pain.

Here is my question? I was told that I may be able to have my regular release changed to a medical release as the PTSD was diagnosed back to Somalia and Rwanda days. If this is the case, how does one go about getting this changed? I spoke with my case manager at VAC who told me that they don't do that directly. I would have to figure that out on my own, is this true?? Was someone blowing smoke up my arse again?
 
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