Iraq vets and post-traumatic stress
source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/10/24/ptsd.struggle/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstorye...
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"You get used to scanning what everybody's doing. Your brain just starts working so fast and it's purely instinctual because you want to know what everyone's intent is around you," said Goldsmith, who served four years in active duty.
"You want to know if anyone has the intent to harm you or the capabilities to harm you."
That hyper-vigilance is one common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD, an anxiety disorder, can develop after a terrifying or life-threatening event, or a series of events causing extreme stress.
It's a complex disorder that displays myriad symptoms. People may become more depressed, aggressive, or emotionally detached. For Goldsmith, the chest-tightening anxiety attacks and trouble sleeping he experienced after returning from Iraq in 2005 indicated he was suffering from PTSD.
"With PTSD comes anxiety problems, depression problems ... I get flashes of rage, which goes hand in hand with alcoholism I've been fighting since I got back from Iraq," Goldsmith said.
As more troops return from the battlefield, the U.S. military faces a burgeoning dilemma of diagnosing and treating PTSD.
According to the latest Pentagon study, published in 2004, about one in six veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from PTSD, depression or anxiety. Learn more about PTSD
A more recent RAND Corp. study, released in April this year, found that nearly 20 percent -- or one in five returning war veterans -- reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression. But, only slightly more than half of them sought treatment, the study found.
"The night before I was supposed to deploy to Iraq on Memorial Day of 2007, I tried to take my fate into my own hands. What I wanted to do was make the issue of stop-loss something that people talk about and give people reason to fight against it because I had felt like my entire life had just been raped of every ounce of freedom and liberty that I had thought I was joining the Army to protect," Goldsmith said.
"So I took a black Sharpie magic marker and I wrote across my arms 'Stop-loss killed me. End stop-loss now.' I took my half bottle of Percocet and ... a liter and half a bottle of vodka and downed the Percocet and I chased it with the vodka and drank until I couldn't drink anymore."
To his surprise, Goldsmith survived the suicide attempt. His unit deployed to Iraq without him and he was discharged months later. Now 23, he lives with his parents in Long Island, New York.
His post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed months after his homecoming at a Veterans Affairs Hospital. He receives $700 in disability every month.
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These days, Goldsmith spends much of his time working with veterans' rights groups and in the peace and anti-war movement. Earlier this year, he testified before Congress' Out of Iraq Caucus as a member of the organization "Iraq Veterans Against the War."
"You want to know if anyone has the intent to harm you or the capabilities to harm you."
That hyper-vigilance is one common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD, an anxiety disorder, can develop after a terrifying or life-threatening event, or a series of events causing extreme stress.
It's a complex disorder that displays myriad symptoms. People may become more depressed, aggressive, or emotionally detached. For Goldsmith, the chest-tightening anxiety attacks and trouble sleeping he experienced after returning from Iraq in 2005 indicated he was suffering from PTSD.
"With PTSD comes anxiety problems, depression problems ... I get flashes of rage, which goes hand in hand with alcoholism I've been fighting since I got back from Iraq," Goldsmith said.
As more troops return from the battlefield, the U.S. military faces a burgeoning dilemma of diagnosing and treating PTSD.
According to the latest Pentagon study, published in 2004, about one in six veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from PTSD, depression or anxiety. Learn more about PTSD
A more recent RAND Corp. study, released in April this year, found that nearly 20 percent -- or one in five returning war veterans -- reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression. But, only slightly more than half of them sought treatment, the study found.
"The night before I was supposed to deploy to Iraq on Memorial Day of 2007, I tried to take my fate into my own hands. What I wanted to do was make the issue of stop-loss something that people talk about and give people reason to fight against it because I had felt like my entire life had just been raped of every ounce of freedom and liberty that I had thought I was joining the Army to protect," Goldsmith said.
"So I took a black Sharpie magic marker and I wrote across my arms 'Stop-loss killed me. End stop-loss now.' I took my half bottle of Percocet and ... a liter and half a bottle of vodka and downed the Percocet and I chased it with the vodka and drank until I couldn't drink anymore."
To his surprise, Goldsmith survived the suicide attempt. His unit deployed to Iraq without him and he was discharged months later. Now 23, he lives with his parents in Long Island, New York.
His post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed months after his homecoming at a Veterans Affairs Hospital. He receives $700 in disability every month.
advertisement
These days, Goldsmith spends much of his time working with veterans' rights groups and in the peace and anti-war movement. Earlier this year, he testified before Congress' Out of Iraq Caucus as a member of the organization "Iraq Veterans Against the War."
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