Friday, January 26, 2018

Reporter failed to Google what he was told about PTSD by Army?

Reporter Should Know Before Listening
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 26, 2018

In keeping with holding reporters accountable for what they report, we have another example of a reporter failing the subjects. Just think, with all the stuff popping out, reporters get paid to do it?

Looks like the Jeremy Schwartz of American Statesman Staff decided to not even read the report they just released, or even ask any questions regarding proof of healing.

First, here are the numbers of soldiers reported as suicides by the Department of Defense.

In 2015, 120 Soldiers committed suicide and 55 Army Reservists and 104 Army National Guards.

In 2016, 130 Soldiers committed suicide and 41 Army Reservists and 109 Army National Guards.

Up to the first half of 2017, it was 55 Soldiers, 31 Army Reservists and 62 Army National Guards.

All in all, when you factor in the other thing the DOD said would also work, called "resilience" training, we see how this reported "progress" is repeating what has not worked.

This is the headline "New PTSD study shows recovery for Fort Hood soldiers in just two weeks"
Schwartz wrote,
"The study, the first-ever randomized clinical trial of prolonged exposure therapy with active-duty military personnel and the largest study yet of prolonged exposure therapy, was carried out by researchers affiliated with the STRONG STAR Consortium, a multi-institutional research network funded by the Defense Department aimed at researching combat-related PTSD treatments."
And in the next paragraph,

In 2016, STRONG STAR announced the results of another Fort Hood study that found 12 sessions of therapy led to PTSD recovery in 40 to 50 percent of soldiers. Instead of confronting traumatic memories directly as in prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy helps patients learn to think about their traumatic experiences in a clearer way, without “distorted thoughts” that perpetuate feelings of guilt, blame and anger, researchers said. 
Which is it? The first ever or the second one? 


What makes this even more frustrating is this piece of news that must have just been too hard to Google to know if he was told anything close to the truth.

This is from 2015 when a veteran had experienced this therapy. He should know because he is a veteran and had this therapy in 2013.
Trauma Post Trauma
The “gold standard” treatment for PTSD makes many vets’ symptoms even worse.
By David J. Morris
The problem with prolonged exposure is that it also has made a number of veterans violent, suicidal, and depressed, and it has a dropout rate that some researchers put at more than 50 percent, the highest dropout rate of any PTSD therapy that has been widely studied so far.
Perhaps a better example of how this does not work, is the research done in 2006 Do You Need To Talk About It? Prolonged Exposure for the Treatment of Chronic PTSD referencing the benefits along with the dates of how long this research has been studied. It goes back to the 90's. 

If it worked, then it would have worked and we would not have seen the results we have when the suicide rate of our veterans has gone up, along with the number of service members throughout all branches.

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