Trained dogs help veterans suffering from PTSD

[longknife]

By Steve Wood - (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post
Posted : Tuesday Nov 13, 2012 9:16:54 EST

The medals are encased, the uniforms are tucked away.

Only after returning home to a hero’s welcome, to the residence of all reminiscence while in Iraq or Afghanistan, do many veterans retreat, recoiling from the touch of spouses, the support of fellow soldiers.

An estimated one in five veterans deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 has or will develop post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.

What these service men and women need is a service dog, said Debra Schaser, founder of Canine Hearing Companions in Vineland, N.J.

“They make them feel more secure to go out,” said Schaser, who has been training service dogs since 1993. “Many of them are afraid to go, and having a dog makes them feel better.”

Read more @ Trained dogs help veterans suffering from PTSD - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

I think we often fail to realize just how much a canine friend can help one in times of stress.

 

[Truthmatters]

nothing like a good dog by your side

 

[waltky]

Can a computer treat PTSD?...

Almost human: Lab treats trauma with virtual therapy
26 May 2013 - The University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies is leading the way in creating virtual humans. The result may produce real help for those in need.

The virtual therapist sits in a big armchair, shuffling slightly and blinking naturally, apparently waiting for me to get comfortable in front of the screen. "Hi, I'm Ellie," she says. "Thanks for coming in today." She laughs when I say I find her a little bit creepy, and then goes straight into question about where I'm from and where I studied. "I'm not a therapist, but I'm here to learn about people and would love to learn about you," she asks. "Is that OK?" Ellie's voice is soft and calming, and as her questions grow more and more personal I quickly slip into answering as if there were a real person in the room rather than a computer-generated image. "How are you at controlling your temper?" she probes. "When did you last get into an argument?" With every answer I'm being watched and studied in minute detail by a simple gaming sensor and a webcam.

Ellie is a creation of ICT, and could serve as an important diagnostic and therapeutic tool for veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

How I smile, which direction I look, the tone of my voice, and my body language are all being precisely recorded and analysed by the computer system, which then tells Ellie how best to interact with me. "Wizard of Oz mode" is how researcher Louis-Philippe Morency describes this experiment at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT). In the next room his team of two are controlling what Ellie says, changing her voice and body language to get the most out of me. Real people come in to answer Ellie's questions every day as part of the research, and the computer is gradually learning how to react in every situation. It is being taught how to be human, and to respond as a doctor would to the patients' cues. Soon Ellie will be able to go it alone. That opens up a huge opportunity for remote therapy sessions online using the knowledge of some of the world's top psychologists.

Researchers diagram the minute movements of the human face to create more realistic computer models

But Dr Morency doesn't like the expression "virtual shrink", and doesn't think this method will replace flesh-and-blood practitioners. "We see it more as being an assistant for the clinician in the same way you take a blood sample which is analysed in a lab and the results sent back to the doctor," he said. The system is designed to assess signs of depression or post-traumatic stress, particularly useful among soldiers and veterans. "We're looking for an emotional response, or perhaps even any lack of emotional response," he says. "Now we have an objective way to measure people's behaviour, so hopefully this can be used for a more precise diagnosis." The software allows a doctor to follow a patient's progress over time. It objectively and scientifically compares sessions.

More BBC News - Almost human: Lab treats trauma with virtual therapy

 

[waltky]

Therapy dogs for PTSD veterans...

Effort seeks to match dogs with veterans suffering from PTSD
May 28, 2013 — At 2 years old, Rogue already knows a foreign language.

“Sitz, Platz, Blieb, Hier,” his owner, Jerry Lyda, says in German, commanding the German Shepherd to sit, lie down, stay and come after walking 20 feet away. A certified therapy dog, Rogue is not only intelligent, but intuitive, assisting with rehabilitation and helping people relieve stress. He excels at both, said Lyda, who bred Rogue to help the growing number of severely disabled veterans in the Augusta area. Together, the two are saving lives, matching dogs marked for death at shelters in Richmond, Columbia and Aiken counties with veterans who suffer from the post-traumatic stress of war.

The effort is called Veterans K-9 Solutions and it is reinventing how war heroes and service dogs find new life and purpose in the Southeast. This region, other than requiring all pets have a current rabies vaccination, does not monitor animal safety and welfare, according to Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee records. Richmond County kills 70 percent of the animals it houses. “Our love for dogs and gratitude towards those who served makes our goal is simple – give back to those in need by saving two lives at a time,” said Lyda, a Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1973. Service dogs are 24/7 companions that can retrieve and carry objects, open doors, call attention to safety hazards, help with stress and provide a bridge back to society.

Lyda is now training two dogs at a south Augusta farm, but unlike other canine assistance programs, the veteran who will receive the dog shares new experiences and learns dozens of new commands throughout the teaching process, instead of being brought in later. The concept, Lyda believes, will bring immediate relief to soldiers, who in being scarred by the sights and sounds of war, have trouble eating, sleeping and visiting public places, such as the grocery store. “One of the veterans I am working with is suffering from PTSD so bad he had to hold his wife’s hand throughout some of the teaching exercises,” said Lyda, who trained his first dog, a bird-hunting German Shorthaired Pointer, at age 12.

With the Army suicide rate up 16 percent from 2012, Dr. John Rigg, the director of the Traumatic Brain Injury program at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, encouraged Lyda to start Veterans K-9 Solutions. Rigg said service dogs are trained to jolt a soldier from a flashback, dial 911 on a phone and even sense a panic attack before it starts. Perhaps most important, Rigg said, the veterans’ sense of responsibility, optimism and self-awareness are renewed by caring for the dogs and as a result, can reduce the amount of anxiety medications they take.

MORE

 

[noose4]

Sounds like a great program, hope it expands. I am sure there are many different treatments that can help with this problem and what works on one may not work on some one else but we need to make sure all possible treatments are readily available.

 

[namvet]

not just returning vets but also the war dogs

Four-Legged Warriors Show Signs Of PTSD

For years, PTSD — or post-traumatic stress disorder — has been an issue for military members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

But humans aren't the only ones with problems. Military dogs returning from war zones are also showing signs of PTSD. And there's evidence that these canines need some extra tender loving care after their tours of duty.


Four-Legged Warriors Show Signs Of PTSD : NPR

 

[waltky]

Video conferencing helps treat PTSD...

Study: Telemedicine helps treat PTSD in vets
November 19, 2014: WASHINGTON — Traveling long distances to health clinics presents one of the biggest obstacles to military veterans in rural areas seeking and sticking with therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

A new study released Thursday suggests that telemedicine aids their access to care and increases the likelihood they will follow through with months of intensive counseling that can heal war’s inner wounds. The year-long study, published online in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry and funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, examined 265 veterans with severe PTSD who live in rural settings. One group of participants received counseling from behavioral health clinicians through interactive video and phone calls. Members in a second group could seek in-person care at VA medical centers and outpatient clinics run by the Veterans Health Administration.

A team of researchers found that those counseled via remote methods were eight times as likely to complete at least eight sessions of cognitive processing therapy, considered the minimum “therapeutic dose” for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. The same group showed greater improvement in their symptoms for PTSD and depression. The researchers, who included Dr. Paula Schnurr, acting executive director of the VA’s National Center for PTSD, concluded that the need to travel long distances “likely discouraged” veterans in the second group from engaging in counseling. Based on the results, the researchers described telemedicine as a “promising model” for counseling former servicemembers in rural areas.

Dr. Robert A. Petzel, then the VA Undersecretary for Health (foreground), chats via video-conferencing technology during a telemedicine technology exhibit at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The survey, while small in scale, offers one possible solution for easing the burden on a VA system overwhelmed by demand for mental health services. More than 1.3 million veterans received behavioral health care at the VA’s nearly 1,000 hospitals and clinics in 2012, an increase of almost 400,000 from six years earlier An estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of the 2.6 million troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and overall, 22 veterans commit suicide every day nationwide.

The lack of VA facilities in rural areas has spurred the agency to send out so-called “choice cards” to 670,000 veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic. The cards, mailed this month, cover medical costs of former military members who seek care at local hospitals. The VA also plans to develop a cellphone app that will enable veterans to schedule appointments. Agency officials expect the app and an overhauled scheduling system to become available over the next two years.

Study Telemedicine helps treat PTSD in vets - Stripes

See also:

More veterans press VA to recognize medical marijuana as treatment option
November 18, 2014 ~ Every morning, former Air Force senior airman Amy Rising makes breakfast for her second-grader, drives him to school and returns home to prepare what she calls her medicine.

She suffers from severe anxiety after four years working in the frenetic global command center at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, coordinating bombings and other missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rising says she has found a treatment that helps her cope. But her local Veterans Affairs hospital does not provide it — because her medicine is a joint.

At a time when the legalized use of marijuana is gaining greater acceptance across the country, Rising is among a growing number of veterans who are coming out of the "cannabis closet" and pressing the government to recognize pot as a legitimate treatment for the wounds of war. They say it is effective for addressing various physical and psychological conditions related to military service — from chronic back pain and neuropathic issues to panic attacks and insomnia — and often preferable to widely prescribed opioid painkillers and other drugs.

Amy Rising prepares marijuana for smoking

Researchers in the United States and several other countries have found evidence that cannabis can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain, although studies — for instance, looking into the best strains and proper dosages — remain in the early stages. Veterans are lobbying for more states to legalize cannabis for medical use — 23 states and the District of Columbia allow this — but the primary target is the federal government and, in particular, the Department of Veterans Affairs. The federal government classifies marijuana as a "Schedule 1" drug, the same as heroin and LSD, deeming that it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. That means that VA, which runs the largest network of hospitals and health clinics in the country, cannot prescribe pot as a treatment, even for veterans who live in a state where medical marijuana is legal.

Veterans Affairs says that its physicians and chronic pain specialists "are prohibited from recommending and prescribing medical marijuana for PTSD or other pain related issues." Medical staff are also prohibited from completing paperwork required to enroll in state marijuana programs because they are "federal employees who must comply with federal law," said Gina Jackson, a VA spokeswoman. The swelling chorus of veterans who want to take advantage of marijuana but can't reflects the growing disconnect between more tolerant state policies and the federal government's unwillingness to budge. Advocates such as Rising say it is urgent that the federal government recognizes marijuana as a treatment because there are so many veterans of recent wars.

MORE

 

[whitehall]

What is the criteria for a Veteran to be diagnosed with PTSD? Physical injuries or time in combat are apparently not required conditions for a federal diagnosis of PTSD. Grow a beard, develop an addiction, act a little quirky (beat your wife?) and blame it on PTSD and get a pension and time on a reality show. What a Country.

 

[longknife]

What is the criteria for a Veteran to be diagnosed with PTSD? Physical injuries or time in combat are apparently not required conditions for a federal diagnosis of PTSD. Grow a beard, develop an addiction, act a little quirky (beat your wife?) and blame it on PTSD and get a pension and time on a reality show. What a Country.

One must be treated by a certified therapist who will make the determination of PTSD. The big problem is getting an appointment through the VA to see one.

The other side is to be seen while still on active duty and having that determination made before you are discharged.

 

[usmcstinger]

By Steve Wood - (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post
Posted : Tuesday Nov 13, 2012 9:16:54 EST

The medals are encased, the uniforms are tucked away.

Only after returning home to a hero’s welcome, to the residence of all reminiscence while in Iraq or Afghanistan, do many veterans retreat, recoiling from the touch of spouses, the support of fellow soldiers.

An estimated one in five veterans deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 has or will develop post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.

What these service men and women need is a service dog, said Debra Schaser, founder of Canine Hearing Companions in Vineland, N.J.

“They make them feel more secure to go out,” said Schaser, who has been training service dogs since 1993. “Many of them are afraid to go, and having a dog makes them feel better.”

Read more @ Trained dogs help veterans suffering from PTSD - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

I think we often fail to realize just how much a canine friend can help one in times of stress.

 

[usmcstinger]

If it works, keep it going. However, experienced VA Psychiatrists and the VA Vet Centers (Provide Group Therapy ) should be utilized. In some cases VA PTSD Inpatient Programs may be needed.
I believe the real important goal is to give them the tools to rejoin society.
You don't need a lawyer to help you with a PTSD Disability Claim. Accredited VA Service Reps from the Veterans' Service Organizations and State Vets Agencies located at VA Regional Offices. They will help you to navigate the VA's Claims Benefit System. Their services are FREE.

8 years as the Director of a County Veterans Service Agency and over 7 years as a Deputy State Director of Veterans' Affairs.
Grunt with Charley Company 1st Bn 4th Marines Vietnam 1967-68 Northern I Corps.

 

[longknife]

The DAV helped me with mine. A fine organization that I happily support.

 

[usmcstinger]

I had the Vietnam Veterans of America help me.

 

[emilynghiem]

Operation Pits Healing Heroes

Here's a great group that screens and trains pit bulls to match with veterans.
So they solve several problems at once.

I wish this type of screening and training were legally required for pit bulls.
Don't breed or have these pit bulls unless they've gone through this level of screening and training.
Solve so many problems and really help those vets who feel the same way as these dogs, just feared and misunderstood.

 

[whitehall]

Vets....Get some... A "certified therapist" is a counselor certified by the state. If you get in trouble or need a government bennie monthly check to cover your booze consumption and you are willing to swallow your pride and blame PTSD for your problems even if you never served a freaking day under fire, Uncle will usually comply these days.

 

[longknife]

Vets....Get some... A "certified therapist" is a counselor certified by the state. If you get in trouble or need a government bennie monthly check to cover your booze consumption and you are willing to swallow your pride and blame PTSD for your problems even if you never served a freaking day under fire, Uncle will usually comply these days.

And just the hell are you to make such snide and ignorant comments?

Care to tell us what qualifies you to say crap like this?

 

[whitehall]

Vets....Get some... A "certified therapist" is a counselor certified by the state. If you get in trouble or need a government bennie monthly check to cover your booze consumption and you are willing to swallow your pride and blame PTSD for your problems even if you never served a freaking day under fire, Uncle will usually comply these days.

And just the hell are you to make such snide and ignorant comments?

Care to tell us what qualifies you to say crap like this?

I'm a Veteran. The question is what qualifies people for PTSD compensation? If combat experience isn't a criteria for PTSD what is? By the time they are teenagers most kids have seen enough carnage in video games, cable T.V. and the movies to qualify for PTSD.

 

[longknife]

I'm a Veteran. The question is what qualifies people for PTSD compensation? If combat experience isn't a criteria for PTSD what is? By the time they are teenagers most kids have seen enough carnage in video games, cable T.V. and the movies to qualify for PTSD.

Okay, good question.

I did a Google Search for "what qualifies a veteran for disability due to PTSD" and came up with millions of results.

The VVA is one and has a listing @ PTSD How The VA Evaluates Levels Of Disability

IMHO, General Patton was right when he slapped the kid cowering in the hospital while his comrades fought and died.

Combat Fatigue or PTSD is relative to each individual. Those taught from birth to be dependent on others are more likely to suffer most from traumatic events/experience. Those taught to be self-sufficient are far more capable of dealing with it.

So, in effect, we aware the whiners and cry-babies for being "disabled" due to PTSD.

Comments?

 

[whitehall]

You have a prime example of an Air Force babe who never even left the Country claiming PTSD for here role in moving drones around. If you are going to throw the PTSD political football around at least restrict it to wounded combat Veterans.

 

[whitehall]

Right now it looks like anybody who serves in the Armed Forces can qualify for a service dog just by claiming PTSD. An office pogue with a paper cut or a babe with PMS can make a PTSD claim and get a freaking service dog. It's possible that the US is becoming the laughing stock of the world when anybody who serves in the US Military can make a claim of mental illness. If you want to go down the mental illness road at least establish some guidelines. If a Purple Heart or a CIB is required for a PTSD claim it would make a little more sense.