70% of US combat vets on anti-psychiatric drugs:

[Mushroom]

This is right in line with the rest of the US population.

CBS: Study shows 70 percent of Americans take prescription drugs - Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit medical and research center, report that antibiotics, antidepressants and painkiller opioids are the most common prescriptions given to Americans.

No, it is not. And that study says nothing like what the OP said.

 

[emilynghiem]

I think it is from the rejection and demonization of anything to do with spirituality or religion.

The people I know who can withstand either military service, or dealing with the Court system as a lawyer especially corporate level lawyers, or can handle politics without falling apart have a strong foundation in either Christianity or faith, or other such support.

If we deny and discriminate against anything Christian, religious, or faith-based,
this is denying help to people who need it; especially veterans who may rely on such a strong foundation in order to serve in combat and recover from trauma afterwards.

Buddhism has helped many people overcome traumas and depression/mental conditions resulting. the therapy is based on forgiveness, where the Christian healing prayers can go much deeper and remove barriers to healing the person is not even aware of consciously.

There are books and countless testimonies about the healing power of forgiveness and prayer to break generational cycles and receiving healing.

I would like to see more medical and scientific research established publicly, so we don't deny public knowledge and equal access to people whose health and lives could be saved.

Gordon Duff @ 70% of US combat vets on anti-psychiatric drugs: Gordon Duff | Veterans Today

An American Marine says as many as 40 percent of those who serve in the US military are under psychiatric care, adding that up to 70 percent of war veterans have been on anti-psychiatric drugs.

I love and honor all those who serve and have served out nation in uniform. But, this bothers me a great deal. I remember many 'Nam vets complaining how their service caused them to turn to drugs to escape “the horrors of war.” Yet, many I knew were prone to drugs before, during, and after their service!!!

Has our Dependency Society brought about this reliance on drugs to deal with our problems? Instead of dealing with problems like adults, IMHO, more and more are turning to crutches.

What's YOUR take on this?

 

[emilynghiem]

...while working to reach those who did not.

PTSD did not start with Vietnam. After WWI, it was called shell shock and those people were ostracized.

Far too many men and women vets are suffering. We should not ignore that.

Thanks, Luddly

I am also concerned about the denial of help with recovery
to military victims and survivors of sexual trauma and abuse.

The added retaliation against such persons, and the bureaucracy
of the VA, just makes this burden even more traumatizing.

Not a large population, but a growing one. I figured if we can
reform the system to accommodate what these Vets need for
safe recovery, this would help other disabled Vets with mental or poverty issues,
and all other situations could be handled also.

This is why I WISH the ACA had another option to let people invest
in health plans to help them and Vets at the same time, and I think
people who don't agree to the insurance mandates would gladly
pay into some other system like that the Republicans could structure
to be based on voluntary participation and free market development.

 

[whitehall]

Again, where does the 70% figure come from? It should be noted that among the same age group as Veterans, suicide is the second cause of death on college campus. The government starts drugging kids in grammar school and we end up with a drug dependent society apart from the perceived effects of combat on Veterans.

 

[WelfareQueen]

There is no such thing as an anti-psychiatric drug. The writer is an idiot. Maybe he meant anti-psychotic???

******* moron.

 

[Moonglow]

Big pharma has reached it's goal, by advertising and claiming success with the ads and drugs they sell, Americans have been brainwashed into believing that these pills are the answer....

 

[Mushroom]

This is right in line with the rest of the US population.

CBS: Study shows 70 percent of Americans take prescription drugs - Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit medical and research center, report that antibiotics, antidepressants and painkiller opioids are the most common prescriptions given to Americans.

I can't really take that report seriously at all. It gives no breakdown of what is taken, the frequency, or anything else.

I have had a prescription for over 20 years for Motrin. My wife has an epi pen at all times. This is simply a scare story with no real information at all.

In other words, for the consumption of those without critical thinking skills, and as important as the OP.

 

[WelfareQueen]

^^^exactly right. I'm in the field. Virtually everyone in America has taken something that could be considered a psychiatric medication at one point in time. The fact the writer of the article calls these medications "anti-psychiatric" indicates he is either an idiot, or attempting to troll. My guess would be a combination of both.

If you have been in combat...had bullets flying around your head...been through what many of our soldiers have been through...most folks would never recover.

I have worked with hundreds of vets. They have my complete respect. To smear them with this type of article is disrespectful and bullshit. End of story.

 

[Mushroom]

^^^exactly right. I'm in the field. Virtually everyone in America has taken something that could be considered a psychiatric medication at one point in time. The fact the writer of the article calls these medications "anti-psychiatric" indicates he is either an idiot, or attempting to troll. My guess would be a combination of both.

If you have been in combat...had bullets flying around your head...been through what many of our soldiers have been through...most folks would never recover.

I have worked with hundreds of vets. They have my complete respect. To smear them with this type of article is disrespectful and bullshit. End of story.

Exactly!

Especially when they list 2 of the top 3 as antibiotics and opiates.

Well, that covers just about anybody who has serious dental work. When I had my wisdom teeth out 7 years ago I was given both, antibiotics to prevent infection and Tylenol 3 for pain. Then 2 years ago when I had a major lung infection I once again was given antibiotics and a cough suppressant with codeine.

And last year when I broke my wrist, codeine once again.

So what does that prove? Not a damned thing.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

One of the greatest dangers Americans are facing both civilian and military in the 21st century is the deadly SSRI drugs they are administering for depression, anxiety, etc. Zanax, Alprozam, Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin, all of these drugs should never have been allowed on the market. These synthetic drugs are mind altering and very, very dangerous. They are cumalitive - never leave the body - and the damages they cause are only now being discovered. SSRI's damage the liver and create cancer. That is something your doctor won't tell you yet research how many people online with cancer are on SSRI's. Our military soldiers are being medicated on this garbage, our children, our nation is in great peril with these drugs available by prescription and on the streets. Imagine what would happen in a blackout with an extended time where there was no access to a pharmacy! What mayhem that would be!

Years ago if someone got depressed they went to their pastor and got some counseling and worked through it. Today one case of depression and the quack psychologists and psychiatrists ( who have never cured a person in their lives! ) will write a perscription for a psychotronic drug like Zoloft and not give it a second thought! It's all about the money which is why none of these pharmaceutical cartels creating these addictive / mind altering drugs have been prosecuted. The doctors make money, the hospitals make money, the lobbyists pay off the congressmen and senators and they make money... its the love of money and you see where it has led.

That is exactly what is happening in the military. I think they use us for test dummies. I know of several Soldiers who took their prescribed meds and never woke up. It is a sad day when you have to worry about the doctors killing you with medication.

I developed PSTD from childhood. I didn't know what it was until maybe 15 yrs ago. The mistake I made was allowing them to put me on an SSRI. I was working in a very fast pace job and realized I could not connect with my clients on that garbage. It was clouding my personality, I couldn't sleep without it, function without it, life was not the same. So I did what I would not recommend anyone else on earth doing!

I took myself off on the weekend and threw my prescription bottle into the fireplace. I did not sleep for 4 days - I cannot tell you the agony I went through by taking myself off all at once. I had to go back to doctor and got a small dose of Atavan to let me sleep 4 hours or so... I was very disciplined in using it twice and throwing that out too. Then I went totally herbal. Passion flower tea full strength from health food stores, melatonin at night - even though it did nothing for first 6 months. The first four months were very hard. I never took another medicine and I feel great. That is over 8 yrs ago.

The stronghold is in the mind. You have such a fight to get off it you cannot believe the lie that it's not possible. We were born with the ability to sleep and have occasions of sleeplessness. We were born with the ability to be joyful but we should accept that not every day is the same and some may be pretty dark days.

The key is to realize it is not abnormal to have a depression, to have to work through something, it is not abnormal for the elderly to laugh often ( yes, they are now advertising a drug if you notice your elderly parents laughing to much! ) It isn't abnormal to feel overwhelmed after your life has been put through a whirlwind - such a tour to Iraq! ( I didn't serve - but I can relate to trauma ) It takes time to heal. Be patient.

We are a society using drugs to escape the natural reactions we experience in life and allowing the medical field to interfere with the natural process of things - healing takes time, emotional healing can take longer, so who's on a time clock? All things are made beautiful in their own time and we'll come out better than before if we are willing to not take the shortcut to SSRI synthetic meds which in reality are a dead end.

Life is good without SSRI's. I'm a living testimony.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Gordon Duff @ 70% of US combat vets on anti-psychiatric drugs: Gordon Duff | Veterans Today



I love and honor all those who serve and have served out nation in uniform. But, this bothers me a great deal. I remember many 'Nam vets complaining how their service caused them to turn to drugs to escape “the horrors of war.” Yet, many I knew were prone to drugs before, during, and after their service!!!

Has our Dependency Society brought about this reliance on drugs to deal with our problems? Instead of dealing with problems like adults, IMHO, more and more are turning to crutches.

What's YOUR take on this?

Your statement is nothing but hearsay. PTSD did not keep the vast majority of Vietnam Combat Veterans from getting on with their lives. They worked and had good careers.
You should do research on a subject instead making an ass of yourself.

...while working to reach those who did not.

PTSD did not start with Vietnam. After WWI, it was called shell shock and those people were ostracized.

Far too many men and women vets are suffering. We should not ignore that.

I believe PTSD was around prior to WWI. I don't know that they had a name for it but the effect was the same as it is today, Luddly.