Jenny McClendon asked the American Psychiatric Association in the ethics complaint she filed to redress the harm done to her by diagnoses that came from their manual, the DSM, and to prevent future harm to others. The APA summarily dismissed the complaint with no indication of considering its merits and saying that there is no appeal.
This was sent to Paula J. Caplan:
I read an article you wrote called "Don’t know what to say to veterans? Just listen. " as an iraq vet i loved it what you said is the truth. im 24 and i have a 1 year old daughter my wife doesnt like to hear my stories because it bothers her and she tells me i need to just forget it and move on its hard i have tried pushing it out of my head by drinking a lot that didnt work so im stuck with it and it leads to us not talking and fighting when all i am thinking about is what i have done and cant talk to her about it. some days i will get off work early and stop by the bar here in town and there is normally a few old timers that want to hear about it there strangers that have there own stories and we swap them for 30 or so min and i go home and dont tell my wife i got off early or that i stopped and had a beer. so i think what you did haveing people for vets to talk to is great i wish there were places like that other then the bar. thank you for what you have done for vets.
After I got home I couldn't find a way to get rid of the feelings I had and I found out adrenaline was the feeling that could make me not think about stuff I had done. I had brought a brand new silvarado I was always doing things to push the limits I would clime to the top of a tree over the river when everyone said it wasn't safe and jump. I jumped off a bridge that was 30 feet off the water and the water was only 7 feet deep the rush was amazing but it only lasted a few seconds I convinced a friend to jump off with me it was raining and about 130 in the morning headlights from my truck lighting up the water. we were both on the rail he looked at me and in his eyes I could see he was afraid I will never forget what he said to me he said "how can you do this what's going on in your head that makes you think that this will help? are you that gone inside that you cant come back? are you going to do stupid crap tell one day it kills you?" all I said was who knows I don't and I jumped hit the water and shot right to the bottom and busted my feet on the bottom I was ok and I didn't scream on the way down or thrash my friend jumped because it was the fastest way to me. I was fine and so was he I had jumped 3 times before that all that night every time I jumped the rush got less and less. he left as soon as we got out of the river and went home. I had nightmares the night before and a felt like the world could see everything I did in Iraq and that know one would talk to me they protected them self from me. so I picked up a friend and we were headed out to go fishing I asked him do you trust me he said yes you of all people could fight away anything and I trust you. so I pushed the gas to the floor and looked at him and said 100 mph do you still trust me and he said yes. we were driving out a highway that has roller coaster hill 3 right in a row I topped the 2nd hill and my truck came off the ground I was going 110 mph when I topped the 3rd hill I had crossed the center line and my truck was air born and there was a truck coming up the hill I turned the wheel and when my truck hit the ground I blacked out this now is what my friend told me happened my truck shot to the right I corrected and it went to the left I corrected 7 times before I wrecked. I broke my neck in 2 places and couldn't open the doors I busted the windshield out and pulled my friend out then sat down because I didn't feel good. we weren't wearing seat belts. he had a few cuts other then that was fine. they put me in a neck brace and sent me home after 24 hours in ICU they told me not to do anything just lay around and don't take off the neck brace. that didn't happen I went out drinking every night I walked 4 miles the second day I was home the day after that I ran 10 I went fishing and had sex I was careless about my life I went back to the hospital got another MRI and the doctor came in with a ghost white face and looked scared he said "I don't know what you did or how its happened I was planing on doing surgery on you but its healed I don't understand it" I told him I was superman and he said I guess so but your fine you don't need the neck brace. I have a daughter now and im living for her I don't drive fast im not careless but the nightmares have gotten worse but my daughter is my life.
I read an article you wrote called "Don’t know what to say to veterans? Just listen. " as an iraq vet i loved it what you said is the truth. im 24 and i have a 1 year old daughter my wife doesnt like to hear my stories because it bothers her and she tells me i need to just forget it and move on its hard i have tried pushing it out of my head by drinking a lot that didnt work so im stuck with it and it leads to us not talking and fighting when all i am thinking about is what i have done and cant talk to her about it. some days i will get off work early and stop by the bar here in town and there is normally a few old timers that want to hear about it there strangers that have there own stories and we swap them for 30 or so min and i go home and dont tell my wife i got off early or that i stopped and had a beer. so i think what you did haveing people for vets to talk to is great i wish there were places like that other then the bar. thank you for what you have done for vets.
After I got home I couldn't find a way to get rid of the feelings I had and I found out adrenaline was the feeling that could make me not think about stuff I had done. I had brought a brand new silvarado I was always doing things to push the limits I would clime to the top of a tree over the river when everyone said it wasn't safe and jump. I jumped off a bridge that was 30 feet off the water and the water was only 7 feet deep the rush was amazing but it only lasted a few seconds I convinced a friend to jump off with me it was raining and about 130 in the morning headlights from my truck lighting up the water. we were both on the rail he looked at me and in his eyes I could see he was afraid I will never forget what he said to me he said "how can you do this what's going on in your head that makes you think that this will help? are you that gone inside that you cant come back? are you going to do stupid crap tell one day it kills you?" all I said was who knows I don't and I jumped hit the water and shot right to the bottom and busted my feet on the bottom I was ok and I didn't scream on the way down or thrash my friend jumped because it was the fastest way to me. I was fine and so was he I had jumped 3 times before that all that night every time I jumped the rush got less and less. he left as soon as we got out of the river and went home. I had nightmares the night before and a felt like the world could see everything I did in Iraq and that know one would talk to me they protected them self from me. so I picked up a friend and we were headed out to go fishing I asked him do you trust me he said yes you of all people could fight away anything and I trust you. so I pushed the gas to the floor and looked at him and said 100 mph do you still trust me and he said yes. we were driving out a highway that has roller coaster hill 3 right in a row I topped the 2nd hill and my truck came off the ground I was going 110 mph when I topped the 3rd hill I had crossed the center line and my truck was air born and there was a truck coming up the hill I turned the wheel and when my truck hit the ground I blacked out this now is what my friend told me happened my truck shot to the right I corrected and it went to the left I corrected 7 times before I wrecked. I broke my neck in 2 places and couldn't open the doors I busted the windshield out and pulled my friend out then sat down because I didn't feel good. we weren't wearing seat belts. he had a few cuts other then that was fine. they put me in a neck brace and sent me home after 24 hours in ICU they told me not to do anything just lay around and don't take off the neck brace. that didn't happen I went out drinking every night I walked 4 miles the second day I was home the day after that I ran 10 I went fishing and had sex I was careless about my life I went back to the hospital got another MRI and the doctor came in with a ghost white face and looked scared he said "I don't know what you did or how its happened I was planing on doing surgery on you but its healed I don't understand it" I told him I was superman and he said I guess so but your fine you don't need the neck brace. I have a daughter now and im living for her I don't drive fast im not careless but the nightmares have gotten worse but my daughter is my life.
From: Ms. Colleen Bushnell
In response to the American Psychiatric Association president's letter in the Washington Post, available here
Well Mr. Oldham. Your logic is troubling. The military is handing out psychotropic medicines like jellybeans. Often, the medicines are causing suicidality.
This isn't about impaired functioning, for many of these people, its about literally having no way out! of surviving unfathomable mental anguish.
The military is intent on making life hell for anyone suffering mental anguish, because they do not want to compensate them for perceived weakness, and assume the troop is whining to get out of their commitment to their service branch. People have limits. Does that need a label?
What's best for many traumatized military members, is often, to go on sabbatical, or get discharged. But instead, suffering people are kept hostage and forced to comply with a culture that threatens their livelihood in every sense, with the power to add or detract from benefits, and even legal status.
Does the STOCKHOLM SYNDROME ring a bell? Traditional psychotherepeutic modalities are ineffective within the military culture. Psychotherapy in the civilian world vs the military culture, is apples to oranges, and until someone of influence stands up for servicemembers human rights, we will undoubtedly watch our nation's heroes resort more and more to the only way out for many of them.
Its not an irrational fear that drives many to end their lives, or a fear of stigma, but rather, the very real problem of having no one to turn to, no end in sight for the unbearable suffering, and pain, of living with trauma while serving.
In response to the American Psychiatric Association president's letter in the Washington Post, available here
Well Mr. Oldham. Your logic is troubling. The military is handing out psychotropic medicines like jellybeans. Often, the medicines are causing suicidality.
This isn't about impaired functioning, for many of these people, its about literally having no way out! of surviving unfathomable mental anguish.
The military is intent on making life hell for anyone suffering mental anguish, because they do not want to compensate them for perceived weakness, and assume the troop is whining to get out of their commitment to their service branch. People have limits. Does that need a label?
What's best for many traumatized military members, is often, to go on sabbatical, or get discharged. But instead, suffering people are kept hostage and forced to comply with a culture that threatens their livelihood in every sense, with the power to add or detract from benefits, and even legal status.
Does the STOCKHOLM SYNDROME ring a bell? Traditional psychotherepeutic modalities are ineffective within the military culture. Psychotherapy in the civilian world vs the military culture, is apples to oranges, and until someone of influence stands up for servicemembers human rights, we will undoubtedly watch our nation's heroes resort more and more to the only way out for many of them.
Its not an irrational fear that drives many to end their lives, or a fear of stigma, but rather, the very real problem of having no one to turn to, no end in sight for the unbearable suffering, and pain, of living with trauma while serving.
From:
Ms. Corinna Robinson
Steering Committee, Veterans Campaign
corinnaann@aol.com
I remain humbled that you sought me out to assist in your endeavors to promote "The Welcome Home Johnny and Jane Home Project". Briefly hearing of your national project was certainly unique in comparison with so many others ~ it focuses on helping warriors heal in a non-traditional manner.
As a combat veteran supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and being a single mother whom raised three sons for the majority of their lives, I can attest that my strength to endure was simply having someone who would "actively listen" and allow me to perform my duties with confidence and excellence. Too often, our warriors (military and civilian) are unnecessarily medicated or labeled as needing mental health counseling to endure challenges.
It may not be the politically correct thing to state publicly, but my sincere hope is that chaplains and their services are more readily sought out as a means of "healing" too.
Thank you for taking on such a meaningful project, and I look forward to facilitating your success.
Ms. Corinna Robinson
Steering Committee, Veterans Campaign
corinnaann@aol.com
I remain humbled that you sought me out to assist in your endeavors to promote "The Welcome Home Johnny and Jane Home Project". Briefly hearing of your national project was certainly unique in comparison with so many others ~ it focuses on helping warriors heal in a non-traditional manner.
As a combat veteran supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and being a single mother whom raised three sons for the majority of their lives, I can attest that my strength to endure was simply having someone who would "actively listen" and allow me to perform my duties with confidence and excellence. Too often, our warriors (military and civilian) are unnecessarily medicated or labeled as needing mental health counseling to endure challenges.
It may not be the politically correct thing to state publicly, but my sincere hope is that chaplains and their services are more readily sought out as a means of "healing" too.
Thank you for taking on such a meaningful project, and I look forward to facilitating your success.
From Robert V.:
Dr. Caplan,
I Just wanted to complement and thank you for the story I heard on WBUR today. The obligatory "thank you for your service" has always been something that has bothered me. I am a veteran and have always appreciated it but also have found it to be awkward and a bit shallow, however I never thought the thanks to not be well intentioned. I think many people are oblivious to this. Even my wife was surprised when I told her I was bothered by this.
You were also very good in identifying what I call "pog-guilt" (pog is a Marine term for people other-than grunts), because I have long felt the guilt of being veteran who has never served in combat. This guilt, in part, has also contributed to my decision to join the reserves, even though I have been out for ten years.
I was a Marine who was stationed in San Diego before 9/11 at MCAS Miramar, which was just transferred to the Marines from the Navy. When the Marines came, they also brought their noisy helicopters, which was very unpopular with the local community, and as a result I felt very unwelcome in San Diego. However, this instantly changed on 9/11. On that day, I happened to be doing my annual rifle qualification, and on my ride back to base from the rifle range on a Marine Corps bus, I saw people honking their horns, cheering and waving at me and the other Marines on the bus. I never felt so insulted or outraged. What I thought was "earlier this morning you people hated us, and now that you want us to go overseas and kill people, you love us? You've got to be kidding." So when I'm told "thank you for your service," I also feel a bit of bitterness due to my 9/11 experience. It also makes me wonder that when we are finished firing shots in anger, if the acknowledgement of service will end as well, especially since the military isn't exactly fun during peacetime either.
Thanks again for the story,
Robert.
Dr. Caplan,
I Just wanted to complement and thank you for the story I heard on WBUR today. The obligatory "thank you for your service" has always been something that has bothered me. I am a veteran and have always appreciated it but also have found it to be awkward and a bit shallow, however I never thought the thanks to not be well intentioned. I think many people are oblivious to this. Even my wife was surprised when I told her I was bothered by this.
You were also very good in identifying what I call "pog-guilt" (pog is a Marine term for people other-than grunts), because I have long felt the guilt of being veteran who has never served in combat. This guilt, in part, has also contributed to my decision to join the reserves, even though I have been out for ten years.
I was a Marine who was stationed in San Diego before 9/11 at MCAS Miramar, which was just transferred to the Marines from the Navy. When the Marines came, they also brought their noisy helicopters, which was very unpopular with the local community, and as a result I felt very unwelcome in San Diego. However, this instantly changed on 9/11. On that day, I happened to be doing my annual rifle qualification, and on my ride back to base from the rifle range on a Marine Corps bus, I saw people honking their horns, cheering and waving at me and the other Marines on the bus. I never felt so insulted or outraged. What I thought was "earlier this morning you people hated us, and now that you want us to go overseas and kill people, you love us? You've got to be kidding." So when I'm told "thank you for your service," I also feel a bit of bitterness due to my 9/11 experience. It also makes me wonder that when we are finished firing shots in anger, if the acknowledgement of service will end as well, especially since the military isn't exactly fun during peacetime either.
Thanks again for the story,
Robert.
From Lee Ballinger at rockrap@aol.com:
Vietnam
Twenty years ago when I moved to California
I went to Wells Fargo to open a bank account
The teller was young, beautiful, Vietnamese
My first thought was
"You know, I might have fucked your mama"
My second thought was
"You know, I might have killed your mama"
I took my receipt
Went outside
And threw up on the sidewalk
And you wonder why I have trouble sleeping?
You wonder why I broke the lamp and punched a hole in the wall?
You wonder why road rage makes me feel so good?
My body came back but not my mind
And I will always be ten thousand miles away
No Queens in the Kingdom
Suppose
Just suppose
That all the rappers
All the rappers who ever used the words “bitch” or “ho” in a song
Controlled the United States government
Suppose
That this rapper government sent out police
Special units dressed in sweats and backwards baseball caps
Sent them into every neighborhood
To arrest any woman who wasn’t acting “properly”
Suppose
That this government of all the rappers who ever used the words “bitch” or “ho” in a song
Refused to allow women to vote
Or to drive
Or to go to school
Or to get a divorce
Or to ever leave the house
This is just a fantasy, right?
The over-heated product of my fevered imagination
You wish
Take out the hip-hop part
And hop on over to Saudi Arabia
And you’ll find that this sick fantasy is alive and well
For Saudi women
All 14 million of them
They aren’t allowed to vote
Or to drive
Or to go to school
Or to get a divorce
Or to ever leave the house
This is terrible but it doesn’t affect you, does it?
Hey, Saudi Arabia is 8,300 miles away
What goes on there doesn’t affect you, does it?
You wish
Our government
The real one of corporations, not rappers
Our government
Has given over three hundred billion dollars to the Saudi royal family
To preserve the status quo there
That’s your money
When you get paid
Under deductions
It should say
“Saudi Royal Family”: $42 a week
Every time you see a library close in America
Or a school go without books
Or a hospital downsize
Think of how your taxes are spent
Saudi Arabia may be 8,300 miles away
But it’s also smack dab in the middle of your neighborhood
Our government
The real one of corporations, not rappers
Our government
Dresses our sons and daughters in fatigues
And sends them to Saudi Arabia
Where bombers bomb them and snipers snipe them
Three hundred billion dollars covered in blood and oil
Our leaders choke these Arabs with dollahs
Then when the blowback comes they blame it on Allah
When the man in uniform comes to your door to say
“I regret to inform you…”
You scream
The Saudi women scream
Because without our sons and daughters and dollars
The royal family would be overthrown
In a heartbeat
And Saudi women’s hearts would beat again
And your son’s heart would beat again
But what about the women here in America?
What about these words “bitch” and “ho”?
We want uplift
A different world, if you get my drift
But we’ve got no power
Those of us underpaid by the hour
We only have power
Over what we choose to listen to
Or what we choose to say
What about our leaders who have all the power?
Misogyny has many progeny
When you ask these leaders
Why did my daughter get killed in Saudi Arabia
And my niece amputated in Iraq?
When you ask these leaders
Why can’t my wife get health care?
When you ask these leaders
Why does my mother go hungry?
They answer:
It’s your songs, your lyrics, your images
Don’t ask us to get involved in bigger scrimmages
Til you clean up your act
When our leaders run this game
We believe them
We receive them
With respect they’ve never earned
When words mean more to us
Than a woman from Jalisco
Raped by the Border Patrol and left to die in the Arizona desert
Then yes, we must admit
It’s time to clean up our act
*****
Excerpted from the upcoming book Love and War: My First Thirty Years of Writing by Lee Ballinger. If you would like to make a comment or to be notified when the book is published, please email rockrap@aol.com or go to http://www.facebook.com/leeballingerwrites.
Please feel free to forward.
Lee also writes:
There is no "cure" looking backwards (I don't think there is a cure for those of us caught up in it, peace is the cure for the future). These experiences are in us, they will not leave. Human connection is the main way I have found to keep going, to manage life and make it worthwhile. Thank you very much. Lee
May 27, 2011
Good Morning,
I just wanted to say I heard you speak on the radio this morning in Sacramento with Eric. I can only tell you it brought tears to my eyes. I am a 22-year army vet who served in Vietnam and Desert Storm. I suffered PTSD, went through many changes but was successful in gaining my life back after many tragedies. I always felt alone and unconnected. I was not thanked much after Vietnam, spit on, yes, which was very hard for a youngster of 19-20 to understand.
You touched on that this morning, and it is so true. I believe soldiers develop a loss of "connection" that is part of being a soldier with what we are trained to do. You almost have to disconnect and disengage. With many, this part of our brain is damaged, and we aren't able to reconnect without lots of help, and most of that help must be initiated by others. I cry in my heart for all our wounded veterans.
Paula, of course, use my name and my email. Maybe if someone needs to talk I am available to help. Please let me know if there is any other way I can help.Thank You for making a difference and taking up the fight.
Jim ( retired Command Sergeant Major) Proud to have Served My Country.
rza3perry@yahoo.com
Good Morning,
I just wanted to say I heard you speak on the radio this morning in Sacramento with Eric. I can only tell you it brought tears to my eyes. I am a 22-year army vet who served in Vietnam and Desert Storm. I suffered PTSD, went through many changes but was successful in gaining my life back after many tragedies. I always felt alone and unconnected. I was not thanked much after Vietnam, spit on, yes, which was very hard for a youngster of 19-20 to understand.
You touched on that this morning, and it is so true. I believe soldiers develop a loss of "connection" that is part of being a soldier with what we are trained to do. You almost have to disconnect and disengage. With many, this part of our brain is damaged, and we aren't able to reconnect without lots of help, and most of that help must be initiated by others. I cry in my heart for all our wounded veterans.
Paula, of course, use my name and my email. Maybe if someone needs to talk I am available to help. Please let me know if there is any other way I can help.Thank You for making a difference and taking up the fight.
Jim ( retired Command Sergeant Major) Proud to have Served My Country.
rza3perry@yahoo.com
May 27, 2011
Greetings Dr. Caplan,
I had the interesting experience of listening to your interview this morning on the Brian Lehrer Show. And I thank you for your obvious passion on our behalf, simply. I was affixing a new shower curtain during the broadcast, but of course that isn't the reason that kept me from calling in. (Apparently, none of us called in, as far as I heard, despite Brian's hopeful request that we might do so.)
(Quick about me: I write you from Brooklyn, a former Army SSG who served in an aircrew in Iraq, 07-08.)
So why didn't we speak? Surely in the whole of NYC I wasn't the only vet listening. This is the point I'd like to communicate, and not that the radio isn't a valid forum but we all would rather that first shattering of silence come via the request of someone in our family, or someone we grew up with, or someone we've been intimate with. One just can't expect that our most guarded emotions be revealed initially on a broadcast, though doubtless the intentions of the requester are honorable.
We can't even talk to ourselves. Out of the five guys in my squad, one went right back to the zone as soon as he could, one will not answer any correspondence, one works for a gov't agency doing the rough stuff, one was in counseling for suicide, and one was in AA. And that's just one squad, after one tour, and we weren't even grunts, though we did go out everyday and pull a mission. But I was fortunate in that I'd had a B.A. when I joined up, and so I was able to go into graduate studies almost immediately upon returning home (spring 08), and so I sought a language for the unspeakable (not unspeakable as a judgement, unspeakable as an un-contextualizable occurrence) events of the war, and did philosophy as first aid, and went on to literary studies, and all's well, as far as the surface is concerned. Regardless of being equipped with an intellectual arsenal, we are all still speechless in the middle of the night. And the point you raised on the program is the impetus for this now too long message.
I had the good fortune for a book of my poems, war poems, to be published recently, called Say Again All, written last year while I was a graduate student in London, and that has put me in touch, out of the blue, with a Vietnam vet (we've never met) that I feel free to speak with. I wrote him a rant recently, as writes his own to me, and his answer to mine had the wonderfully baffled question of "Why won't anyone talk about this?" Which is to say, I think you're correct that most of us don't need pills, we need attention (as weak as that might sound), meaning we just need a loved one's time; I come from a very good family, as do all the guys in my squad, more or less, my father is himself a vet, but no one has ever asked me one damn question about 'over there', outside of the (and this question isn't rare, as offensive as I find it) one I get all the time from women: "Have you ever killed anyone?"
So, I thank you for your research, do keep us in mind. Thanks for reading this email. Your work doesn't go unnoticed by us, just as those of us who are trying to react creatively to the war hope our work doesn't go unnoticed by the world.
Be well,
Paul Wasserman
pwtikrit@googlemail.com
Greetings Dr. Caplan,
I had the interesting experience of listening to your interview this morning on the Brian Lehrer Show. And I thank you for your obvious passion on our behalf, simply. I was affixing a new shower curtain during the broadcast, but of course that isn't the reason that kept me from calling in. (Apparently, none of us called in, as far as I heard, despite Brian's hopeful request that we might do so.)
(Quick about me: I write you from Brooklyn, a former Army SSG who served in an aircrew in Iraq, 07-08.)
So why didn't we speak? Surely in the whole of NYC I wasn't the only vet listening. This is the point I'd like to communicate, and not that the radio isn't a valid forum but we all would rather that first shattering of silence come via the request of someone in our family, or someone we grew up with, or someone we've been intimate with. One just can't expect that our most guarded emotions be revealed initially on a broadcast, though doubtless the intentions of the requester are honorable.
We can't even talk to ourselves. Out of the five guys in my squad, one went right back to the zone as soon as he could, one will not answer any correspondence, one works for a gov't agency doing the rough stuff, one was in counseling for suicide, and one was in AA. And that's just one squad, after one tour, and we weren't even grunts, though we did go out everyday and pull a mission. But I was fortunate in that I'd had a B.A. when I joined up, and so I was able to go into graduate studies almost immediately upon returning home (spring 08), and so I sought a language for the unspeakable (not unspeakable as a judgement, unspeakable as an un-contextualizable occurrence) events of the war, and did philosophy as first aid, and went on to literary studies, and all's well, as far as the surface is concerned. Regardless of being equipped with an intellectual arsenal, we are all still speechless in the middle of the night. And the point you raised on the program is the impetus for this now too long message.
I had the good fortune for a book of my poems, war poems, to be published recently, called Say Again All, written last year while I was a graduate student in London, and that has put me in touch, out of the blue, with a Vietnam vet (we've never met) that I feel free to speak with. I wrote him a rant recently, as writes his own to me, and his answer to mine had the wonderfully baffled question of "Why won't anyone talk about this?" Which is to say, I think you're correct that most of us don't need pills, we need attention (as weak as that might sound), meaning we just need a loved one's time; I come from a very good family, as do all the guys in my squad, more or less, my father is himself a vet, but no one has ever asked me one damn question about 'over there', outside of the (and this question isn't rare, as offensive as I find it) one I get all the time from women: "Have you ever killed anyone?"
So, I thank you for your research, do keep us in mind. Thanks for reading this email. Your work doesn't go unnoticed by us, just as those of us who are trying to react creatively to the war hope our work doesn't go unnoticed by the world.
Be well,
Paul Wasserman
pwtikrit@googlemail.com
