Honor Veterans Support Their Mental Health
One of the most important ways we can honor our veterans this Veterans Day is to support their mental health. And I mean SUPPORT as in doing the same kinds of things we do to SUPPORT a person’s physical health.
We don’t question or shame or expect speedy results when a person seeks help and follows the treatment plan a doctor outlines for their cancer or diabetes or heart disease. Yet we repeatedly question, shame and expect speedy results when a person’s health issue is a mental health issue, like anxiety, depression or PTSD.
Not only this but the medical benefits for mental health services can be woefully inadequate and the work/career fallout when a mental health issue is identified can be ruinous.
Veterans day. Honoring all who served. November 11
Understand the Complexities of Mental Health Issues
I wrote the poem shared below back in the day and recently found it in one of my poetry folders. I’m sharing it as I believe it’s still relevant. Why?
Because as a society…
We still don’t understand trauma, extremely stressful events, toxic stress, childhood trauma, war trauma, mental health disorders, brain developmental processes – especially those that occur ages 12-25. (Note: that link is of a chapter excerpt from my latest book on alcohol use disorders, however the brain facts explained apply to all brain-related topics, including mental health issues.) Most of us have no idea that the brain has an incredible capacity to heal, to re-wire, to repair – to return to “normal” – if given the right kind of help.
We still don’t understand that mental health disorders and trauma are two of the five key risk factors for developing a substance use disorder. We still don’t understand that if a person has both, they’ll need co-occurring disorders treatment, as well.
We still don’t understand that the brain of a teen is not the brain of an adult. Key wiring/brain developmental processes are missing. Processes that typically start around 16 and take until an average age of 22 for girls/women and 24 for boys/men. The brain wiring processes that can help us “make sense” of things that are unsensible – like fighting in a war.
We may think we understand, but how can we? Unless we’re a veteran of war.
As Susanne Astrab Fogger, DNP, FAANP, Randy Moore, DNP, and Leah Pickett, DNP, PMHNP-BC explain in their Journal of Nurse Practitioners article (vol. 12, Issue2, Oct. 2016), “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Veterans: Finding Hope and Supporting Healing,”
A veteran who has gone to war will be changed by the experience. Although not all warriors develop PTSD, for those who do, symptoms vary and are often disabling. The person may be irritable, easily agitated, impulsive, and angry. In addition, the individual may feel confused and depressed; have difficulty making decisions; and feel numb to emotions, disconnected from family, and withdrawn from society. The individual may have intrusive thoughts about the event, ongoing nightmares, poor sleep, and insomnia and may be in a constant state of hyperarousal, always alert for danger.5 Behaviors that may have been protective in a combat environment cannot be turned off when the veteran returns home. Sensory experiences may be triggered by common experiences such as the smell of diesel fuel.
…The stigma around mental illness and misperceptions about treatment may slow or delay the veteran from seeking care. Avoidance of the trauma is hallmark for the disorder; therefore, it is unlikely the veteran will disclose the trauma unless specifically asked. Before seeking assistance, the veteran may try to self-manage symptoms, often for years, frequently using substances such as alcohol to cope.8
Supporting Their Mental Health – Honor Veterans
The images above are 3-D SPECT scans done by Amen Clinics. The top middle two scans show the normal brain scans – top down on left and bottom up on right. Seeing the visual proof of what various mental illnesses (aka mental health disorders) look like in the brain helps us appreciate a person “can’t behave “normally” until their mental illness is treated.
So what can we as the general population do to support our veterans’ mental health?
The National Alliance on Mental illness (NAMI) writes in their article, “5 Ways You Can Support Veteran’s Mental Health,”
“Veterans in this country come from different eras, fought in different battles, used different weaponry and wore different uniforms, but they all share a common experience: the experience of training, moving from place to place, fighting (or training to fight) and living a life that is ever changing. Due to the unique, and sometimes challenging, lifestyle inherent to military life, often our veterans experience mental health challenges such as PTSD, traumatic brain injury or depression.”
Their article goes on to explain the 5 ways you can support veteran’s mental health:
- Understand suicide
- Understand PTSD
- Understand traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Understand depression
- Understand anxiety
To read the full article, click here.
Not only must we understand what we can do and do it, we must know how to help a veteran find the help they need. Here are two places to start:
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) > Behavioral Health & Treatment Services (gives more of the background)
- SAMHSA > Find Treatment
Bottom Line
Lets each of us take the time to read the article links in this blog post and share this information widely. We owe it to our veterans to honor them. One important way can do this is to support their mental health because the most important take-away from this post is that the brain can heal. A person can repair, rewire their brains for better mental health with the right kind of help.
And as always… given much of this can feel overwhelming, daunting, please know I offer free, consultation phone, Zoom, What’sApp or Skype calls to answer initial questions and help you get started. To schedule, please send me an email at lisaf@BreakingTheCycles.com.
©2020 Lisa Frederiksen
Lisa Frederiksen
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