Found below is a letter/email blast from a concerned citizen encouraging people to attend SFTT’s fundraising event at the Gotham Comedy Club in NYC on Tuesday, June 26th. Signup online and support our troops with more than lip service.
Attached is an invitation to an SFTT fundraising event, which will be held on the evening of Tuesday, June 26th at the Gotham Comedy ...
Continue Reading →The United State Senate unanimously approved legislation authored by
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The event is part of Senator Conrad’s continuing efforts tobring greater awareness to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”), a severe anxiety disorder often associated with having experienced the trauma of combat.
For the third year in a row the Senate passed Senator Conrad’s resolution designating June 27 as National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day. The day is intended bring greater awareness about PTSD and help eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health issues.”National ...
Continue Reading →The following article entitled “Honor, Stigma…and PTSD” is written by Frank Ochberg who is the Co-Chair of SFTT’s Medical Task Force. Dr. Ochberg has been dealing with the complexities of PTSD for some 40 years. His words resonate even more strongly today as many troubled veterans are returning home to environments which may appear to be less hostile on the surface, but are equally dangerous nonetheless. Our institutions are simply unprepared and, perhaps, unwilling to deal ...
Continue Reading →In a heart-breaking story by Mike Scotti entitle ” below:
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THE Department of Veterans Affairs, already under enormous strain from the aging of the Vietnam generation, the end of the Iraq war and the continuing return of combat troops from Afghanistan, announced in April that it would increase its mental health staff by about 10 percent. But too many veterans waging a lonely and emotional struggle to resume a normal life continue to find the agency a source of disappointment ...
Continue Reading →In an editorial opinion published in the New York Times on May 26th entitled ”
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The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have repeatedly promised to do a better job of handling the medical evaluations of wounded and disabled service members. Instead, they are doing worse.
The processing of disability cases is getting slower, not faster. Efforts to ensure a “seamless transition” out of the military are falling short. Men and women are languishing without treatment, struggling to readjust ...
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In a series of alarming reports, the V.A. and medical profession are beginning to wonder if treating PTSD with Opioid prescription drugs is the right course of action. Referring to V.A. records, U.S. Medicine reports that “more than 141,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been diagnosed with non-cancer pain. The prevalence of PTSD among that group is 32%, with 19% diagnosed with other psychiatric disorders.”
Of this group, “11% ...
Continue Reading →In a remarkable article entitled published March 23 in the Opinion section of the Washington Post, Retired
The article, quoted in its entirety, is a sad commentary on the current state of our ability to evaluate the readiness and mental well-being of men and women serving in harm’s way. SFTT fully concurs with Dr. Xenakis concluding paragraph: “To recover from 10 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army must focus not on weapons systems but on people. This ...
Continue Reading →Stand For The Troops and Mitchells of Westport, CT will host a charitable fund-raising event to raise money for our brave warriors suffering from PTSD. Please join us at Mitchells in Westport (date TBA) to lend your voice to this charitable cause.
Make no mistake, the military brass recognize that many veterans of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”). In fact, it is estimated that 1 in 5 veterans suffers from PTSD.
As such, it is difficult to reconcile a recent news report that US Army Doctors are trying to hold down the number of military service members that are diagnosed with “the Army’s top medical officer this week rejected assertions that commanders are discouraging ...
Continue Reading →Over a week ago, I attended a fascinating lecture and discussion with Dr. Henry Grayson, Chairman of SFTT’s Medical Task Force, on the exploration of new treatments for veterans suffering from PTSD. The meeting was hosted at the headquarters of the Organization for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in midtown NYC.
The meeting was designed to explore some of the new methods to treat veterans with PTSD. Together with the physicians and clinical psychologists ...
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