This week's Fearless Nation webinars: Applying the breaks, PTSD stigmas, bullying and more

Fearless Nation PTSD Support will host six free online discussions this week covering topics like applying the breaks when triggered, challenging the media stigma against PTSD, and replacing the "feel-good" chemicals in your body. One session will be held in the virtual 3-D world of Second Life while the other five will be held as webinars.

Full information is below, at the Fearless Nation website here, and at this Facebook event. 


MONDAY, JULY 30

9 AM (PDT, -8 GMT)
Empower PTSD Support Meeting - TOPIC: "Applying the Brakes When Triggered"
Presentation and Discussion
URL: https://fearlessnation.webex.com
Meeting Number: 623 512 286  <-- Copy and paste this number in the login page to join the meeting.
Meeting Password: #1Fearless

11 AM (PDT, -8 GMT)
Health-N-Mind Meeting: "Stop Bullies at Work and Play!" Be a "bully buster"!
Where: The Second Life® virtual world http://www.secondlife.com/
LOCATION: Health Info Island, Health and Wellness Pavilion
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/197/43/22

6 PM (PDT, -8 GMT)
Insights Recovery Meeting - TOPIC: "How to Replace 'Feel Good' Chemicals in Your Body"
URL: https://fearlessnation.webex.com
Meeting Number: 627 879 959  <-- Copy and paste this number in the login page to join the meeting.
Meeting Password: #1Fearless

TUESDAY, JULY 31:

9 AM (PDT, -8 GMT)
Insights Recovery Meeting - TOPIC: "How to Replace 'Feel Good' Chemicals in Your Body"
URL: https://fearlessnation.webex.com
Meeting Number: 622 141 546  <-- Copy and paste this number in the login page to join the meeting.
Meeting Password: #1Fearless

11 AM (PDT, -8 GMT)
Timely Topics PTSD Support Discussion: "STIGMA: Challenging Media PTSD Stereotypes"
URL: https://fearlessnation.webex.com
Meeting Number: 627 262 070  <-- Copy and paste this number in the login page to join the meeting.
Meeting Password: #1Fearless

6 PM (PDT, -8 GMT)
Empower PTSD Support Meeting - TOPIC: "Applying the Brakes When Triggered"
Presentation and Discussion
URL: https://fearlessnation.webex.com
Meeting Number: 624 116 029  <-- Copy and paste this number in the login page to join the meeting..
Meeting Password: #1Fearless

Could bartenders help diagnose depression and PTSD?

The old saw is that your local bartender will listen to your problems when nobody else will.

But what if they could do more than listen to your problems? What if they could provide answers?

That's the idea behind a new study published in the Journal of Military and Veterans' Health.

Let's go to the press release:


A pilot study suggests that some bartenders may be in a good position to identify veterans in need of mental health services and help connect them to the appropriate agency.

Researchers at Ohio State University surveyed 71 bartenders employed at Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Ohio.

The results showed that bartenders felt very close to their customers and that these customers shared their problems freely with them, said Keith Anderson, lead author of the study and assistant professor of social work at Ohio State.

"Many of the bartenders said that their customers were very much like family," Anderson said.

"Given the closeness of the relationships, these bartenders are in a really great position to help these veterans – if they are given the right training and the right tools."

Of the bartenders surveyed, 73 percent said their role with their customers was "like family." And about 70 percent of the bartenders said that the veterans they interacted with "always" or "often" shared their problems with them.
Encouragingly, 80 percent of the bartenders said they would be willing to refer veterans to services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

These results show why bartenders may be especially well-suited to help troubled veterans, Anderson said.

"We need to find the veterans where they are. Many of them may not be willing to go to a VA clinic to seek out help on their own. The VFW bartenders may be one of our best chances to reach some of these veterans," he said.

Part of this study looked into whether bartenders might already have the sensitivity to notice problems that others might not see:

About two-thirds of those surveyed rated their ability to recognize depression in their patrons as "moderate," while the remaining third rated their ability as "high."

Only 14 percent rated their ability to recognize symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as "high" while 43 percent rated their ability as low.

Two small quibbles: 1) We hope bartenders can be trained to tell trauma to stop drinking, and 2) younger vets simply aren't joining their local VFW or American Legion these days. But if you could take this further to all bartenders, it might help make them a very good resource for people who would otherwise be drowning their sorrows.

Read the whole release about this pilot study here:

Bartenders may have role in assisting troubled war veterans

Navy publishes free graphic novel about combat stress

The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) has published a 200-page graphic novel (available for free to Navy and Marine personnel by mail or to all online) to help Corpsmen understand "the stresses of combat deployments."

"The Docs" The graphic novel tells the stories of four fictional corpsmen as an illustration of "military life within a combat zone."

"Since the start of combat operations in the Middle East, Navy Medicine recognized that expeditionary hospital corpsmen have extremely high exposure to the many significant stressors of war, both acute and chronic," said Capt. Greg Utz, NHRC commanding officer, in a press release about the project. "Their dual roles as caregivers and combatants puts them at high risk for stress injuries, so we developed this graphic novel as an innovative way to help our Sailors prepare for and interpret situations they may see in theater."

I've read "The Docs," and it's rather amateurishly illustrated and written, and obviously more of a PR-related pro-military device than a truly honest work, but it still packs some truth and reality and a few surprising moments. I'd say it's worth a look, at least as a starting point, but anyone who really wants to know about "combat stress" needs to go a lot further.

40 Excellent Blogs for PTSD Support

The Nursing Schools website has pulled together this excellent resource: 40 Excellent Blogs for PTSD Support.

Alas, we didn't make the list, but PTSD News is more about information than support, so we encourage you to click the link and start reading.

Several of these blogs also appear on our blogroll sidebar, along with a few others that didn't make the Nursing Schools list, so don't forget to check out our sidebar, too!

Do you know of any sites that didn't make either list? Let us know in the comments!

How children react to parents with PTSD

One family member's PTSD can have terrible effects on the rest of the family, especially when it's a parent suffering.

According to an article from the National Center for PTSD, the symptoms of PTSD "can be frightening not only for the individual experiencing them but also for the children who witness them."

Children often react to PTSD in three common ways: by behaving like their PTSDer parent (the "over-identified child"); by trying to fill the adult's normal role in the family (the "rescuer child"); or by becoming emotionally uninvolved.

All of these responses can pose problems for a child later in life. And in fact, the children can, themselves, develop their own cases of PTSD, a condition known as "intergenerational transmission of trauma."

But that doesn't mean the situation is hopeless for families. According to the article, simply explaining to a child why a parent has been traumatized (without going in graphic detail) can go a long way toward alleviating the stress a child feels.

Treatment/therapy as a family is also often a valuable asset and tool.

If anyone in your family is suffering from PTSD, this article by Jennifer L. Price, PhD, is essential reading:

When a Child's Parent Has PTSD - National Center for PTSD

PTSD and its effect on the family

How does PTSD affect the entire family unit? From spouses to children to parents, it can be devastating.

JD News, a newspaper out of Jacksonville, is running a two-part series on the effects of PTSD on military families. Here's part one:

Families also suffer from effects PTSD

And here's part two:

Programs help educate families about PTSD

(Some of the resources listed in part two are just for people in the Jacksonville area, but others are nation-wide, and all of the advice is worth reading.)

Secondary PTSD

We've previously written about Compassion Fatigue, a condition similar to PTSD that takes its toll on caregivers, be they doctors, nurses or family members.

Now, the You Served blog presents 10 tips on living with a spouse with PTSD.

Give it a read. It may help.