First Lady supports hiring veterans [Video]

First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on David Letterman's program last night, where she reported that unemployment among veterans has decreased 20% in the past year.

Letterman himself mentioned that some employers might be frightened of hiring veterans, especially those with PTSD. She replied that it's important not to stigmatize PTSD.



Here's more on the Obama administration's Joining Forces program.

Do you find this blog helpful? Please consider a donation to Fearless Nation PTSD Support so we can continue to bring you news and information about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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

PTSD? PTS? PTSI?

Words have power. Is "post traumatic stress disorder" the right name? Does the word "disorder" lead to misconceptions and stigma? Instead, should it just be called "post traumatic stress" or maybe, as Gen. Peter Chiarelli suggests, "post traumatic stress injury"? Trauma causes an actual physical change to your brain. The term "injury" makes sense.

What do you think?

Read more:
Army General Calls for Changing Name of PTSD | PBS NewsHour

On a similar note, here's an image often used by Fearless Nation PTSD Support:

PTSD or PTS?

Our sister site Fearless Nation PTSD Support calls PTSD a normal reaction to abnormal events. The military agrees and is pushing to have PTSD reclassified as simply PTS -- post-traumatic stress, no "disorder." In fact, more often than not, they are already dropping the D.

Time's Battleland blog looks into the issue:

Military mental-health workers constantly try to reduce the stigma associated with mental-health ills, and one way to do that is to not term the problem a disorder.


Some veterans agree, but others -- fearful the name change is simply a way of minimizing what they're going through -- don't. "It's a double-edged sword," a long-time Army psychiatrist says privately. "We're trying to reduce the stigma associated with the condition, but it's in the DSM-4 [the American Psychiatric Associati0n's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the accepted roster of various mental conditions] as PTSD. And some veterans fear that deleting disorder will jeopardize the VA benefits they get for it."

So what do you think? Does the word Disorder matter? Does it have meaning? Does it add stigma? Is it truthful or in the way? We'd love to hear your comments.

PTSD Awareness Event Coming to Second Life December 19

24-hour International Event to Showcase Benefits of Virtual Environments for PTSD Survivors

Fearless Nation, the online community for people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), will host a massive online event in Second Life (SL), the online virtual environment, to bring awareness to the needs of PTSD survivors and their families. The "Be Fearless" event will run for 24 hours beginning at midnight PST (UTC -8) on December 19, 2009 and run through midnight PST on December 20.

The event will include an open house of the Fearless Nation Second Life community, information and resources about PTSD, and an art show entitled "From the Abyss," allowing visitors to see the world through the eyes of a PTSD survivor. It will also include 24 hours of music and dancing spearheaded by DJ Britsurfer Bauer. Gifts, prizes and SL land giveaways donated by SL residents will also be offered to attendees.

"The 'Be Fearless' event is an opportunity to raise awareness about PTSD and to dispel the stigmas associated with this disorder," says Colleen Crary, founder of Fearless Nation. "We live in a world where it is estimated that 14 percent of the population may have some form of PTSD, yet it remains a highly misunderstood condition."

PTSD can result when one has experienced actual or threatened death or serious injury; threat to one's physical integrity; witnessing an event that involves death, injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of another person; learning about unexpected or violent death, serious harm, or threat of death or injury experienced by a family member or other close associate. Characteristic symptoms include persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event; persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma; numbing of general responsiveness; and persistent symptoms of increased anxiety.

Fearless Nation is an international multicultural community of PTSD and trauma survivors, offering support, education and understanding of PTSD. The group welcomes PTSD sufferers, their families, friends, and clinicians, war veterans, law enforcement personnel, emergency response workers, torture and crime victims, man-made and natural disaster survivors, and survivors of all traumas.

Fearless Nation uses immersion in the Second Life Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) to give traumatized individuals experiences in social interaction and avatar activities that promote trust, skill mastery, and health through:

• Creation of a flexible "physical" presence (the avatar)
• Control over environment (can build, create own space, choose interactions)
• Education about PTSD (knowledge is power)
• Trying activities that diminish fear and anxiety such as:
• Talking openly in a safe space about traumatic experiences
• Progressive muscle relaxation (avatar yoga, movement, dance)
• Performance (music, singing, speaking, poetry, storytelling, dance, showing art, speech-making, etc.)
• Creative expression (music, art, poetry, clothing, etc.)
• Social interaction with others (rebuilding social skills)
• Supporting other PTSDers (getting outside one's own trauma)
  
• Receiving support from other PTSDers (accepting help and rebuilding social skills)
  
• Advocating for PTSD awareness and treatment (giving back)
  
• Trying new ways to approach problems (re-conceive the perception of traumatic experiences)

"I see the virtual environment of Second Life to be of great value to PTSD sufferers and their families," says Crary. "Research has shown that virtual reality environments can help people with PTSD to re-train their brains toward healing and recovery through shared experiences. SL provides the perfect environment for this approach, and despite the heavy hardware required, is low-cost and accessible to those seeking help. It provides privacy and anonymity for those seeking community."

If you are not already a "resident" of SL, you can get a free account and avatar at www.secondlife.com. Once you have an account, you may attend or participate in the "Be Fearless" event by visiting the SL events page for December 19 or going the Second Life url, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Paradise%20Aloha/76/121/25. You can also find the Fearless Nation community by searching in SL for "PTSD" or by visiting the Fearless Nation website at www.fearless-nation.org.

A New Name for PTSD?

First it was called "shell shock." Then "battle fatigue." Now it's PTSD -- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

But is this still the wrong name?

Speaking at a meeting of the American Psychoanalytical Association, Dr. Jonathan Shay says we should lose the word "disorder" and just call it "Post-Traumatic Stress" -- or maybe just call it a "Psychological injury."

Shay says that the word "disorder" mis-characterizes the damage of PTSD, and creates a stigma that makes people who have it less likely to seek treatment.

Is this just semantics? Maybe. But words do have power, as Shay discusses here: