Time: "The Army Venn Diagram from Hell"

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The Army Venn Diagram from Hell | Battleland | TIME.com

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

PTSD in Firefighters, First Responders & Other Rescuers

Two recent news stories highlight the oft-forgotten sufferers of PTSD: First responders, firefighters and other rescue workers.

First up, an NPR article about how the constant threat of working as a first responder or other rescue worker can build up until PTSD symptoms develop.

"Little by little, it just started to build, and then one day, the slideshow that was all these events started running in my head and I couldn't control it," Michael Ferrara told NPR. It all came to a head for him when a friend of his was killed while on duty.

According to NPR (itself covering a story from Outside magazine), PTSD often goes undiagnosed in these occupations because the men who fill these jobs do not like to admit when they are in emotional pain.

But better understanding of PTSD allows both managers and rescue workers to not only deal with their symptoms better, but to recognize them when they first show up.

An Ontario-based newspaper called Cottage Country Now also discusses how volunteer firefighters can be ill-equipped to deal with the trauma of their jobs. Part of this comes from constantly working with survivors -- or seeing those who did not survive. "You're seeing people on the worse day of their life; their house burnt down, they had a heart attack, something bad happened," researcher Brad Campbell told the paper. Campbell's study is one of the first major studies of PTSD in firefighters.

67% of prostitutes meet criteria for PTSD

Tim Bates, columnist for the Rome Observer, digs up some surprising statistics about prostitution:

"the Council for Prostitution Alternatives, in Portland, Oregon... found that 85 percent of surveyed prostitutes reported a history of sexual abuse in childhood, while 70 percent reported incest. Compare that to estimates of childhood sexual abuse in the general population at anywhere from 15- 38 percent of women and 12-16 percent of men...

"Other statistics ... over half have been raped or beaten by a client, more than three quarters have been physically assaulted while in prostitution and/or have attempted suicide, and that 67 percent meet diagnostic criteria for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

Bates is arguing that prostitution is hardly a "victimless crime," as many often see it, but tends to involve people who have already been traumatized victimized and makes it likely for the women to be further traumatized at every step.

Crimes against prostitutes are far too often ignored by the police. This is a segment of the population whose trauma almost makes them invisible.

Let's not forget that soldiers aren't the only people with PTSD, and that war takes on many forms.

Childhood trauma results in adult alcohol abuse

According to a new study, women who abuse alcohol suffered a greater level of childhood trauma. The study looked at 106 men and women without PTSD (a fairly small sample group), but it's another way of disputing that old "children are resilient" saw.

The study was published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.

The primary, secondary and tertiary effects of PTSD

Bob Trowbridge's article "Secondary and tertiary effects of post-traumatic stress related to war" for Helium (a health & fitness site) does much to illustrate the pains and symptoms of PTSD.

Trowbridge (a spiritual counselor, not a therapist) breaks it down like this:

Primary effects:
Nightmares
Flashbacks
Hypersensitivity
High blood pressure and other physical symptoms
Paranoia
Withdrawal from society

Secondary effects:
The effect on friends and family
The potential for violence

Tertiary effects:
Difficulty rejoining society
Unemployment
Homelessness
Alcohol and drug abuse
Inability to perform in social situations

Trowbridge points out that this three-tiered breakdown of effects is completely artificial. In other words, it's not a diagnostic tool, just a way for us to look at symptom/effects in meaningful clumps that tell a story of the problems PTSDers encounter.

And hopefully, once we understand, proper treatment can begin.

Worth a read.

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.)

PTSD plus substance abuse: A lethal combination

From Reuters:

Many troops coming home from the wars binge-drink alcohol, [Dr. Thomas] Kosten said. About 3 percent are hooked on opiate painkillers. And overall, the returning troops smoke cigarettes at levels more than double that of the general population, he said.

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