Invisible Wounds

What stress does to the soul

Eric Newhouse

VA Says 68,000 Vets Addicted to Opioid Painkillers

Opioid painkillers are addictive, but the VA has been prescribing them to about a half million vets—and treating nearly 70,000 of them for addiction to their meds.

Opioid Abuse May Be Fueling a Heroin Epidemic

Prescriptions for painkillers like OxyContin have soared in recent years, then dropped way back. Some who became addicted to opioids are now believed to be turning to heroin.

Recovering From PTSD With the Right Help

I personally know the exhilaration of sitting atop a mountain peak in Montana. Building positive memories like this are important in overriding the memories of trauma.

Getting It Off Your Chest

Julie Davey is a journalism professor who has been teaching cancer survivors and U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton how to write about their traumas as therapy.

Study: Some PTSD May Result From Blast Concussion

Researchers find a distinct pattern of scarring in the brains of soldiers who experienced concussive blasts and believe they may have caused post traumatic stress disorder.

Why Are Some Soldiers With Combat Stress More Resilient?

Researchers in San Diego have found genetic differences in two groups of combat vets—those with PTSD and those without it—that may explain why some are more resilient.

Talking Out Military Sexual Trauma

Jennifer Sluga told the VA's "poet-in-residence," Thor Ringler, about her sexual abuse so her VA caregivers would understand her concerns, but it became a liberating experience.

An Oral History Program to Tell Veterans' Stories

Thor Ringler, the VA's "poet-in-residence," spearheads a pilot program of taking oral histories from vets. It's been so successful that the program is being copied around the VA.

One Soldier's Struggle With Torture, Trauma and Moral Injury

LTC Bill Edmonds was put in an impossible situation: forced to decide between allowing torture to save American lives or risking death to American soldiers.

After Three Years, Justice from the VA

VA finally upgrades former Army Capt. Charles Gatlin's TBI disability rating, but one question remains: Why did it take them three years to read his DoD medical records?

Vets' Aftercare Should be Calculated as a Cost of War

Before going to war, our government should be prepared to provide post-war help for its soldiers. One mom's letter demonstrates the extent of our failure to do so.

Should Someone be Accountable for Acts He Can't Control?

PennLaw Professor Stephen J. Morse suggests a new legal plea to reflect disorders like PTSD in which some vets may have cognitive or control deficits that limit their culpability.

Vets Experiencing Trauma Can't Respond to Reason

One prominent neuroscientist is finding that the rational brain shuts down in traumatic situations, leaving emotions in control. That means a new approach to therapy.

VA Therapists Help Vets Wrestle With Moral Injuries

What a soldier did to his perceived enemies (or failed to do for his buddies) may haunt him for years because moral lapses can't be excused in hindsight.

Facing Trauma May Be Good Therapy

Dr. Edna Foa (left) makes the case for prolonged exposure therapy at a CERL conference on PTSD in Philadelphia, but says she doesn't think moral injury is a useful concept.

Betrayal of Trust Can Result in Moral Injury

Moral injury can occur when a soldier is ordered to do something that violates his moral code. And that may explain the rise in military/veteran suicides.

Honoring Fallen Comrades of War in Indochina

Stuart Allen Beckley, a retired lieutenant colonel, restored his own sense of honor by honoring comrades in arms who died in Indochina. His monument on a remote ridgetop in in Colorado, was largely unknown until a group of bikers found it recently and posted this image on YouTube.

Journalists Can Be Nearly as Prone to PTSD as Combat Vets

Recent studies show that war correspondents and photojournalists covering combat may have five times the normal rate of PTSD. Some national and international news organizations are now offering counseling to employees who are having trouble processing what they've seen on the job.

Foundation Helps Vets "Dress for Success" in Job Interviews

Kewon Potts, a Navy veteran, was one of 25-plus vets being given new suits, dress shirts and ties this month to wear to job interviews. The Save-a-Suit foundation and its founder, Scott Sokolowski, believe it's important to dress for success because it improves the interviewer's critical first impression and builds the vets' confidence.

How Hurricane Katrina Affected One Journalist's Life

My friend and colleague Charlotte Porter finally has written about how devastated she was after living through Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. It's a reminder that journalists are humans who are affected by natural disasters. News organizations need to provide counseling, as needed, for their war correspondents and journalists covering natural disasters.

Agri-therapy Helps Vets With PTSD

Retired Army Staff Sgt. Eric Grandon still suffers from PTSD, but he's finding that farming keeps him focused. His goal is to use his farm to help other vets find peace after coming home from war.

Prescription Drugs Helped Re-boot My System

From personal experience, I'm learning that prescription drugs can be useful in the short term to allow the body to re-boot itself. And I suspect the same may be true for those suffering from PTSD.

New Research Tools to Test Brain Injury

Scientists at UCLA have been studying the brains of retired football players to determine what types of brain damage are caused by repeated concussions, and new technologies are allowing them to examine living brains. The next step will involve combat vets to see how they differ from NFL players and from Alzheimer's victims.

VA Emails Discuss How to Handle "Problem" Vet

Ever wonder what the VA is saying behind your back? Charles Gatlin did. So he and his wife requested—and received—hundreds of pages of emails that testify to a growing rift between a vet and the agency designated to serve him.

Vet Wins Partial Victory on TBI Rating Challenge

A VA appeals panel has ordered a full neuropsychological workup for a former Army captain, Charles Gatlin, who challenged his TBI disability rating on the grounds that the VA's RBANS screening test wasn't capable of measuring the brain injury he suffered from a car bomb in Iraq. It's a ruling with implications for all vets, but the VA says its policy won't change.

Tai Chi in the VA

Dr. Roger Jahnke has been training instructors throughout the VA in a version of the ancient Asian discipline that he calls Tai Chi Easy. It accommodates all vets, including the disabled, by allowing them to practice it standing, sitting or lying down. Tai Chi promotes relaxation by adjusting body movements, slowing breathing and focusing the mind on the moment.

Veterans Facing the End

Kandyce Powell and her colleagues at the Maine State Prison have put together a remarkable program to help incarcerated vets dump their emotional baggage in their waning days. It validates vets who have been unable to discuss what they did to others in combat. But helping their fellow inmates also turns out to be hugely therapeutic for the inmate hospice volunteers.

He Had Everything to Live for, But...

Alcohol is so powerful that it can lead people down a lonely path to death. Our son-in-law had everything to live for, but chose that lonely path instead. So I've been asking myself why some people choose to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory. And I'm sorry to say that I don't have a very good answer.

VA to State Regulators: Buzz Off

Former Army Capt. Charles Gatlin and his wife, Ariana Del Negro, have been battling the VA over what they believe to be an arbitrary change in his evaluation for traumatic brain injury. A state licensing board agreed with them two months ago and directed the state-licensed psychologist working for the VA to change his assessment. He did, but the VA refused his change.

PTSD: Post-Terror Soul Distress

At 14 years old, Jack van Vuuren strangled a Nazi soldier, then fled occupied Holland to join the Allied Forces during WWII. But he suffered from untreated PTSD all his adult life. Now his daughter, Karen van Vuuren, explores spiritual injuries post-combat in a new documentary film. She says that PTSD can't be healed without forgiveness and atonement.

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