You may want to ask people to call or write their Senator and Congressman to support the following

You may want to ask people to call or write their Senator and Congressman to support the following.

The current Senate Bill by John Mc Cain – S.788 – 115th Congress (2017-2018)/VeteranOvermedication Prevention Act of 2017. Also presented by the House Of Representatives is a companion bill; H.R.2652 – Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017, Sponsored by Rep. Mike Coffman [R-CO-6] introduced 05/25/17.

Hopefully these bills will provide more integrative treatment for our military Vets, without the use of brain altering, non-effective, destructive psychiatric medications. Also it is imperative that more physiatrists be hired by the VA to work with our vets. A physiatrist is a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) medical doctor who specializes in treating physical and mental difficulties. This specialty can be seen as one “Born of War,” going back to after WW I, when PM&R was the treatment of choice for our war veterans..

Although the government states that there are 20 veteran suicides a day (Figure released by the government in 2016) in the US, this figure is an underestimate, since several states don’t report specific veteran suicides. This suicide rate has been reported in the past several years as 22 suicides a day, which was still an underestimation.

Related to this high suicide rate is the fact that in 2010, the number of veterans filling a prescription for brain altering psychiatric medications (All have black box warnings of suicidality as the first adverse effect) was 1.85 million veterans filling at least one prescription. From 2005 thru 2011, the Department of Defense increased the amount of psychiatric medications purchased by about 700%. From 2001 through 2011, the VA spent $1.64 billion just on benzodiazepines and the antipsychotics Risperdal and Seroquel.

PTSD has been a label placed on 37% of recent war veterans with 80% of those being given brain altering psychiatric medications.of these vets, 89% were prescribed antidepressants and 34% were prescribed antipsychotics. The psychiatric community has failed to realize that PTS (Without “D”) is a normal reaction for most people that have been in combat. It’s a shame that government spent $3 billion on “PTSD treatments” for veterans in 2012 alone, without realizing that PTS is a normal reaction to being in an abnormal environment. With the proper amount of time and supportive integrative treatment, this normal reactions, associated with the abnormal experience of combat, i.e., hyper vigilance, nightmares,… etc., can be reversed with much less monies being spent.

One must remember that in WW II , veterans were identified with Battle Fatigue, not a label of Battle Fatigue Disorder. This is because the medical community realized that Battle Fatigue was a normal reaction to being in combat. Veterans simply got fatigued from fighting and with proper rest and relaxation (R&R), most returned to normal functioning. This is not occurring today, since psychiatry is in the business of medicating most of their patients with brain altering drugs that don’t work and in some situations, Electro Convulsive Therapy (ETC) that also destroys healthy brain cells.

The lack of proper treatment of our vets has resulted in the VA’s mental health budget increasing from about $3 billion in 2003 to $7.5 billion in 2016. If any military person had a higher than average number of deaths for the troops they were responsible for, they would be relieved and possibly court-martialed. If a corporate officer, in the civilian community, were responsible for significant financial losses, they would be fired and replaced. So one can ask the question, why the people responsible for veterans mental health (Psychiatry in general as a profession), and the consistent loss of lives to suicide , haven’t been fired and replaced? This is a question that must be answered!

REFERENCES

Invisible Scars, by Bart P Billings,Ph.D, Feb 2016

www.bartpbillings.com

· http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2016/07/07/Va-suicide-20-daily-research/86788332/.

Ilse R. Wiechers, MD, MPP, et al., “Increased Risk Among Older Veterans of Prescribing Psychotropic Medication in the Absence of Psychiatric Diagnoses,” Am J. Geriatr Psychiatry, Jun 2014.

“VA/Defense Mental Health Drug Expenditures Since 2001,” May 2012 Drug Totals, Government Executive, http://cdn.govexec.com/media/gbc/docs/pdfs_edit/051712bb1_may2012drugtotals.pdf.

Susan Donaldson James, “Marines Battalion Mentally Upbeat, Despite Record Deaths,” ABC News, April 15, 2011, http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/camp-pendleton-marine-battalion-mentally-fit-deadliest-war/story?id=13377215; Mohamed S, Rosenheck RA, “Pharmacotherapy of PTSD in the US Department of Veterans Affairs: diagnostic- and symptom-guided drug selection,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2008, June Vol. 69, No. 6, pp. 959-65, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18588361.

Mohamed S., et al., “Pharmacotherapy of PTSD in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: diagnostic- and symptom-guided drug selection,” J. Clin Psychiatry, Jun 2008, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18588361.

John Ramsey, “The Last Battle: Steven Chadduck lost his home and nearly committed suicide while waiting for help for PTSD,” Fayottesville Observer, Sept. 24, 2012, fayobserver.com/military/article_a0699933-cac5-5ced-8616-f01eef305f16.html; Leo Shane III, “Budget deal nails down fiscal 2016 spending for DoD, VA,” Military Times, 16 Dec 2015, http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/12/16/budget-omnibus-fy16-defense-veterans-affairs-pentagon/77416466/.

Alan Zarembo, “Government’s PTSD treatment for veterans lacking, report finds,” Los Angeles Times, 20 Jun 2014, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ptsd-report-20140621-story.html.

Alan Zarembo, “Government’s PTSD treatment for veterans lacking, report finds,” Los Angeles Times, 20 Jun 2014, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ptsd-report-20140621-story.html.

“Let’s Stop Using Experimental Vaccines and Psych Drugs that are Destroying our Veterans and Military Personnel,” Health Impact News, 2014, http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/lets-stop-using-experimental-vaccines-and-psych-drugs-that-are-destroying-our-veterans-and-military-personnel/.

Bart P. Billings,Ph.D.

Just wondering why still 22 suicides a day (Gov’t now states 20 which is underestimate) for Vets.

9-17-16

With all the statistics being thrown around during this election year, i.e., number of murders in inner cities, victims of illegal aliens, etc., the figure of 22 veterans committing suicide each day (approx. 8,030 a year) gets lost in the shuffle for Vets.

Gov’t now states 20 vet suicides a day, which is an underestimate, since not all places count veterans suicides, especially vets on VA waiting list for mental health services that never get seen.

This suicide rate has been going on for many years and little seems to be done by the government to help this large number of veterans, who have served our country with distinction.

When I ask myself WHY ??? I start thinking what possible reason could their be for this negligence? Is it purposeful that nothing has been done to help these vets? Who would do such a thing, I wonder? Heaven forbidden that I even allude to a conspiracy — not me!

Here are some of the things that go through my wondering mind:

1. The profession generally in charge of Mental Health Services in the Veterans Administration and Military is Psychiatry (As well as in the civilian community). As I noted in my book, “Invisible Scars,” Psychiatry’s primary treatment modality is brain altering psychiatric medication, that have a severe BLACK BOX warning, that lists suicide as the first side effect. Now consider that the field of psychiatry and the big-pharma companies ( that produce psychiatric medications) generate 1/3 of a trillion dollars a year dispensing these drugs.

2. Then I think, that if 8,030 vets a year are removed from receiving medical benefits, retirement income, social security, etc., how much money is the government saving on these expenditures each year for many years.

3. How could our country, with so many brilliant scientists, fail to solve the problem of suicide among our veteran population. We are the country that put men on the moon almost 50 years ago. We cured Polio and many other diseases?

4. Is a consistent 22 Veteran suicides a day (Some professional veteran groups think it is more) for such a long period of time coincidental or is it purposeful?

5. Why do we hear the excuse from the governments mental health mouthpiece (psychiatry), that there is no silver bullet to solve the problem. Could it be that they are looking for ONE SILVER BULLET that is a drug. If you are old enough, you will remember that the Lone Ranger had a whole belt of silver bullets to solve lawlessness in the old west. I call this integrative treatment in mental health?

6. When we are presently loosing now and over the past several years, so many of our battle proven, best patriots to suicide, more than in current combat, more than being murdered in major individual inner cities, more than to criminal illegal aliens, why is this not the main issue in this years election?

Just wondering!!
Bart P. Billings,Ph.D.