A country with PTSD

The abuser has been acknowledged, but not held accountable.  And, in fact, the abuse is ongoing by the abuser's proxies.

[M]ore than 1 million people have died in America from the COVID pandemic – hundreds died just this week. The nation has not properly grieved such a massive loss. Part of that inability to properly grieve is a function of how the Trump regime and its agents have faced no serious criminal (or even civil) punishments for their role in what was a de facto act of democide.

Ultimately, however, Trumpism and other forms of fake populism are symptoms, not the cause of a deep societal rot that spans American society. When social deviance and other anti-social and anti-human behaviors are normalized entire cultures become pathological.

[...]

Of note: Americans are 4.4 percent of the world's population but consume more than 80 percent of the opioids.

  Salon

From Dr. Norrholm:

The fact is we have a major political party in this country that is hell-bent on breaking democracy – for largely selfish and nihilistic reasons. This major political party has a huge influence on almost half of the population (according to polls and the results of the 2020 Presidential and 2022 mid-term elections). This influence is bolstered and magnified by the right-wing news media and social media platforms. And let's be honest here, a loud voice has been given to people who, according to many widely held societal, moral, legal, psychological and faith-based criteria, are the worst humanity has to offer. They worship guns. They devalue the life of children. The support corporate greed and resist oversight despite deadly effects on the populace. They contort and misinterpret and mis-apply Christian thought and values. They lie with impunity. They define patriotism as fidelity to one man and his disciples.

[...]


There was a time when Howard Dean's candidacy for President was derailed because he once yelled too loud into a microphone at a campaign event. Jim Jordan covered up a university sexual assault scandal. Marjorie Taylor Greene cheered the 1/6 Insurrection. 147 Republicans voted to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. None were sanctioned, punished, or removed.
[...]

Social pressures and outright deception and corruption have muted any accountability efforts. These long-lasting ripple effects of the Trump era have created an open space for the delusional and dysfunctional to grab the wheel of our government and the people held hostage. Just look at the election process for Kevin McCarthy to Speaker of the House. One renegade group of MAGAites hijacked the U.S. Congress for days.

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[T]he destruction of the moral compass and avarice and cowardice in the Republican party has ushered in a new wave of candidates and politicians. What were once damning qualities or behaviors are now either swept aside or embraced.

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We have elected officials who are concocting fake personas out of whole cloth, who are (and were) opposing restrictions like closings and mask wearing meant to stop the spread of a deadly virus, and rather than wearing ribbons of support for the victims of gun violence are wearing depictions of deadly assault rifles – all while claiming to be "pro-life."

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A healthy American society starts with accountability. It means pursuing the case against the former President and his acolytes for the only insurrection on American soil at the heart of our democracy. It means Fani Willis in Georgia fully pursuing the criminal case against the former President (and other loyalists) for actively interfering in an election. It means banishing the former President and his loyalists from serving in elected office.

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[M]y advice is to build up your micro-world, build relationships, celebrate the little things, spend time with your parents, siblings and kids. Take time for self-care, relaxation, and hobbies. Exercise regularly and eat right. All of these micro-scale activities will help you gain resistance against the socio-political-cultural world that you can no longer blissfully ignore. I run several times a week, meditate, call friends and family often – all in the service of girding myself for the long haul.

PTSD expert Seth Norrholm interview

Great news for some PTSD disorders

Tyler Skluzacek remembers his dad as a fun, outgoing man before he left to serve in Iraq. When Patrick Skluzacek came home in 2007, says his son, he had changed.

Patrick was being consumed by nightmares. At night his dreams took him back to Fallujah, where he had served in the U.S. Army as a convoy commander. He sweated profusely and thrashed around in his sleep, sometimes violently.

The nightmares were so vivid and so terrible that he feared closing his eyes. The only way he could get to sleep was with vodka and pills, he says.

Patrick's life began to unwind. His marriage fell apart. "[I] pretty much lost everything," he says, fighting back tears. "My house, everything, my job, everything went."

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According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 52% of combat soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder have nightmares fairly often, compared to 3% of the general public.

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[Tyler] put together a team to program a smartwatch to detect the onset of night terrors based on the wearer's heart rate and movement.

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But the tricky part was to provide "just enough stimulus [in the form of a gentle vibration] to pull them out of the deep REM cycle and allow the sleep to continue unaffected," Tyler says.

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With constant fine-tuning as his dad slept in the next room, Tyler eventually perfected the algorithm.

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After years of suffering, Patrick finally found relief. He was able to get his life back. He has remarried and he's working as a mechanic again. There are the occasional bad dreams, but they no longer rule his life.

More people will soon be able to benefit from Tyler's invention. An investor purchased the rights to the app and started a company called NightWare.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the app, which works with an Apple Watch, to treat PTSD-related nightmare disorders. It will soon be available by prescription through the VA.

  NPR

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Memorial Day

It was meant to be part of a social media tribute on Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday afternoon, the United States Army posted a video on Twitter featuring a scout in fatigues who said his service gave him the opportunity to fight for something greater than himself, making him a better man.

In its next tweet, the Army opened the floor and asked: “How has serving impacted you?”

  NYT

And they got what they weren't looking for.

[T]he call-out provided what some felt was a rare platform to spotlight the darker consequences of military service for soldiers and their families, as tweet after tweet described lifelong health complications, grief over loved ones lost, sexual assaults gone unpunished and struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

[...]

In one tweet replying to the Army, a man who said he was a Navy veteran described how he had suicidal thoughts everyday.

Another read: “I was assaulted by one of my superiors. When I reported him, with witnesses to corroborate my story, nothing happened to him. Nothing. A year later, he stole a laptop and was then demoted. I’m worth less than a laptop.”

[...]

[Another said,] “I don’t like to go out to places [...] I don’t like to be around a lot of people. When my kids have stuff at school, I’m usually sitting in the back. I don’t want people behind me.”

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“I know more people that have committed suicide in my unit than have been killed when we were deployed,” he said. “The Army is a good place, the military is a great place. The training, it gets you ready for war, but they don’t get you ready for coming home.”

Now the question is...what will the Army do with that information?

“Your stories are real, they matter, and they may help others in similar situations,” the Army said in a series of follow-up tweets. “The Army is committed to the health, safety and well-being of our Soldiers. As we honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice this weekend by remembering their service, we are also mindful of the fact that we have to take care of those who came back home with scars we can’t see.”

Nice words.