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> PTSD: The Reality vs. the Rhetoric 
> By S. Brian Willson 
> Published in CounterPunch, Weekend Edition, March 18 / 19, 2006 
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> I was flabbergasted to read Sally Satel's March 1, 2006 New York Times > Op-Ed, "For Some, the War Won't End," describing the diagnosis of > post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as creation of a suspicious > "culture of trauma" providing veterans a "free ride" as they approach > retirement age. A flag immediately went up for me because of my own > history with PTSD, but also because Satel is a former VA psychiatrist > who now is a resident scholar at the very biased, neoconservative > American Enterprise Institute (AEI). AEI is a very wealthy think tank > funded largely by old-line conservative family money such as the > Scaife and Olin Foundations, and is closely associated and shares > headquarters with the Project For A New American Century (PNAC), the > latter offering a 1997 blueprint for an aggressive, unilateral U.S. > global hegemony, including domination of Middle Eastern and Central > Asian energy reserves. 
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> The American Enterprise Institute 
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> AEI, a more than 60-year-old think tank committed to preservation of > private enterprise at the expense of The Commons, supports such > policies as censorship of the arts, required prayer in schools, and > privatizing Social Security. It has a list of current and past > fellows, scholars and trustees which makes those interested in a just > human community shudder in angst. Lynne and Dick Cheney, John Bolton, > Ken Lay, Richard Perle, Newt Gingrich, John Yoo, Charles Murray, and > many, many others are affiliated with AEI. One might remember > Korean-American John Yoo who, only a few years ago as a young lawyer > in the Justice Department, wrote legal memos supporting torture while > denying legal protections for "illegal combatants" and advocating the > legal imperative of the Patriot Act. It is worth reminding ourselves > that Charles Murray is the architect of the Bell Curve concluding > existence of intelligence differences between the "races," meaning in > fact the superiority of the White "race," just as Hitler's vision > motivated German Aryan efforts to conquer Europe. 
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> AEI's Board of Trustees includes present and past corporate insiders > such as the Chair of Dow Chemical which exposed several million people > like me and the Vietnamese to the most intense chemical warfare in > human history, and more recently, with the acquisition of Union > Carbide, continues to ignore responsibility for the Bhopal, India > chemical leak disaster that killed and severely maimed thousands. > Other trustees include the CEO of huge corporations such as > ExxonMobil, State Farm Insurance, and Merck Pharmaceutical, the latter > still reeling from misrepresentations about its painkiller, Vioxx, > which, it turns out, increases risk of heart attacks. 
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> George Bush II The Younger, in a February 2003 speech to the AEI > lauded them as possessing some of the "finest minds in our nation" and > noted that he had grabbed twenty of its thinkers for his > administration. Along with Sally Satel, Lynne Cheney is also an AEI > scholar, and they have worked together with the Independent Women's > Forum (IWF) to counter efforts of the National Organization For Women > (NOW) and to oppose feminist politics in general. 
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> Dr. Satel & "Oppression-Based Therapy" 
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> In Sally Satel's book, PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness Is > Corrupting Medicine (Basic Books, 2001), she defines "politically > correct" medicine as a dangerous orthodoxy intended to maintain victim > status. She insists that the healing profession's concern for "social > justice" interferes with patient health because it downplays the role > of personal responsibility. Satel condemns three popular > "oppression-based therapies": (1) those encouraging patients to be > part of what she calls "victim groups"; (2) those suggesting that > psychic stress results from racist or patriarchal society; and (3) > those suggesting that healing is enhanced by activism that assumes a > malignant political-socio environment that contributed to illness of > the patient in the first place. She goes so far as to accuse these > therapies of being malpractice. She opposes "consumer and psychiatric > survivor" organizations and believes in the necessity of coerced > drugging. 
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> By subscribing to these "malpractice" techniques I was rescued from > the scrapheap of war-induced traumas being part of veteran's groups > where we safely share experiences and help process our cognitive > dissonance crises; recognizing that many of our decisions and harmful > behaviors resulted from a cultural racist ideology and blind obedience > to patriarchy that disempowered and dumbed us down; and becoming > active in addressing the causes of war and working for a just society > has assisted in our validation and redemption as human beings. 
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> Satel stoops to the comforts of reductionist thinking, denying the > holistic interplay among dispositional, situational and systemic > factors. In so doing, she ignores the need for understanding the > revolutionary role that historical, social, racial, economic, and > political contexts have had in shaping our thinking, assumptions, and > behavioral patterns. Thus, Satel advocates, in the name of therapy, > perpetuation of the politics of massive obedience to the prevailing > authority and power system, even as such obedience assures rapid > deterioration of the necessary ingredients for a healthy society -- > empathy, equity, and mutual respect for all life. Of course, it is > likely that her sense of mental health "requires" ideological > adherence to the prevailing system. I prefer the emergence of homo > humanus, replacing homo hostilus, and the terrifying possibility of > homo extinctus. 
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> I would like someone like Satel, and all those folks associated with > AEI to have shared just one or two hours of my traumatic experiences. > A dose of that reality likely would overwhelm their ad nauseum > rhetoric in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. 
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> My PTSD 
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> Coming from the "indentured servant" class, I was drafted out of law > school in 1966 at 25 years of age. Unlike Vice-President Dick Cheney, > I possessed no special connections or family money that enabled me to > keep my deferment in order to pursue those other things that I would > have preferred. So, I enlisted in the USAF in lieu of going into the > Army to more likely avoid a combat experience. In 1969, however, I was > ordered to Vietnam as head of a special ranger-trained AF combat > security unit. While there, as fate would have it, I experienced > sickening patterns of crimes that led to my opposition to the war. I > was discharged in 1970 as a Captain at 29 years of age. 
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> In 1981, twelve years after those traumatic experiences, I suffered, > at age 40, a near psychotic flashback that revealed graphic details of > what I had witnessed on a special assignment in April 1969 while > documenting the aftermath of bombing missions that intentionally > annihilated a number of inhabited villages. The flashback revealed > that I had observed somewhere between 700-900 Vietnamese, mostly women > and young children in five separate villages in a week's time. In the > very first village I initially heard, then observed a water buffalo > screaming in pain from a 3-foot gash in its belly. Taking several > additional steps I could walk no further. There were bodies lying > everywhere; I estimated more than 125. I covered my face with a > handkerchief as the stench from burning flesh and lingering napalm was > overpowering and I began to weep, then vomit. This was just the > beginning of the memory. The flashback shook me to my roots and it > took me several months to recover from the sudden recall of what had > been buried in my subconscious. 
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> I attended a few VA rap sessions but didn't feel safe, so sought my > own therapy, both group and individual, and continued to pursue my > life. I avoided alcohol or drug use and was considered quite > functional. But I began to experience chronic insomnia; > hyper-alertness to noises; sudden crying periods; distracting, > intrusive memories during daytime hours; avoidance of public crowds; > terrifying bodily sensations later termed "panic attacks," etc. > Nonetheless, for awhile I even directed a state-funded veteran's > outreach center as I struggled to mask my symptoms the best I could. 
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> In the early 1990s my symptoms were becoming more acute and I sought > Jungian therapy. Several people suggested I was suffering from PTSD > and advised me to consider help from the VA. In 1994, at age 53, I had > my first scheduled assessment with a VA psychiatrist. I was so > terrified at the thought of baring my soul to an employee of the > government that I remained in my car outside the VA hospital and never > made my appointment. Three years later, in 1997, with the emotional > support of other veterans, I re-applied and within a year I was > diagnosed with PTSD at age 57, twenty-nine years after the worst of > the traumas. Now 64, I have discovered lessons about managing the > symptoms, and am more mindful of taking care of myself. However, the > trauma and memories of the events remain vivid, though I allow space > for them in my psyche. 
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> PTSD is nothing to make light of and Dr. Satel, I would submit, needs > a dose of war to grasp a reality about her "theories." War is insane, > and those of us thrust into it for God, Country and Right of Passage > pay a dear price for the remainder of our lives, even though we may > have been politically awakened as a result. WWI German soldier Paul > Baumer, in the epic film, "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930), had > it right when he proclaimed, "I'm no good for back there anymore." > That was true then, and it is true now. 
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> Don't Blame the Victim 
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> Instead of questioning motives of veterans who have been forced to > endure wars, the vast majority of which are grotesquely illegal upon > honest examination, it would behoove psychiatrist Satel and others who > think similarly, to condemn the criminality of the political leaders > who continually conspire, plan, prepare, initiate, and wage wars of > aggression in violation of international treaties, agreements or > assurances, and the Constitution itself. Blaming the victim, rather > than the intellectual and political architects of this supreme > international crime, practices the ad nauseum trick of "shadow" > projection of fault onto others, perpetuating cultural denial and > avoidance of accountability. 
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> Satel wants only the lowly troopers to take responsibility for their > healing, ignoring the responsibility of war policy makers and > profiteers, who are committing the supreme international crime of > aggressive wars deserving Nuremberg-style prosecutions. And I suspect > also that it would not occur to her that these policy making men and > women be subjected to forced therapy or coercive drugging to cure them > of their dangerous psychopathological behavior. Thus, we witness the > typical double standard imposed by those at the top in hierarchical > power systems. 
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> If Satel and her comrades were really concerned about saving taxpayer > funds, they would cease their glib support for extraordinarily costly > aggressive wars of hegemony. Then the psychiatric community could > truly be proud that they are preventing hundreds of thousands of > people from becoming PTSD patients. How about that for modern > psychiatry? But then the shrinks would have to possess the courage to > confront the inherent contradictions of a market-obsessed, capitalist > economy that values private profit over public justice and caring. 
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> Brian Willson served 4 years as an Air Force officer, including a > stint in Vietnam's Mekong Delta heading a 40-man combat security unit. > A one time member of the District of Columbia Bar he has worked as a > penal consultant, prisoner rights advocate, dairy farmer, legislative > aide, tax assessor, veteran's advocate, and small businessman. Willson > has conducted on-site study of U.S. overt and covert policies in > two-dozen countries, documenting numerous violations of Constitutional > and international laws. A long time activist he has written a number > of articles and essays, many posted on his website > http://www.brianwillson.com. He currently is working on his memoirs. 
> He is a member of Humboldt Bay Veterans For Peace in northern > California and the Arcata Nuclear Free Zone and Peace Commission. With > his partner he maintains a permaculture garden while generating most > household and transportation energy needs from the sun. Willson > possesses a Juris Doctor, Master's in criminology/corrections, and two > Honorary Doctorates, in Humanities and Law, respectively. 
> He can be reached at: bw@brianwillson.com 
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