In the USA, 11 research facilities in 11 States will receive $6.m in funding to investigate causes and solutions to the problem of combat related substance abuse, according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) News, August 2010. People with combat related substance abuse need addict help.
The basis for this funding is interesting in that it suggests that combat related substance abuse is somehow different from other reasons why people choose to abuse substances, and become addicts in need of help.
From a holistic point of view, the same factors and dynamics are causative of all substance abuse, regardless of the circumstances unique to any particular group or individual that suffers from the problem of substance abuse and addiction.
When people are labeled as suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related substance abuse, all that we really mean is that, in our opinion, they should have recovered from their ordeal by now, so why are they still showing symptoms of distress. We label people as having PTSD so that we can place responsibility with them for having a “disorder”. PTSD is thereby not our problem. Of course, we will do our best to help them out, but PTSD is the problem of the sufferer, and not society
Ironically, when people continue to suffer stress disorder, long after a traumatic event, and get labeled as having PTSD, society never sees itself as possibly contributing to the problem.
A society that is prepared to send men off to war, often by conscription, needs to have nurturing support systems in place, ready for them on return. Any society that fails to this, fails in its duty of care.
The reality is that our society acts with a callous disregard to the emotional impact of war on our returning soldiers. The indifference and lack of understanding really is quite criminal. Society and the way that it treats veterans contributes to the problem of ongoing stress related problems.
In war people kill others and get killed, People sent to war will kill, and they don’t even know why. People have to kill civilians in war, people get tortured and raped. Children get burnt in bomb blasts, people lose their limbs. Commanders at home base sit back with their shot glass, moving the markers on the board that show the latest trends in the front line of the battle. Modern warfare is complex, with deception and propaganda. The mind of the combat soldier is often the place where the conflicts of modern warfare are staged. Conflicts of values, ideologies and insufficient factual information can bring on conditions in the mind that are much like schizophrenia.
Government departments and agencies should really declare a conflict of interest when purporting to give addict help for combat related substance abuse and addiction. Issues of betrayal and misconduct can never be fully and frankly dealt with as between abuser as counselor, and the abused as client. Government and its funded agencies really should get out of the field and allow independent, holistic style counseling to help the wounded to heal.
Holistic addict help is independent, and non-partisan. The emotional turmoil can be safely released and expressed in the confidentiality of the holistic counseling space. Returned soldiers can speak their mind without condemnation or threat of reprisal. Holistic counseling for substance abuse, and combat related stress, brings release from emotional tension, drug free detox for substance abuse and full recovery from addiction.
Author: National Addiction Resources
America's Best Treatment Directory
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