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In 2008, the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre opened an operational stress injury clinic, with an eye on serving the military and RCMP.
The first year, there were two referrals from soldiers who had served in Afghanistan, then in mid-conflict. In 2015, a year after Canadian forces pulled out, there were 108.
To varying degrees — and perhaps it was always so — soldiers bring the war home. (Over comparable periods, in fact, more armed forces personnel died from suicide than on Afghan battlefields.)
So emerges the early narrative from the tragedy in rural Nova Scotia where four people were slain this week, allegedly at the hands of a retired corporal suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lionel Desmond, 33, is believed to have killed his mother, wife and 10-year-old daughter before taking his own life. He had done an eight-month tour in Afghanistan in 2007.
Related
The Royal’s chief psychiatrist, Dr. Raj Bhatla, heard the news like everyone else.
“I was just sad, profoundly sad,” he said Thursday. However, he cautions anyone from connecting the dots between a diagnosis of PTSD, the availability and quality of treatment and a homicidal rampage against loved ones.
The evidence, in fact, is that PTSD sufferers are more likely to hurt themselves first. “Self-harm is a much bigger problem than harm to others,” said Bhatla.
“People are more likely to suffer in silence and have symptoms that really affect them personally, and if they’re going to harm someone, it would end up being themselves.”
Social withdrawal and isolation are the big red flags for PTSD, Bhatla said, not violence directed at strangers or loved ones. However, how each person deals with PTSD or mental illness may not be the same.
The Royal’s operational stress clinic, where Bhatla spends two days a week, has had roughly 1,500 referrals since it opened. Of those, 81 per cent have been male, with an average age of 47 years, and 2.1 deployments. About half (46 per cent) had served in Afghanistan and 71 per cent were part of peacekeeping missions.
The Royal points to statistics published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that indicate almost 14 per cent of the 40,000 Canadian forces members who served in Afghanistan have been diagnosed with a mental illness linked to their military duties. So the military has a sizeable job caring for returning soldiers.
The clinic, which mostly serves Eastern Ontario, found obvious pressure on personal relationships: 44 per cent had histories of divorce or separations. Two-thirds of referrals to the clinic were for PTSD, while 63 per cent suffered from depression and 15 per cent had a substance abuse problem. (Perhaps not surprisingly, 69 per cent had served in the army, while only 12 per cent were from the airforce and six per cent in the navy.)
The stigma of mental illness is still a problem, said Bhatla, especially in a military or police culture (big, strong protectors) and with men in general, who tend to suffer in silence.
Treatment is different for each person. Some are given medications, most take part in one form of “talk therapy,” individually or in groups. A typical treatment length is six to nine months.
It isn’t necessary to have witnessed daily blood and gore to develop post-traumatic stress. Peacekeepers, in fact, often suffer from recurring guilt and shame for what they couldn’t do during their missions and the vulnerable they had to leave behind.
Michael Blais, a veteran, is the president and founder of Canadians Veterans Advocacy and a vocal supporter of better services for retired personnel.
“I felt like I was kicked in the stomach, seriously,” he said Thursday, when asked about the Nova Scotia news. “We’ve worked so hard on the mental health file for veterans.”
Not enough has been done, he argued. There is still stigma to overcome and access to help can be difficult for those in small communities. “It’s profoundly frustrating.”
He’s worried this is not the last case of domestic violence and PTSD we will hear about. “I’m terrified that it’s not.”
Indeed, local readers will not forget the case of Melissa Richmond, 28, who was killed in July 2013 by her husband Howard, a former soldier. He claimed to be in a dissociative state caused by PTSD connected to his service in Croatia. The jury, however, didn’t buy his defence and rendered a murder conviction.
The Royal’s operational stress clinic is one of 10 across the country funded by Veterans Affairs Canada. Dr. Bhatla encouraged those needing help to consult a new website http://osiconnect.theroyal.ca as a starting point.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
The first year, there were two referrals from soldiers who had served in Afghanistan, then in mid-conflict. In 2015, a year after Canadian forces pulled out, there were 108.
To varying degrees — and perhaps it was always so — soldiers bring the war home. (Over comparable periods, in fact, more armed forces personnel died from suicide than on Afghan battlefields.)
So emerges the early narrative from the tragedy in rural Nova Scotia where four people were slain this week, allegedly at the hands of a retired corporal suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lionel Desmond, 33, is believed to have killed his mother, wife and 10-year-old daughter before taking his own life. He had done an eight-month tour in Afghanistan in 2007.
Related
The Royal’s chief psychiatrist, Dr. Raj Bhatla, heard the news like everyone else.
“I was just sad, profoundly sad,” he said Thursday. However, he cautions anyone from connecting the dots between a diagnosis of PTSD, the availability and quality of treatment and a homicidal rampage against loved ones.
The evidence, in fact, is that PTSD sufferers are more likely to hurt themselves first. “Self-harm is a much bigger problem than harm to others,” said Bhatla.
“People are more likely to suffer in silence and have symptoms that really affect them personally, and if they’re going to harm someone, it would end up being themselves.”
Social withdrawal and isolation are the big red flags for PTSD, Bhatla said, not violence directed at strangers or loved ones. However, how each person deals with PTSD or mental illness may not be the same.
The Royal’s operational stress clinic, where Bhatla spends two days a week, has had roughly 1,500 referrals since it opened. Of those, 81 per cent have been male, with an average age of 47 years, and 2.1 deployments. About half (46 per cent) had served in Afghanistan and 71 per cent were part of peacekeeping missions.
The Royal points to statistics published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that indicate almost 14 per cent of the 40,000 Canadian forces members who served in Afghanistan have been diagnosed with a mental illness linked to their military duties. So the military has a sizeable job caring for returning soldiers.
The clinic, which mostly serves Eastern Ontario, found obvious pressure on personal relationships: 44 per cent had histories of divorce or separations. Two-thirds of referrals to the clinic were for PTSD, while 63 per cent suffered from depression and 15 per cent had a substance abuse problem. (Perhaps not surprisingly, 69 per cent had served in the army, while only 12 per cent were from the airforce and six per cent in the navy.)
The stigma of mental illness is still a problem, said Bhatla, especially in a military or police culture (big, strong protectors) and with men in general, who tend to suffer in silence.
Treatment is different for each person. Some are given medications, most take part in one form of “talk therapy,” individually or in groups. A typical treatment length is six to nine months.
It isn’t necessary to have witnessed daily blood and gore to develop post-traumatic stress. Peacekeepers, in fact, often suffer from recurring guilt and shame for what they couldn’t do during their missions and the vulnerable they had to leave behind.
Michael Blais, a veteran, is the president and founder of Canadians Veterans Advocacy and a vocal supporter of better services for retired personnel.
“I felt like I was kicked in the stomach, seriously,” he said Thursday, when asked about the Nova Scotia news. “We’ve worked so hard on the mental health file for veterans.”
Not enough has been done, he argued. There is still stigma to overcome and access to help can be difficult for those in small communities. “It’s profoundly frustrating.”
He’s worried this is not the last case of domestic violence and PTSD we will hear about. “I’m terrified that it’s not.”
Indeed, local readers will not forget the case of Melissa Richmond, 28, who was killed in July 2013 by her husband Howard, a former soldier. He claimed to be in a dissociative state caused by PTSD connected to his service in Croatia. The jury, however, didn’t buy his defence and rendered a murder conviction.
The Royal’s operational stress clinic is one of 10 across the country funded by Veterans Affairs Canada. Dr. Bhatla encouraged those needing help to consult a new website http://osiconnect.theroyal.ca as a starting point.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
