The 49-year-old veteran explained that he suffered from paranoia in crowds, nightmares and unrelenting flashbacks from the Iraq war. He said he needed his handgun to feel secure and was worried that he would shoot somebody.
The symptoms were textbook post-traumatic stress disorder.But Robert Moering, the psychologist conducting the disability examination at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Tampa, Fla., suspected the veteran was exaggerating. Hardly anybody had so many symptoms of PTSD so much of the time.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-disability-awards-grow-so-do-concerns-over-the-veracity-of-veterans-ptsd-claims/2014/10/16/8bf577bc-1e64-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html
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3 comments:
Has this Doctor ever been in a combat situation or had a real hand to hand situation? I realize he is a train doctor in a government job. I agree the solider has a lot of symptoms but he has live and walked the walk. It is about time the Veterans are not prejudged about PTSD by people who have no real ideas what we have gone through.
As a combat Vet who buried the experience until it came back 11 years later to bite me in the butt, I know PTSD. Fortunately, I got help and though never "cured", I am ok today.
HOWEVER, I have met several other Vietnam vets who, when they found out I was one, asked me how much I got for my disability. When I told them I never filed, they expressed surprise and said, "Hell, anybody can get at least $700 [some odd figure]"
My response to them was: I came home with both arms, legs, eyes and mind. I got my reward.
I am not questioning the fact the the military certainly has not supported PTSD military personnel. I am saying I can understand where that shrink was coming from.
I suffered 20 years undiagnosed with PTSD and no one believed me. I had to suffer unnecessarily the ridicule and judgment by VA mental health professionals much like the one mentioned in the article. They assumed I was faking it because I presented well and knew how to hide behind my professional position. But the truth is that I didn't feel safe enough to really share my thoughts and feelings enough to open up and trust that they would really help me. I feel most of them think that we are faking and if they never served in combat or war time, they have no idea what a war or trauma PTSD is. Its a shame but it's a reality.
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