Military Suicide and Unemployment

Many factors contribute to the current unacceptably high rates of military suicide.  I’ve written before about a recent policy brief by Dr. Margaret Harrell and Nancy Berglass of the Center for a New American Security, “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide”, which identifies several causes and recommendations for this unfolding tragedy.  Combat injuries, including such invisible wounds as PTSD and traumatic brain injury; mental health issues such as depression and anxiety; other symptoms of trauma such as sleep disturbances, substance abuse and addiction, and high-risk, adrenaline-fueling behaviors – all can play a role.  Harrell and Berglass also observe that the relative absence of three protective factors – belongingness, usefulness, and an aversion to pain or death – are crucial predictors of a service member or veteran’s likelihood of succumbing to suicidal tendencies.

In a New York Times op-ed piece responding to Harrell and Berglass’ study, Peter D. Kramer, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Brown University, proposes another factor overlooked in the policy brief: relatively high unemployment rates among young veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.  In “The Best Medicine Just Might Be a Job”, he cites an astronomical unemployment rate of 28 percent for male veterans 18 to 24 years old.

Kramer respects the “comprehensive” brief but expresses his concern about the omission of unemployment among the list of causes identified.  While he characterizes himself as “hardly an expert”, he reveals that “study after study correlates unemployment with suicide”.  “When soldiers leave the military,” he continues, “they lose what service provides: purpose, focus, achievement, responsibility and the factor the CNAS report calls ‘belongingness’.  The workplace can be stressful, but especially for the mentally vulnerable, there is no substitute for what jobs offer in the way of structure, support and meaning.”

High unemployment rates among veterans have no one simple cause.  In “As Wars End, Young Veterans Return to Scant Jobs”, Shaila Dewan of the New York Times (who cites unemployment rates for veterans aged 20 to 24 at 30 percent) lists several issues and challenges for both employers and potential veteran employees.  Employers “fear the aftereffects of combat or losing reservists to another deployment”, and veteran job-seekers need to learn basic interview skills while often still “overwhelmed by the transition from combat to civilian life”.

Veterans can be characterized as mature for their age, disciplined, and possessing valuable skills transferable to the marketplace, Dewan emphasizes.  But employers aren’t so sure military service training and experience really translate to civilian industry.

And the competition for jobs is high.  Veterans often serve as reservists or in the National Guard and Dewan points out that this can impose a particularly heavy burden on companies.  Employers of reservists potentially face losing their valuable staff to deployments of up to 12 months in length, while being required to guarantee a job on the reservist’s return.  Even though it is illegal to discriminate in hiring based on military service and status, these requirements can make it nearly impossible for small companies to survive and compete in our difficult economy.

And, in my experience with veterans, both characterizations mentioned above are true.  Former service men and women are more mature and disciplined.  They are skilled, purpose-driven individuals with the kind of values I respect.  But they can also be very troubled individuals, still reeling from their traumatic, combat-related, employment-complicating experiences.  They are often in need of help to work through their lingering psychological invisible wounds.

I assist service members and veterans in this kind of healing.  I hope to do even more when our non-profit, Sonoma Coast Trauma Treatment, begins accepting veterans into its planned comprehensive, case-managed treatment program, which will include providing job-readiness training and skills.  Another promising development to address veteran unemployment is the creation of entrepreneurship programs specifically tailored for vets.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on several of these programs in “Military Veterans Prepare for a New Role”, by reporter Sarah E. Needleman.  Independent-minded veterans who want to start their own businesses, but lack business start-up know-how, are starting to have a resource in “business accelerators”. Accelerators are programs offering everything from cubicle space and peripherals like Internet and copy/fax services, to expert guidance with business plans, financing, and marketing.

I’m familiar with the business accelerator model.  In my community, my good friend Dr. Michael Newell heads up Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, an excellent “incubator” program for emerging technology start-ups.  Michael and his team of talented mentors, with the financial backing of local businesses, support aspiring men and women with innovative ideas by providing the best possible opportunity to transform their ideas into jobs and income through facilities, services, and training.  The business school of Sonoma State University also gets involved, helping incubator members create high-quality business plans.  A program of this sort would be an excellent resource for returning veterans in our community and I would love to see one get established.

I recognize the causes and solutions for veteran unemployment are complex.  Nevertheless, I also believe, with Dr. Kramer, that veteran unemployment is a factor we need to consider in addressing our tragedy of military suicide.  We must do a better job of providing employment-related “structure, support, and meaning” for returning vets.  Meaningful work is essential in the process of restoring our service members and veterans, who have sacrificed so much for us, to health and wholeness, and to a place of value in their families and communities.  We owe them nothing less.

The Season of Light

Two thousand eleven is drawing to a close.  For many of us – and I include myself – this has been a difficult year of losses, changes, and transitions.  But my 2011 has also been an important year of opportunities and growth.  I hope you have found this to be true in your life, as well.

In this season of celebration, I wish each and every one of you these blessings:

Faith – in someone or something bigger than yourself

For me, it’s God.  I was raised a Jew, and became a Christian.  My faith is the bedrock of all that I am.

Hope – for the future, for a better world, for a life filled with meaning and purpose

I urge you: never stop moving forward.  Find your calling and work to fulfill it.

Love – for the people near to you, for those who are hurting or in need, and for yourself

I firmly believe that close, loving relationships are a vitally important part of our lives.

Comfort – in that you aren’t alone, we are all imperfect and human and fallible, and help will be there if you reach out for it

Connecting with and caring for others, I’ve found, and accepting their support in return, is at the heart of healing.

Joy – in moments of heartfelt recognition that life is good, even in the midst of pain and difficulty

Joy is a feeling far beyond happiness.  It goes deeper, it feels stronger; it comes to us through struggle as something essential, right and true.

Peace – in this world, in our hearts, with each other

Let go of the past and the things that don’t matter.  Practice thankfulness.  Give of yourself and receive.  In surrender, gratitude, and selflessness we find peace.

Charis – grace – and Shalom – peace – to you and yours in this season of light.

And now, onward.  I’m ready.  I have big plans.  Bring on 2012.

Military Suicide: Part 3

The Center for a New American Security recently published an in-depth study of suicide within the United States armed forces.  “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide”, by Dr. Margaret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglass, presents an overview, statistics, analysis, and recommendations to help address a growing tragedy – our nation’s combat personnel and veterans are taking their own lives at significantly accelerating rates.  Harrell and Berglass challenge all branches of the military (from top commanders to unit leaders), Congress, and other government agencies to make key and important changes to preserve young American lives.

Last week I presented some statistics and observations from the study; today I will review the authors’ findings and recommendations.  I will also add some observations of my own.

“Losing the Battle” identifies the following as obstacles to reducing military suicides:

1.    Military personnel transfers complicate efforts to help individuals struggling with mental health issues

2.    Army personnel transfers occur too soon after deployment

3.    Commanders are not always aware when subordinates are the subject of an investigation

4.    The mental health screening process following deployment is flawed

5.    A cultural stigma attached to mental health care persists in the armed services

6.    Military hazing persists

7.    The number of care providers is insufficient

8.    Legal restrictions prevent military leaders from discussing privately owned weapons

9.    There is excess prescription medication in the military community

10.  Unit commanders have limited visibility into service members’ medical problems

11.  Infrequent interaction among drilling Guardsmen and Reservists limits unit leaders’ ability to recognize and help subordinates struggling with mental health issues

12.  The National Guard has too many suicide prevention programs

13.  The true number of veterans who die by suicide is unknown

14.  Understanding and addressing the challenge of suicide requires cooperation beyond the traditional jurisdictional boundaries for many organizations, including the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Congress

All these points are important and I have comments I could make on each one.  That would make for an extremely lengthy post, however, so I will limit myself to pointing out what I feel are the crucial issues.  I encourage you to read the entire report for yourself.

Harrell and Berglass’ findings recommend structural, procedural, informational, and cultural changes.  Everything from national government policy, to the intimate conversations between a small unit leader and his troops can be improved.  But I see what I call a “red thread” – a key problem or idea – running through all their observations.

That “red thread”, which has become overwhelmingly evident to me through over forty years of experience in the trauma treatment profession, is the essential understanding that suicide is a symptom of trauma, and that it feeds on secrets and isolation.

Look at the findings.  Each recommendation addresses one of three things.  First, the report addresses the issue of isolation by underscoring the risks of losing connection with struggling service members and veterans through transfers, quick troop dissolution after deployment, and numerous barriers to communication between leaders and individual troops.  Next, the report highlights the destructive nature of secrets, through a culture of shaming personnel for the “weakness” of mental health repercussions from combat service, and through a “don’t-go-there” atmosphere around discussing drugs, personal firearms, and hazing.

Lastly, the report exposes the current limitations of the DoD or VA to address deficiencies in care for emotionally wounded and potentially suicidal personnel, including an insufficient number care providers, inaccurate data-gathering, flawed screening processes, inconsistent prevention programs, and lack of coordination across services and agencies.

Units break up and vital relationships of trust and shared experience are lost.  Admitting to having trouble dealing with emotions and memories will lead to ridicule or negative consequences for military careers.  It’s alarmingly clear that there are too many subjects – besides sexual orientation – for which the message has been “don’t ask, don’t tell”.

Double binds exist.  Commanders and unit leaders want to be able to help their troops, and are prevented from doing so by confidentiality regulations and by cultural taboo.  Revealing the unspoken problems – the secrets service members and veterans won’t tell, so that they can get the help they need with their suicidal thoughts – can create problems for them both in the present and future.

Here’s my message to all our combat troops, past and present: What you can’t, or won’t, talk about – because you’re not supposed to, or no one’s there to listen – can be deadly.  I’ve seen this over and over in my practice.  There is no shame in being affected by horrific events and experiences beyond your ability to handle on your own.  The truth really can set you free.  If you can’t yet tell it within the system, find someone outside the system and break the silence.

Military Suicides: Part 2

Today begins an in-depth look into a study on military suicide recently released by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).  According to their website, CNAS is an “independent and nonpartisan research institution”, which “develops strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies.”

CNAS is the only Washington think tank led by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It has conducted research on military wellness since 2008 because CNAS believes keeping our forces physically and emotionally healthy is vital for national security.  CNAS is also a close partner with Michelle Obama and Jill Biden in their valuable Joining Forces Initiative.

Joining Forces is “a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned” and focuses on issues of employment, education, and wellness.  As part of the initiative, CNAS hopes to “build and strengthen the network of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, community and philanthropic institutions, businesses and individuals and help them connect in meaningful ways with those who have served.”

That’s a lot of background, but I want you to understand the importance and expertise of this group so committed to our nation’s forces and their families.  Their recent report, “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide”, by Dr. Margaret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglass, tackles our unfolding tragedy head-on, providing accurate statistics and information, as well as recommendations for the future.

Harrell and Berglass reviewed materials from the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and from independent studies, to gather up-to-date facts and statistics on military suicide.  They reported the numbers I quoted in last week’s post for veteran suicides – including the finding that one veteran takes his life every 80 minutes – but added, “It is impossible, given the paucity of current data, to determine the suicide rate among veterans with any accuracy.”  Then they add the disturbing statistic that although veterans make up only 1 percent of the population, veteran suicides represent 20 percent of all suicides in America.

Harrell and Berglass also researched suicide rates among service members.  Their findings are as alarming for personnel on active duty as for veterans.

1. Between 2005 and 2010, service members took their own lives at a rate of approximately one every 36 hours

2. Army suicides have been rising steadily since 2004, to a record high of 33 deaths in July of 2011 among active and reserve soldiers

3. Marine Corps suicides have increased steadily from 2006, dipping only slightly in 2010

4. Air Force suicides have increased significantly since 2007

5. Soldiers who deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to commit suicide than those who do not deploy

6. There are definitive links between suicide and injuries suffered during deployment

7. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) sufferers are 1.5 times more likely to die from suicide

8. Suicide risk among service members is heightened by factors which include chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, substance abuse, and difficulties with anger management

In their report, Harrell and Berglass propose three protective factors that can help a traumatized individual resist the lure of suicide.  They suggest that people who experience both belongingness and usefulness, and have an aversion to pain or death are less likely to take their own life in response to overwhelming emotions or circumstances.  They believe that, in the past, military service included these protective qualities, but now see the changing nature of military service in Iraq and Afghanistan as having actually weakened these three factors.

Military personnel have long felt a strong sense of belonging within their units.  The close-knit camaraderie and team spirit, the code of leaving no one behind, went a long way toward strengthening service members emotionally and psychologically.  Our current wars don’t stick with this pattern, in that units are formed, deployed, and then quickly dissolved after returning from deployment.  Returning Guardsmen and Reservists disband directly back into their communities.  Vital supportive relationships with peers and superiors are lost.

Usefulness in traditional military service included the regular assignment of significant responsibilities and important tasks to relatively junior personnel.  High levels of responsibility and interaction among unit members gave a sense of value and purpose to each member’s contributions.  “In contrast”, Harrell and Berglass report, “the experience of living in a garrison environment or returning to a civilian job, or worse, unemployment, can introduce feelings of uselessness.”  Individual accounts and interviews “show that individuals withdrew, felt disconnected from their units and their families, and perceived themselves as a burden.”  My experience in treating veterans confirms these experiences and perceptions are common and widespread.

Aversion to pain and death – the third protective factor – has always been problematic for military suicide because “military service is one of the few experiences that can override this factor”.  Repeated exposure to the trauma of combat, repeated deployments, witnessing violence and death 24/7 in country in Iraq and Afghanistan, has greatly intensified the traumatic experiences of our military personnel.  To cope and remain effective, many say, they must go numb and consider themselves “already dead”.  This mindset, while it may seem necessary for survival, purposefully and completely erodes any aversion to death.

I’ve taken a lot of space today to share with you the findings of the CNAS report.  I think this information is extremely important and vital for all of us to know.  It disturbs me that the only coverage of this report that I’m aware of occurred in the Huffington Post.  All our local newspapers and media outlets should have reported this.

I agree with CNAS that all aspects of military personnel wellness are vital to our national security.  If you’ve been reading my recent blogs, you know I think it’s also a responsibility and obligation for our government and for each one of us as American citizens.  We must all commit to restoring our returning OEF and OIF forces to health and wholeness.

Next week: vital and on-target recommendations from “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide”.

Military Suicides: Part 1

Today marks the first in a new series of posts about an appalling reality in our culture: the heart-breaking frequency with which United States military personnel are taking their own lives.  What I have to say about this topic will be serious and challenging; the number of recent service member and veteran suicides and suicide attempts should be absolutely unacceptable to every American.  I plan to not only share facts and statistics with you, but also to enlighten you about the underlying causes of this tragic epidemic from my over forty years of experience helping people resolve emotional trauma.

I recognize that this is a heavy subject.  Please stay with me on this one.  I’m going to primarily focus on suicides among combat troops of Iraq (OIF) and Afghanistan (OEF).  I firmly believe this topic must be addressed.  The men and women serving our country in our armed forces deserve to be heard before they use suicide to blast their way to our attention.

First, let me say that suicide attempts and completions are a symptom.  This ultimate act of self-destruction is a symptom of emotional trauma, or what has come to be called “invisible wounds” in our post-9/11 world.  As symptoms, suicide completions and attempts usually happen only after the development of other symptoms or warning signs, such as depression, reckless behavior, or substance abuse.  I’ll go into this later in more detail.  For now, I want you to understand that to effectively treat the symptom of suicide, we’ll need to comprehensibly address and heal our military’s invisible wounds.

The suicide statistics for veterans are truly alarming.  I’m going to start with data from a Department of Veterans Affairs study completed in 2010.  In his article for the Army Times, staff writer Rick Maze reported the following:

• 18 veterans of all wars and conflicts commit suicide every day (that’s one suicide every 80 minutes)
• 950 veterans in treatment with the VA attempt suicide every month (that’s 31 suicide attempts per day)
• 98 veterans of OIF and OEF committed suicide between October 2008 and September 2009 (that’s one suicide every four days)
• 1,868 OIF/OEF veterans attempted suicide during that same time period (that’s five attempts every day)

Let me tell you why I think these numbers don’t fully represent the magnitude of our veteran suicide problems.

First, this study is limited to information about veteran suicides that the VA knows about.  These statistics cover veterans receiving some type of treatment within the VA system combined with statistics the VA has been able to collect from other sources about veterans outside the system.  The VA’s internal data may be accurate, but many veterans outside the system can “fly under the radar” and their suicides and suicide attempts may not be measureable in any truly precise way.  For this reason, I would bet the VA numbers are low.

Second, I firmly believe that many suicides don’t end up looking like suicides or being reported as suicides.  An example of this that’s been in the news lately is the phenomenon of “suicide by cop”.  In suicide by cop, an individual acts in such a way as to present a flagrant danger to himself or others, in an effort to be shot and killed by peace officers.  Police responding to a scene of domestic violence, or burglary, or assault may find themselves face-to-face with a veteran desperate to end his suffering but unable to complete the act of taking his own life.  The veteran acts in an aggressive, threatening way to the officers, who necessarily shoot in defense of themselves and/or innocent bystanders.

Another example of disguised suicides and suicide attempts are deaths from reckless behavior.  A veteran feeling there’s “no way out” climbs on his motorcycle and speeds past control into a fatal crash on a winding country road.  Another veteran combines prescription medication with alcohol and no one really knows whether he slipped away by mistake or design.  Many incidents like these are masked suicides and not all of them will find their way into our statistics and awareness.

I’ve treated many OIF/OEF veterans and I’ve seen that they don’t want to draw attention to themselves.  When I ask the veterans I’ve been able to help how I can find and reach out to other hurting veterans in the community, they all say, “They don’t want to be found.”  This tells me the magnitude of our veteran suicide problem is probably significantly greater than we know, even with the most careful and conscientious reporting efforts.

What we do know is alarming enough.  Next week, in Part 2 of this series, I’ll present the results of another, recent military suicide report by the Center for a New American Security.

Stop Stress from Turning into Trauma

Today I’m going to wrap up my on-going, forced-move story about the Morrows and the Bodens – and my illustration of stress and trauma and the differences between them.  As promised, I’m returning to the list of ten suggestions I offered last week for preventing unavoidable stress from turning into avoidable trauma.  I’ll flesh out these ideas for you and explain how to get very practical in your application of them.  Using this ten-step action plan can help you navigate through these stressful times with more resiliency and achieve more success with your efforts.  They’ve worked for me, they’ve worked for my patients, and I’m betting that they’ll work for you, too.

Ten-Step Action Plan for Combatting Stress

1.  Slow down, don’t panic

In a difficult, stressful, or traumatic situation, the first thing to do – always – is to slow down.  Racing thoughts and a racing heartbeat can speed you across the finish line into panic, where nothing constructive can take place.  None of the steps that follow this one will help you if you panic.  Slowing down to find some calm in your storm is absolutely essential to prevent unavoidable difficulties from turning into avoidable trauma.

2.  Remember you’re not alone

After panic, the second-greatest threat to successfully coping with stress is self-deception.  Believing you are the only person experiencing distress leads to believing there is something wrong with you, that what’s happening to you is somehow your fault and you deserve it.  On the contrary.  You are not alone.  Many, many people today are struggling and suffering with problems similar to yours.

3.  Think through your options

When you steer clear of panic and self-condemnation, you will be able to think clearly.  You’ll be able to use your rational, creative abilities to identify good ways to respond to problems and crises, rather that reacting impulsively and thoughtlessly.  You’ll recognize the best choices for how to deal with the situation in front of you, and come up with a plan of action for moving forward in a positive way.

4.  Ask for help, don’t isolate yourself

Along with panic and self-deception, isolation is your enemy in the war on trauma.  Alone, our energy and personal resources are limited.  When we reach out to others – family, friends, loved ones – we gain strength and valuable perspectives unavailable to us on our own.  I can’t emphasize this enough; reach out and share your burdens.  Let people help you.

5.  Take good care of yourself physically and emotionally

Wars can be fought with exhausted troops, but victory is more sure when warriors are rested, well-fed, and in good physical condition.  You may not think you have time to take care of yourself physically and emotionally when you’re battling stress, but letting yourself get run down will cost more time and trouble in the long run.  Make self-care a high priority.

6.  Don’t blame yourself for things beyond your control

You are human.  Let me say that again: You are human.  You are not perfect, and are not supposed to be.  There are things beyond your control, beyond any one person’s control.  You may have gotten behind on your mortgage payments, but our enormous financial downturn – which no one could have fully anticipated – is not your fault.  Take responsibility for your part, and let the rest go.  Guilt and blame will drain your spirit and keep you stuck and traumatized.

7.  Reduce the pressure on yourself in every way possible

Get very clear on what is essential to deal with in the present, and leave everything else alone.  Simplify your priorities and commitments.  Examine your “rules” – such as “I have to pay all my bills on time, no matter what”, or “I’ve got to always keep my house clean and organized”, or something else from your own personal list.  What truly matters right now?  Choose taking care of the people you love (including yourself, see #5), over taking care of things every time you can.

8.  Keep your perspective

Our Great Recession has been going on for so long it can be hard to remember when times weren’t tight and difficult.  Hard times are here for now and for the near future, but better days will return.  When they do, we won’t be the same people we were before.  We have the opportunity to grow from our experiences, or become devastated by them.  It’s your choice.  Look forward.

9.  Look for ways to help others, give back to those who’ve helped you

The quickest way I know to move out of a fog of discouragement is to lift my head and look for someone else who’s hurting too.  Mobilizing ourselves to help others can give us the energy to not only make a difference in their lives, but in our own, as well.  Being able to give fellow sufferers support and encouragement (and a helping hand to move furniture or make a meal) gives meaning and purpose to these dark, distressing times.

10.  Don’t lose hope

Never, ever give up.  If you lose heart and collapse, get back up again.  Accepting defeat is never the answer.  Remember the hard times you’ve been through before and believe that you can survive this one, as well – even if this time is the hardest time yet.  Surrender the things it’s time to let go of, and fight to the end to save the things that really matter.  Feed your spirit and keep hope alive.

As I said last week, these ten steps are fairly simple, but I know personally that they are not easy.  Some of them can, in fact, be very challenging to conquer.  But they’re worth the attempt.  Like all of life’s “basics”, these ideas are worth studying, putting into action as best you can, and then coming back to think about some more.  I wish you much success as we journey together through the challenging days to come.

No, It’s Trauma

Last week I wrote about two fictional couples, the Morrows and the Bodens, as they faced a sudden, forced move from their homes in a foreclosed apartment building.  I used their scenario of dislocation to illustrate the differences between stress and trauma.  I mentioned that many of the people I meet and talk to believe they’re under enormous stress during this, our Great Recession, but would deny that they’re experiencing trauma.  In my professional and personal opinion, I disagree.  I think many, possibly most people don’t understand what trauma is, and have actually been traumatized rather than just stressed by the events of the recent past.

Most often, when people hear the word trauma they think of some horrific and shocking event.  They think of tragedies like car accidents, violence and brutality, death – something horrendous and devastating.  These kinds of events are certainly trauma: a type called shock trauma.

But there are many other traumatic experiences that, while not shocking, are beyond the ordinary.  Extraordinary experiences beyond normal fears and normal circumstances can produce a kind of trauma, too.  When these events occur repeatedly over a period of time they erode our physical and emotional reserves.  They can be very strong and significant and extremely destructive.  I see the symptoms of our “wearing down” in higher divorce rates, higher suicide and suicide attempt rates, and higher rates of disease and depression.

If you wondered, when you read last week’s illustration about the Morrows and the Bodens, whether there might be “more to the story”, you were right.  What if I were to go back in the history of the two families, and fill in some of the gaps?

Take Mr. Morrow, the head of the family who experienced stress, rather than trauma, from their enforced move and handled the transition in a healthier way.  Let’s say, pre-move, he had enjoyed the security of a steady job for the last decade, he and his family were in good health, and had maintained close, loving ties with friends and an extended family of supportive relatives.

Now let’s take Mr. Boden, whose family suffered significant trauma around their relocation.  I could shed some light on his struggle by proposing that his family’s move was just one more trial in a series of unfortunate recent events.  Let’s say he was laid off three years ago and has been alternating between unemployment and scraping together small jobs since then.  Let’s say he has chronic back pain, his wife has stress-induced migraine headaches, and his kids aren’t doing well at school.  Let’s say, even, he’s the son of an alcoholic father who was unavailable both in the past and the present.

My point is that at the outset, going into this sudden and difficult need to move, Mr. Morrow had physical and emotional reserves that Mr. Boden did not.  And how many of us can confidently say, after over three years of economic and personal hits, that we still have plenty of energy reserves for the continuing challenges coming almost daily down the road?

In 2008, when the stock market fell, and the real estate market tanked, and jobs started to disappear – when the Great Recession got its start – we all felt shocked, we all felt traumatized.  Even though it had been coming for a while, it was a shock when it first hit, and it hit fast and hard.  And it was devastating.  That we’re still in pretty much the same place, three years later, is one of the things I think is unique to this period of time.  I see that people are somehow getting used to our hard times and adapting in some ways, and so they don’t realize they’re experiencing ongoing, or developmental trauma.

Developmental trauma occurs when an individual experiences a series of events which may or may not be shocking of themselves, but are painful, disturbing, and overwhelming.  This type of trauma is called “developmental” because it disrupts the normal intrinsic development, or maturation, of a child or adult.  A child suffers developmental trauma, for example, when they are subjected to repeated verbal or physical abuse.  Adults can experience developmental trauma also, when the circumstances of their lives prevents them from growing or thriving in physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual ways.

The economic straightjacket of our recent past has put a severe limit on opportunities for adults to grow and prosper.  People are feeling thwarted and trapped in their efforts to provide for themselves and their families.  They’re learning to adapt, or they’re dealing with their frustration and pain by going numb.  Some of us respond to crises with denial.  Some of us respond with action; some of us tend to freeze into paralysis.  There are many things people do to survive in times of crisis and difficulty.  In the meantime, whether they feel it or not, they’re frying emotionally and physically.  Their systems are under siege, 24/7.

My heart goes out to all of you who find yourselves in this painful, devastating situation.  I too have experienced recent financial trauma.

In the hope that it will provide you some relief, I promised last week to include suggestions for how to deal with ongoing stress – the “wealth, health, and stealth” kind.  These suggestions may make it possible for you to keep your unavoidable stress from turning into avoidable trauma.  You saw some of these ideas at work in the story of the Morrows and Bodens.  In the midst of difficult circumstances and events, I encourage you to try the following:

1. Slow down, don’t panic
2. Remember you’re not alone
3. Think through your options
4. Ask for help, don’t isolate yourself
5. Take good care of yourself physically and emotionally
6. Don’t blame yourself for things beyond your control
7. Reduce the pressure on yourself in every way possible
8. Keep your perspective, others are suffering too
9. Look for ways to help others, and to give back to those who’ve helped you
10. Don’t lose hope, focus on the positive

These ten steps are fairly simple, but I know they are truly not easy.  I’ll be back next week to go through these steps in more detail.  I’ll provide suggestions for how you can get started using these steps in real-life, practical ways.  I know these steps can help you, because I use them and teach them to my patients, and I’ve seen them make a world of difference in these hard times.  I encourage you to give them a try.

It’s Just Stress, Isn’t It?

Over the last several weeks, I’ve pointed out what I believe are the three major sources of stress in our lives today.  I see them in my practice, at the gym, at church, and over dinner at one of my favorite restaurants.  I’ve catchily coined these stress-inflictors “wealth, health, and stealth”.  “Wealth” stands for our long-standing and devastating financial downturn.  “Health” stands for breakdowns in our physical and emotional health resulting from the downturn.  And “stealth” represents the challenges and struggles of our nation’s veterans as they come home and try to reintegrate into their lives, families, and communities.

Also, over the last several weeks, you may have noticed that I used the word “trauma” to describe what’s been happening to us during the three-plus years of our Great Recession.  When I suggest to people – in my practice, at the gym, etc. – that what we’ve been enduring is not “just stress” and has actually been traumatic, they most often respond, “Oh no, trauma happens to other people.  That’s not me.”  I disagree.

What is stress?  What is trauma?  How are they different?  And why is this important?

Rather than starting with textbook definitions (I prefer a practical, straight-forward explanation over academic jargon any day), I want to give you a real life example to illustrate stress and trauma, and the difference between them.

Let’s say two families live in an older apartment building near downtown.  We’ll call them the Morrows and the Bodens.  Their apartment building has been for sale for some time and the owners have notified the tenants that foreclosure is a possibility.  Well, the building doesn’t sell, the bank forecloses, and it all happens suddenly.  The new owners of the building know several idle contractors willing to work for bargain rates, so they decide to completely renovate the apartments.  The building is in a part of town that is becoming more desirable and they’ll be able to charge higher rents, post-update.  All the tenants must go, and quickly.

From the moment they heard the building was up for sale, the Morrows considered that they might have to move.  When they heard about the possible foreclosure, they put even more effort into spreading the word among their friends and family that they could need a new place to live.  It didn’t seem likely that they would find anything affordable in their current neighborhood, so they started getting to know other neighborhoods, checking out schools, shops, and parks.  They involved their kids in the planning process, letting them know what was happening, in a way that was appropriate for their ages.

When the foreclosure came down, they found a new place – a house in a great neighborhood, actually – but which wouldn’t be ready for them in time for the move.  Again they put the word out to their friends, and were able to temporarily store their belongings in someone’s garage, and stay for a couple of weeks with a relative.  When their new rental was ready, they gathered a big moving party and got settled in fairly quickly.  It didn’t take them long to start making the new house feel like home.

The Bodens had an entirely different experience of their move.  Seeing the “For Sale” sign go up on their apartment building left them almost frozen in fear of being put out on the street.  They hoped against hope they wouldn’t have to do anything, that the building would sell and nothing would change.  When the foreclosure came, and the short notice to move out, they panicked.  Not able to find a place in the same neighborhood that they could afford, they rushed out and grabbed the first place they could find that was cheap and close.

Too upset to let their friends and family know what was happening, the Bodens struggled through the move by themselves.  The parents didn’t really explain what was happening to their kids, who ended up feeling uprooted and insecure.  The chaos the Bodens felt inside left them desperate to stay in control, to get it all done and over with as quickly as possible, and the move ended up being a horrible experience for them all.  On top of that, the Bodens quickly learned that their new apartment and neighborhood weren’t all that great.  They hadn’t checked it out enough to discover that the apartment was actually dingy and depressing and the neighborhood wasn’t safe.  At the end of it all, the Bodens felt regret, disappointment, anger, and discouragement.

Let’s pause for a moment in the lives of the Morrows and Bodens for some definitions of stress and trauma.  I define stress as pressure, strain, or tension on our emotions.  Trauma, however, is an experience, possibly a shock, that goes beyond strain to create significant pain or an “injury” to our emotional selves that may be deep and lasting.

Back to the Morrows and Bodens.  Both families experienced the very real disruption of change, of needing to move and find a new home.  Moving is a stressful experience for anyone.  The Morrows, however, responded to this reality by facing it and asking for help.  They kept their calm but quickly went into action to find a new place that would be right for them.  They communicated with each other and their friends and family, and coped well with the upheaval of their move.  They started out determined to find a good place for their family to live.  The Morrows wanted to create positive change and begin a new stage in their family’s life.  While they felt pressure and strain, they coped and had faith in the process.

The Bodens, on the other hand, avoided dealing with the situation until the need to move was in their face.  The pressure and panic they felt then caused them to close down and cut themselves off from potential help from friends and family.  They didn’t even talk among themselves about what was happening to them and how they felt about it.  The kids felt left in the dark.  The family lost any hope for finding a good place to live, let alone something better than the old apartment, in their frantic search for anything affordable and quick.  They felt wounded and in pain, and lost faith in themselves and the process.

It’s probably not hard to guess which family experienced stress and which one experienced trauma.  The Morrows, now happy in their new neighborhood, accepted and dealt with the stress of their forced move as best they could.  The Bodens, now stuck in a depressing environment, panicked and isolated themselves in their trauma.  The same experience – a quick, forced move – happened to both families, yet they reacted entirely differently.  Why?

This question reveals another key aspect of stress and trauma that I’ll return to in next week’s post.  I’ll also suggest important ways that can help you prevent unavoidable stress from turning into avoidable trauma.  Stay tuned.

We’ve Got a Bad Connection

This week I want to return to a disturbing statistic, taken from a recent Pew Research Center survey of veterans and the American public, which I quoted in my last post.  Only about half of our civilian population feels that our armed forces’ sacrifices have been greater than their own, post-9/11.  I want to repeat that, as I repeated it last week – only about half.  I think this reveals a bad connection, an enormous disconnect between our veterans and our communities.  Of those civilians who do believe the military and their families shouldered greater burdens with their combat service, about 26% believe it to be unfair, while 70% consider it “just being part of the military”.  I find that attitude very disturbing as well, and I will get back to it later in this post.

First, some good news.  The survey results indicated that 96% of veterans are proud of their service, 93% say the military helped them mature, and 74% say their military experience has helped them get ahead in life.  Over 80% would recommend a military career to a young person close to them.  Also on the positive side, as reported by Tom Bowman of National Public Radio, the general public holds the military in “highest regard.  It towers above organized religion, big business, and Congress”.  The negative?  Only 40% of civilians surveyed would advise a loved one, friend, or acquaintance to join the armed forces and bear the heavy burdens of military service.

Now, some bad news.  Of the veterans surveyed, 44% experienced a difficult adjustment back to civilian life, 50% reported signs of post-traumatic stress, and 75% live with nightmares and flashbacks from their combat experiences.  And, of the general public, only 25% say they follow the progress of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq closely, down from about 50% just a couple of years ago.  Marine Sergeant Jon Moulder, interviewed in Afghanistan by NPR’s Bowman, didn’t need the Pew survey to tell him that people back home are losing interest.  “We’re starting to fall by the wayside,” he feels.  “This has been going on for so long.  It’s America’s longest conflict running to date.  Kind of like the bastard children of our generation.”

What’s happening?  Why don’t these wars feel like a national experience?  Paul Taylor, editor of the Pew study, observed, “We’ve never had sustained combat for a full decade, and we’ve never fought a war in which such a small share of the population has carried the fight.”  According to Taylor, just one-half of 1% of the population has served on active duty in the past decade, while 9% of Americans were in uniform during World War II.

Having such a small fraction of the public in uniform this time, according to Martin Cook, a civilian professor of military ethics at the Naval War College, makes it “much more easy to deploy U.S. forces in tough environments for long periods of time because the vast majority of Americans don’t feel they have any skin in the game.”  “I’ve often speculated,” Cook continues, “could we have fought wars for 10 years if this was a draftee army and I doubt it.”

These Pew Research Center survey statistics leave me with a lot more questions than answers.

Are the sacrifices of our veterans – and their families – really “just being part of the military”?  Have recruits been fully able to anticipate the potential physical and psychological health risks of combat?  Did they know just how bad warfare conditions would be in Afghanistan and Iraq?  Did they expect multiple deployments?  Did they realize how menacing it would be to police terrorists embedded within a civilian population?  And, if their “job-related” stress has become debilitating, can service members “quit” – like civilians can – without long-term consequences, such as a less-than-honorable discharge?

Here are some more uncomfortable questions: Do we all agree that the 9/11 attacks – which killed thousands of innocent Americans, and targeted not only our nation but our way of life – required an armed response?  Do we all believe that without our Homeland Security and foreign military commitments post-9/11 more innocent lives would have been lost on American soil?  Haven’t these battles been deemed necessary by politicians on both sides of the aisle?  Hasn’t our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq in fact benefitted all Americans?

Does the military serve our government, or do they serve us?  Aren’t they fighting on our behalf, for our sake?  Isn’t whatever happens to them in country more than “just being part of the military”, more than just their tough luck?  One of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, declared in his Gettysburg Address that ours was a government created “of the people, by the people, and for the people”.  Are we willing to uphold this long tradition, sharing in the decisions, commitments, and obligations of our elected representatives?

I believe, as “the people”, that the government’s promise and obligation to restore veterans’ physical and psychological health post-service is our promise and obligation as well.

I know my calling: to provide health and healing for veterans and their families.  To restore them to full participation in life and in their communities.  To say, “Thank you for your service”, in the most practical, effective way I can. And I‘m asking, can we – can you – make a commitment to be better aware of the pressing needs of our returning veterans?  Can we all make a commitment to care?  A commitment to stop the disconnect?

Your Neighbor, Your Co-Worker, Your Friend

Last week, I offered my take on the top two sources of stress in our lives today – “wealth”, or our lingering financial downturn, and “health”, the toll that downturn is taking on our physical and emotional well-being.  Today, I want to add what I see as the third major source of stress, and I’m going to call it “stealth”.

Why “stealth”?  Because too few of us recognize it exists, or, when encountering it, prefer not to acknowledge it.  So what am I talking about?

I’m talking about, possibly, your neighbor or your neighbor’s son or daughter.  I’m talking about your classmate, your co-worker, the person you used to see at Starbuck’s, the movie theater, or church.  The one who’s been away for several months now.  The one who’s coming home sometime soon.  In uniform.

I’m talking about our country’s servicemen and women, and veterans.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on now for almost a decade.  Hundreds of thousands of Americans have served in some of the most physically and psychologically intense battlefields in our history, served repeatedly over multiple deployments, and none of them will come out of their stressful combat experiences without deep and lasting personal changes.  Those changes will be both positive and negative.

Along with the combat stress our returning service members and veterans have endured, they’re experiencing health and financial stress in disproportionately greater numbers than our general population.  Technological advances in personal and vehicle armor have increased the ability of service members to survive attacks both in battle and from improvised explosive devices.  The downside to this is that more veterans come home with significant wounds and physical health limitations that will follow them the rest of their lives.  Whether it’s the challenge of losing an arm or leg (or both), loss of sight or hearing, or loss of mental clarity and memory from repeated concussions, the stress from physical health restrictions is and will continue to be a very real part of many lives.

Studies of post-traumatic stress (PTS) rates in returning veterans vary, but I’d estimate maybe half will suffer some kind of emotional and psychological stress as a result of their service.  Symptoms can run from mild – sleep disturbances, short tempers – to extreme – drug and alcohol addiction, paranoia, and suicide attempts and completions.

Financial stress for veterans runs extremely high, as well.  Statistics show that the unemployment rate for former servicemen and women is well over 20%, more than double the rates for the rest of the country.  Individuals who have prided themselves on their abilities and contributions to society are finding themselves without purpose or value in our stagnated job market.

I’ve also seen a kind of spiritual stress in the returning veterans I’ve treated: a crippling self-loathing because of the acts they committed in country, some necessary and some beyond the stipulated rules of engagement.  Men and women, who left the States with a strong set of ethics for their thoughts and behavior, return having violated their innate personal code.  Along with the bullets and IEDs, they find their personal honor and worth have exploded as well.  In some ways, I feel that this loss is the most tragic.

About that word, “stealth”.  I believe that the combat stress of returning American service members and veterans, and their families, can be characterized as stealth because of my own experience and because of a recent survey by Pew Research.  In an article in USA Today, “Veterans Proud but Struggling in Civilian Life”, reporter Gregg Zoroya summarizes some of the survey results from about 1800 veterans and about 2000 members of the public.  One question throws an extremely disturbing light on the different ways the public and service members see the sacrifices our military has made on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Only about half of the general public surveyed believed that American troops and their families made more sacrifices than all other citizens, post-9/11.  Only about half.  Eighty-four percent of service members, however, say that “the public has no idea of the problems incurred as a result of wars demanding multiple deployments”.

I’ve seen this myself, even in my own, much-loved hometown.  There seems to be some kind of irrational disconnect between the community and our veterans who are coming back devastated from the wars, having faced atrocities we can’t even begin to imagine.  There doesn’t seem to be real recognition by enough of us that we’ve been at war, and there’s a lot of good people – service members, their extended families, and neighbors – who are truly traumatized and suffering.  I’m a veteran of the Vietnam War era, and still I’ve never seen such a complete disconnect between the community and our military and the wars that are being fought.  This hits very close to home for me; it almost breaks my heart.

The Pew Research survey included many other significant findings, some encouraging and some disturbing.  I’ll return to share more of those results, and more of my perspective, next week.