By
James Smith
1
Sept 2012
The
White House Briefing Room released another Executive
Order, this time to “help” veterans who may be suffering from mental health
issues. And in doing so, adds to the government payroll future union members
and drains on the American economy.
For
Immediate Release
August 31, 2012
EXECUTIVE ORDER
IMPROVING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH
SERVICES FOR VETERANS, SERVICE MEMBERS, AND MILITARY FAMILIES
There
have many stories on how veterans have been “helped” by the VA and other hospitals. It’s the kind of
help no one wants.
Mr.
Obama wants to see by the end of this year, a full 50% increase in Veteran
Crisis Line employees. And the funny thing about governments, they want to see
a return on investment. Even if they are running at a loss.
Further,
veterans can let someone know they are having problems by using insecure
means of communication such as phone texts and online chats.
Sec.
2. Suicide Prevention. (a) By December 31, 2012,
the Department of Veterans Affairs, in continued collaboration with the
Department of Health and Human Services, shall expand the capacity of the Veterans
Crisis Line by 50 percent to ensure that veterans have timely access,
including by telephone, text, or online chat, to qualified, caring
responders who can help address immediate crises and direct veterans to
appropriate care. Further, the Department of Veterans Affairs shall
ensure that any veteran identifying him or herself as being in crisis connects
with a mental health professional or trained mental health worker within 24
hours. The Department of Veterans Affairs also shall expand the number of
mental health professionals who are available to see veterans beyond
traditional business hours.
The
government will also being hiring 2,400 counselors and mental health
professionals, many who would start at about $80k a year, and would pay off the
new employees student loans to make this all happen. Student loans for such
professionals would range between $150,000 to $200,00.
Sec.
4. Expanded Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services
Staffing.
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, by December 31, 2013, hire
and train 800 peer to peer counselors to empower veterans to support other
veterans and help meet mental health care needs. In addition, the
Secretary shall continue to use all appropriate tools, including collaborative
arrangements with community based providers, pay setting authorities, loan
repayment and scholarships, and partnerships with health care workforce
training programs to accomplish the Department of Veterans Affairs’ goal of recruiting,
hiring, and placing 1,600 mental health professionals by June 30, 2013.
But
the real issue at hand here is one that is generated by the VA themselves, and
not through the “moral weakness” of the veteran.
Suicide
is a very serious issue. There are very few people who have not been affected
by a suicide by a family member, friend, or acquaintance. But many suicides by
veterans are preventable.
A
2004 study
(Carr, Hoge, Gardner, & Potter, 2004) it was found by reviewing non
official records, that 17% more military suicides, 4% more military deaths that
were suspicious for suicide, than what was reported in the official
records. Deaths hidden to hide a serious problem.
And
the media does not help the matter as well. A 2011
study (Edwards-Stewart, Kinn, June, & Fullerton, 2011) found that the
media violated established guidelines in nearly all of the 240 reviewed stories
from 15 different sources. Stories of suicides by US Service Members included
“more pejorative language and discussion of failed psychological treatment.
Conversely, civilian articles romanticized the victim and provided more details
regarding the suicide.”
A
2012 Study
(Hyman, Ireland, Frost, & Cottrell, 2012) showed that: “Additional research
needs to address the increasing rates of suicide in active duty personnel. This
should include careful evaluation of suicide prevention programs and the
possible increase in risk associated with SSRIs and other mental health
drugs, as well as the possible impact of shorter deployments, age,
mental health diagnoses, and relationship problems.” Emphasis added.
Feeding
the veteran’s mental health problem, is the VA themselves. It has been reported
since before 2006 those antidepressants, the “Go To” drug for suicide
prevention, has caused people to commit suicide. The Food and Drug
Administration noted in September 2004
that such drugs may increase suicidal thoughts or behaviors in children and
teenagers. The human brain does not stop developing until middle
age. Well within the age ranges to be affected by antidepressants provided
after being discharged by the military and provided help by the VA.
The
drugs on the list that have been shown to increase suicidal tendencies include:
|
Celexa
(citalopram)
|
Effexor
(venlafaxine)
|
Lexapro
(escitalopram)
|
|
Luvox
(fluvoxamine)
|
Paxil
(paroxetine)
|
Prozac
(fluoxetine)
|
|
Remeron
(mirtazapine)
|
Serzone
(nefazodone)
|
Wellbutrin,
Zyban (bupropion)
|
|
Zoloft
(sertraline)
|
|
|
Of
these, only Lexapro, Luvox, and Serzone are not in the current VA drug formulary.
Bupropion is the first line smoking cessation medication used by VA and
civilian doctors as well.
Celexa
has a dirty and questionable past. It was revealed
in 2011 Forest Pharmaceuticals paid the principal investigator of a federally
funded antidepressant drug study to fix the results in favor of Celexa.
But
the most amazing part of all this, is the VA
insistence that antidepressants are safe. From the study (Gibbons, Brown,
Hur, Marcus, Bhaumik, & Mann, 2007):
CONCLUSIONS:
These findings suggest that SSRI treatment has a protective effect in all adult
age groups. They do not support the hypothesis that SSRI treatment places
patients at greater risk of suicide.
The
President wants to help veterans. The best way he can is to cancel this order,
and demand that Veterans are provided more cognitive therapy and less
medication. And leave office. That would do the most good.
Works
Cited
Carr,
J. R., Hoge, C. W., Gardner, J., & Potter, R. (2004). Suicide surveillance
in the U.S. Military — reporting and classification biases in rate
calculations. Suicide Life Threatening Behavior, 34(Autumn), pp. 233-41.
Edwards-Stewart,
A., Kinn, J. T., June, J. D., & Fullerton, N. R. (2011). Military and
civilian media coverage of suicide. Archive of Suicide Research, 15(4),
pp. 304-312.
Gibbons,
R. D., Brown, C. H., Hur, K., Marcus, S. M., Bhaumik, D. K., & Mann, J. J.
(2007, July). Relationship Between Antidepressants and Suicide Attempts: An
Analysis of the Veterans Health Administration Data Sets. The American
Journal of Psychiatry, 164, pp. 1044-1049.
Hyman,
J., Ireland, R., Frost, L., & Cottrell, L. (2012, Mar). Suicide incidence
and risk factors in an active duty US military population. American Journal
Of Public Health, pp. S138-46.
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