Markham's Behavioral Health

Suicidal soliders is not so much a mental health problem as a spiritual crisis

Reading about the increased incidence of sucides in the military and the huge numbers of soldiers with PTSD has gotten me interested in something which very few people in American society talk about and that is what Dr. Rachel MacNair calls "Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress", PITS.

PITS is the anguish and guilt which one human being feels when he/she kills another human being. This has been increasinly labeled as a mental health problem which it surely is, but even more, it is a spiritual problem in my view. All the mental health treatment in the world, and all the medications cannot absolve the guilt induced by the willful, deliberate killing of another human being.

There is a good article that attempts to describe this problem which was published in the Seattle Times 4 years ago on July 21, 2004. Here is a snippet:

Tucked behind a gleaming machine gun, Sgt. Joseph Hall grins at his two companions in the Humvee.

"I want to know if I killed that guy yesterday," Hall says. "I saw blood spurt from his leg, but I want to be sure I killed him."

The vehicle goes silent as the driver, Spc. Joshua Dubois, swerves around asphalt previously uprooted by a blast.

"I'm confused about how I should feel about killing," says Dubois, who has a toddler back home. "The first time I shot someone, it was the most exhilarating thing I'd ever felt."

Dubois turns back to the road. "We talk about killing all the time," he says. "I never used to talk this way. I'm not proud of it, but it's like I can't stop. I'm worried what I will be like when I get home."

The men aren't Special Forces soldiers. They're troops with the Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment serving their 14th month in Iraq, much of it in daily battles. In 20 minutes, they will come under attack again.

Many soldiers and Army psychiatrists say these constant conversations about death help troops come to grips with the trauma of combat. But mental-health professionals within and outside the military point to the chatter as evidence of preventable anguish.

It is very difficult for us as a nation to face up to the immoral and illegal war which we have perpetrated and are paying for which was based on lies and deceit by our government, let alone for our soldiers who have actually killed other human beings, civilians, women, children, for reasons that are not clear at behest of psychopathic and irresponsible leaders. What does this killing do to a person's soul other than lead to anguish, revulsion, self-recrimination, and too often self destruction in one form or another.

Families of these suffering souls have wanted to be proud of their relative's service and to believe it was for a good cause, but the truth does not match the delusion. The inability of people back home to "understand", let alone accept, the truth, leaves the suffering soldier even more isolated and tormented.

What is the answer to the spiritual suffering? The truth and repentence. Will McCain or Obama lead us there? I doubt it very much unless we as a country are willing to face our demons and admit that what has been done in our name is wrong. Witnessing the suicides and PTSD of our returning soldiers fortunately or unfortunately won't let us ignore or forget the heinous acts they have been asked and compelled to do in our name. The guilt belongs to us all not just to the perpetrators, but they are the more active participants while we just watch, cheer them on, and lie to them telling them they are doing grand, honroable, and glorious things when deep in their souls they know better.

I intend to write more on this topic so I am adding a new category to my blog today called Perpetration induced stress.

Nation & World | Soldiers trained to kill, not to cope | Seattle Times Newspaper.

 

Suicide of troops only one symptom of National spiritual dysfunction in the U.S.A.

I passed a car this morning that had a yellow ribbon on it which said "Support The Troops", and a decal on it which said, "Thank them for their service protecting our country." And I wondered to myself how do you thank people who are engaged in immoral and illegal activity of waging a pre-emptive war for a corrupt government than has waged war based on lies?

The Nurmeburg trials after World War II developed the principle that "just following orders" does not absolve a person from legal and moral guilt. The fact is that many of our troops are engaged in illegal and immoral activities, activities which they cannot justify to themselves or to others and so when they return home "from duty", from engaging in these activities they are killing themselves in greater and greater numbers.

Our chauvanistic and patriotic jingoism does not help these soldiers at all because they know what they did, and they are not proud, and they cannot say anything when they are being falsely adulated, and continued to be lied to that they have done brave and noble things.

What our soldiers and our country needs more than anything is the truth, because it is the truth that sets people free not lies in spite of what the current administration tells us.

When American soldiers choose suicide over life back in the U.S.A. that should tell us something. They know something we don't know and that is that our spirit is seriously broken and corrupted as a nation.

Truth, honesty, repentence, forgiveness, exoneration, reconciliation are badly needed in our national soul and the prophetic leadership is sadly lacking. Until it emerges our returning troops will continue to suffer and kill themselves.

It is a mistake to view the suicide and psychiatric crises in our returning veterans as mental health problems alone. At the core they are spiritual problems, and Americans as a whole share a spiritual responsibility for the state of our nation's soul. The suicide of our soldiers is only one symptom of serious spiritual dysfunction of our country.

James Jenkins was a Marine who served two rotations in Iraq. He became increasingly agitated and dispairing over the 212 people he states he killed and he told his mother he didn't understand why he was there. It seems that a very promising, bright, hard working, intelligent young man joined the service "for college money" and "to serve his country" only to find out that the "service" involved unspeakable activities that he would rather kill himself for than have to live with. It is a very sad commentary on how the current administration and our country has exploited its youth and their potential for very dishonorable , deceiftul, and destructive policies.

The blood of James Jenkins, the 212 people he killed, and the thousands and millions who have suffered because of this tragic policy falls on George Bush and his ilk and all the idiots in this country who voted for them.

Video lasts 7: 16

Psychologists engage in torture and war crimes

On Friday, July 18, 2008, Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, interviewed Jane Mayer, the author of the new book, The Dark Side, about the role that psychologists, and the APA played in torturing prisoners in the so-called "War On Terror".

It seems that America has lost its way under the Bush administration and has engaged in war crimes. Americans have lost their ideals under this administration as they have watched their leaders justify and engage in policies and behaviors that  disregard human rights, dignity, and justice.

It seems ironic that a President who engaged in illicit sex in the White House is impeached, while a President who is an international war criminal is ignored. What has happened to the American people?

Amy Goodman's interview is well worth listening to or watching. You can do so by clicking on the link below which will take you to the show on the Democracy Now web site.

Here is part of the interview. It lasts 8:29

Democracy Now! | July 18, 2008.

MCCain, Gramm, and Bush don't know what they are talking about. The ecomomy really is bad, it's not just "psychological" as they claim.

There is no "psychology" to the bad economy as McCain, Gramm, and Bush suggest. The ecomomy is really bad. With this kind of leadership, Americans are in deep shit. Video lasts 4:09

Excessive texting is a tell tale sign of infidelity

There was a brief article in the Telegraph, a newspaper in the United Kingdom, on 06/25/08 about how excessive text messaging can be a sign of infidelity. Here is part of what the article says:

Excessive texting and emailing is now the number one sign of infidelity, a leading law firm has said.

Family lawyers said an addiction to text messages or emails has replaced "working late" at the office as the main tell tale signs of an extra-marital affair.

Andrew Newbury, partner at specialist law firm Pannone said: "We see the same features in so many of the marital disputes that we deal with.

In the last 3 months I have had 5 couples where the spouse is objecting to the number and type of text messages being sent by his/her spouse. In one case, the wife objected that her spouse had sent 6,000 text messages to a female co-worker the preceding month. The husband claimed it was merely a friendship with a co-worker and there was nothing romantic going on.

Last night, I saw an upset husband who stated that his wife is getting all kinds of text messages from male co-workers at all times of the day and on weekends and when he asked what was going on, his wife became very defensive and denied any wrong doing. She was further defensive when he called the cell phone company wanting the phone records.

I have several other cases now where text messaging and setting up of accounts on MySpace has concerned spouses that their spouse is engaging in behavior that could lead to infidelity. In my experience, sometimes this has happened. In one case and unhappy wife of 26 years, left her husband to meet some man she had been corresponding with on the Internet who lived in another state. The wife knew nothing about this person other than from the emails.

It is interesting to learn how the new technology is being used in human relationships. Often the concern is for children and protecting them from predators and other questionable activities like taking and circulating nude photos of themselves (which I had one 13 year old client do). And yet, it seems that adults are getting into just as much, if not more, trouble.

Like any new technology, the technology itself is value free - in and of itself is amoral, but the use to which humans put it often raises all kinds of moral issues. With technology like text messaging, we are only being to learn how this new form of communication will affect human relationships.

Excessive texting is a tell tale sign of infidelity - Telegraph.

Pharmaceutical companies disease monger to detriment of society

Catherine Arnst had an interesting article published in the May 8, 2006 issue of Business Week entitled "Hey, You Don't Look So Good: As Diagnoses Of Once-Rare Illnesses Soar, Doctors Say Drugmakers Are 'Disease Mongering' To Boost Sales".

Here is a snippet from the article:

Click on article to enlage for easier reading.

 

Home of the Brave, the film

Home of the Brave is a documentary about the murder of Viola Liuzzo who was killed on March 25, 1965 in Selma, Alabama as part of the civil rights march there from Selma to Montgomery.

The story is told from the perspectives of her five children. Viola was 39 when she was killed and was survived by her husband and the five children. It appears that the F.B.I. was involved and that an F.B.I. informant actually perpetrated the murder.

This documentary depicts the heroic efforts of a courageous woman and the effect her death and its circumstances has on her children.

I highly recommend this film.

Home of the Brave (2004).

50% of children born in the United States to women under 30 are born to unwed mothers

There was a very informative and important show on July 1, 2008 on On Point dealing with the number of births in the United State to unwed mothers.

Here is a snippet from the On Point web site:

New research finds that more than 50 percent of all births to women under 30 are out of wedlock. Fifty years ago, it was 6 percent.

It's the unintended consequence of big shifts in culture and policy, and it's got long-range implications for the way we live.

The show lasts about 48 minutes and you can listen on line. I highly recommend it.

WBUR & NPR's On Point : Young, Unmarried, with Children.

Truth is dangerous

"If the people believe there's an imaginary river out there, you don't tell them there's no river there. You build an imaginary bridge over the imaginary river."

Nikita S. Khruschchev (as remembered by Richard Nixon) in Rick Shenkman's book, Just How Stupid Are We? p. 53

People can only take so much truth. As Oscar Wilde said, "If you tell people the truth you better make them laugh or they will kill you." This is true in psychotherapy as it is in politics and just about any other walk of life.

People do not like cognitive dissonance. They do not like their thoughts disturbed. It raises their anxiety, and they can become dangerous.

My Social Work professor drilled it into our heads to "take the client where they're at, not where they ought to be, not where you think they should be, not where they could be, but take people where they're at."

My Social Work professor's advice has been stellar advice. And so we get the government we deserve. We get the lives we deserve, because people are very unaware. To wake them up might mean a punch in the face or at the least, protest and complaint, and a grump or two. Very few people wake up with a smile on their face, a song in their heart, and expressions of gratitude.

When you tell the truth, tread lightly, stand back, and fortify yourself with large amounts of compassion otherwise it can be a hurtful and destructive experience.

It may be easier and will undoubtedly make you more successful to build imaginary bridges over imaginary rivers, but some would say it is immoral, unethical, and in the long run we deserve the truth if we are to become human beings worthy of our potential.

Prosperity preaching is the path to hell

It is ironic that when the economy gets bad people turn to religion.

The major religion in America today, but you will not see it listed as a major religion or denomination in the Pew Research Polls, is consumerism. The God of consumerism is Mammon. President Bush is consumerism's main prophet when he encourages people to engage in the sacred practice of shopping.

Joel Osteen and books such as The Secret promote an economics of spirituality promising people that if they have enough faith and get right with their God material and financial benefits will flow. With a paradoxical theology the proponents of economic spirituality promise that the more money you give to them, the more money the universe will send back to you.

As people have come to believe the economics of spirituality, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer and the middle class has shrunk.

People have not caught on that the economics of spirituality is a scam, a con, worthy of P.T. Barnum and the snake oil salesman of old.

People are not stupid but they are anxious and scared. Scared people will latch on to any hair-brained ideas hoping that by whistling in the dark and being distracted by engaging entertainment and hopeful ideas, no mater how false, will help them feel better and make things better.

None of the great religious leaders preached consumerism, not Jesus, not Buddha, not Krishna, not Mohamed. In fact, they preached the opposite. Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into heaven."

It's not that money and material things are bad, it's that they have there place and there are plenty of things more important like loving your neighbor and caring for our planet and mother, Mother Earth.

As J. Paul Getty said, "The meek shall inherit the earth but not the mineral rights." and as Jesus said, it is hard, if not impossible for the rich to get into heaven, but the prosperity preachers who encourage an economics of spirituality create a hell on earth in the long run. As one wag said when asked his definition of Irish Diplomacy, "Irish diplomacy is telling a person to go to hell in such a way that they enjoy the trip." President Bush must be part Irish when he told Americans that the antidote to their worries is to go shopping. By all means shop til you drop, and let the plutocrats and preachers run the world.