Last week I posted an article that spoke about violence and how it relates to mental illness. The article stated that those with a mental illness are no more a danger to society than the population at large. That article can be read HERE.
“In fact, people with mental illness are not more dangerous than the general population –unless they are abusing alcohol or drugs and they have untreated serious mental illness. They are far more likely to be the victims of violence than its perpetrators, at a rate 11 times higher than the general population.”
Little did I know that within two days our nation would be rocked to its core when a lone gunman murdered 13 people and injured 31 more at Fort Hood Army Base located in Texas. As I read the news and watched the news shows everyone was offering their ideas as to what went wrong. One of the theories some are floating is that Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist is a victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Although he never saw combat Hasan did counsel those who did see combat as they returned from their tours.
Hopefully the full truth of this brutal murder of innocent people will come to light. Until then people are going to be expressing their opinions and some will be very inflammatory. I do not wish to be a part of THAT conversation. I do find it hard to believe a person can become afflicted with PTSD by listening to the experiences of others. If that’s the case then every person who does what Hasan did as he listened to troubled individuals is a potential mass murderer. Who’s to say those in the field of counseling those with mental illness aren’t also potential mass murderers?
I realize that Hasan is unique in that he is a Muslim. Does that unique tension excuse what Hasan did? I don’t believe so but will leave the door open for now for those who insist this is the case.
For the time this blog has existed I have spent a good deal of time and effort on the topic of PTSD. There is a video you can view and also much information you can read that will help educate you. Click HERE to view the video titled “The Soldier’s Heart” that will educate you about PTSD. I have two links to organizations whose job is to seek and reach out to our veterans who suffer with PTSD. Click HERE to view the site “Give An Hour” and you will be amazed at what professionals throughout the nation are doing to help returning veterans with PTSD. Then click HERE to view the site “Military Ministry” that is seeking to offer spiritual solutions to the men and women of our military through the love of Jesus. As you may be hearing PTSD is very wide spread among our returning veterans. The armed forces aren’t equipped to deal with everyone who is returning that needs help. As you can see there are those who are seeking to make a difference.
Many in our armed forces won’t seek help because of the stigma that is attached to mental illness. This stigma reaches across our society and sadly even into some of our churches. With so many linking Hasan with PTSD I’m afraid that this stigma will now grow as some begin to believe that victims of PTSD are now a danger to our society? We need to see people stand up and say that these innocent men and women are victims of a disorder. Many of them are real life heroes who have given all they had to serve our country. We need to give all we have to see that they are taken care of in their time of crisis.
PTSD is not restricted to those who have been in the military. We are talking about people who have experienced traumatic and life altering events that are all too common in a society where the boundaries of right and wrong no longer exist for so many. The weak, innocent, and unprotected of our society are their victims. Some of these victims are in our churches and we’d never guess who they are. They need to be able to feel safe in coming forward for help. That won’t happen until these people believe it is safe to come forward.
Today at church we went through 1 Timothy 5 that speaks about widows. Before the message began our Pastor absolutely blew me away with what he did. He asked every widow in the building to stand up and to come forward to the front. He then asked each of them their name, their late husband’s name, and how long they had been a widow. In our service maybe a dozen or more women went forward. The church presented them with a gift card to a restaurant and asked them to let the church know they were widows so the church could help take care of them. I was surprised a s a few of the women had been widows for only a few months. One was a young woman that I would never have thought of as being a widow in a million years. These women came forward because there is no shame in being a widow. In fact we are to honor them.
I’m convinced that as time goes on we are going to see more people suffering mentally. It could be depression, anxiety, PTSD, bi-polar disorder, or maybe something else. It’s clear that our armed forces need to be more prepared so they can help the returning vets who have not only been physically wounded but those whose scars are emotional and unseen.
The church has always led the way in helping the needy and hurting. Sadly we have dropped the ball when it comes to those in our midst who are battling mental illness. The question before the church is when those who are suffering emotionally need us will we be there for them?
Filed under: Anxiety, Christian Counseling, Christianity, Depression, Mental Illness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide
After the shooting in Fort Hood, I started thinking about your blog, Allan. I hoped that maybe, just maybe, those in leadership and those who are suffering from mental illness in the military will now begin to take their mental health more seriously.
I hope that the stigma about getting help for it will end on both sides – the military who should be offering it, and those who need to receive it.
That the very man who was supposed to be counseling men and women could be allowed to get to such an impaired state and continue to see patients, even though there was enough concern by some to warrant keeping a watchful eye on him, just astounds me.
I am so thankful that he seems to be making a recovery so that not only the families of the victims will hopefully get some answers, but maybe the military will begin to learn what needs to be changed to help the brave men and women who have suffered so much. I don’t see how anyone can see and experience what they do in combat situations. Why there hasn’t been more help for them to deal with the trauma is really bewildering to me. Maybe they will begin now by offering excellence of care to those who were involved in this very situation.
I have a hard time believing that the shooter acted this way out of ptsd, too. I think a lot more of it could have been a tendency already toward some type of mental illness, and I really wouldn’t be surprised at all with the religious affiliation that there could be spiritual factors, as well. The enemy seems to be ramping things up a bit lately. I think we all need to be on our guard.
Dorci
Allan, I have to agree with you and Dorci……even though I’m not very much in the know with this, is does seem odd to me that the shooter’s actions would be solely ptsd related – that seems a stretch. And I also think there may be something to his religious affiliation, but as you said, nobody wants to really have that conversation.
I’m so, so impressed with what your Pastor did in church….that is HUGE!!
I don’t know what it will take for the military to actually do something about their service personnel who suffer from PTSD, and it’s a travesty that they don’t. There’s been a great deal of lip service from the powers that be about the “concern they have” for the service personnel who are traumatized by what they’ve seen in the line of duty, but there hasn’t been anything done about it. I am pessimistic that this tragedy at Ft. Hood (and certainly not the first place this has happened–more like the location du jour) will be the catalyst of much more than further jaw jacking about it.
It’s possible the psychiatrist who shot and wounded (and killed) these innocent bystanders was suffering from PTSD, but that’s hardly a reason to do such a thing. I suffer from it, too, but I’m not gonna pull out my 9mm and start shooting up the place (even if I could have one in Canada). I also doubt his being a Muslim, in and of itself, was the reason. Most Muslims are peaceable, crave peace, and are opposed to violence. No one but God and Hasan himself know what his motivations were. He obviously snapped, and in the worst possible way, got out of being deployed.
The military has obviously failed Hasan, as well as the countless other heroes who come home, traumatized by what they’ve seen and experienced from the fighting during their deployments. Hasan has been failed because there’s no real support of counselors and psychiatrists–they can’t unburden themselves about what they hear, day in and day out, and that gets to be too much. They also fail the service personnel, as you’ve pointed out, by not taking mental illness seriously, and by abiding by the societal stigma of mental illness. And because it’s a government operation, it inherently is made more complicated by bureaucracy and red tape. At best, all that can be done about it (until the powers that be actually do something–don’t hold your collective breath) is people like you, Allan, who keep trying to draw attention to the fact that these people aren’t “nuts”–they have real hurts, and need real help. And God willing, it will be before anyone else loses their lives over it.
On a separate note, what your church has done for the widows is marvelous, and a true example of what we should all be doing. Your pastor is a great guy.
Thanks for continuing the good fight, Allan. God bless you.
Thanks for your comments Dorci, Eileen, and Owen. It appears from what is coming out in the news that Hasan wasn’t a victim pf PTSD. There was another dynamic at work.
Hopefully we will see a clear explanation of PTSD made in the wake of this tragedy. I’m afraid people aren’t going to have a clue what it is after so many are offering it as an explanation for Hasan’s actions.
The church has an opportunity to direct specific efforts to addressing mental illness in her midst. There is a need before us and I can think of no greater thing than to bring hope and solutions to those who are suffering so much.
Balance is needed and I’m not advocating medicating everyone or putting them on the psychologist’s couch. I have been quite clear there are issues to be dealt with regarding mental health. At this point in time denying they exist or boiling it down to a sin issue is flat out dangerous.
The example I saw at church yesterday with the widows in our midst is an example of what the church is capable of.
Thank you guys for your thoughtful posts.