Ever since Psychological concepts entered our cultural zeitgeist, there has been a tendency to use these concepts as weapons. Epithets such as "Passive-Aggressive" and "Narcissistic" become divorced from their therapeutic meanings and become weapons in the hands of the those who hurl them. When you are called a "Narcissist" by your opponent, there is little defense possible. It is one of those insults that, even if containing a grain of truth as the best insults do, cannot be parried. If one responds at all, it only lends some weight to the attack. In the best pseudo-therapeutic jujitsu, a defense becomes a confirmation of the "interpretation." On the other hand, if one does not respond, the accusation hangs and sticks, as long as there is the slightest twig to hang it on. After all, psychological attacks are directed at aspects of the person that arise from the unconscious and are therefore indefensible.
Adequately trained Psychoanalysts are expected to constantly monitor the state of their own counter-transference to minimize the risks of using interpretations as weapons. Even in the best of analytic treatments, there are occasions when the analyst's unconscious feelings toward the patient contaminate their objectivity and cause pain for the patient. Most of the time, when there is a "good enough" therapeutic alliance and an analyst willing to acknowledge his own imperfections, the pair are able to work through such enactments and counter-transference events.
Unfortunately, in the real world outside of the consultation room, psychological weapons are used with little acknowledgement of the motivations of the attackers and even less concern for the sensibilities of the objects of the attack.
There is an interesting and pernicious, albeit subtle, attack under way upon pour military that is reminiscent of similar attacks in the 1970s. It involves the use and mis-use of the PTSD diagnosis. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, like so many diagnostic entities in the DSM-IV is a spectrum disorder. That means that at the extreme, there is a clear set of signs and symptoms that support the diagnosis but as we move away from the extreme back to the mean. the signs and symptoms become much more nebulous and subjective. There are efforts underway to narrow the diagnosis for the DSM-V, due out in several years, but political groups are already fighting such work. The more widely PTSD casts its nets, the more people diagnosed as potential victims. Which brings me to PTSD as a weapon.
GM Roper looks at PTSD, Guns and HR 2640:
There has been a lot of blogfroth regarding HR 2640 and what it will do, and what it will not do.
What it won't do is take the right to own a gun from soldiers who have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), what it will do is add records from those committed to a mental institution by a court of competent authority who are mentally ill and as a result of that mental illness pose an immediate threat to themselves or others. And there-in lies the problem.
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In the 60's and 70's much was made of the so called government trained killer going on a killing spree here at home (read - Vietnam Veterans). This of course was a calculated lie and Vietnam Vets were no more dangerous than others already in the public sphere. But it was one way for the MSM and the left to make the general population leery of Vietnam Vets.
Over the some 37 years of work in the mental health field I have worked with a lot of PTSD sufferers. None of them were one bit dangerous to others, and only a small portion of them dangerous to themselves, mostly with depression and accompanying self harm ideation or alcoholism/drug abuse problems. That is true of Korea Vets, Vietnam Vets and Gulf War I vets. I've not worked with any Gulf War II vets so I can't say the same for them, but I know of no studies nor have I heard from my fellow psychotherapists of unusual difficulties with these individuals.
I suspect that another round of stories about crazed veterans is about to hit the MSM to turn public attitudes just as happened in the latter years of the Vietnam War and post war period. Rambo I has sunk into the collective consciousness so that a "model" is already there.
The depiction of the typical Vietnam Vet as a victim of the government and at the same time as a crazed killer became a prominent feature in the MSM. PTSD, formerly known as "combat fatigue" was a perfect, and perfectly terrifying, disorder. Patients were routinely depicted as behaving perfectly normally and then suddenly, with some minimal stimulus, being thrown back into combat and attacking strangers and family as if they were the VC. It frightened Veterans and family members alike. Nightmares became loaded with terror that the Vet would lose control and kill his own loved ones. This was terribly unfair and quite obviously bogus but the meme was implanted and pressed by lurid stories in the MSM.
I spent several years working in the VA system in the late 70s and early 80s and I could count on one hand the number of Vietnam Vets I saw who had a history of violence and could reasonably attribute it to PTSD. IN contrast, most of those who carried a diagnosis of PTSD in fact had severe character pathology and substance abuse that pre-dated their entry into the military. Many of these young men, typically with very few pre-military skills and talents, used the diagnosis as a way to gain and maintain their disability checks. I saw a much smaller number of Vietnam Vets who entered therapy in the VA system to deal with depression and anxiety that was either caused or exacerbated by their experience in Vietnam. Of note, most of these men felt that their post-war experiences, the rejection and hate they felt from those who called them baby killers and worse, was significantly more problematic than their Vietnam experiences. I always suspected that most Vietnam Vets who suffered from true PTSD struggled with their problems in silence and isolation while working on careers and family.
The anti-war contingent in conjunction with the therapeutic community that hasn't yet met a symptom or discomfort they were unable to diagnose are preparing the ground for an epidemic of post-Iraq war PTSD. While some young people will certainly suffer lingering effects from their time in Iraq, diagnosing expectable and transient re-adjustment problems as PTSD does a great disservice to our military men and women. Further, although some Vets will find it hard to resist the "benefits" of such a diagnosis, including disability payments, they may well be allowing themselves to be used by those who would discredit our entire military and our efforts in Iraq.
My recommendation to any Veterans who are experiencing symptoms related to readjustment or PTSD would be to contact your local branch of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychiatric Association, or the American Psychological Association. Many local affiliates are setting up systems whereby Iraq War Vets will be able to receive free treatment in private offices. Even if this is unavailable, many cities have clinics affiliated with Medical School Psychiatric programs or Psychology or Social Work programs in which low fee care is provided.
The Psychiatric and Mental Health Community was complicit in the anti-war effort to depict Vietnam Vets as being permanently damaged by the military and war. There are many of us who are working to see that this does not happen again.
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