Wall Street Journal Article re Coping With PTSD

The September 13-14, 2014, Wall Street Journal front page carried the article “Coping With PTSD: Vets Try New, and Unproven, Ways to Heal the Wounds of War” by Michael M. Phillips and Shirley S. Wang.

The headline of the September 12th online version of the article states: “War Veterans Try Yoga, Hiking, Horseback Riding to Treat PTSD: Pressure Builds on Department of Veterans Affairs to Expand Range of Treatments Beyond Drugs and Talk Therapy”

As many of you know, I often write about PTSD, and I have a proposed reality TV series HEALING OUR HEROES designed to showcase innovative PTSD treatments being done in the greater Los Angeles area. Whenever I meet with people who might be interested in this project, I do “pitch” it.

The Wall Street Journal article includes these two paragraphs:

The therapies may sound far-fetched. But vets and alternative-medicine advocates are pressuring the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand the range of treatments for those who can't find relief in the standard regimen of drugs and talk therapy.


“We are greatly saddened because we know how to help” said Dick Tomlinson, the former head of business development for Brain State Technologies, an Arizona firm seeking congressional help persuading the VA to try its so-called brain-wave optimization technology, which uses sounds to soothe patients. “But accessing the federal government is an enormous challenge, even when our vets' lives, and those of their families, are at stake.”

A main objective of my proposed reality series HEALING OUR HEROES is to help spread information on innovative PTSD treatments to encourage other areas of the country to consider offering these treatments.

I do hope that this Wall Street Journal article will help speed up the process of making innovative PTSD treatments available.

Click here to read for free on Wattpad my PTSD short story SOLOMON'S JUSTICE. (The story is an adaptation of a pilot TV drama script for a show of the same name.)


Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Navy thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her book-related posts at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com

Coping With Combat Stress: Book Review and WSJ Article

Theodore Knell’s book “From the Corners of a Wounded Mind” is a moving and powerful memoir of a soldier’s life.

The power of Knell’s story comes from what he writes about as well as by including his own poetry as part of his reflections. You can read one of his poems in the guest post he did – “Ex-British Special Forces Soldier Talks About His Experiences and His New Nonfiction Book”

This one poem doesn’t do justice to the amazing ability Knell has to capture the essence of his years as a soldier, including the effect of combat on soldiers.

His book concludes:

I hope that the next time you see a serviceman or woman, or the old man sitting on the homeless shelter steps, proudly brandishing a chest full of medals, you will pause for a moment and try to look beyond that confident, sometimes brash, some would even say arrogant exterior, to the person that lies within. A person who has worked hard, seen things that none of us should ever see, and in some cases suffered horrific injuries without complaint, someone who will continue to suffer in some way, either physically or mentally, but mostly in silence for the rest of their lives.

Only a few hours after reading the ending of Knell’s book, I read the Wall Street Journal April 2nd front-page article “Rx for Combat Stress: Comradeship” by Michael M. Phillips:

GARMSIR, Afghanistan—The morning after Chad Wade died, nobody wanted to walk point.

The Marines in Cpl. Wade's squad no longer had to imagine what would happen if they stepped on a buried bomb. Now they had seen it, and the fresh memory of their friend's shattered legs froze them in place.

When their squad leader, Sgt. Albert Tippett, lined them up for their next patrol, no one would pick up the metal detector used by the point man to clear a path through the mines.

The article goes on to explain “the new approach to combat stress that the Marine Corps wants to institutionalize.”

This new approach appears to be an antidote to what Knell describes so powerfully in his book – the reluctance of soldiers to talk about their horrifying experiences.

Read the entire Wall Street Journal article now. Then read Knell’s paperback book on Amazon or the Kindle version.

And for information on PTSD and its symptoms, see www.insupportofourtroops.com/ptsd-info/

March 22nd tweet on Twitter from @VeteranJournal: Suicide hotline available for deployed soldiers: http://ht.ly/4jJve

The U.S. Selective Service System Has Draft Boards Ready in Case a Draft Is Reinstated

The September 16th Wall Street Journal article by Michael M. Phillips entitled “Keeping Their Powder Dry: Draft Boards Hang On, Just in Case” surprised me because I probably had unconsciously assumed that there were no more draft boards as there isn’t a draft.

Apparently, though, draft boards have to be ready to go if needed. So citizens are recruited to serve on the boards, and they practice deciding the fate of fictional draftees.

The article also provides an interesting look at the history of the draft – who knew that an 1863 law allowed Civil War draftees to buy their way out of the army?

Of course the article discusses the lottery system introduced in 1969 during the Vietnam War. My husband’s number was 16 based on his birth date – he had already been commissioned an army officer thanks to ROTC at Michigan State University.

According to the WSJ article: “By the time the last man inducted during the Vietnam era got his draft notice on June 30, 1973, 1.9 million had been conscripted. Another 170,000 had been granted conscientious-objector status.”

Read the whole article at
http://snipurl.com/wsjdraftboards.

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