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"It has been called shell shock, battle fatigue, soldier’s heart and, most recently, post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Military officers and some psychiatrists say dropping the word “disorder” in favor of “injury” will reduce the stigma that stops troops from seeking treatment. “No 19-year-old kid wants to be told he’s got a disorder,” said Gen. Peter Chiarelli.
PTSD refers to the intense and potentially crippling symptoms that some people experience after a traumatic event such as combat, a car accident or rape. To Chiarelli and the psychiatrists pressing for a change, the word “injury” suggests that people can heal with treatment. A disorder, meanwhile, implies that something is permanently wrong.
Chiarelli was the first to drop the word “disorder,” referring to the condition as PTS. The new name was adopted by officials at the highest levels of the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. But PTS never caught on with the medical community because of concerns that insurers and government bureaucrats would not be willing to pay for a condition that wasn’t explicitly labeled a disease, disorder or injury.
The intensity of the trauma, whether it is a rape, car crash or horrifying combat, is so overwhelming that it alters the physiology of the brain. In this sense, PTSD is more like a bullet wound or a broken leg than a typical mental disorder or disease. “One could have a clean bill of health prior to the trauma, and then afterward, there was a profound difference,” Ochberg wrote in a letter backing Chiarelli’s request for a change.
“The concept of injury usually implies a discrete time period. At some point, the bleeding will stop. Sometimes the wound heals quickly, sometimes not,” said Matthew J. Friedman, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD. A disorder can stretch on for decades.
A shift to “injury” could make it harder for service members to collect permanent-disability payments for their condition from the government, some experts warned. “When you have an injury, you follow a treatment regimen and expect to get better,” Figley said. “This change is about medicine, but it is also about compensation. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.”
"
New name for PTSD could mean less stigma - The Washington Post
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" ~ William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600
It does not matter what they call it PTSD, Shell shock or battle fatigue. The government is attempting to cut down on compensation which they would normally award a veteran with a service-connected disability. This is just another bad act in a history of bad acts directed at those who gave of themselves to their country and came back with health related issues, many of which do not have the wherewithal to fight for their own rights or entitlements regarding the Veterans' Administration or Veterans' Health Administration.
Military officers and some psychiatrists say dropping the word “disorder” in favor of “injury” will reduce the stigma that stops troops from seeking treatment. “No 19-year-old kid wants to be told he’s got a disorder,” said Gen. Peter Chiarelli.
PTSD refers to the intense and potentially crippling symptoms that some people experience after a traumatic event such as combat, a car accident or rape. To Chiarelli and the psychiatrists pressing for a change, the word “injury” suggests that people can heal with treatment. A disorder, meanwhile, implies that something is permanently wrong.
Chiarelli was the first to drop the word “disorder,” referring to the condition as PTS. The new name was adopted by officials at the highest levels of the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. But PTS never caught on with the medical community because of concerns that insurers and government bureaucrats would not be willing to pay for a condition that wasn’t explicitly labeled a disease, disorder or injury.
The intensity of the trauma, whether it is a rape, car crash or horrifying combat, is so overwhelming that it alters the physiology of the brain. In this sense, PTSD is more like a bullet wound or a broken leg than a typical mental disorder or disease. “One could have a clean bill of health prior to the trauma, and then afterward, there was a profound difference,” Ochberg wrote in a letter backing Chiarelli’s request for a change.
“The concept of injury usually implies a discrete time period. At some point, the bleeding will stop. Sometimes the wound heals quickly, sometimes not,” said Matthew J. Friedman, executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD. A disorder can stretch on for decades.
A shift to “injury” could make it harder for service members to collect permanent-disability payments for their condition from the government, some experts warned. “When you have an injury, you follow a treatment regimen and expect to get better,” Figley said. “This change is about medicine, but it is also about compensation. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.”
"
New name for PTSD could mean less stigma - The Washington Post
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" ~ William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600
It does not matter what they call it PTSD, Shell shock or battle fatigue. The government is attempting to cut down on compensation which they would normally award a veteran with a service-connected disability. This is just another bad act in a history of bad acts directed at those who gave of themselves to their country and came back with health related issues, many of which do not have the wherewithal to fight for their own rights or entitlements regarding the Veterans' Administration or Veterans' Health Administration.
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