PTSD - The get out of jail free card?

[smallbrownprivates]

I can't remember the name of the journalist. It was a while ago.

His comments about good and bad psychopaths are interesting and those views are shared by many psychiatrists.
.

Are you a Good Psychopath? - The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success vaguely linked as the book was in part written by Andy McGrabb


Now whether it is a trait helpful to be an author or one of THEM that is another matter...

 

[Bogie_Bear]

I can't remember the name of the journalist. It was a while ago.

His comments about good and bad psychopaths are interesting and those views are shared by many psychiatrists.

Animals don't give a feck about other animals. Cats and dogs will eat their own babies. Sheep will bite the wings off of baby birds and sheep are vegetarians. I speak from bitter experience when I say that "loyal" dogs will pee on your bed no matter how much you do for them. I was lucky. Plenty of dogs have eaten parts of their owners when the owner is pi$$ed, paralysed or numb from diabetes and falls asleep watching telly.

As humans evolved we developed a sense of empathy. We cared about others and stopped eating our babies. As we became hunter gatherers we had to work together in groups in order to prosper.

This placed us at an evolutionary disadvantage. Nice guys finish last after all. Perhaps psychopathy evolved to counter too much empathy making us weak. In the modern world, so-called white collar psychopaths can do very well in business and professions that are very competitive.

I once knew a matelot who was never diagnosed but who was thought to be a psychopath. Among other things, he brought a new meaning to the word promiscuous. Any time we ran ashore, he would disappear and appear back on ship five minutes before leave expired, knackered and with a new batch of tales to tell. Like all psychopaths, he liked to live dangerously so never used a condom.

This was before AIDS but he was invariably rotten with every other type of VD known to science due to going bareback with prostitutes in places like Nigeria, Amsterdam, Bangkok and Saigon. He would go home on leave and knowingly infect his wife. At that time there was no legal concept of marital rape. His wife literally couldn't say no to him.

He infected his wife with everything including incurable diseases like herpes and genital warts. I heard she developed cervical cancer which is a side effect of the warts virus. It's hard to describe but it wasn't that he was callous and didn't care about his wife. He genuinely couldn't understand why he should care about giving her VD every time he was home on leave.

Deffo showed scant regards for the rest of the blokes reaming her out whilst he's off on the high seas getting his jollies.

 

[Lardbeast]

Go to the DCMH department in Aldershot and see how many ******* who have never been anywhere in the military have "issues".
The money is there for the genuine cases, but it's spent on shitcunts who don't like exercises, guard duties, tours or anything remotely resembling military work.

Had the same here. Right after the regime change in '94 some trashy National Enquirer/Hello type sob story punting magazine ran a series of articles about all the terrible PTSD cases that had surfaced in the SADF. Pretty much all of them medics and storemen who never got near the bangy bits of the dust up.

The blokes who were walking round the bush were slightly bemused about it all and stood around scratching their heads at the number of storemen who had been frightened by badly arranged socks. Most of us knew the odd bloke who had gone a bit off the rails (bosbevok - bush fucked in the vernacular) but it was never used as an excuse for being a cunt (that came naturally).

 

[Stumpy4154]

A while ago, there was an interesting article in the Guardian on that very theme.

While writing a series of articles on mental health, a journo visited Broadmoor, the place where Hanibal Lecter would be locked up if he was British.

The patient he was interviewing arrived in the canteen wearing a three piece suit. During their conversation, the man in the suit confessed that he had lied to his doctors. Facing 7 years in prison for a crime I can't remember, he told anybody who would listen about the voices in his head and he ended up in Broadmoor where he had a room to himself, TV and stereo and even pocket money each week. Cushy.

The journalist was torn. Should he protect his source, or tell the psychiatrist at Broadmoor that he was being had by a common criminal.

Eventually, he decided to tell all. The psychiatrist was unsurprised. "We knew he was bluffing as soon as he arrived here. He obviously isn't psychotic." said the doc.

"Unfortunately we also discovered that he has a dangerous and incurable personality disorder, so he's going to be with us for the rest of his life."

A lifetime in the nut house instead of 7 years and out in 3. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

When I worked as a Custody Officer in the courts, we were sent on a "getting to know you" visit to the local mental hospital who dealt with some of the people we often had in our cells. The CPN who gave us the tour and talk told us about some of the cons who had claimed mental illness (schizophrenia, etc) in order to get out of a prison sentence. We were told that what these people didn't realise was that if they managed to pull off a diagnosis and were set to the hospital, they were in until they were "cured" but then had to start their sentence at the prison after discharge, so could be inside for many years longer than they would have been if they had simply gone to nick.

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

Had the same here. Right after the regime change in '94 some trashy National Enquirer/Hello type sob story punting magazine ran a series of articles about all the terrible PTSD cases that had surfaced in the SADF. Pretty much all of them medics and storemen who never got near the bangy bits of the dust up.

The blokes who were walking round the bush were slightly bemused about it all and stood around scratching their heads at the number of storemen who had been frightened by badly arranged socks. Most of us knew the odd bloke who had gone a bit off the rails (bosbevok - bush fucked in the vernacular) but it was never used as an excuse for being a cunt (that came naturally).

To be honest, there are very few who are expert in this area, even supposedly qualified healthcare professionals.

It's a contentious topic because the highest mental health casualty rate, according to DASA (in 2012) group morbidity reporting reveals that Other Rank females, particularly RAF, were the highest risk group: Post #14 here reveals the stats by service, grade and gender.

The "experts" seem to think it's connected to the level of academic attainment and prosperity! In other words the higher educated and wealthier you are, the less likely to suffer. Arguably, that's because the people at the sharp end are wrongly perceived as less well educated and from areas of unemployment. But, their stats clearly contradict their suggestion.

My learned opinion is that is utter bollix - a complete lack of understanding of military by the medical professionals...who illogically sub-divide the statistics to show Officers are a lower risk "group" to back up their assertion. It very much demonstrates the bias and the random mumbo-jumbo nature of psychiatry.

My thoughts? It's quite likely all to do with training & conditioning. The group with the lowest risk of becoming a mental health casualty? Royal Marines. But then, I'm only a lowly stoker, not an expert.

 

[Deleted 60082]

Getting treatment doesn't mean you'll be forced to discharged... unless he wishes to?

I don’t know about the Army, but a medical discharge from the RAF would take about 2 years at the least. Most people are kept in as long as possible, it seems.

 

[dingerr]

I don’t know about the Army, but a medical discharge from the RAF would take about 2 years at the least. Most people are kept in as long as possible, it seems.

All three services are the same and as I previously said, those with serious MH issues are usually discharged quite quickly.

 

[Deleted 60082]

All three services are the same and as I previously said, those with serious MH issues are usually discharged quite quickly.

Thanks. I presumed it would be the same, but have not witnessed the discharge process from the army.

 

[Goatman]

SSAFA launches support group for Forces families affected by suicide

As alluded to by @thegimp above....Telic and Herrick will have a downstream impact long after the tabloids have forgotten the names and places involved.

My thoughts? It's quite likely all to do with training & conditioning. The group with the lowest risk of becoming a mental health casualty? Royal Marines. But then, I'm only a lowly stoker, not an expert.

TRiM training was rolled out by the RM...Army then followed.

It is entirely dependent on buy-in at the lower levels. The boys have to see that their Seniors take it very seriously indeed. Not just another box-ticking exercise.

 

[thegimp]

SSAFA launches support group for Forces families affected by suicide

As alluded to by @thegimp above....Telic and Herrick will have a downstream impact long after the tabloids have forgotten the names and places involved.



TRiM training was rolled out by the RM...Army then followed.

It is entirely dependent on buy-in at the lower levels. The boys have to see that their Seniors take it very seriously indeed. Not just another box-ticking exercise.

There was a matelot dental faggot who was trained up to monitor the blokes mental health in Kosovo. Bearing in mind some of his “wards” were exhuming mass graves for a day rate bonus and having boot sniffing competitions after a hard shift, you’d think he’d have his hands full.

He developed unreciprocated romantic feelings for an obese HCA in the field hospital. He got chinned off by the Olympic standard ration thief, he went ******* wobble and had to be cas-evac’d back to the U.K. after threatening to top himself. Winner.

The sky pilot looking after some chip shop infantry unit in Iraq used to come and try to cry on my shoulder as all the blokes avoided him for being a massive morale hoover, also RTBritain

Selection for these sorts of positions and the training shouldn’T be based on who the unit needs least operationally

 

[Goatman]

@thegimp

Not much to say to that...seeing inside another person's head has never struck me as a particularly straight forward exercise.

Some people are good at sublimating stuff, others less so. And chancers will always jump at the chance to make a few bob, garner sympathy, work the system whatever.

The Ex-Forces Mental Welfare Society (Combat Stress) was formed just after the Armistice in 1919.
They can only accept patients who already have a clinical diagnosis.
They have seen the wheel turn many times on whether or not serving in dodgy places, seeing nasty things can monkey with your head.

This is their centenary year .

Part of the problem for a lot of ex-Forces people is the 'Rubber Duck syndrome' -

" only weaklings have mental health issues - that's not me, I'm a rubber duck - you can't crack me'

So dealing with people who have reached the end of their rope is tough. Especially as they have a tendency to alienate people close to them.

I agree with @Ninja_Stoker that how people react to the extraordinary sh1t to which some have been exposed reflects all sorts of things - background, life experience,and very much initial training and the elusive 'ethos' of the Corps or unit involved.

Booties have a particularly dark sense of humour, which is a great coping mechanism.

 

[stacker1]

" only weaklings have mental health issues - that's not me, I'm a rubber duck - you can't crack me'

That's because a growing amount of spastics within the armed forces are claiming they have mental health problems, its the new shins splints

 

[Heartbreaklane]

I can think of quite a few blokes who have fucked up their lives post service in terms of poor life decisions and behaviours (drink, drugs, being an idle bugger) and now 25 years on are blaming their service, and some are calling out PTSD. Most were Cold War Warriors with a few Banners unde their belts. It's a shame, as it probably stops them identifying and dealing with the root causes.

Edited to add, I know that there are genuine cases from this era, but also many blokes using it as an easy excuse for their behaviour.

 

[Anonymous Yank]

" only weaklings have mental health issues - that's not me, I'm a rubber duck - you can't crack me'

That's because a growing amount of spastics within the armed forces are claiming they have mental health problems, its the new shins splints

 

[stacker1]

View attachment 374687

Not sure what your point is.

 

[Anonymous Yank]

Not sure what your point is.

That is not surprising.

 

[stacker1]

That is not surprising.

Because instead of saying what you mean, you put up a crap photo shop?

 

[Lardbeast]

Can't crack a storeman. After the horrors of swamped mattresses with spooge filled holes in them and shit stained bedding, nothing else even comes close.

 

[thegimp]

I can think of quite a few blokes who have fucked up their lives post service in terms of poor life decisions and behaviours (drink, drugs, being an idle bugger) and now 25 years on are blaming their service, and some are calling out PTSD. Most were Cold War Warriors with a few Banners unde their belts. It's a shame, as it probably stops them identifying and dealing with the root causes.

Edited to add, I know that there are genuine cases from this era, but also many blokes using it as an easy excuse for their behaviour.

Root causes?

Have you known or interacted with anyone with PTSD? Or any mental or substance addiction issues

A daily mail holier than thou opinion piece from you holds no water whatsoever.

Let’s hope you are a “rubber duck” type and never succumb to any of the issues you scornfully dismiss, they are more prevalent in society than your ignorance tells you
You probably have family members with MH issues. Just tell them to snap out of it.

Mean time get yourself a medical degree and a post grad in psychiatry and come back to us

 

[dingerr]

Root causes?

Have you known or interacted with anyone with PTSD? Or any mental or substance addiction issues

A daily mail holier than thou opinion piece from you holds no water whatsoever.

Let’s hope you are a “rubber duck” type and never succumb to any of the issues you scornfully dismiss, they are more prevalent in society than your ignorance tells you
You probably have family members with MH issues. Just tell them to snap out of it.

Mean time get yourself a medical degree and a post grad in psychiatry and come back to us

Man up fella