I appreciated reading about the challenges facing local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters (American Legion and VFW Chapters Soldier On, May 28). As a psychologist, I found it interesting that the reduction in membership that took place in the 1970s coincided with the American Psychiatric Association’s attempts to standardize post-traumatic stress disorder as a diagnosis.
Although PTSD had been observed for many decades (it was typically called “war neurosis” or “shell shock”), throughout the 1970s mental health researchers sought to standardize it as a diagnosis, which greatly increased the chances that a clinician or institution would agree on its presence in a patient. Once that happened, clinical and research interest in veterans and their psychology burgeoned, decreasing ignorance of and stigma about PTSD.
I can imagine there were many years where the only people who could understand the trauma experienced by veterans were other veterans, and I felt more appreciation for the loneliness and isolation many vets probably suffered before organized efforts to name, accept and treat this difficult post-combat disability. I’m so glad that the American Legion and VFW were places where vets could gather, be seen and understood. Thank you to those who have served or continue to do so.
Christine Foertsch, Garrison
Our vets are brave. They protect us from harm. They deserve the best we can offer. And, I am taking this opportunity to fiercely attack a systemic condition that affects our veterans and all of us: drug addiction!
A close friend was a vet in the grips of depression. Sadly, the main focus of his treatment was antidepressants. Has anyone noticed the inundation of drug commercials on television? How many drugs does the average person take? Oh, my hair hurts – let me pop a pill! We’ve all heard the word systemic relative to racism. How about systemic blindness to ‘official’ drug peddlers. Open eyes; see what’s right in front of us.