February 8, 2012

A Ruse Indeed: Wanna Be Therapists

Comment from a guy who originally placed on his Facebook education and work page that he worked for me here on this blog. I asked him to remove it, he apologized and gave me a huge line, I accepted his apology and gave him the benefit of the doubt. But then he makes this comment on my last article, this guy says he is a clinical social worker and I am sure he is. I was astounded when he referred to his clients as "wanna be's". Please plow through his wordage, at the end you will be rewarded as I tear him up real nicely.


Great blog!
I've been working with Combat PTSD Vets for 11 years. It brought up a couple things for me and I'd have to agree w/ the survey. There are out there what I call "Wanna bes", which is about one or two percent of those I've worked with. However what sux is those 1 to 2 % ruin it for those who do have it and do need the benef

Cant help but note you have a sidebar the Support our Incarcerated Veterans. I was giving a lecture on how to start a PTSD program in confinement. Question from Head of Army Clemency & Parole Board: "How do you know if someone was where they say they was or was really deployed , where they say the are?"

My answere after I showed some assessment tools and and other ways I work to sort out the wannabes: When I'm counseling someone one I can notice the differnce in the way a person reacts when they say i was sniper andI 10 confirmed kills and he's talking about it like, how aabout those Bears!" And The way a person describes what was like to be in the midst of a firefight have a buddy beed out in his arms and questioning himself, if i only would of ... he night be alive today!" His affect, emotion and how he can barely get the words out with tears streaming down his cheeks.

I guess my answere wasn't good emough because she went to the head man of military confinement and told him we could be misdiagnosing our guys and giving them clemeny & parole they might not desrve. So i walked into that shit storm after vi returned back to work after visiting my son who just returned from Afghanistan,

It also brought up a few more thought.

One) alot of GWI vets got the parades & then the period of thanks by America. You guys kicked thier ass, 100 days. Yee haa! How ever Non -military civilians don't realize there was the build up. The war and worse yet the aftermath plus all the other factors oil well fires, death, chemicals, depleted uranium, anthrax shots etc. Then after the hoopla America forgot.

2)Then there was were you in direct combat how do we know what you saw can cause pTSD, lets detemine that with out the person asking the questions with being in war an its environment. How do you know what they saw? I've seen many veterans suffer in poverty while some idiot trys to figure this out and then come back & say, "We need more information. Or we can't explain what you have because it hasn't been given a name."

3) Just like alcoholism not all cases of PTSD are not as severe as others, but does that mean a person does not have it. Who is qualified to say whose demons that haunt the soul of someone with PTSD, Combat Stress, Post Deployment Operational Stress Deployment what ever name one choses call it, is not as bad as his or hers.

Bottom line PTSD f's one up physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Plus the loss of innoccence that the world is safe. These individuals gave ,so it is up to our country not to forget, be it in the honor or the compensation for those who gave while others sit on thier assess and decide if we should go to war or not.

Maybe the bean counters who send us to some wars we don't need to be in should count the post cost of war and its devestation after the war. Before jumping into a war.

Thanks for all of you have served may you get the honor & the compensation you ddserve!
In the first two years after I got home, the only times I would cry would be in packed grocery stores. I didn't cry in therapy until recently, after 15 years. I was always jacked up, emotional and confrontational even. Had I had a therapist who could have gotten past their petty reactions, a social worker less depressed then me or an empathetic practitioner who could have opened a therapeutic window so they may intuitively guide me through the landmine field residing in my consciousness in the first two years I may not have had a lifetime of emotional and spiritual pain. If you were looking for me to cry in therapy you would have labeled me a malingerer.

Second, the last post was not about a survey; it was about a memo from a therapist who gave an opinion based in his beliefs, not in facts or recent events such as the Veterans Administrations investigation. The Army took a reactionary response to a burnt out therapist who cannot get past thinking about the LESS than 1% and concentrate on the other 99 Combat Veterans who walk in the door. Thirdly, the less than 1% are not the issue that matters. Hold them responsible, yes. Tie their integrity to mine? I have issues with that. Their deception is not a good reason to jeopardize or threaten my benefits.

If we held financial institutions to the same standard we would not have banks or money. The research and investigations so far show a low fraud rate, to suspect every veteran who walks through the door is counterproductive to a healing environment and not grounded in evidence based science or facts.

Why are we talking about the ONE puke out of a hundred and attributing his behavior to veterans asking for help? That maintains the culture of disbelief in the military and the VA, and blocks the fostering of rapport building, a crucial first step in therapy. I have gone through dozens of therapist for many of these kinds of reasons. Right out of the gate I have always told the doctors and therapist what was going on with me as explicit in detail as I could about the flashbacks and what I was experiencing. Mostly I saw disbelief in their eyes, and many told me directly to my face that I was lying. Decades stacked up this way, I would not get help because a therapist had a idea of what to expect from a combat veteran.

I am usually very agitated and stressed in therapy sessions because I know I am going all in. I would probably seem excited to the person looking for it, but my anxiety level gets me all jazzed up talking about my combat experiences. There are many reasons why a combat veteran would seem excited or want to talk about their combat experiences to an empathetic therapist. For me, every time I went into therapy I was at my wits end, it is always kill myself or go and try and get help. So I spill my beans, all of them, I regurgitate the undigested contents of my emotional stomach. We assume therapists are empathetic, but from my experience most are not.

I went through so many hack therapists at the VA it is a joke, but let’s not talk about that real issue. They have their checklists and surveys to go by and cannot connect in a meaningful way to facilitate healing. A therapeutic window is the term used, whereby an empathetic connection between the therapist and client enables a safe place for exploration of traumatic events. I finally wound up with the department head as my psychiatrist and I will only see a therapist he recommends.

We are killing our veterans by treating everyone of them who walk in the door as though they are faking PTSD! We already know we will be treated as malingerers if we ask for help. One of the tasks for us sadly is finding a therapist who will not let their personal beliefs and issues leak into the therapy sessions.

52 comments:

  1. Scott:


    You can call me a wannabe therapist. But I am on your side brother. I know emotional numbing is part of PTSD. But I can kinda tell emotional numbing from some one who is BSing it. I know my wordage was kinda messed up because it was on the run & from the heart. I am passionate about what i do. I am passionate about helping the combat veteran with PTSD. I wish you could talk to some of my clients. I've helped alot of people get what they deserve by helping them find what they needed to prove hier claims to get what they deserved. I've looked through After Action Reports, lessons learned, unit chronologies. Sat with Vietnam Vets finding tracing timelines and finding thier buddies on the Wall websites to help validate thier claims. GWI as well. Sorry that crap on your facebook but go back to the messages and look up the dates. I don't know how that crap got on your page and was asking how I could get it off when it frst happened. Anyway, take care an good luck in your recovery.

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    1. The attitude displayed in your response is the same I ran into and continue to run into. You don't know how your Facebook information section had my blog as a place of work? Same way you put your education and other work history on there, your profile has many entries in this section. You just didn't think anyone would check your profile puffing. I check on people trying to borrow on my good name and will continue to do so.

      I do not need luck in my recovery, good luck to your clients in their recovery though.

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    2. Emotional numbing is not what you were talking about, that is a completely different subject and has nothing to do with anything you or I have said so far.

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    3. Emotional numbing for those that do not know and those who think they know (Wanna Be Therapist) is the absence of emotions, a flat affect. The dissociative features of Combat PTSD have a distinct set of emotional states that we can flip through like a Rolodex. A flat affect is seen as little to no interaction, the lights are off, we have left the building.

      The state of mind, I described in the article is anger, rage, anxiety and confrontational the exact opposite of Emotional Numbing; a Defensive State of Mind.

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  2. It is shame this guy wants to put down the people that struggle with PTSD. That is not the attitude we need from the professionals that are there to help our men an women that need help. If this guy is an actually therapist he needs to fired for his attitude. There is already a stigma attached to asking for help and looking weak. With this guy it will just make it worse. People will start thinking that no one will believe them that they need help. This is will not help anyone.

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    1. Any therapist talking trash about their clients in an open public forum needs to be fired, whether they have PTSD or not, or even if they are faking. The therapist has a solemn duty to help our returning veterans come home from war in mind.

      To make a quick judgement based on a set of behaviors in one session and to brag that how they can weed out the "wanna be's" on a website for veterans is appalling and goes to show the level of integrity one has.

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  3. I really debated w/ myself whether i should respond back on this post. But I do want to apoligize to anyone who might have been offended by the wannabe stuff. My def of it is someone who was in the military and reports they have served in combat or a combat zone and heven't. I also realize there are many ways people can have PTSD in the military with out serving in combat. One can witness some horrific things in our military w/o being in combat the military is a dangerous environment. Security forces, flight decks , flight lines, hospitals. This doesn't include military sexual trauma for both sexes.

    But the one's i call wannabes are ones who have claimed to have been in those situations and haven't.
    The book Uncommon Valor is full of stories like that.

    I do work in a prison and some people in a prison are dishonest, thats reality. When people come into a clinic in prison, not everyone's agenda is to get well. I 've had people lie to get into substance abuse treatment just to get days knocked off thier sentence.

    But it doesn't matter who comes into the office I do listen and empathize and meet them where they are. Sometimes its my job to call BS. Because If i don't it could mean people's lives.

    I've been working in substance abuse for over 20 yrs and combat trauma for over 10. Worked for the VA for three years started with a case load of 2-3 who were passed down to me from a counselor that transferred, to a case load of 75-80, includining WWII, Korea, RVN GWI Grenada etc. The reason my caseload grew was because of trust, because my, mind heart & ears were open to give those the window of opportunity they needed. Went to bat for the at the VA Regional Office, SSD courts to get warriors thier deserved benefits.

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    1. I left that place in '05 and still stay in touch with quite a few. I learned the warriors code from the warriors, ccause when I tell a vet I'll follow up on something, I do. Started the first combat PTSD group in a military facility to help those through thier pain and built a program with one thing in my mind. How can I get these warriors the help they need when they leave confinement. Most leaving w/ BCDs, OTHs after serving thier countries, 1,2 or 3 times. I've stayed past taps to gets dischrge packages to them because they were leaving the next day. The Combat Stress Group wasn't what i was hired for. I was hired for the substance abuse program. My self & two other Air Force Mental health techs (for about 4 years 1 & myself) probably see about 60% of the prison population.

      Hell addicts lie all the time to protect thier disease, but I don't hold it against them I hold it against thier diease.

      But I do get a little wound up when someone who spent 2-3 mos in service barley made it out of thier tech school say yeah i have PTSD because of the military or you asked them where they served and what unit, then you look up what they are telling you and it don't add up.

      It takes time from those who served in combat, but even those people who are in prison for violent crimes are there because somewhere along the line they were hurt emotionally & physically. I'll listen to them too and see where they can get help. But not take from those who deserve thier VA benefits.

      Yeah , maybe I need fired. Heard a song by Paul Thorne, the other day, it goes something like, you may be right, but before you throw stones,better count to ten,because you might be wrong. . .

      I'll admit it, I was wrong for not totally reading the blog and showing my ass then having to apoligize. So I'll apologize if I offended you or any others.

      You do a great job with blogg, you are a damn good writer, something I'm not and you do have some awesome stuff on this site, that truely helps vets, as much as I know it helps you. I'm not giving a line or sucking up, just being honest. I agree totally with what you are saying on the original blog, You can tear me up cause I opened myself up to it. We don't have to agree.We have a rule in our group. It's alright to agree to diagree.

      So take care & Roger Out!

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    2. Ruse, sure wish you had lead with all that before you started blasting your clients on this website. Cause if you read here much you will see me calling people on their shit all the time, that's what I was doing. Thank you for the apology, I spent too many years in the VA system being called a malingerer.

      It was the wreckage of 20 years and the Department Head to fully realize the extent of my PTSD. Funny you should talk about someone who has spent 2 years and 3 months in the military and not having the experiences to have PTSD.

      I was in the Army Infantry for 2 years and 2 months, from 89 to 91. My MOS school was 13 weeks for 11B or straight leg infantry. Then we spent 6 months training to go to war in Bamberg, Germany. I spent 4 weeks becoming familiar with my Bradly Fighting Vehicle as the driver. In the International Combat Division maneuvers in Saudi Arabia my vehicle was consistently on the winning side of the war games, so we where chosen to lead the brigade.

      I was in country to Saudi Arabia by 1990 and we spent 5 months on the border of Iraq listening to the the night and day bombing of Baghdad. On Then after being in the military for 1 and 1/2 years of constant training, on February 14 1990; my sons birthday we went into combat. The Ground War was 100 hours.

      At the end of the First Gulf War, I filed for separation of duty to be with my family. In 1991 I was honorably discharged and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and the Expert Infantry Badge after being in the military for 2 years and 2 months.

      It's really the amount of time you spend taking your foot out of your mouth that is so exasperating Frank.

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    3. Frank said 2-3 months, not 2 years and 3 months, you misread what he said.

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    4. That he did, my mistake. But, that doesn't excuse his obnoxious, inappropriate and insinuative comments. Nor does it excuse his talking about clients as a therapist on a veterans site, which in of itself is a serious code of ethics violation as a social worker. If he wants to trash clients, go too therapy not a public website dedicated to serving veterans.

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  4. Hey I missed this part...I better not throw stones? Really? You are giving me that advice? I blasted you Frank Ruse because you threw the first stone son, that's what we PTSD Vets do. So, don't give me that shit. Clean off your own stoop first son, this here is my stoop you are on. I am cleaning up a heap of crap right now, that's what I'm doing son.

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    1. I'm not trying to take away from your accomplishments, I am saying that coming to a website for veterans and blasting your clients who are veterans is distasteful and disrespectful.

      If you need to share on that level, then a more appropriate avenue or venue with someone who can empathize with you. Go to a site that other therapists are at and bitch to them, they probably would understand your position better and they could quite possibly sympathize with you.

      That's what incited me, along with being TRIGGERED by your callousness towards your so called "wanna be's." Reevaluate your biases, as they may be damaging some chronically traumatized combat veterans further because you have wrote them off.

      It took me over a dozen therapists and 15 years of unqualified therapists and doctors at the VA telling me I did not have PTSD before a qualified practitioner diagnosed me with Chronic PTSD in 2005. Just recently in 2011, at a separate VA facility, they reevaluated my PTSD and said it is chronic in nature and that I have a long way to go.

      Do your research first Frank, as I do mine heavily.

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    2. Scott:

      Again apologies man, I'm not blasting you.. I appreciate what you do. From what you tell me if you would have walked into my Vet Center, me and you would have been fighting the VA doctors & the regional office side by side.

      Part of my first blog was talking about the plight of the GWI Vets. i worked with a few ansand we had a hard time getting benefits,especially with the GWI illness. Oh yeah it said the guy that was in 2-3 months.
      I just love great lyrics. Those lyrics applied to me. Remember I didn't count to ten before i shot the blog over your bow. I threw the stones & should have slowed down Check out the CD or you tube. Paul Thorne Pimps & Prechers there are 4 songs on there that are about recovery. I'm in recovery for my own stuff.

      Oh yeah and the name the book is actually called Stolen Valor. It was brought to my attention.

      Take care I gotta go assit one of my OIF2 vets. Take care.

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  5. P.S. I'll take the feedback on board, do bounce stuff off my own therapists. Every good one has thier own.But I will be more mindful and do my counting to ten.

    I dont know if you ever checked out a book An Operators Guide for Combat PTSD: Essays For Coping. I believe Ashley Hart the III wrote it.

    Lot of neat Essays. I also think with your smarts persue your Social work degree. If I remember you're a couple credits short. Go for it. You help a helluva lot of vets. Take Care. As always keep up the great work!

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    1. I was going to let this drop and let you have the last word here. But, since you have seen fit to ignore all of my requests for you to stop commenting here you keep on.

      While you have stopped (for now), now you are sending your clients here.

      That is unethical, irresponsible and quite possibly a violation of HIPPA.

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  6. hey scott, I'm a combat infantryman as well and i just noticed this on your blog. which my counselor/friend Mr. Ruse sent me the link to awhile ago, figured i'd let you know that i got sent to the brig after i returned from Iraq, struggling with substance abuse issues and ptsd and not getting any kind of help from the army. that's when i met Mr. Ruse. he ran the substance abuse and combat stress groups in the brig. and asked me to come to some of his groups. and while i was in those groups there were a few wannabe's. guys that blatantly lie about their experiences, you see this brig was a navy brig, so they dont necessarily have the resources or experience to know about other branches or how they work. so you've got guys who barely graduated ait coming in and claiming ptsd and telling grandiose stories about combat. so yes he needs techniques to figure who the wannabe's are. the man should be considered a saint when it comes to combat vets. he still calls me and checks up on me, uses what little free time he has to help talk me through the rough times. he has started 12 step groups for combat vets with ptsd. he constantly researches new techniques for treatment, blog's, yours included and posts them to vets he has helped, myself included. so before you disrespect a man who is so completely selfless, caring, and dedicated to combat vets like ourselves perhaps you should stop and not be hypocritical. you say its wrong for therapists to label people as malingerers as you were, you don't even know Mr. Ruse and you labeled him anything less than the great man and counselor he his.

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    1. Anonym,

      Welcome Home. I am glad you have found Mr. Ruse, and I pray that he continues to be a positive influence on you. I thank God for my savior and that is my psychiatrist I found after going through dozens of them, he is the department head in the 16th largest city in the US. There is no way I could bullshit this guy and that is exactly what I needed. I am so glad that you found the one thing that is getting you through your PTSD. But, I think you missed it young man.

      The interaction that Mr. Ruse and I had was all negative for me and I called him out on it. He used specific information about one of his clients, that if I was so inclined I would be able to figure out who it was. If someone in your vicinity read HIS comments, they could figure out who he was talking about. That is a violation of HIPAA laws, I hinted around it up until this point. And he is a therapist on a veteran’s site complaining about veterans. If he had done his homework he would have known that he was describing my personal experience with most of my experiences with the VA, with the exception of incarceration. If he had done his homework he would have known that most of what he was saying was going to trigger me; HE IS A THERAPIST, you would think he would extent this same kindness you describe here. But no, he did not.

      Had he done his homework he would have known that when he describes a veteran with only 2 years and 3 months as not having enough time in the military to have PTSD, he would TRIGGER me again. I had ONLY 2 years and 2 months in the Army, actual time in combat 172 hours of straight intense nonstop combat. I have had Combat PTSD for 15 years untreated because of an ineffective VA; it has only been in since 2005 that this has improved drastically. Anonymous, our experiences are different. When I came home when I tried to tell someone at the VA of what I did and saw, they scoffed at me. Because the media portrayed the First Gulf War as a bloodless war, it was not. My Bradley was the Speartip, for the brigade which was credited with over 20,000 enemy deaths in a 100 hour orgy of killing. No one believed me, no one. So, it was this last 10 years of war when people started to believe me. So for him to tell me come at me with that, I went was as respectful as a Combat PTSD Veteran could. Was an ass? I was trying to be, but as crafty as I could and without profanity. Was I disrespectful? I don’t think so; he came to me with all of this. I am at home on my site reacting to his ignorance.

      I have issues with a therapist that would have so little though about saying what he has said in a public forum and now he is sending his clients here to defend him. I have issues with that too, because an ethical therapist would not do that. He is violating your confidentiality by doing this, even though you are writing here anonymously. No less than two HIPPA violations. It is unethical for him to be writing here complaining about ANY client; EVEN ones who are FAKING PTSD. It is unethical for him to send you this link, knowing you would defend him. That is manipulating one of his clients. The HIPPA violations are racking up as we go, I have not labeled him until now. Until he sent one of his clients to his defense, how many more will show up?

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  7. do you know that lieng about military actions and falsifying information is also a crime. PX rangers go to jail(fyi).
    2/75

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    1. I do know, and they should.

      Are you trying to insinuate something Anony? Come on Ruse, for real?

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  8. first of all he did not send me here, i read your blog occasionally when i see that he posts something of yours. i noticed this because it is the first one on your homepage. secondly, if you have such a great counselor than why would you have let something like that "trigger" you? why didn't you go into your room with your buddha statue and meditate before acting like the fat wannabe badass who writes blogs constantly relaying exaggerated facts and descriptions of his "ptsd" to people who dont know any better. i think you got so defensive and upset because maybe he was describing you, the malingerer. are you really suffering from ptsd? or are you just another overweight intellectual faking military honors for attention?

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    1. "hey scott, I'm a combat infantryman as well and i just noticed this on your blog. which my counselor/friend Mr. Ruse sent me the link to awhile ago" Quoted from your dumb motherfucking writing you piece of shit. Fuck you!

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    2. So what was that, me lying or you?

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    3. Anonymous - Don't even go there damn it. I can vouch for Scott for sure. I can most surely assure you that he is not faking it. Since Scott has gotten back from the war he has not been the same. It seems the more you comment here the more it seems you are just a spammer for mister Ruse.

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    4. Exactly, spammer lol thank you Michelle. This Anonymous faker is Mr. Ruse himself still rummaging the ruse.

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  9. he sent me the link to your page awhile ago fuck stick

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  10. This is just major BS...everybody who has a slightest idea about PTSD knows that there are triggers. You can be treated, but not healed. Everyone telling you different (as of right nows treating options) is a moron. So Scott, feel free to get triggered by thoses SOB's. Don't you dare to put any proofing paperwork on here, just to satisfy some idots on here. If this therapist knows so much, than he knows that writing about your problems is a treatment plan for yourself and also others who can learn from you. Now that said, BACK OFF!!! Especially if you are a coward not even saying your name on here!!!

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    1. Exactly, thank you. It's the same circular argument Ruse has been giving me the whole time. I had interactions with him on Facebook first, when I defriended him he went to my website taking apart the first post I wrote about the Army Review of PTSD. He is going to be reported and soon.

      Several people think all of the comments on this article are from Anonym Mr. Ruse and I have to tend to agree. The structure of the sentences are the same as is the same thread of thought spewing the same thing over and over again.

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    2. I ran into therapists like this guy dozens of times at the VA. He has a box full of 'therapies' and 'diagnostic tools' if they don't work then, I, must be the one faking it.

      It just doesn't occur to him that Combat PTSD needs a robust and flexible set of multiple therapies based in the latest of modalities. Such as the Phase Oriented Treatment as developed by van der Hart, Nijenhuis ans Steele.

      "It is helpful for therapists to understand the implications of structural dissociation as an undue division of the personality, how it manifests, and how it must be treated. They should strive to understand the importance not only for psychodynamic, relational and behavioral aspects of treatment, but also become proficient in assessing and working with the mental energy and metal levels of patients. Therapists need to analyze survivors’ mental and behavioral actions for adaptively. They will find it helpful to have a multitude of interventions at hand that transcend any given theoretical model, thereby maximizing the help they can offer in raising the level of action tendencies in each part of the personality over the course of treatment (The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization, van der Hart, Nijenhuis and Steele)."

      These practitioners are on the cutting edge of Chronic Traumatization such as Combat PTSD. I have read much of the literature on PTSD and the description in this book matches my internal experiences concerning the dissociative nature of Combat PTSD.

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  11. Everyone! I say lets cool it! We are all veterans here. We are a brotherhood. Combat Vets should even be a tighter group. We have all signed our lives away to govt because we made that choice that choice to serve our country and to protect our country and each other's freedom. Including freedom of speech.

    As always appreciate the sight & the info and post it on my FB and have been recommended to others for some time. If I knew it was going to kick up this much crap I would have never posted. I didn't start any of this as to put on a therepuetic point of view. Just my experience. I posted as a veteran and in the future I will NOT introduce myself as therapist counselor or SWer but as a veteran.

    AS far as I know there are no HIPPA Violations, I haven't named any one or given any personal info on anyone.

    I haven't sent anyone here to post or counterpost etc. I'm done & finished. All take a deep breath and move on. I am. What happens from here is up to y'all. ROGER OUT!

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    1. Go find another site to visit too strew your chaos and take your Ruse with you.

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    2. Mr. Ruse, I have kept my cool the whole time through dealing with your dumbass. You are either posting as Anonym or it was a very big coincident that he posted at the time without you contacting him. Then to have him explain all that with no question of the kind asked? Really?

      Come on, the bullshit meter broke with you a long time ago. As for whether you violated HIPPA laws or just the Social Work Code of Ethics is not for me to decide.

      The only reason I keep wading through your morass is to give veterans a guide to a good therapist and what to watch out for.

      Thank you, you have been a wealth of what to look out for!

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  12. You know what the sad part is about this whole situation? This one Veteran who is on the last try to reach out before commiting suicide, is going to find a therapist like this...Not believing him, calling him a wannabe or whatever...and than we wonder why we have 18 suicides of Vets a day :( SAD SAD SAD

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    1. Yes, that was the whole point of the article. Thank you, but the Wanna Be Therapist missed that. Pause for effect, lol.

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    2. We should also mention the suicides rate of Caregivers increased also :( PTSD is not just a thing what effects the Veteran, it effects everybody who is associated with the Veteran. People need to get there blindfolds off and wake up! There is a problem with not accepting this issue. PTSD can come from alot of different things, not just combat. How can someone stand there and say what another person experienced was not traumatic enough to have PTSD? Educating people is the right thing to do, and you are doing a good job (if you don't get sidetracked by certain people) Hint, hint...lol

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    3. I appreciate the recognition and shedding a light on the plight of our Caregivers and how what we bring home effects you.

      You are right, I have spent way too much time on the Ruse.

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  13. I'll say it with the least amount of sarcasm as I can... When Ruse's comments appear Anonymous doesn't post and the other way around ... Just an observation.

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    1. It's funny and after all his shit, you can be as rude to him as you want, lol.

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  14. Thank you very much... whether you are two people or just one. How dare you come in this forum that Scott has worked so hard to make a safe place for Veterans and their loved ones to come and seek advice, warmth and guidance. Not once has he ever blown smoke up anyone's ass or made them believe something that wasn't true. You Mr Ruse are a professional and shouldn't have said the things you said. You mouth off about vets around vets and expect no one to get offended or defend their brotherhood/sisterhood. Yes you may also be a veteran but your statements never ever came from that voice, instead it was from a burnt out-low budget counselor that should learn to clock out and leave it on the "couch" And because you don't know how to do that you have sparked all of these high emotions during the past few days between many people suffering and their loved ones that have to watch this suffering and know there isn't a thing we can do to stop it!!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!!!! SHAME SHAME SHAME

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    1. Wow, couldn't have said it better myself, thank you.

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  15. I'm an ex Australian Infantry Soldier. I served in Somalia back in 93 with 1RAR. I discharged from the Army back in 97. Then that's when things started to go to shit for me. I never really knew that I had any problems til lately, I caught up with an old friend that I served with. He asked me how things were. So when I told him how I have had problems holding onto jobs and how I have gotten into trouble with the law, he says to me "you need help mate". He told me about problems he had with anger and Hypervigilance as well as having problems sleeping. So I have now been to psychologist 7 times, and his brief symptom screen indicated that I have a high probability diagnosis of PTSD - Satisfies DSM-1VTR criteria for PTSD, chronic, with delay onset. So anyone who wants to judge me can go fuckem selfs. I guess that I will never be able to switch off all the bottons that the Infantry switched on. Soldiers need to be educated more about PTSD so that they can seek out help early. Anyone who thinks that a infantry soldier plays this shit, then fuck you don't have a fucken clue what goes on in the Theatre of war. It's taken me 19yrs to come forward for help with PTSD.

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    1. Welcome Home Brother and bravo mate, I am deeply grateful for your old friend and the help you have begun to receive. Many years of chaos can go by before we can begin our journey of recovery.

      The switches are hard to turn off and at times they turn on by themselves, our loved ones can see this get to see this daily. We can learn to become aware of our triggers and warning signs so that we may better manage our condition. This article and comments triggered me for days and kept me in a cycle of heightened emotive states.

      My friends whom I have educated in the ways of Combat PTSD have been intervening and interrupting the negative energy. I also recently had the addition of my dog Smokey a black 9 mo old Labrador. He MAKES me to stuff and interact with the world along with matching my emotional states. We are beginning to have a symbiotic relationship. Cognitive Processing Therapy is a tremendous tool for the Combat PTSD Vet also. Point is do what works for you.

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  16. Hey Scott, this mr ruse if he is a professional and you can find out what state he's from....I encourage you to print this out, and report him to the board for which he works (every state has a social work board).... NOW. This is unethical behavior, it is not professional, and he's lucky he quit the VA (or dare I say I got fired) because he'd be in big trouble engaging vets like this.

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    1. I am doing exactly that, just giving myself some time first. Thank you for your support.

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  17. I have to agree with the previous letter. As we discussed before, Scott, the professional board in his state has authority over him and the use of his license.
    I reread some of his post and found a lot of his comments to be backhanded and derogatory. I don't have time to toggle between the two pages now. but Mr.Ruse enjoys patting his own back while reminding his "client" of his infirmity. Send this to his board and see what they say.
    If you don't like the way he treated you, chances are, he's got other people that don't care for him. Don't you owe it to his next victem to turn him in?

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    1. Yes I do, thank you for the validation. I was thinking all of this myself. But, wallowed through his shit to prove to the vet that the Wanna Be Therapist is there, lurking to stroke their own egos. I kept praying to Buddha, my God as his dig was surgical. But, I did not react in the way he intended. I am reporting him to the Navy his employer and the NASW in his state.

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    2. He gleamed a lot of information from reading here and then used it in a way to insinuate and tried to manipulate me. Then when that didn't work, he went for the jugular. I deleted the so called Anonym's most insane shit he said, if he had been in front of me. He was definitely trying to provoke me after I wouldn't cosign his bullshit.

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  18. Scott this guy sounds like he wanted a pat on the back for helping people in his chosen profesion. I am all for people helping others that are struggling. Ive struggled a lot over the past few years with what I did as an infantryman. I thank god everyday I wake up and have someone to talk to about my issues, thankfully it was never with anyone like this. People do not need a pseudo-intellectual bragging about what they did. This is a great forum for those that are suffering and their loved ones to find solidarity with others that are also suffuring from PTSD. As for the anonymous, he can go fuck himself. This is not the place to start some childish bullshit over the internet. What the fuck I thought we were adults. Take Care Scott don't let the bastards get you down.

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  19. wow, that dude just completely validated my thoughts on every therapist ive seen through my 3 years of PTSD therapy. As an infantryman im not the most educated, and i definately dont go to an appointment with some dude and cry about what im talking about, why? -->infantryman<--
    You guys understand i am sure, when my emotions begin to make me feel weak I switch to defences, anyway pretty sure most of these super educated sudo-intalectualls think the same way this dude does. There personal biases overshadow proffesional opinions, is sad really. But i'll never give up and sincerely hope everyone else will not either.

    Thanks for writing :)

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    1. Mark, having been there we can see through the bullshit. But, that also means if we are not getting treated but they are putting in the time, than we have a good chance of not going back. We must recognize this and prepare by learning and connecting with others like ourselves. I wrote an article today to address this very issue and will follow up with one on how to prepare for therapy.

      Your are welcome for the writing and thank you for not giving up, you are a valuable resource to your community.

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