10. List deployments, dates and roles.* 1997 USS JFK EOD Team Member 1998 Bosnia EOD Team Leader 1999 Kosovo EOD operator attached to ST-8 2001Egypt EOD LCPO 2006 Iraq EOD LCPO 2006 Afghanistan EOD LCPO 2007 USS Enterprise EOD LCPO 2009 Bahrain EOD LCPO 2011 Afghanistan DCHOPS 20. Do you or others close to you think that you have emotional or psychiatric difficulties that need to be addressed?* My close friends, you know me have expressed concern about the decline of my well-being over the last few years. Their observations are correct, every day is challenging for me and I’m all too aware that I have to tackle these problems if I want to be healthy again. 21. Have you received a psychiatric diagnosis from a behavioral health or medical professional?* Before retiring from the military I was diagnosed with PTSD, depression and anxiety disorders. The VA rated me at 70% for these issues. 22. Have you ever been treated for this diagnosis/diagnoses?* While on active duty I was seeing a psychiatrist who treated me with multiple pharmaceuticals for my problems. During that time, I was paying for a therapist out of pocket since the TRICARE providers I found weren’t helpful. After moving from VA Beach, VA to Seattle, WA I received acupuncture for PTSD. 23. …show more content…
My Navy position refused to discuss taking me off the medications. In fact, he had modified three different prescriptions over the phone well I was on vacation without supervision or guidance, that nightmare almost ended the relationship I was in. After asking numerous times to be taken off of Effexor I was ignored and told no. The effects of the medications on my body were so terrible, so I did a lot of research any got off the medicine without his
...ional well being mostly varies by week through the actions and accomplishments I have achieved. Sometimes I have little self-confidence, optimism, and self-esteem. Although I can hide these factions of my life fairly well sometimes I do slip and it becomes very noticeable. The main way I feel I can combat this emotion strife is to find ways to motivate myself. The best way to do this is to seek professional help when I need it and to spend time with people who make me happy and motivated. By engaging in happy and friendly activities with family, friends, and loved ones I should be able to build up optimism. In doing so fighting low self esteem and low self confidence will be easier and almost immediate. Thus working on these factors will motivate and assist me in accomplishing my overall target behavior of doing regular check-ups and recognizing symptoms of disease.
Seal, Karen H., Daniel Bertenthal, Christian R. Miner, Saunak Sen, and Charles Marmar. "Bringing the War Back Home: Mental Health Disorders Among 103 788 US Veterans Returning From Iraq and Afghanistan Seen at Department of Veterans Affairs Facilities." Archives of Internal Medicine 167.5 (2007): 476-82. Print.
In addition to post traumatic stress disorder, most life challenges fell into the area of self-care. As to be expected, the top five occupational performances that need to be addressed by an occupational therapist include: are engagement in relationships, school physical health, sleeping and driving. It’s easy to imagine that driving, eating, and sleeping would be problematic. For the soldiers with PTSD, driving and sleeping may cause flashbacks to the war. My B.J is a disabled vet due to PTSD and a back injury and he has confided to me that he still is unable to sleep through the night due to flashbacks. Another thing I found interesting is that a lot of soldiers enlist into the military due to patriot...
Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one wink because every time you close your eyes you are forced to relive memories from the past that you are trying to bury deep. This is what happens to the unfortunate men and women who are struggling with PTSD. Veterans that are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder deserve the help they need.
My therapist recommended that I attend cognitive behavioral therapy and stress management, along with anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications. The cognitive behavioral therapy helps me to identify my thoughts and situations that trigger my depression and anxiety. Through cognitive behavioral therapy I have learned different techniques to help me relax and ease my anxiety. My therapist has challenged my thoughts and found ways to help me imagine the assault and remember details. After various sessions I have found that this has helped ease my PTSD symptoms and has helped me get through anxiety attacks and low times. Stress management has helped me to deal with different stressors in my life that may trigger my PTSD symptoms. These therapy sessions have provided me with the tools and techniques needed to relieve stress before allowing it to affect my everyday life and relationship with loved ones. The medications I was directed to take are anti-depressants and anti-anxiety. I was directed to take anti-depressants once daily, this helps to regulate my mood, sleep and how I interact with people. I take my anti-anxiety medications as needed, this helps me to relax when I feel like I am in a situation I can not handle. This medication helps slow down my central nervous system, relieve anxiety, and helps to be able to take deep breathes. Fortunately, this treatment plan is designed to gradually help me learn to use the tools and techniques to cope on my own without the need of therapy and medications. Which will help me to live a healthy and care free
In order to help current and future veterans there needs to be a change within the staffing, funding, and overall urgency towards mentally ill veterans. Though many people assume that veterans are well taken care of after war, evidence of mental health disorders and large numbers of suicide suggest otherwise, therefore the VA program should be reformed. Mental illness is no stranger to veterans of the U.S military, as far back as World War II there have been reports of mental disease among veterans. The most common mental illness among veterans is P.T.S.D (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), the severity of this illness usually increase due to a traumatic brain injury. Lifeline for Vets states that
Health is described as physical and mental well-being and freedom from disease, pain or defect. However, such descriptions only superficially define the actual meaning of health. There may be many occasions when individuals are not necessarily ill or in pain but may be overweight, stressed or emotionally unstable. Health is a quality of life involving dynamic interaction and interdependence among the individual’s physical state, their mental and emotional reactions, and the social context in which the individual exists. There are many factors that influence your health, but three major components contribute to general well-being: Self-awareness, a balanced diet and, regular physical activity.
3. How would you rank your mental health currently Please circle one of the following:
The notion of health is contextual and an interactive, dynamic process between person and environment (Schim et al, 2007). Both wellness and illness are conceptualized by the ‘person’, existing on a continuum across the lifespan (Arnold & Boggs, 2001).
Chronic diseases put people in a state of watchful awareness of their condition. While chronic conditions and the outcomes are well studied, the psychological effects of uncertainty remain in question (Baily, Lawrence, Barroso, Bixby, Michel, Muir, Strickland & Clip, 2009). The intrusion of any chronic sickness is a highly stressfu...
You can medically be in the best shape possible, but if you are under a lot of stress, your mental health is compromised, which can lead to isolation from others, and now your social health is being neglected. It’s just one big cycle. Focusing on all components of good health such as eating a balanced diet for your physical, finding stress relievers for your mental and spending time with friends and family for social, is taking positive preventive measures to stay healthy. It is not only our responsibility, but a community effort to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to achieve and maintain overall good health.
healthy is a major component in ones’ overall wellbeing, more so mentally, but being healthy
My health is of great importance to me. I firmly believe that having good health is imperative for a happy life. Having bad health can wreck havoc in one’s daily life. I know from personal experience because it has been happening to me these past few weeks. I’m thankfully, recovering as time passes, but I can contribute most of the misery I went through due to lack of sleep. I’ve only experienced these awful symptoms for about a short amount of time, but it’s probably the worst torment I’ve ever experienced in my life to this date. I feel so much happier now because my symptoms are improving. Having good health makes life much more bearable, and now I’m able to do my daily activities with much more ease. Taking care of my body is probably the best thing I can do for myself because it will keep me happy in both the short term, and long term.
Life is not an easy journey. It takes a balance of both physical and mental well-being to be able to enjoy all that life has to offer. Though physical well-being is addressed thoroughly, mental well-being is often left with little attention and awareness. The stresses and obstacles in today’s society have created a mental health epidemic. This epidemic leads to depression, anxiety, and anger. Today, mental well-being is often misunderstood and many doctors will prescribe medications to apparently “cure” your mental “illness”. But, this is not what mental well-being truly is. True mental well-being is understanding and coping with life’s ups and downs, having an emotional balance, and learning to accept
My personal health has been something I constantly think about. Whether it’s myself, my parents, my doctor, or others that bring it up, I’m reminded that I need to eat healthier or exercise more, etc. I know that I need to get better about what I eat and try to work more exercise into my daily routine, I just find it hard to find the motivation to go and actually accomplish what I know that I need to do. Especially in today’s society where we’re surrounded by a lot of non-healthy food, and getting access to healthy food is more expensive than the latter, it’s hard to make the better choice and choose the healthy option. I’m hoping now that I’m in college that I’m able to get better at taking care of myself than I have in the past.