Wednesday 22 October 2008
Condemned to the PTSD Dustbin
As an NHS Counsellor in Yeovil for 13 years I can't count the times I've had traumatised ex-servicemen referred to me. The state must take responsibility for the damage being in a war zone does to ex servicemen & women. Sometimes the trauma doesn't emerge immediately - it gets picked up years later. Psychological care needs to be added to the service contract. It's okay to say that military personnel know what they're letting themselves in for - but no-one can predict the way the individual will react to the horrors of modern warfare. There needs to be a contract with the NHS to ensure that these people get proper access to psychological therapies in an aftercare package even after they've left the forces: the proportion of ex- servicemen in the prison population sends the message that after they've served their purpose as far as this country is concerned all they've earned is a place in the psychological dustbin.
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We've seen how the UK Government treat those who are prepared to die in defence of Westminster arrogance. Ask my (late) grandmother whose husband died at Jutland or my (late) mother when my father was drowned following D-Day when she was six months pregnant with me. Dead heroes are forgotten - living heroes are left to fend for themselves.
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