The Real Red Flag Raised By Fort Hood

It is an understatement to say the recent massacre at Fort Hood, Texas is a horrible tragedy.  Pundits have said much about the alleged shooter, Army psychiatrist Nidal M. Hasan.  And they will likely say a great deal more about his motives, his state of mind, terrorism, and al-Qaeda.

I knew it wouldn't be long before the usual suspects would be rounded up, and the discussion would degenerate into a talk about Islamic extremism and purging Muslims from the military.  Hate crimes and scapegoating of the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities are the unfortunate consequences in such an environment.  All of America's young white male ex-marines did not bear responsibility for Timothy McVeigh and his bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, so why should the Muslim community shoulder a burden that does not bear their name? 

We should be concerned that at this tragic moment, society will miss a unique opportunity to address the effects of war, and the problems of violence and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  The National Institute of Mental Health defines PTSD as "an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat."  PTSD can cause many symptoms, such as flashbacks, bad dreams, difficulty sleeping, depression, emotional numbness, and feeling "on edge".

Secondary trauma involves the emotional and psychological effects of working with traumatized people.  Therapists, social workers and others who associate with victims of violence can develop symptoms of PTSD.  As for an Army psychiatrist such as Hasan, listening to the horrific war stories of his clients on a daily basis must have taken its toll.

As Sandra Bloom and Michael Reichert point out in their book, Bearing Witness: Violence and Collective Responsibility, we live in a violent culture that promotes trauma and organizes around trauma.  Sadly, we pass that trauma to the next generation, and create a vicious cycle of violence.  And society is like the psychiatric patient who must hit rock bottom and show life threatening symptoms before crying out for help.  "Our entire culture is doing the same thing--manifesting such extremes of pathology that we can no longer deny that something is pervasively wrong," the authors suggest.  "We manifest this cry for help in our rate of firearm deaths, crimes of violence, and in the epidemic of child-on-child assaults." 

In a nation where Columbine-style school shootings are virtually commonplace, and aggrieved employees "go postal" and mow down their coworkers as a matter of course, Hasan is by no means alone.  And as a repository for violence, the military is not dealing with untreated mental illness among its ranks.  That Hasan was a mental health professional underscores the military's failure to deal with a widespread problem. 

PTSD afflicts 300,000 veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps as many as 15% of returning soldiers.  Yet, many do not receive the medical treatment they need.  Last year there were 128 confirmed suicides by army personnel and 41 by marines, the highest on record.  The suicide rate among soldiers in Iraq is five times higher than in the Persian Gulf War, and 11% higher than during Vietnam.  In fact, the military suicide rate is higher than the overall U.S. rate, the first time since Vietnam. 

Further, stress-related homicides by soldiers-- at home and abroad, active duty and after they return home--amount to a crisis situation that does not receive the attention it warrants.  Crime has been on the rise on military bases since 2003, according to a recent U.S. Army study.  The study also found that soldiers who experienced more combat, and whose units sustained more casualties, had a higher risk of developing mental illness, criminality, and conduct problems.

Prisons are repositories for the mentally ill that eschew rehabilitation and treatment.  Consequently, these institutions create sicker people and better criminals in the process.  Above and beyond the inherent madness, violence and criminality that institutions of war already represent, the U.S. military seems to assume a similar role.  And the ticking time bomb originates not from the jacket of an al-Qaeda suicide bomber, but from within the ranks of the U.S. armed forces.

In the aftermath of Fort Hood, more time spent on gratuitous anti-Arab and anti-Muslim scapegoating is more time that PTSD is not addressed among veterans and active-duty personnel.  Additional Fort Hoods are in waiting.  However, the larger issue is that society must deal with the mental health effects of trauma and violence--not only on the battlefield, but at home on the streets of America.  Violence begets violence, and war is terror, whether it occurs in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Philly, East L.A. or Chicago. 

David A. Love is an Editorial Board member of BlackCommentator.com, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project and theGrio. He is a writer and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His blog is davidalove.com. 

 

 

Follow David A. Love on Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidalove

Comments

[GotchaLookin]

Stop the Human Anthrax Vaccine Program: Write Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and have him remove it from the mandatory inoculation list required of all US military personnel deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. A direct result of exposure to BioThrax(tm) can be severe depression which can lead to suicide, or worse, paranoid schizophrenia. Dr. Bruce Ivins is one of the longest exposure patients to the human anthrax vaccine, because for over thirty years as a USAMRIID microbiologist he was required to receive a yearly shot of BioThrax. Suffering from many years of severe depression and finally giving into evil voices in his head, Dr. Ivins committed suicide in 2008. Then the FBI announced that he was their sole suspect for the 2001 Anthrax Letter Attacks. A potential adverse side effect of the Human Anthrax Vaccine will be the inability to activate Nerve Growth Factor which is critical to maintaining your mental health. For more information on many of the adverse side effects of the Human Anthrax Vaccine, see the Scott Miller documentary "A CALL TO ARMS 2009 EDITION."

[Arthur Hu]

Wow looks like they removed my comment that this fellow still thinks we need to look into PTSD and not ties to the new style of terrorism which IS lone wolf one man jihad, and his imam whose "spiritual guidance" may indeed may have had SOMETHING to do with the shooting. No, you don't have to be a muslim to do a mass shooting, but it certainly appears to have played a part in this case when you are clearly willfully looking the other way. Political correctness is the real problem.

[NorthSide]

I notice that on 11-9-2009 a Dr. Medelson, a psychiatrist, posted on HuffPo a piece that was skeptical of "vicarious PTSD" as he terms it. Can the editors set up a debate between Mr. Love and Dr. Mendelson on this topic? I might point out that Mr Love, although obviously well-informed, is NOT a physician, which can make such a debate tough.
Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson-md/major-hasan-did-not-catch_b_349911.html

[vascopyjama]

Tucked away in the Fort Hood story was a figure like 75 suicides since April. What on earth is going on.

[dsensing]

I served on the Oklahoma City bombing investigation task force in 1995. There is a fatal flaw in using T. McVeigh to buttress your case. (McVeigh never served in the Marine Corps, BTW, he served in the Army.) No one attributed McVeigh's crimes to PTSD, including McVeigh himself. Using McVeigh to shore up your argument is a strawman of no substance.

PTSD is indeed a serious issue; I have known several service members who were emotionally crippled by it. However, PTSD does not lead its sufferer to harm others. They may transition into clinical depression, which is a high-risk condition for suicide. But PTSD does not always lead to depression.

[mbaty]

Are we still blaming Timothy McVeigh? Sorry, I was distracted by that point. And are we still blaming Muslims for starting this so-called war?
Aside from that, I think we are wise to look at this a symptomatic of something larger rather than an individual case. If we are creating and perpetuating conditions that lead to this kind of mental disorder, we have to take responsibility in changing those things.

[gjdagis]

I can't believe we are still on this PTSD obsession. People who have this condition typically do not commit violent acts; especially premeditated ones. He had to buy the gun, transport it to the base where they are illegal, and then engage in his assault. This just doesn't happen. I should know; I have practiced in a mental health ward for a number of years.

[David A. Love - Huffpost Blogger]

Sorry, the following paragraph was inadvertently left out of the post:

"Secondary trauma involves the emotional and psychological effects of working with traumatized people. Therapists, social workers and others who associate with victims of violence can develop symptoms of PTSD. As for an Army psychiatrist such as Hasan, listening to the horrific war stories of his clients on a daily basis must have taken its toll."

[adammrlake]

1. The alleged shooter has never seen combat, so how does it follow that this shooting was a result of PTSD? The author proves that Hasan himself was a victim of PTSD. I find the link between PTSD and this shooting false and a vicious lie to perpetrate propaganda. PTSD is a serious problem, but to associate it with this event is just absurd.

2. While the Muslim community does not bear the burden of this event, where is the outrage in the Muslim community about all of the violence that has occurred and been threatened in the name of the Muslim religion? Why is there not an outcry in the Mosques to purge their religion of these radicals and make clear to the world that people who behave as Hasan did are not true Muslims and do not adhere to its teachings? Muslims don't bear the responsibility for this, but they do bear the responsibility for their own reaction or non-reaction.

3. Isn't it curious that the suicide rate of combat veterans has increased, while the attention paid to PTSD has also increased? Soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq receive far more treatment than those veterans from Vietnam and Korea did, yet their problems are more severe. And perhaps there is not as direct a link between PTSD and suicide and other symptoms as the author would like us to think.

I find the authors attempt to make a victim of the alleged shooter offensive.

[adammrlake]

Small correction: second sentence should have read "The author does not even try to prove that Hasan himself was a victim of PTSD."

[David A. Love - Huffpost Blogger]

Please note the section on secondary trauma. People who are in contact with others who suffer from PTSD, including social workers, therapists and psychiatrists, may exhibit signs of PTSD as well. For Hasan, listening to his clients talk about their troubling experiences could have been enough to put him over the edge.

[durnik123]

"All of America’s young white male ex-marines did not bear responsibility for Timothy McVeigh and his bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, so why should the Muslim community shoulder a burden that does not bear their name? "

If the leaders in the Muslim community were to start publically condemning these acts of terrorism perpetrated by members of their community, maybe people in this country would not associated these acts with the Muslim Community. As it stands now you either have religious leaders cheering these acts or remaining silent. The ones that remain silent must condone these actions if they are unwilling to speak out against them.

[Shriniwas Kulkarni]

You are missing the part where majority of Muslims show fake public sympathy but tacitly celebrate when any infidel dies at the hand of a suicide bomber or gunman. Try to pore deep into the mindset of even moderate Muslims and you will realize how dreadful they are of questioning or criticizing their faith. Unlike both the Orient/India or the West, Muslim mentality forces religion on an individual to such an extent that getting out or opposing it becomes a threat to life.

This is exactly akin to Communism or Fascism, though progressive Muslims do not want such harrassment, the power is bestowed to the orthodox only through oil money. I am not pointing fingers at Islam, but you have to judge how religion is hijacked by a minority to spoil the name of majority.

The problem lies that the majority is scared so much of speaking against the powerful minority.

[durnik123]

"The problem lies that the majority is scared so much of speaking against the powerful minority."

Then the silent/scared majority are not truely devote to their faith. I am not a Muslim so I don't know a lot about their beliefs. However, most religions teach us that there is an afterlife and in order to enter the kingdom of God we will be judged on our actions while on Earth. There were many periods in History where Christains were killed or tortured in an effort to get them to betray their religous beliefs. How is it the vast majority of Muslims remain silent on theirs? If they were true believers they would fight to keep their religion true to its teachings.