Here's something you don't see every day -- military generals sharing openly about their struggles with PTSD.
CNN has a very brief story on their website today about two generals doing just that -- and if nothing else, the generals' refreshing candor should raise the profile of healing combat trauma and PTSD just because of who they are. Says Brig. Gen. Gary S. Patton, tellingly, "We need all our soldiers and leaders to approach mental health like we do physical health. No one would ever question or ever even hesitate in seeking a physician to take care of their broken limb or gunshot wound, or shrapnel or something of that order. You know, we need to take the same approach towards mental health." Absolutely. This should be very helpful towards combating the stigma that exists about admitting there's a problem, or countering the somewhat prevalent "blame the victim" notion that servicemembers who do struggle with PTSD were somehow already "broken" -- previously unfit,or otherwise "less than" other combat veterans because they suffered in this manner. Hmmmn.
In November of 2008, we discussed another Army general, this time Major General David Blackledge, coming forward and talking about his own experience with PTSD. At the time, it seemed like possibly a one-off, once in a lifetime experience. (That blog post, entitled "Army General and PTSD -- the Courage to Admit All is Not Well," is linked here.)
Now, with two more generals -- Brig. Gen. Gary Patton, and Gen. Carter Ham (pictured) -- coming forward and self-disclosing about their own experiences with PTSD, there's even more hope that PTSD can be seen as a genuine consequence of combat, and not an opportunity for continuing silence and shame.
For a link to the story on CNN, click here.
