This Week’s Not Commented on Story Part 4 of 4 – Again, Yea, Right

AT TRIAL, VA OFFICIAL DENIES SUICIDE NUMBERS COVER UP -- Also, Dr. Michael Kussman makes strange statement reinforcing stigma of mental illness. Despite E-mails, VA Boss Denies Cover Up. The head of health care at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) denied any wrong doing by the agency on Thursday as more internal emails surfaced showing VA officials discussed withholding suicide information from the public. While on the stand in California federal court, where the VA is facing a lawsuit filed by veteran advocates who are demanding better health care, Dr. Michael Kussman, the VA’s Under Secretary for Health, said, “I disagree with the premise that there was some effort to cover up something.” Undersecretary of Health Reinforces Stigma of Mental Illness. You’ve got to scratch your head when one of the government’s chief advocates for health care in the Veterans Administration just reinforces the old stigmas associated with mental health concerns. Testifying before a federal judge in San Francisco, Michael Kussman said: “The number of patients who have adjustment reactions to the experience that they have in Afghanistan or Iraq is very important, but we don’t believe that’s mental illness,” Kussman said. “It would be unfair and inappropriate to stigmatize people with a mental health diagnosis when they are having what most people believe are normal reactions to abnormal situations.” Well, golly gee Dr. Kussman, are you saying that traumatic reaction to wartime situations isn’t a mental illness? Because posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) surely has existed in one form or another since all wars have ever been fought. Is PTSD simply an “adjustment reaction” (whatever that is)? Or are you saying that an adjustment disorder isn’t a real, diagnosable mental disorder? Because, if you are, you’d be wrong on that account as well. Having a depressive, traumatic or anxious reaction to combat is actually not a normal reaction (even if some of us believe it should be). And sadly, war and combat fighting is not an “abnormal situation” for a soldier - it is exactly what is expected of them (and what they signed up for). In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need soldiers. But in a perfect world, we would definitely take care of those who fought for us. That especially means not minimizing the effects of wartime, nor reinforcing the stigma of mental illness - a condition that returns with so many of our military men and women who have seen combat.