And Rightly So!

When we read the headlines it’s often quite misleading. People on the right know this and those on the left don’t; they run with the headline without taking in the substance of the article. IOW, they don’t read the whole thing AND think about it.

An example of hype if I ever saw one, right here:
Study finds troops shy away from mental health care

Really?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. military personnel fear that seeking help for mental health problems could harm their careers, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Three out of five members of the military worry it would have at least some impact, according to the small online survey conducted for the American Psychiatric Association. About half said they thought other people would think less of them if they sought help for mental health problems.

Red Flag alert: SMALL ONLINE SURVEY.

Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, president of the APA, called those figures “alarming” and urged Congress to devote more money to treating mental health problems arising from service in combat zones.

One in four of the troops surveyed said he or she knew “nothing at all about effective mental health treatments for issues that may arise from their service in a war zone,” Robinowitz said.

As if pouring money into this will help. There’s an old saying: You can’t force a horse to drink water it doesn’t want to drink. Troops do not need government telling them what effective treatments options are; their doctors are quite capable of this. People, including military service members, usually KNOW when they are having real and true problems. Often, through their human spirit they resolve these on their own. Without anyone’s help. And we don’t need to assume that admitting a mental health problem equates some weakness in a man. That’s an excuse that is bogus. And it’s the excuse some are grasping at here in an effort to push this agenda.

“The military has done a good job of having a lot of educational materials around,” she said, but she is not sure the information “filtered down” to the people who need it.

An Army psychiatrist admitted it is a challenge to get people to seek help.

It’s not a challenge to get the pamphlets and brochures into the grunt barracks. I’ve seen them in these places. The guys simply ignore them and would prefer to play a video game or watch American Idol. They are fine. I’ve heard many say they are sick and tired of the government trying to tell them they have should have mental problems they just don’t have.

So how big is this so called problem?

A clear majority of troops rated their own mental health as good or excellent, but many reported regularly experiencing common symptoms of mental illness, including difficulty sleeping at least twice a week and a lack of interest in daily activities at least twice a week.

So here we have a government, looking to convince soldiers and Marines they have mental health issues and even going so far as to tell them they might, just might, have brain injuries, and very few are taking up offers of help. Why? Cause the vast, not clear, majority are okay. Sure, they have nightmares now and again. They miss friends who have been killed in action. They have seen things most of us never nightmare about. But, the human spirit can rise above these demons and compensate for the feelings and emotions that sometimes come with it all. Men in particular, are able to section off certain memories and thoughts and keep them in check. We don’t need to mess with this.

Liberal whine bags and other limpdicks often decry President Bush and the Republicans for a lack of true caring for the troops. I call bullshit. It’s not something anyone can force upon a person who isn’t showing true clinical symptoms- treatment, therapies- AKA medications- can ruin a person’s life much more than the will to call oneself a survivor. These bleed hearts don’t trust people to take care of themselves.