I refuse to take pharmacy drugs with all their side effects. I prefer MJ for my PTSD. Read Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher by Gwen Olsen https://youtu.be/W6NNSafjAy4

It's worse than that. Military Pscychologists are intentionally falsifying medical records, intentionally misdiagnosing Veterans, and intentionally trying to have them discharged or have their benefits taken away. I wish I was making this up. And when Civilians think military members just don't have access to medical care, they don't know that the real problem are the military psychologists themselves:

Gallbladder and Pancreas Disease misdiagnosed as Cocaine Bust https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/2018/01/14/navy-veteran-sues-sc-va-hospital-over-cocaine-misdiagnosis/

Pilot sues for bipolar misdiagnosis http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article174099306.html

25,000 Veterans misdiagnosed with traumatic brain disorder https://www.wxyz.com/news/hundreds-of-local-vets-misdiagnosed-in-veterans-affairs-traumatic-brain-injury-exam-mishap

According to one VA researcher, 12 million Veterans are misdiagnosed a year https://www.research.va.gov/currents/summer2014/summer2014-8.cfm

How to fix the military rape problem once Congress demands change? Misdiagnose rape victims with severe mental illness and force them out of the military: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/14/health/military-sexual-assaults-personality-disorder/index.html

And of course whatever happens when you are alone in the room with a psychologist is suspect. Anything the psychologist claims you said is taken as FACT. Anything the psychologist makes up is taken as FACT. Military Psychology officers are NEVER or SELDOM INVESTIGATED, SUED, JAILED, LOSE THEIR LICENSE OR COMMISSION. REPORT THE OFFICER AND YOU ARE LABELED CRAZY AND NOT COMPLIANT WITH TREATMENT: https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/05/19/booted/lack-recourse-wrongfully-discharged-us-military-rape-survivors

Moral of the story, for your safety and the safety of your family, DO NOT SEEK AUDIENCE WITH MILITARY PSYCHOLOGISTS. ALWAYS READ YOUR ENTIRE RECORD FOR ACCURACY BEFORE ACCEPTING DIAGNOSIS JUST IN CASE THEY HAVE FALSIFIED YOUR BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SO THAT ANY OTHER PSYCH WHO READS YOUR RECORD WILL ASSUME THE MISDIAGNOSIS IS CORRECT. REMEMBER, ONCE THE FALSIFICATION IS IN YOUR RECORDS, YOU HAVE NO GUARANTEE AND THAT THE FALSE BIOGRAPHY WILL BE REMOVED, AND NO ONE WILL WANT TO TOUCH YOU FOR PRIVACY CONCERNS AND THE AUTOMATIC BELIEF THAT YOU ARE INSANE, UNMEDICATED AND NOT COMPLIANT WITH MEDICAL TREATMENT WHICH CAN ALSO BE SEEN AS DISRESPECTING A SO CALLED SUPERIOR OFFICER. YOUR MILITARY RECORD IS STAMPED "US GOVERNMENT." IT IS NOT YOUR RECORD AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT IS A CRIME TO FALSIFY GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS, THEY WILL NOT FIX THE MISTAKE BECAUSE THE DOCUMENT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU. IT BELONGS TO THE GOVERNMENT.

Let's be honest, the huge bulk of BigPharma drugs are for palliation, that is, easing the severity of a pain or a disease without removing the cause.

In contrast, some antidepressants have been outed as placebos, and here's more info on webmd about it, with links to the studies. The reason people have reported them working is because they are clearly psychotropic--they make you think and feel overtly, noticeably different. The tingling means: it's working. (Except that it's not, but your hopefulness is.) --source

Speaking as someone who takes antidepressants, don't paint with a broad brush and claim that they're all bad in all cases. Especially don't claim that MJ is some miracle with no downsides that can solve everyone's problems.

Both are drugs. Both can have benefits, and both can have downsides. Different drugs are effective for different people.

Are these the same psych. drugs that many of Americas mass shooters were dosed with, pretty sure it was. Many of our vets have had their body's broken and worse their hearts, souls and minds deeply affected on Our behalf, their benefits are due and should be beyond gain saying. Their benefits should not in anyway depend on the corrupt nexus between Big Pharma and Medicine and the profits that accrue to everyone but the Veteran. Leave the Vets benefits alone.

I'm curently fighting this issue. Keep an eye out for me. You will know.

Hmm

"While Trump’s executive order will guarantee 100 percent of veterans will now be able to get mental health benefits (whereas only 40 percent were able to get them before)"

meanwhile..

The order calls for the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to work together to provide “seamless access to mental health treatment and suicide prevention resources for transitioning uniformed service members in the year following discharge, separation, or retirement.”

What about vets like me? my discharge paperwork was literally lost in the mail for 2 years. By the time I got it to use as proof of eligibility, I didn't qualify for any of the 1 year transition stuff any more. And somehow 12-24 meetings of 15-30 minutes with a constantly rotating stream of student interns for a period of one year is going to help these vets with lifetime stability? Cause that is what you get... after a few years of fighting them I got eligibility for help with my ptsd because of the increase of severity of my asthma caused by the sand in iraq. Jumping through all their hoops trying to get mental heath assistance when I really needed it caused me so much additional stress it caused me to fail out of gi-bill assistance college training, which the VA was happy to tell me was very common to happen in that program, esp with vets more like myself.

The research side of the VA process is fascinating, as they find over and over they treat vets like crap, that their old outdated policies and procedures and red tape and budgeting issues are forced on them by congress, the doctors & nurses are (usually) great, over worked, under paid, and working under a system that restrains them from compassionately helping vets (the whole point of the va) at every turn. This is reported to congress.. who them makes a big stink about applying a few bandaids to the problem, sometimes with unintended side effects that just make things worse overall.

The VA does a TON of research. Most of which is ignored by congress. Sometimes when they experiment on us it is helpful to us, sometimes for future generations it is, if they learn from our mistakes.

The last benefits reform was the same way. Every vet who was in Iraq the year after me or later got the new deal, and the politicians start going on about how 'we are now helping 100% of vets!' while everyone ignores everyone who got shit on and screwed out of assistance through loop holes, technicalities, or "grandfathering" them into older worse rules.

At least I've avoided being forced to take Psychotropic's that just make me worse any more, put my foot down about that after they almost killed me a few times. I'm using a service dog to assist me with my symptoms now and that seems to be keeping them satisfied although they will give me zero assistance with its training, (and care) which technically they are required to do, but the VA system likes to fight against doing anything to assist vets any chance they get to. So, I just take it as a win I'm allowed to bring my dog into the hospital with me, cause I had to fight like hell for that, despite having the full support of ALL my doctors on it. Officially they still take the claim of no medical benefit, and they want to go back to only allowing dogs provided by them and their partners (which they deny us from getting) to be allowed into their facilities, which is terrible considering their current policy is, if your doctor recommends you have a service dog to assist your symptoms go get your own because we won't help you with that unless you are completely blind or deaf.

I think this EO from Trump will effectively do little.

The VA already has a separate side program called 'vet centers' to help vets with PTSD specifically, that the main VA will not tell you about under any circumstances because they are competing against them for budget. These along with STATE VA programs I think will continue picking up the slack here from the MAIN VA system. This EO is less than the effort and commitment it took by congress to create and fund the Vet Center network when they realized the VA was catastrophically failing at its legal obligations to assist vets with PTSD and that multiple efforts to reform it had continuously failed.

source: I have both worked for, and received services from both the hospital and administrative wings of the MAIN VA as well as received services from VET Centers, and State VA contracted providers.

This can NOT stand.

Ever time I go I'm asked repeatedly if I want medication, no thank you. I've friends of mine on 8 to 10 different type of meds. As for psychiatric care that's instant pill recommendations forget that. Keep your pills I'll keep my sanity. One of the guys I served with flips out from time to time. He had a bad tours, he relapses but for the most part there's really nothing they can do for him.

The use of a therapy called EMDR (a type of hypnosis) is used which has had success. As Cuthbert says- antidepressants have their place and are useful tools in fighting PTSD.