Late last year in a progress update, IMCRA detailed an addition to our basic PTSD/TBI program focusing on the mental stresses resulting from the widely-acknowledged current of intolerance, belligerence and polarization now dividing the country. After numerous reports appeared in the popular and medical press describing how media reporting of outrages in the political, international and domestic spheres have produced an acute exacerbation of underlying psychopathologies, we felt that the program had to be modified to address a root cause of the disturbances we were seeing in our target population.
Late last year in a progress update, IMCRA detailed an addition to our basic PTSD/TBI program focusing on the mental stresses resulting from the widely-acknowledged current of intolerance, belligerence and polarization now dividing the country. After numerous reports appeared in the popular and medical press describing how media reporting of outrages in the political, international and domestic spheres have produced an acute exacerbation of underlying psychopathologies, we felt that the program had to be modified to address a root cause of the disturbances we were seeing in oure overall target population.
A good description of the overall program follows in the online presentation we link here, Your interest an support will be greatly apreciated and highly beneficial to the heroes we serve
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Dear Friends,
Late last year in a progress update, IMCRA detailed an addition to our basic PTSD/TBI program focusing on the mental stresses resulting from the widely-acknowledged current of intolerance, belligerence and polarization now dividing the country. After numerous reports appeared in the popular and medical press describing how media reporting of outrages in the political, international and domestic spheres have produced an acute exacerbation of underlying psychopathologies, we felt that the program had to be modified to address a root cause of the disturbances we were seeing in our target population.
As we noted then, psychological assessments over the last few years have shown most mental health indicators pointing in the wrong direction. For those now suffering from PTSD at some level, especially veterans and peace officers, this re-emergence of hatred, intolerence, xenophobia and racial discord as prominent and acceptable news items been perceived and processed in two ways: First, as a justification and release for the darker impulses engendered by the disorder; Second, as a cause for hopelessness for those whose experiences with violence, anger and misery have already scarred them for a lifetime.
Since the re-orientation of our efforts began, there have been literally dozens of new incidents, including most tragically, the mass murders at American schools. It is a rare week when there is no report of a new instance of public hatred and intolerance or deadly gun-related violence. Paradoxically, hatred and violence appear to be self-nourishing phenomena in this country. The unified repugnance and wholesale condemnation which should follow even a single report of such incidents is nowhere in evidence. Instead, the political polarization and anger becomes even more profound.
The research IMCRA has conducted on the sources of this continual poisoning of the American psyche has turned up something of exceptional interest. It appears that a not insignificant number of politically-motivated and funded organizations exist which daily mass-transmit a nationwide barrage of exceptionally divisive emails specifically designed to foster disharmony, polarization, anger and intolerance. A review of the titles of these mails is instructive: "Open Rebellion", "Civil War!", "Liberals UNMASKED", "Islam Invades", "Patriots ERUPT", "This is WAR", "CODE RED", "Gun Owner?" "Protect Trump", "Obama Unmasked" etc. A sample reading of one of these mails yields headline messages like: "TREASON! - Leak Reveals George Soros Teamed Up With Obama To Do THIS to America", with core statements like the following direct quote: "Friend, I'm going to be honest... I haven't been this angry in a long time. Liberals and the mainstream media have stooped to a new low this week -- all to try and bring down the President at whatever the cost!"
These mailings go out by the millions at the rate of at least a dozen each day and are aimed primarily at veterans, the elderly and segments of the American population likely to be most responsive. They are calculated to evoke an intense visceral response and are difficult to ignore. To the extent we've been able to identify, many originate with real or shadow organizations with political underpinnings. However, there is a distinction between pursuit of a political agenda and the reality of exacerbating psychopathologies in already mentally-compromised populations.
A critical initial step in our efforts to stem the flow of psychological poison is investigating what can be done to curtail or offset the worst aspects of this hate-filled agitation and demonization of fellow Americans, especially when veterans and peace officers are the targets. To that end we have enlisted the aid of faculty specializing in the etiology of chronic emotional and mental distress. This is a new field of medical response dealing with very new developments in the electronic concomitants of mental illness. Thus, in addition to your support we are very interested in receiving any suggestions or insights you may have into finding new ways to combat this important and growing problem.
Sincerely,
The IMCRA Team
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Dear Friends,
For some time this project has focused on providing support and counseling to veterans and other Americans overwhelmed by the violence and evil that has characterized so much of recent world history. From the barbaric obscenities of ISIS to the mind-numbing mass-murders of innocent civilians in the the US and elsewhere, good people have seen little reassuring about human civilization in the 21st Century.
Domestically, while our program is and must remain apolitical, it would be inaccurate and unfair to ignore the fact that the socio-political climate in this country is a critical determinant of the mental health of its citizens. In 2017 media permeates American life at all levels making the impact of sociopolitical realities unavoidable. An article which appreared in Forbes Magazine last November perhaps says it best:
"...this exceedingly bizarre election and its reporting have made one thing very clear: many people are not happy. Now, for a sizable portion of our country, add depressed and scared. Nearly everything, ranging from the campaigns to debates, to the chatter on results, would not reflect well if America were a patient lying in a chair in a psychiatrist's office. Finger-pointing. Scapegoating. Blaming. Anguish. Talk of moving to Canada. Multiple personalities, polarization, hatred..."
For those already overwhelmed and depressed by their own personal experiences, the current of intolerance, belligerence and polarization now dividing the country achieves nothing so much as an acute exacerbation of underlying pathologies. Psychological assessments made over the last decade have shown all mental health indicators pointing in the wrong direction. The incidence of emergent psychopathologies has parallelled the rise of antidepressant use as well as of anxiety and the medications needed to control it. The same applies to other mental health issues such as the epidemic of loneliness, the continuing rise of PTSD and not surprisingly, obesity and alchoholism. Many Americans just are not well, and those who have experienced horrors first-hand are the most at risk.
For those now suffering from PTSD at some level, this re-emergence of hatred, intolerence, xenophobia and racial discord as prominent and acceptable domestic news items has been perceived in two ways: First, as a release for the darker impulses engendered by the disorder; Second, as a cause for hopelessness for those whose experiences with violence, anger and misery have already scarred them sufficiently for a lifetime.
Within the past two months, IMCRA has begun a new initiative intended to expand its outreach efforts to those most at risk via an email campaign designed to be both attractive as well as therapeutic. The "attractive" element of the campaign has been developed in consultation with veterans as well as with social psychologists who have noted a rejection of efforts that seem either too predictable and strident, or conversely, too "goody-goody liberal". It is an important reality that having such insight and expertise in this new and emerging manifestation of social psychopathology is essential to our ability to make progress.
Since this modification of our extant program is new, in addition to your support we are interested in receiving any suggestions or insights you may have into combatting this important and growing problem.
Sincerely,
The IMCRA Team
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Another Memorial Day has just passed into history.
Across the nation, we waved flags, marched in parades, remembered the wars and went shopping. Some of us just went shopping.
Many of us honored that ever-shrinking battalion of enobled WWII and Korean War veterans, Some honored the Vientam era vets in our midst, and a lot more toasted the younger survivors of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the rest of the mideast wars. In many areas, and as encouraged by media, we honored the dead. Unfortunately, not many of us were willing or able to honor those who, though still living, are now dead inside.
Military service amidst scenes of horror and confusion carries a hidden inner price which must still be paid, every day and every hour, and which cannot be paid by ribbons, parades, and medals. It is a price which unfortunately is paid most heavily by the younger veterans of the recent mideast wars.
In the two World Wars we fought evil aggressive nations. In Korea and Vietnam, we fought what was characterized as the spread of communist totalitarianism. These were easily identified, easily characterized enemies. The soldiers who fought those wars lived in a world of daily reality undistracted by I-pads, smartphones and social media.
In contrast, apart from those who confront ISIS, the men and women who have been sent to the various mideast wars have been plunged into a cosmos where bloody and painful reality supplants the conmforting and self-controlled world of virtual reality so many of us have come to inhabit within the last two decades.
In many cases the reality of combat has been interwoven with the horror and brutality of participating in the death and mutilation of children, women, the elderly and blameless others who have been dismissed by authorities as "collateral damage". Servicepeople find themselves in the midst of confusing scenarios involving overtly familiar urban and suburban environments. Worse, when the actual face of the real enemy becomes known, it may be the face of a child brainwashed with a mindless quasi-religious psychology of pointless blind hatred. Young servicepeople have seen, in addition to military action, many instances of inexplicable and confusing bombings and mass-murders which occur for no apparent reason, are directed against no definitive targets other than available human beings, and accomplish no discernable aims other than wholesale slaughter.
IMCRA has had workers in the field for the past few months seeking to understand more precisely why the nature of the PTSD experienced by young veterans of the mideast wars has been more profound in many ways than that experienced by veterans of earlier wars. We live in a very strange era, where the comforts of virtual reality and social media confront multiple and widespread instances of unmitigated actual brutality and violence. As we continue gaining insights, your help will go far toward enabling us to design IMCRA programs for optimal effectiveness in a new generation of badly impacted veterans
Thank you.
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Dear Friends,
In order to maximize its efforts to bring expert professional psychosocial help to military veterans, law enforcement personnel and others impacted by exposure to extreme violence and cruelty, IMCRA has continually monitored other programs currently available in the US. Doing this enables us to best fill the gaps they leave. Allowing even one traumatized hero to fall through the cracks in such programs is, for us, just as bad as doing the same to a dozen.
We approached the issue as would the family of a traumatized veteran looking for help online. Below is a brief overview of what turned up on a websearch:
U.S. Veterans Administration: We found this quite daunting, especially in an emergency. The site provides a host of links and telephone numbers, but almost all yield robotic voices and complex navigation menus. Several types of advocates are mentioned, but there is no way given to reach them directly. Finally, some of the programs, for example, the "About Face" program, gives information from 2011-2012 which is frequently out of date.
Wounded Warrior Project: Again, we found a large and complex website with many services detailed. Unfortunately these were again not were not clickable as direct link. We also found that many of the peer-group services would not be something chosen by individuals or families wanting to remain anonymous.
PTSD Foundation of America: Acessing the website reveals that it is a regional program focused primarily in Texas and California. They do provide access to "peer counselors" but these people are not identified and can only be reached through a generic email to the central office which requires the users name etc. We also found the frequent requests for donations dotting the site to be somewhat offputting.
IMCRA endeavours to cut through all of the above by providing instant anonymous access to the best professional expertise on PTSD topics ranging from suicide to depression to flashbacks...without the need for the user to do anything but click a live link to that topic. If additional materials or links are needed they are in one convenient location acessible via a button next to the topic covered by faculty and dowloadable as PDFs. Also, in our program the user communicates directly with the faculty member, not with a "counselor". As we are now just weeks away from launching a new and improved version of our program your contributions to our goals will be especially appreciated at this time. Thank you.
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