Nidal Hasan needs to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted for this despicable crime at Fort Hood but it is important not to use him as yet another excuse for the incredible incompetence of the mental health industry. The most important information from the Generals and mental health professionals about the Fort Hood shooting will not be revealed until the media asks better questions and demands hard evidence in regard to these questions. Four important questions were completely missed.
1) What in your opinion causes some to suffer PTSD and why are others not affected. In other words what in your opinion brings about a human emotion and behavior? (One cannot fix it if one does not know how it works and one does not know how it works if one cannot clearly answer this question)
2) What do you measure when treating PTSD and is this measurement used to measure possible transference issues with psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors? (If ones emotional state is not measured and monitored there is no baseline by which to accurately assess patients or doctors)
3) Is there hard data you can show us that indicates what you are doing is working in regard to PTSD?
4) Can you give us an overview of the process of screening and treatment for all mental health issues?
While everyone gives their best guess as to what happened at Fort Hood no one is asking these four simple questions in regard to the core issues of mental health in the military. General Casey states there is a “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness” program and a program for “Master Resilience Trainers” with 122 million dollars spent on the program but no one is asking in essence “Where’s the Beef?” In other words, where is the science that indicates they are actually producing results?
Transference is a well known term in mental health. It is used to describe what happens to psychiatrists and psychologists who begin to take on the issues of their clients. This is one of the many reasons it is important to move away from talk therapy and to begin to use a program process that resolves the core issue of how each person processes information. This can be done by teaching the client how to restructure the subconscious processes causing the trauma. This ultimately puts them in control of their emotional state and behavior.
Early 2009 when the only evidence based program process in mental health was submitted to fix the PTSD and suicide issue in the Army it was withdrawn from scientific review. When asked why it was withdrawn NIMH stated in regard to suicide and depression “It is not what we would call a strong risk factor.” The answer to this question is indicative of how broken the mental health industry is. If the mental health industry is not required to ever produce any real evidence they will simply stay mired down in hypothetical, observational, subjective treatments without anyone held accountable for the disastrous results.
General Loree Sutton who is the Director of the Defense Center of Excellence takes the same approach at every interview. There is nothing substantive ever offered in regard to any hard evidence that what they are doing is working. The reason for this in large part is no one requires hard science from the mental health community. When DCoE was presented with the only proven process for the primary symptom of PTSD it was rejected because there was not any data specific to the military demographic. It did not matter it was the only program process with any data at all.
Author Resource:
Kelly Burris, PhD is the author of nine books on human behavior & the developer of Subconscious Restructuring. SR is the only evidence-based program process in coaching & mental health. Dr. Burris offers counseling & a Life Coach Certification based on this process. Please Visit http://www.KellyBurris.com