Cheryl
UPDATE TO ACTIVE SOLDIER/VET RESOURCE GUIDE
Sat Feb 7 13:56:57 2004
64.140.159.92

UPDATE TO ACTIVE SOLDIER/VET RESOURCE GUIDE" DEPRESSION and RAPE

Here are two really important resources that in my rush to get the guide out were left out of the Active Duty/Reservist/Guardsman/Vet Resource Guide. These are especially important for active duty people. Please pass the info on to anyone you think could use it.

DEALING WITH DEPRESSION

The most reassuring thing I can say is that if you are in Iraq and are depressed, that probably just means you are NORMAL. It is a depressing situation, physically and mentally draining, and you are reacting to it as just about anyone in their right mind would. The second most reassuring thing I can say is that it won't last forever. The odds are very much in your favor (I'd give it about 200 to 1 or better), as horrific as things can get, that you will come home safely to your loved ones and life will go on. This too, as the saying goes, will pass. Don't do something stupid like klling yourself and make the problem permanent!

Depression doesn't always show its ugly head just as feeling totally bummed out 24 hours a day. It can also show up as extreme irritability or anxiety - lashing out at people who normally don't annoy you, developing fixated worries (I knew a guy stationed in Korea whose depression first showed up as an obsessive anxiety that his mother was going to die before he returned, even though she was healthy). It sometimes emerges as persistent insomnia. In any case, most people in retrospect describe the same underlying feeling: a sinking feeling in the pit of their gut, with a vague but persistent sense of impending doom. (The shrinks call it "a feeling of hopelessness," but most people in the throes of depression don't usually get that philosophical. They just know they're living under a big black cloud they'd do anything to escape).

There's probably some comfort in knowing that no matter how bad you feel, there's someone else in the same boat (the "S.S. Iraq") feeling even worse. You are SO not alone! It may seem it, though, because depressed people don't usually go around talking openly and freely about the feeling. They clam up or cover up. In fact, there may be someone you deal with everyday who seems to be doing better than you who may actually be hanging on by his fingernails inside. That's what Vietnam Vets found out later - sometimes years later: that nearly EVERYONE had experienced the same feelings inside during the war.

RESOURCES: Here's an excerpt from "Depression in the Military" put out by Homeland Security, with my comments in brackets:

"As a military member [and thus as a "federal employee"] there is a vast selection of resources available to you. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available to active duty, reserve, retired members and their dependents. The EAP is a confidential assessment and short-term counseling and referral service that can be used without a referral. By law all information you share with EAP, psychologists and psychiatrists is confidential unless suicide, imminent harm to another, or child abuse is indicated. [in the firest two cases, you will not be penalized, just placed under medical care - probably shipped to Walter Reed, which beats Iraq even on a bad day. In the case of child abuse, you will probably be required to undergo counseling]. Your command, District Chaplain and medical provider can also assist you in getting help [I'd go with the chaplain, if I were you, but avoid the frothing-at-the-mouth hellfire types!].

EAP has a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year hotline number which employees and their families can call, 800-222-0364.

The Samaritans Hotline- (800) 852-8336

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention- (888) 333-2377

National Foundation for Depressive Illness- (888) 248-4344

Rape Crisis Counseling

PHONE: 1-800-656-HOPE

http://www.rainn.org/counseling.html

My advice is to locate the center in your home state. This will be be "grounding" and you will be able to touch base personally with the people later, when you are back in the States.

The only military resource I could find was the Air Force Rape Crisis Center in Nevada. These people would probably be very helpful, however, and could help you with the specific issues that are involved with the military.

THE RAPE CRISIS CENTER

http://www.therapecrisiscenter.org/military_victims.htm

HOTLINE: 1-702-366-1640

Needless to say, being in a war zone AND being raped is going to bring on anxiety and depression big time. So, please check out the section on depression, too.