Surviving Christianity: VAMC St. Louis

Showing posts with label VAMC St. Louis. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2014

Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder

A person with [Antisocial Personality] disorder usually does not take responsibility for any of his or her own suffering.

But then...

Antisocial personality disorder is probably caused by a combination of factors. Having any of these characteristics does not necessarily mean that a person has antisocial personality disorder.

Influences from the environment. A chaotic family life contributes to the development of this personality disorder, especially where there has been little supervision from parents or other adult role models. The disorder also may be more common where the community is not supportive or provides little reward for positive behavior. In some situations, there may even be reinforcement for sociopathic behavior.

Genetic (inherited) or biological factors. Researchers have found certain physiological responses that may occur more frequently in people with antisocial personality disorder. For example, they have a comparatively flat response to stress. They seem to get less anxious than the average person. They seem to have a harder time maintaining daytime arousal. They also have a weak "startle reflex," the involuntary response to loud noises. This relative insensitivity may affect their ability to learn from reward and punishment.

The frontal lobe, the area of the brain that governs judgment and planning, also appears to be different in people with antisocial personality disorder. Some researchers have found changes in the volume of brain structures that mediate violent behavior. People with this kind of brain function may thus have more difficulty restraining their impulses, which may account for the tendency toward more aggressive behavior. Neurobiologists cannot say with certainty that these variations in brain structure are a cause of antisocial personality. The variations could easily be the result of life experiences that are more common in people with this personality disorder rather than a cause.

So, if it is caused by poor parenting/role models, the community, genetic or biological factors, and/or abnormalities in the brain, exactly how is it that a person suffering this disorder should "take responsibility for any of his or her own suffering"?

I am genuinely perplexed by this anomaly of a prime example of blaming the victim.

And as a "professional" once told me: "That is exactly the kind of thing an antisocial personality would say". Well, fuck me.

Sunday, May 05, 2013

DO NOT CALL VA CRISIS LINE!!!!!

If you are a Vet in crisis and in need of help do NOT call the VA Crisis Line! Turn to a friend, family member, fellow vet, or look deep inside yourself. Because if you call the VA they will enter your "confidential" conversation into your records with arm chair diagnoses and use it for punitive purposes to the extent that they may deny health care that you really need. They will also use it to deny your rights under the constitution by labeling you and taking your rights to make decisions for yourself.

Just don't do it. It is better - and more noble - to die than to ask your government for the help that they owe us.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

The Verdict is in: The Veteran's Administration is NOT your friend

I have been trying - more like begging - for the Veteran's Administration to address a very real physical problem for several months, a problem for which I actually had documented evidence to support. I had a CT scan from a local hospital which clearly indicated gall stones almost an inch in diameter. The very reason that I went to the Emergency Room in the first place is because I had been sick and vomiting for weeks. The VA Primary Care provider that I went to referred me to a surgeon almost 250 miles away indicating that he suspect that the gall bladder was indeed causing me pain, nausea and discomfort.

The VA Surgeon in St. Louis, Jane Tenquist, decided upon reading all of the scurrilous and slanderous claims repeated over and over in my St. Louis VA records which indicate that in their professional opinion I am a danger to myself and that I have "major recurring depressive disorder" and "personality disorder" - among many other insulting invectives, that there was nothing wrong with me and that she felt I would be better served to have the VA stick a camera up my ass. EVEN AFTER VIEWING THE CT SCAN SHOWING THE GALL STONES!

I really have trouble understanding the VA compulsion to stick stuff up your ass! That seems to be their treatment de jure for anything that they don't want to face head on. But I digress....
I was so sick that I HAD to find SOMEONE - ANYONE - who might treat me for the problem. Which I did. This (non-VA affiliated) surgeon recognized immediately the seriousness of the matter and set up surgery for as soon as he could get me in. When he got inside of me and saw just how serious the matter had become he made the decision to document the procedure with photographs. The nurse told me that my gall bladder was "nasty" and that one of the largest stones had begun to traverse into the common bile duct. If you are uninformed on this complication, this can and likely will be life threatening!

When I returned from hospital I sent in a request for my VA medical records for the past six months. Those pages, when simple lab reports are removed, numbered somewhere around 30 and were riddled with fallacious statements made by "social workers" alleged conversations with me in person and via the telephone which painted me as a crazy person. And in those pages my alleged psychiatric condition is discussed more than anything else! Along with the allegations cited above they claim that I am a chronic substance abuser... without a shred of evidence to support those claims other than their word.

The simple fact of the matter is that, once again, the St'. Louis VA did all in their power to deny me much needed health care and treatment. I say "once again" because from '05 to '06 I complained of feeling as if "an elephant is setting on my chest". I had to ask help from US Congresswoman JoAnn Emerson's office to get them to recognize the fact that I needed emergency heart surgery.

Please stay tuned as I fully plan to post my medical records and pictures of this most recent surgery here. You don't have to believe me, you can decide for yourself.

But if you are a Veteran, heed this warning: The Veteran's Administration is the LAST place you need to go for help of any kind.