Why BASIC

“PTSD” is a natural reaction to war, and to other traumatic events. It is not a mental disorder but a natural biological response to preserve life. It is the body’s “survival alarm” sounding when danger is present. This alarm system is integral to the body’s oldest brain. Our brain is actually three brains in one: the oldest being the reptilian or survival brain, the next being the mammalian or emotional brain, and the newest being the cerebral cortex or thinking brain. In combat the survival brain keeps us alert and engaged in a very dangerous environment. Combat training calls upon the primitive controlled rage and terror, and the instinct to survive, of our survival brain. Upon returning from combat and back into civilian society, the warrior is expected to switch off the instincts that have kept them alive and return to navigating civilian life without the survival brain on high alert. Once in the civilian world, the very actions that kept them alive in combat---hyper-vigilance, darting eyes, back always covered, emotional numbing, access to primitive controlled rage for killing are now deemed being “crazy”. The warrior no longer fits in, and cannot simply switch off what has now become instinctual. They are not mentally ill, they are wounded; they have sustained a battlefield psychological injury to the survival brain. The body’s alarm is now set way too sensitively and needs to be reset. In the meantime it is paramount that we do not label these brave warriors as mentally ill. How can we call the very actions that kept them alive, and are often praised and rewarded in a combat zone, a mental illness back in society? This is why we have chosen to rename and redefine “PTSD“. We believe the term Brain Alarm Stuck on Is Crazy-feeling (BASIC), is a much more accurate description of what the veteran is suffering from, not a mental disorder.

Why PTSD

 We are all just one step away from what is currently called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. The hyper-vigilance (having your brain’s alarm on high alert continuously), flashbacks (daytime picture memories, played like a movie while you’re awake), nightmares, emotional numbing, terror and/or rage provoked by the small everyday events of life, all of this is what PTSD is. For as long as man has fought wars, and cataclysmic events have unfolded around the globe there has been PTSD. In the military arena it has been called many things-soldiers heart, battle fatigue, shell shock, to name just a few. It was not until 1980 that it became officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), given the name PTSD, and defined as a mental disorder. This came about mainly because of the large number of Vietnam veterans who had returned and were being diagnosed with “Post-Vietnam Syndrome”. In order for these men and women to receive treatment an official diagnosis was needed, and PTSD was born. Since that time, research into PTSD has ebbed and flowed depending on politics and the status of our military---whether actively engaged or not; now that the war on terror has produced millions of new combat veterans, PTSD has taken center stage. And we see that not much has been learned in the 30 years since its "official" name was born.

 The current medical model of PTSD comes mainly from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) definition of PTSD as an Anxiety Disorder. Under this classification a subject with PTSD must be diagnosed with a mental disorder in order to receive treatment and services. This, of course, is a high hurdle for young warriors to overcome. If one is to believe this model, they must agree that we send thousands of young, mentally healthy, physically fit, highly trained, military personnel into combat zones around the world, and that conservatively 25-45% comes back with a mental disorder!

Suicides

Using Department of Defense and Veterans Adminstration's own numbers apprx. 20%, or 18 verterans a day commit suicide. There are two things I believe about this. 1) The numbers are low, basically because of the number of veterans that fall off the radar once leaving the service, and it is important to note that this number does NOT include active duty suicides, which are at a record high level. 2) Most veterans' suicides are directly linked to their combat experience. The fighting on the battlefield may have ended long ago, but the battle within their minds rages on for years, often in silence due to the shame they feel as having to be labled as mentally ill in order to be treated. These men and women served proudly for this country and deserved to be understood and cared for by the people they fought to protect.