Army Chaplain Tries to Cure PTSD With Jesus

[unhappycamper]

Army Chaplain Tries to Cure PTSD With Jesus
TruthOut.org / By Matt Harwood

August 7, 2010 | Many Christians believe faith in Jesus Christ can cure almost anything: alcoholism, cancer, homosexuality, even the Son of Sam. But can it cure post traumatic stress disorder in troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq? The Army Reserves' top chaplain for military policemen believes so, and published his prescription on the Army Reserves' official Web site for everyone to see, in an act a watchdog organization argues is unconstitutional and dangerous when soldiers continue to kill themselves at an alarming rate.

In a nearly 11,000 word essay, "Spiritual Resiliency: Helping Troops Recover from Combat," Command Chaplain Col. Donald W. Holdridge of the 200th Military Police Command at Fort Meade, Maryland, argues belief in Jesus Christ and Bible reading, particularly King David's Psalms, can help cure a soldiers' PTSD. "Combat vets need to know that most of these do fade in time, like scars," writes Holdridge, a professor at the Baptist Bible College, as the Army Reserves banner hangs from the top of the Webpage. "They will always be there to some degree, but their intensity will fade. What will help them fade is the application of the principles of Scripture."

The tone of Holdridge's essay only gets more unapologetically evangelical as the chaplain's initial wading in a Christian sea slides into more brackish waters, evangelizing soldiers with PTSD that their service was part of a larger theological plan and dangerously merges church and state. "Military and law enforcement personnel bear the additional burden of contending with evil by acting as an arm of the state to punish those who have no respect for human life (Rom.13:4)," he writes. "It is messy business, but necessary in a fallen world. If the military member knows Christ as savior, they can be assured that Jesus is with them until the end of the age (Mt.28:20)." (If this doesn't seem offensive or incendiary for a military Website to publish this, replace "Christ as savior" with "the Prophet Mohammed" and "Jesus" with "Allah.")

Holdridge concludes the essay by recommending further resources for those seeking help with PTSD. By then, soldiers are swimming in the Sea of Galilee. While six of the ten resources deal with nonprofit and government programs like the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the Department of Veterans Affairs, the remaining four are all evangelical organizations that devote significant resources to evangelizing military personnel. One of those organizations, Military Ministry, was unabashed a few years ago about their mission: "Responsibilities include working with Chaplains and Military personnel to bring lost soldiers closer to Christ, build them in their faith and send them out into the world as Government paid missionaries." Military Ministry did not respond to an e-mail inquiry asking for comment.

The question, of course, is whether Command Chaplain Holdridge is acting as an evangelical fisherman, luring soldiers with the bait of normalcy after the psychological fractures of combat. Mikey Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the civil rights organization that discovered the essay, argues Holdridge's "Spiritual Resiliency" is a pernicious example of fundamentalist Christianity using the machinery of the state to promote its sectarian worldview.

[Tesha]

1. Perhasp he can conduct a nice, well-controlled sexperiment then...

...to prove that his method works better than
other non-Jesus-based methods.

Tesha

[lib_wit_it]

2. Reports of the attempts by fundies to turn the US military into a fundie cult are have been given

far too little attention. So, in case you were bored, there's another mole we need to whack.

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488
http://antiwar.com/radio/2009/05/12/jeff-sharlet/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4772331
http://www.alternet.org/asoldierspeaks/67385/the_evangelical_christian_takeover_of_the_military/
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/05/islamophobia-in-the-military-major-concern/

For more, google: Evangelical Christian Takeover of the Military or similar

[malaise]

3. Onward Xtian soldier

Kill Kill Kill even if it's the opposite of everything you were taught.


The stupid burns holes in their heads.

[B Calm]

4. LOL

[burnsei sensei]

5. When I hear "An Army Chaplain

tries to cure with Jesus," I'm not nervous.
That's what Army Christian Chaplains probably should do.
If I had heard that an Army psychiatrist or an doctor tried to cure with Jesus, I would be concerned.
On the other hand, as a mainline Christian, I would be deeply offended by the fundamentalism and non-traditional nature of these pretenders.
Genuine Christian priests and ministers are subject to hierarchical control. They don't just use their fanaticism as authority.

[beam me up scottie]

6. "Government paid missionaries"?

One of those organizations, Military Ministry, was unabashed a few years ago about their mission: "Responsibilities include working with Chaplains and Military personnel to bring lost soldiers closer to Christ, build them in their faith and send them out into the world as Government paid missionaries."

Somebody needs to put a choke chain on these organizations, they're trying to fix broken soldiers by with infecting them with religious zealotry.

[provis99]

7. Gott mit uns.

He would have done well as a chaplain in Nazi Germany.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

9. Really, go away and do your little discrimination prayer elsewhere, OK?

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

13. Shoo, troll

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

17. Awwww poor oppressed you. Pathetic.

Later.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Bluebear]

19. You'll be tombstoned here very shortly so get all your frustrations out quickly

:rofl:

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[pinboy3niner]

29. Thankyou, Bluebear

Nice work. You deserve to get a notch or a shrunken head or something for this. :) (Our "friend" was an annoying distraction on a couple of threads.)

[Bluebear]

31. I live to serve :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Here is the problem

If the Chaplain is doing this WITH the medical team... and it is part of the care of a soldier, that is ONE Thing. Yes, Chaplains are assigned to medical units too.

If the Chaplain is saying that he can cure PTSD with prayer... he's crossed a few lines... both medical and occupational

You know there is this thing called nuance.

And I'd say the same if this was a Rabbi or an Imam ok.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[nadinbrzezinski]

23. And PTSD, especially BAD PTSD

needs medicines.

As I said, if this is PART of the medical plan, that is one thing. IF he claims he can do the job of a psychiatrist... he's crossed a few lines.

And no, you cannot cure PTSD. You can only make it better.

[haele]

27. I've heard of an interesting study on PTSD - playing Tetris apparently helps

It apparently innoculates suffers against flashbacks, too.
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/01/08/tetris-inoculation-against-ptsd-flashbacks/

Haele
(on edit - palying Tetris doesn't help, but playing Tetris apparently does...)

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Damn and I was willing to try it

:-)

Then again I have been told that my nightmares (from shootouts) were imagined... so I am cured...

A little goes a long way.

(Yes that day I was laughing my ass off... the other choice was to be really angry)

[pinboy3niner]

32. He absolutely DID cross that line

I read his entire essay, in which he makes the flat-out FALSE assertion, "It must be emphasized that PTSD is not mental illness."

As you well know, PTSD is a recognized mental disorder (and is listed as one in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-IV).

His statement suggests to me that he may have some contempt for professional psychiatry, and perhaps even psychology, and his preaching that lie can only serve to make soldiers skeptical and distrustful of professionals in those fields.

In one brief sentence, he says a soldier should know when to reach out for professional help, and later he lists among the resources he offers, VA hospitals and Vet Centers. He notes Vet Centers often have combat vets as "counselors". The Vet Centers often do have psycholgists available, but the vet counselors to whom he refers are usually credentialed in Social Work or (more rarely) in Marriage and Family Therapy.

It's difficult enough for a troop both to recognize that he or she is struggling with PTSD, and to reach out for professional help. Casting doubt on the value of certain mental health professions and services is wrong--and can lead to tragic results.

[AnArmyVeteran]

26. But faith healing masks the real problem that will surface again.

I understand how faith works but to use on combat veterans could lead to even further and more severe problems. I had a dear friend who was taught that any good thought she had was 'god' and any bad thought was 'satan'. She had a constant war going on in her head. So she tried to kill herself by slashing her wrists. Her parents were religious fanatics and they gave her a life of torment in the name of 'god'.

Belief in a higher power is fine, but to inject someone who suffering mental distress with Jesus and faith is dangerous and reckless. Professional mental health workers are what PTSD victims should have, not someone waving a cross. In my life I have seen countless people destroyed by religion. Enough is enough.

What are the true motives of that chaplain? To help people or to get converts. Christians will go to any length to convert others. I am not attacking your faith. I just want people in religions to stop trying to say their way is the only way.

All the best...

[pinboy3niner]

33. For people of faith, spiritual counseling and support is fine...

...as long as it's not offered as a substitute for treatment by mental health professionals. There's good reason to be concerned about what this chaplain is advocating (see my Post # 32).

Troops struggling with PTSD often are at risk for suicide, and professional mental health treatment can be a lifesaver, and...well, a godsend. Fortunately, many in the clergy recognize this and do a lot of mental health referrals. Those who don't are doing the members of their flock a disservice--and may even be endangering them.

[AnArmyVeteran]

35. I agree with what you said.

Because of the stigma attached to a soldier who says they need help and since the military leadership has ignored the problem of PTSD for so long a chaplain can serve to bridge that gap and help steer someone to the proper mental health care professional. Sadly, soldiers in distress are ignored because their leadership is so pressured to do so much with too little.

Not related but true: Sadly soldiers are not considered casualties of war when they commit suicide although the war is what killed them. All of the soldiers whose lives were destroyed by serving in Vietnam and other wars don't have their names on The Wall when they should have.

[pinboy3niner]

37. There, but for the grace of God...

I could easily have been one of those post-war caualties.

They do add names to the Wall when the death can be attributed directly to VN service. Agent Orange deaths have been added, but suicides are impossible to attribute to the war.

After a couple decades, I learned that my first radioman in VN drove head-on into a tractor-trailer shortly after he got back. His name is not on the Wall...

[haele]

22. Being against Proselytizing a specific form of Xtianinty is not "Anti-Christian"

It's one thing if a soldier comes to a chaplin and asks for help, but it's another thing for the chaplin to claim that his particular form of religion is the only thing needed to heal PTSD.
In my military experience, the mainstream chaplains usually don't have a problem being secular even pan-denominational at times, but the fundy/evangelical chaplains are always getting into trouble pushing their own particular brand of religion. Example - the CO of a ship I was working on back in 2000 requested a change of chaplains for just that reason; the chaplin was telling his "bible study" groups that most of the ship was going to hell because they weren't "properly Christian" - meaning his particular sect - and that included the CO himself, who was a non-practicing Presbyterian - and especially targeted at a Sikh and a couple Wiccan who were on the same ship for "conversion or hell".
A chaplin is not a medic. A chaplin is supposed to be a spiritual guide and non-judgmental help for everyone in his unit only when requested, whether they're his or her brand of Christian or not. He or she is not to butt in during a medical crisis and tell the men and women under their care that whatever they believe is wrong, that secular means are the tools of the Devil, and they're going to go to Hell if they don't fall in line with what the chaplin thinks is right, or that his way is the only way to heal them of emotional problems. Too many evangelical type chaplains feel their higher calling to whatever God they claim to worship privately trumps the rights of the troops or medical science they are supposed to help and the UCMJ they are sworn to follow.

It's not anti-Christian Bigotry to point out religious hypocrisy or religious bullying.

Haele

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. You know that is a hard concept for some folks

to understand...

Hell, one of my folks was a Seminary student (Jesuit)

Most of the time he worked as a medic with the rest of us, but when we needed somebody to administer last rights... you are up...

And no, religious discussion was not something we did... that said we had fascinating discussions on St Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, the Tenth Commandments and Natural Law.

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Now this is crossing a few lines

starting with medical. It is not the job of the Chaplain to take on the Medical care of troopers.

That said, Chaplains DO have a place in the medical team.

There are a few others... that might be crossed here regarding the Establishment clause.

That said, if on an individual basis prayer helps a soldier... and this is part of the plan of care, by all means.

Yes I know nuance...

[UTUSN]

12. Well, of COURSE he IS!1 (I'm not saying NUTHING!1) n/t

[marmar]

14. REACH OUT AND TOUCH FAITH......

Your own Personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own Personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there

Feeling's unknown and you're all alone
Flesh and bone by the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer

Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith

Your own Personal Jesus
Feeling's unknown and you're all alone
Flesh and bone by the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
Your own Personal Jesus
Reach out and touch faith

[AnArmyVeteran]

24. BREAKING: Army medics to be replaced with faith healers!

To save on medical supplies and costly training for medics, the Pentagon has decided to use faith healers instead. Pentagon spokesmen said they tried to contact the faith healer Benny Hinn, but he could not be reached at any of his 12 mansions.

[AsahinaKimi]

30. I am not exactly sure how

This will help non Christian soldiers with PTSD. Atheists, Jewish, Islam, Hindu, and I even know a guy who is stationed in Korea who has become a devout Buddhist. But then, I guess its Christianity that is mostly into conversion. I personally don't care for people who try to convert me... Soldiers have to deal with their own stress and someone trying to convert them as well?

Hmmm...

[pinboy3niner]

34. Military chaplains are required to minister to all faiths, not just their own

An atheist soldier can see a chaplain for counseling--but proselytizing is prohibited.

This chaplain's essay is disturbing for several reasons, and it has no place on an official military website. He may have good intentions, but his bias is obvious.

[saltpoint]

36. Wow. I'd lose count of how many shovels it would take

to shovel that much horseshit.

Holdridge is not helping.

[Solly Mack]

38. Damn