The Situation Factor

The Canadian Forces (CF) are unveiling their response to revelations about the prominence of mental health issues within combat veterans.

In several statements released by the CF in recent months, a national strategy was outlined to tackle operational stress injuries (OSI), the most well known of which is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The most notable investment is the opening of a residential treatment facility for the long-term care of veterans having the most serious battles with OSIs, which have been known to cause violence and even suicide in some cases. Scheduled to open this fall at the Ste-Anne de Bellevue veteran’s hospital near Montreal, the 10-bed facility will be the first of its kind in Canada.

The CF already operates five Operational Trauma and Stress Support Centres (OTSSCs) and six Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) Operational Stress Injury clinics. They have all been opened within the last decade.

Additionally, the CF has created the Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) network, which provides peer counseling for veterans and their families.

According to a release in January, the CF has begun an “Enhanced Post-deployment Screening Process” to determine any mental health issues within veterans returning from combat.  The process is “a survey conducted 90-180 days after the return of deployed troops to Canada,” according to the release.

Several studies released in recent years on the prevalence of mental health issues within combat veterans have had an effect on the public’s and the military’s understanding of OSIs. Two studies conducted at McGill and released in 2007 revealed alarmingly high rates of mental health issues in veterans returning from tours in Afghanistan, and that large proportions of those veterans did not seek or receive treatment.

A study of over 8,000 Afghanistan veterans found that 14 per cent suffered from mental health disorders and most of those veterans did not seek any mental health care.  According to the study, “deployment to combat operations and witnessing atrocities were associated with increased prevalence of mental disorders and perceived need for care.”

A second study published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry in 2007 found that of the same sample group, one third had not received any treatment. Most of those who did receive treatment did so at one of the CF’s facilities.

The same study found that veterans with comorbid depression, a very serious level of depression that is very difficult to live with, were 3.75 times more likely to have sought treatment than those without.

The CF has been criticized in recent years by veterans claiming to have suffered from mental health issues such as PTSD and who felt they had been ignored or swept under the rug by the military.

The CF has admitted that attitudes towards mental injuries have contributed to the lack of attention. “The CF has recognized for some time that the stigma surrounding mental illness is a leadership issue, and has been exploring ways of creating a culture of acceptance,” said the January release.

The military also claims to have internally educated and trained 8,000 of its members on how to recognize, understand, and react to OSIs.

The American military has had similar issues with OSIs. A 2004 study in the New England Journal of Medicine on Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan found that “exposure to combat was significantly greater among those who were deployed to Iraq.” 15 to 17 percent of Iraq veterans suffered specifically from PTSD, compared to 11 per cent for American Afghanistan veterans.

The U.S. military has taken actions similar to the CF. A screening questionnaire given to returning veterans was made public. It asks questions about having had serious conflicts with their spouses, family members, close friends, or at work; having nightmares or avoiding situations; being on guard, numb or detached; abusing alcohol, having a loss of pleasure, or depression. It also asks veterans about whether they are getting help, if they have asked for it, or if they would like it.

Firstly, I find there is too much introductory information in these. We already know how to do audio stories for radio features, this doesnt seem to be that different.

The planning information is useful  (knowing the right gear to bring and to conduct pre-interviews), and the information for the field is as well (asking the right questions, how to use a microphone, etc), but again, all things we learned over the course of our previous broadcast courses.

Going through the example and creating my own version of the Mayan tourism story, I felt as if it was no different than creating a (very) short radio feature, complete with clips, voiceover, background sound, and natural sounds.

Would an online audio story be different?

Secondary Sources

http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/august/4/soldiers/&c=1

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/10/02/ptsd-after-military-peacekeeping/3049.html

http://westislandgazette.com/news/5565

http://ptsdcombat.blogspot.com/2007/07/ptsd-figures-for-canadas-afghanistan.html

Primary Sources

http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/news-nouvelles/view-news-afficher-nouvelles-eng.asp?id=2844

http://respectfulofotters.blogspot.com/2006/07/trauma-is-easy.html

http://publications.cpa-apc.org/media.php?mid=323

Contacted Interview Subjects

Dr. Norman Shields, Psychologist at the OSI clinic at the Ste Anne De Bellevue Veteran’s Hospital. I will be interviewing him at the hospital on Friday. This will probably be my audio interview, with pictures of him, the clinic, and the hospital so as to create a vuvox element with audio clips.

Pierre Trépanier, Coordinator of OSI Peer Support organization’s Montreal office. I will be speaking to Pierre in late February, as he is out of town until then. I have not yet determined whether he is comfortable on camera, but he could be an audio or video component.

Saxon Murray, Afghanistan Veteran. He has minor PTSD symptoms and is willing to offer perspective on what might cause them in Afghanistan. He also says he has many friends suffering from OSIs. I’m not sure if Saxon himself is the ideal candidate, but whichever is the best interview subject based on having a compelling story and being a “good talker” as people in TV would say, I can have a video interview with.

I have received emails from two veterans suffering from PTSD, one from Afghanistan and one from a conflict in the Balkans. They have given me graphic descriptions of their experiences, but have asked to remain anonymous. They have agreed to give their stories as anonymous testimonials.

Other Potential Interview Subjects

Dan Hamelin, suffers from PTSD after being involved in the rescue operations of Swissair flight 111 off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1998. I have not yet determined whether he was in the Navy or Coast Guard as communications are very initial (he emailed me today).

Maj. André F. Berdais, a senior public affairs officer, at the Canadian Forces Health Service Group. He is quoted in one of the articles above.

I am looking for McGill or Concordia Professors performing research on the subject. Dr. Alain Brunet at McGill Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry worked on a study on PTSD a few years ago (see primary sources above).

I am also obviously still searching for more veterans, especially one willing to be interviewed and have his or her name used. Seeing as some are messaging me wishing to remain anonymous, I could also create a section in my piece for anonymous testimonials from veterans.

Much has changed with regards to my PTSD story in the last few hours. I recieved a phone call from the veterans hospital in Ste Anne de Bellevue from an extremely helpful woman working in communications. She will be able to arrange for me to visit the hospital to interview a few people who work in the operational stress injuries clinic, and hopefully gather some multimedia content such as photos, audio, or video. She has also given me a list of veteran’s groups that should be able to put me in touch with PTSD victims, one of which has already responded to me stating that they should be able to find me subjects for interviews.

She also passed on these links of blogs:

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/10/02/ptsd-after-military-peacekeeping/3049.html.

I unfortunately don’t have much to update on my Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with Afghanistan veterans pitch this week as I just finished my 4-week CTV internship and have had little time so far to chase down interview subjects.

I have made phone calls to the Canadian Forces in Montreal and Ottawa, the Royal 22nd Regiment in Quebec City, the Veteran’s hospital in Ste Anne de Bellevue, and an Operational Stress Councillor with the Canadian Forces here in Montreal. Most calls resulted in left voicemails and the only live voices I have encountered have redirected me to other offices.

The “Married to the Canadian Forces” support group specifically refuses requests to interview veterans or their families.

I will have plenty of time later this week to chase down some sources, and should phone calls get me nowhere I am prepared to present myself at various locations to find appropriate people to speak to in person.

Through friends I have found potential interview subjects with at least one Veteran, but not one that suffers from any operational stress injury.

Within the next week I will know whether I can get the interview subjects I need most or whether to change my angle or go ahead with another story.

I have had a highly frustrating time trying to create a panoramic image over the last hour. I took a 360 array of images out the window of a corner classroom in the CJ building, uploaded them to my laptop and went to the Clevr website. After downloading the software, I followed the instructions and clicked “stitch”. The program then continued to do absolutely nothing for 10 minutes. I tried again and achived the same result.

I then went to Gigapan and found out that you needed to already have a photo stitched to upload. After searching for another program I could use to stitch, I found a free trial of PTGui, which I downloaded and installed. This program worked, but the stitched photo looked terrible. It mentioned a lack of “control points” between two particular successive photos, which I followed the instructions to attempt to fix.

The resulting panorama was only slightly improved after I had also taken out half of the pictures, making it more of a 120 degree photo rather than 360. The photo was apparently not large enough for Gigapan and it didn’t load onto Clevr, for reasons I can’t figure out.

So i uploaded it to my website server, and you can see it here