On Sunday night I watched Hal Ashby's 1976 film "Coming Home", which examines the poor treatment Vietnam War vets received on their return home. Yesterday in surgery I witnessed a strange alignment with the present day. A young black man comes to see me, just discharged from the army after lengthy tours of duty in Iraq and "Afghan" as they refer to it. He had seen terrible things: mates blown to pieces by IEDs, and especially a close friend who, unable to cope with the stress and continual danger, blew his brains out with his own rifle.
He reports all the symptoms and signs of what we now call post traumatic stress disorder, what was called battle fatigue, and before that shell shock. I have a long chat before prescribing anti depressants. If I don't see an improvement soon I will refer him to a psychiatrist renowned for his treatment of that disorder. But our man's main complaint: that there was no "after care", from his former employers, no follow up of any kind by the army he had given 5 years of his life to, and at a great cost to his mental health and stability.
"Coming Home" was made 35 years ago. It's almost incredible to report that not much appears to have changed since...
No comments:
Post a Comment