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Dr. Malik Husan and stress-related homicides in the U.S. military

November 6, 3:08 PMTampa Health Care ExaminerCarolyn Chambers Clark
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Officials say a shooting suspect at Fort Hood has been identified as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, a military psychiatrist, believed to have killed 12 on the base and injured dozens more.

What we do know:
 
Incidents of homicides/suicides have been on the rise. The incident yesterday is another in a series of violence on U.S. military bases that involve veterans from two wars our country is waging.
 
What are some of the possible explanations for such behavior, and some of the missed chances for preventing it?
 
1.       U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said psychiatrist Dr. Hasan was about to deploy overseas and had aired his grievances about deployment.
 
 
2.       Federal law enforcement officials say Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by Hasan. They say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.
 
3.       Military personel were warned that neglect of mental health would lead to what happened at Fort Hood.  Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said,  "We warned the military about the need to increase the number of mental health care providers, about lowering recruiting standards, about the medical exams for soldiers coming back from the war and needing mental health care and brain injury exams. "This is going to be a major trauma for veterans, reminding them of the war," added Sullivan. "We encourage them, if they are experiencing difficulty, to seek care at the VA [veterans association]."
 
4.     Currently, the US military is dealing with a rising number of stress-related homicides and suicides among soldiers either serving in Iraq and Afghanistan or who have returned from duty in those conflicts. Many troops are on their third or fourth tour of combat. Some studies suggest that about 15% of soldiers returning from Iraq suffer from emotional problems.

5.     This was another soldier who got lost in the shuffle. The fact that he was a mental health professional only adds to the stress he was under. His cousin said he was being harrassed, that he wanted out, that he got a lawyer to get him out of the military.

 6. Military and law enforcement studies reveal that interpersonal combat is a universal human phobia. Physiological responses include forebrain shutdown and sympathetic arousal. A resistance to killing exists in the midbrain of most healthy members of most species, becoming ascendant when the forebrain shuts down, and can prevent soldiers from performing in combat. The U.S. military has increased participation in killing activities from 20% in World War II to 95% in Vietnam by operantly conditioning responses. Conditioning is achieved through training that closely resembles battle situations and inadvertently occurs when children see violence as entertainment. The price of this conditioning is an increase in post-traumatic stressdisorder

7.  Antidepressant use is linked with violence and homicide

 Unfortunately, the soliders were killed on base and not in combat. Their families will not see a single dime of combat pay. And if their family was living on base they will be requested to move out soon to make room for other soliders' families.

Photo: AP/UniformServicesUniversityoftheHealthServices

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