The article linked, should you not have time to read it all, says: "In the U.S., where roughly two-fifths of troops returning from combat deployments are presenting serious mental health problems, PTSD has gone political in form of the Psychological Kevlar Act, which would direct the Secretary of Defense to implement "preventive and early-intervention measures" to protect troops against "stress-related psychopathologies."
Pilots, I have read, are frequently given amphetamines due to the many hours they must stay awake. Soldiers are often given the same. It is stretching my imagination to believe that there are physicians who thoroughly examine the total medical history of the servicemen, in battle and at war, to whom they prescribe as desirable candidates of the drug for the betterment of their own health. Wikepedia does not report a picture to support the good of it.
"Physical effects
- Short-term physiological effects vary greatly, depending on dosage used and the method in which the drug is taken. At therapeutic levels, the most common effects are decreased appetite, increased stamina, and physical energy.[citation needed]
- Abuse or overdose effects[citation needed] can include tremor, restlessness, changed sleep patterns, anxiety hyperhidrosis, psychomotor agitation, nausea, tachycardia, irregular heart rate, hypertension, headaches, hyperreflexia, tachypnea, gastrointestinal narrowing, and weakened immune system and increase in pre-existing anxiety and poor skin condition.[citation needed] Fatigue and depression can follow the excitement stage. Erectile dysfunction, heart problems, stroke, and liver, kidney and lung damage can result from prolonged abuse.[citation needed] When insufflated, amphetamine can lead to a deterioration of the lining of the nostrils.[citation needed] Overdose can be treated with chlorpromazine.[12]
Psychological effects
- Short-term psychological effects of the drug at therapeutic levels could include alertness, euphoria, increased concentration, rapid talking, increased confidence, and increased social responsiveness.[citation needed] Effects of the drug when abused could include, hallucinations, and loss of REM sleep the night after use.[citation needed]
- Long-term amphetamine abuse can induce psychological effects that include insomnia, mental states resembling schizophrenia, aggressiveness (not associated with schizophrenia), addiction or dependence with accompanying withdrawal symptoms, irritability, confusion, and panic.[citation needed] Chronic and/or extensively-continuous use can lead to amphetamine psychosis, which causes delusions and paranoia, but this is uncommon when taken as prescribed. The abuse of an amphetamine is highly addictive, and, with chronic abuse, tolerance develops very quickly. Withdrawal, although not physiologically threatening, is an unpleasant experience (including paranoia, depression, difficult breathing, dysphoria, gastric fluctuations and/or pain, and lethargia).[citation needed] This commonly leads chronic users to re-dose amphetamine frequently, explaining tolerance and increasing the possibility of addiction.
Dependence & Addiction
Tolerance is developed rapidly in amphetamine abuse, therefore increasing the amount of the drug that is needed to satisfy the addiction.[13] Repeated amphetamine use can produce "reverse tolerance", or sensitization to some psychological effects.[14][15][16][17][18] Many abusers will repeat the amphetamine cycle by taking more of the drug during the withdrawal. This leads to a very dangerous cycle and may involve the use of other drugs to get over the withdrawal process. Abusers will commonly stay up for 2 or 3 days avoiding the withdrawals then dose themselves with benzodiazepines or barbiturates to help them stay calm while they recuperate. The constant switching from uppers to downers can cause serious damage to the CNS and brain[citation needed]. Chronic abusers of amphetamines typically snort or resort to drug injection to experience the full effects of the drug in a faster and more intense way, with the added risks of infection, vein damage, and higher risk of overdose. Because of the abuse of amphetamines in the U.S., most brands were discontinued by the 1990s, including the highly abused brand names Biphetamine (known as "black beauties") and Preludin, known on the street as "slams", whose coating was peeled and then injected. Only a few brands of amphetamines are still produced in the United States: those prescribed for narcolepsy, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, treatment-resistant depression, and extreme obesity.[citation needed]"
Proponents of the "Psychological Kevlar" approach to PTSD may have found a silver bullet in the form of propranolol, a 50-year-old beta-blocker used on-label to treat high blood pressure, and off-label as a stress-buster for performers and exam-takers. Ongoing psychiatric research has intriguingly suggested that a dose of propranolol, taken soon after a harrowing event, can suppress the victim's stress response and effectively block the physiological process that makes certain memories intense and intrusive. That the drug is cheap and well tolerated is icing on the cake."
"10/31/06 (2006-10-31) Army specialist Alyssa Peterson was an Arabic speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at the Tal-afar airbase in far northwestern Iraq near the Syrian border. According to the Army's investigation into her death, obtained by a KNAU reporter through the Freedom of Information Act, Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed.
Instead she was assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards. She was sent to suicide prevention training. But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle. [KNAU]"
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