Posted on 04/05/2014 4:59:28 AM PDT by don-o
snip
Secretary of the Army John McHugh told Bloomberg that Lopez was prescribed drugs for anxiety, sleeping problems and depression, but a psychiatrist’s evaluation last month found that he was no threat to himself or others. There’s no indication that he was diagnosed with PTSD before his death.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
He claimed to have PTSD, and apparently had been trying to get the army to diagnose him with it.
Unsuccessfully.
He did claim to have a traumatic head injury ...
From a source that I believe we cannot post from - I found information that he had been given seretonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, as well. I understand that is a problematic combination.
About a year or so later he suddenly decided that while he was in Iraq he had suffered a traumatic brain injury - apparently a traumatic brain injury that no one noticed at the time, not even him.
Well gee...it says right here on the enclosed list of side effects that it can cause HOMICIDAL tendencies and SUICIDE!
Nothing to see here...move along to the table with the petition to ban guns.
This guy was a weird guy - he was a grown man who was apparently obsessed with the band Slipknot.
He was into some dark stuff.
I also suspect that his magically invented fake brain injury was a ploy for disability payments that went south.
And of course people on SSRIs commit suicide at higher rates than average: they are prescribed for clinical depression. Like any drug they don't always work as well for some individuals as they do for others.
I personally know of a person who committed suicide from side effect of extreme anxiety caused by Ambien.
There's no doubt in my mind that the drugs he was taking created his current frame of mind......
Why not do a survey of all WWII vets who contracted PTSD and see if their suicide/homicide rates are any higher?
Whenever these drug threads pop up, the entire concept of personal responsibility for one's actions go by the wayside.
Ivan Lopez is responsible for the evil things he did.
Ivan Lopez intentionally and with malice aforethought murdered those innocent people.
He's the one who selfishly abandoned his wife and little daughter.
His family members can say all they want: "He wasn't that type of guy!"
He did it. He was that type of guy.
BUT good old Hollywood and the liberal press want to paint all combat vets as barely functioning human time bombs waiting to cut loose on innocent bystanders and that isn't even close to the truth. Remember all those predictions of Vietnam Vets running amok? The movies like Rambo where we vets were just one thinly-veiled insult away from complete mayhem and mass murder? Needless to say, that's all BS and everybody should know that by now. We came home, got over our nightmares and got going with life just like everybody else has done over the centuries.
I have known guys who really had unrecoverable psychological stress from war - and they generally just ended their own lives rather than bother anybody else. All this PTSD gobbledegook is just the latest signal from the non-serving public that they prefer to label rather than support.
Lopez was probably one of the many inadequate people recruited to fill the volunteer numbers we sometimes do when the volunteer stream during a war slows down. He should have been flagged a long time ago, if he had any useful leadership around.
Again, his choices of entertainment show that he was nursing pretty dark thoughts for a long period of time.
BTT
IMHO since I have a family member diagnosed with this disorder - best thing is physical therapy (if you have health insurance that covers it) or massage therapy (Reiki) if you don’t have health insurance but be prepared to pay $80-100 per session. Saved his life. Not the hippy dippy incense burning sexual stuff.
Truth be known, mental “sicko’s” have been our military for eons. I recall at least two of them onboard a ship I was assigned to and one of shore duty. All were eventually “culled” out of the Navy. Problem is today, they are “protected”, hence the end result at Fort Hood.
Have any of you have/had this? I have multi. head injuries & ptsd which seem to go hand in hand with each other. You can have one without the other as well. I got mine from an motorcycle accident on Nov. 5, 1997 [that was the last one] For this I am currently on 6 different meds to control/deal with this. You also have to have talk therapy both in a group & in private settings to help deal with the trauma/s. Head injuries have an accumulative effect [they build upon them selves] and thus making is even easier to receive another one. It also 30-40 years to heal from just 1 tbi & it’s effects can last a life time, depending on where the damage is, in the brain. It has taken me 16 years to get to a point in my life where I can no longer be considered dangerous, but my wife is now my fiduciary/keeper [and that is a 24/7 job in it’s self] Because of my actions I have put my family through hell because of my actions.
The Army has some responsibility in this too. 1] by not explaining why he could not go on leave due to medical reasons [when starting SSRI’s never leave a pt. alone]2] He should have been restricted to the unit area/s for observation,3] never been able to purchase a pistol in his medical condition/s till stabilized.4] have assigned a person in unit to look out for him.
He was in a injured solider/wounded warrior unit, so these folks need to handled differently than everyoneelse. Their rules of behavior are different than deplorable units.
With that being said he is RESPONSIBLE for his actions. He choose to get a pistol, then to carry it, then in a fit of rage use it.
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