Unlawful Humanity – The Omen of Evil That Has Pitched the United States into Great Peril

Combat Stress Magazine: Winter 2024
Volume 12, Number 4

Or Read the Articles Below

Editor’s Message
Kathy Platoni, PsyD, DAAPM, FAIS

The Black Swan China
By Robert R. Rail, PhD
We must remain vigilant, as the very survival of our nation is at play here. Too many of us are asleep at the wheel, while America devolves into something unrecognizable. In the meantime, Americans are being executed by the enormous influx of illegal aliens, too many of whom are the most dangerous of criminals. Time is long past due for a major wakeup call.

Why My Father Never Spoke About His Heroism During WWII
By Nadia Rupniak, PhD
Combat can shake the foundations of every relationship that grounds a person in society and defines their sense of self. Not only did my father witness the horrific massacre of close friends in battle, his mother and three brothers were deported to hard labor camps because he was an officer in the Polish army. Desperate to liberate his country, he fought with the Allies in Europe in 1944-45 only to discover that his “allies” had sold Poland out to Stalin, and he would never see his home or family again. Afraid for the safety of his family living under a communist dictatorship, he never said a word to me about his heroism or the shameful betrayal of his country.

PTSD in Personality Disorders (Theory – Part 1)
By Louise Gaston, PhD, FAIS
In this article, we explain why PTSD often emerges in the context of personality disorders, mostly the self-disorders (SD) developed in infancy. According to the Masterson approach, schizoid, narcissist, and borderline SDs are based on relational traumas, experienced at different pĥases of infant development and promoting one’s vulnerability to PTSD.

Psychiatric Correlates of Combat Trauma in Military Personnel
By C. Alan Hopewell, PhD, MP, ABPP, BSM, MAJ (RET) /Robert Klein, PhD, CPT US Army / Michael Adams, PhD, LTC (RET)
Immediately after the 9/11 attacks and at the beginning of the Global War on Terror, no one realized the extent that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) would play in the conflict and how urgent the medical emergencies of brain and other wounds would become from these blast injuries. Ft. Hood, at the time the largest deployment platform in the world, rapidly became the medical evaluation and treatment arena for both traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorders as Division after Division began to return from vicious combat deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This article documents the establishment and development of the specific traumatic brain injury medical clinic at Ft. Hood which evaluated more concussive injuries than any other medical unit in the world at the time. The clinic also survived two direct attacks by Nidal Hasan during his terrorist assaults at Ft. Hood, and eventually developed into the National Intrepid Center of Excellence located at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center

Seeds of Change-Becoming Difference Makers
By Jeff Jernigan, PhD, BCPPC, FAIS
Change is a constant in life for people and organizations and can sometimes be challenging. This article is an abbreviated history of an organization specializing in creating change through healthcare, education, and leadership development in risk and conflict zones globally. Lessons from working with mass violence or disaster for over thirty years are shared and illustrated. A more personal lesson provides hope for those dealing with stress and trauma in their lives.

Good News About a Bad Kind of Stress
By Marcus Moore, MD and Douglas Mulhall
New studies point to why military personnel should get screened for heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic. The damage that they do is often reversible by removing them non-invasively. The resulting healthcare cost savings, as well as physical and mental performance improvements, could be substantial.

Letter to an Unfit Mother
Anonymous
One of the most injurious critical incidents law enforcement officers faces in the line of duty is the death of a child. Whether the innocent victim of a terrible accident or the senseless death at the hands of abusive, addicted, and/or seriously mentally ill parents, the impact too often drops an officer to his or her knees. This is one such incident, for which there can be no forgiveness.

Combat Stress Magazine

The mission of the nonprofit American Institute of Stress is to improve the health of our community and the world by setting the standard of excellence of stress management in education, research, clinical care and the workplace. Diverse and inclusive, AIS educates healthcare practitioners, scientists, and the public. AIS is the only Institute in America solely dedicated to providing information, training and techniques to prevent and reverse human disorders related to stress, and to improve the quality of life and increase longevity through building resilience to stress. Credentialed AIS members provide leadership to the world on stress related topics.

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