Editor’s Message

The gratitude that we direct to our authors is matchless for all of our issues. Each and every one of them delivers a message unlikely to be found in any other publication. How very fortunate we are for the collective written words that grace our pages, from both seasoned writers of books and professional journal articles to those who have never before penned words that strike such powerful and provocative words. We thank them one and all for both their amazing authorship and the gifts of such magnificent contributions. 

We are a nation in great peril and pushing dangerously close to the brink of disaster. In Dr. Robert Rail’s cover story, The Black Swan China, we come face-to-face with an administration of unsound minds and the onslaught of lethal enemies that threaten the very fabric of this once great nation. The treasonous actions of this presidency and their failure to abide by the Constitution are at risk of shattering all that we once held dear in this now godless America. We live in a place where the intelligent are silenced for fear of offending the stupid and where Social Security and Medicare are in jeopardy of bankruptcy so that welfare, illegal immigrants and free college can be funded. Engrave the unforgettable words in this article in your mind. 

Dr. Nadia Rupnik’s resplendent words tell a story of incomparable heroism, her very own father’s extraordinary sacrifices, not even known to her until after his death and all of which he took to his grave. It was massive guilt that overshadowed him for the duration of his post-war life; his family, victims of Soviet genocide. This landmark essay, Why My Father Never Spoke About His Heroism During WWII, will be agonizingly familiar to those of us baby boomers borne to carry the legacy of such wounded souls. This is about generational heartbreak and burdens of proportions that no one could possibly understand until they have walked in those same boots. 

Dr. Louise Gaston, as always, needs no overture. Her written work for our publication could fill at least a two-volume series — maybe more. Her exceedingly unique approach to the treatment of trauma from a psychodynamic theoretical perspective in the development of personality disorders is like none other, as her written piece, PTSD in Personality Disorders (Theory — Part 1), attests. Following the Masterson approach, she theorizes that the structural damages to the psyche, caused by relational traumas in the form of emotional abandonment during infancy, readily result in “disorders of the self,” which predispose to PTSD. It is the wise clinician who will take her research, innovativeness, and vast knowledge base under advisement for all things cutting edge in the language of trauma. 

Our winter issue celebrates the endowment of another epic piece created by Drs. Alan Hopewell, Robert Kline and Michael Adams, my most treasured Army psychologist colleagues, all of whom reside at the pinnacle of their respective fields in combat stress, traumatic brain injuries, neuropsychology, and military medicine. Their landmark article, Psychiatric Correlates of Combat Trauma in Military Personnel: Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury TESI Statistical Analysis. Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, to be published in a two-part series, is worthy of publication in the most respected of all journal publications. We are so very fortunate that they have entrusted us with it here at Combat Stress. Their seminal work, with respect to the assessment and treatment of blast injuries/traumatic brain injuries, the signature injuries in the Global War on Terrorism, as this applies to the somatic, the cognitive, and the affective, ordinarily lead to devastating psychological and behavioral sequelae. Their revolutionary research and findings have led to premier levels of Force Protection Health Services for the treatment of injured Service Members and Veterans across the board and the land. 

Great fortune is also on our side when it comes to a series of articles composed for us by the eminent, Dr. Jeff Jernigan, also the Editor of Contentment, another American Institute of Stress magazine. His story, Seeds of Change — Becoming Difference Makers, is one of grief, loss, disaster, epic dangers, and hope in the face of all things hopeless throughout the globe. His humanitarian work in some of the most rancid and violent places around the globe, for the creation of change and betterment of the planet through education and the development of leadership, healthcare, and faith-based initiatives, is suitable for a Nobel Peace Prize and no less. 

Good News About a Bad Kind of Stress by Dr. Marcus Moore and his colleague, Douglas Mulhall, will bring to light the American Heart Association’s unmasking of the very serious risks posed by exposure to heavy metals. This is especially the case with military Service Members, not to mention most Americans who unknowingly ingest these chemicals at untold levels. Per the AHA, chelation therapy has widespread applicability in terms of reducing these hazards with respect to heart disease, significantly reducing the impact of a multitude of damages caused by oxidative stress. Chelation therapy’s past negative reputation has come to an end, returning this treatment to excellent repute, particularly as this applies to fitness for duty of those who wear the uniform. 

And now an important word on this very subject matter from our Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Daniel Kirsch: 

I am a big fan of chelation. There are two things I have found that make physicians go ballistic and scream at their patients. One is telling them you are not going to vaccinate your kids. The other is you are going to put off bypass surgery and try chelation. The problem is that it was approved a long time ago for heavy metal poisoning, such as lead and mercury. Nobody would spend the hundreds of millions of dollars to study it to the FDA’s satisfaction for cardiovascular disease because there is no longer patent coverage, but it cleans out all your arteries regardless. If you drive an hour to work and your car is falling apart because the pavement on the roads is breaking up, would it really help to pave your driveway? Cardiologists implant stints and conduct bypass surgery, while some physicians have lost their licenses for doing chelation. The one organization devoted to it has been attacked by mainstream medicine as well. I used to attend all their meetings and I have published an article with Dr. Joe Mercola in their Journal for the Advancement of Medicine. It is the American College for the Advancement of Medicine — https://www.acam.org/. There is a very long history of the oppression of chelation advocates. Hopefully it ends now as it is a safer and highly effective alternative to surgery. 

The anonymous Letter to an Unfit Mother was written by a local police officer, whose identification cannot be revealed, as the case described in this riveting piece of writing remains under investigation. This heart-searing piece will reduce readers to their knees and resonate all too closely with those “on the job,” who bear witness to the most horrific crimes against innocent children, who lose their lives at the hands of the lowest forms of life through pure evildoing. They should be shown no mercy whatsoever in their prosecution. 

Thank you, dear authors! And to our loyal readers I hope you grow from this issue and share your impressions of our articles below them in the online version of this magazine. 

Your Editor, 

Kathy Platoni, PsyD, DAAPM, FAIS 

Clinical Psychologist 

COL (RET), US Army – Veteran, Operation 

Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 

Operation Enduring Freedom (JTF-GTMO and 

Afghanistan) 

Dayton SWAT 

Member, Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame 

Member, Greene County Veterans Hall of Fame 

Clinical Director, Southwest Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management Team