Daily Archives: June 26, 2012

Pick the Long or Short Form, But Take the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Screening

June 26, 2012 By in MEDical, Mental Health, State Department Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Here’s how VA explains PTSD:  Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur after you have been through a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something terrible and scary that you see, hear about, or that happens to you, like:

  • Combat exposure
  • Child sexual or physical abuse
  • Terrorist attack
  • Sexual or physical assault
  • Serious accidents, like a car wreck
  • Natural disasters, like a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake

During a traumatic event, you think that your life or others’ lives are in danger. You may feel afraid or feel that you have no control over what is happening around you. Most people have some stress-related reactions after a traumatic event; but, not everyone gets PTSD. If your reactions don’t go away over time and they disrupt your life, you may have PTSD.  Read more here.

The Department of Veterans Affairs also put together a PTSD screening online which has 17 questions on problems and complaints that veterans sometimes have in response to stressful military experiences. All references are to stressful military experience.  Click here to read each question carefully, then select the answer that indicates how much you have been bothered by that problem in the past month.

I don’t think I’m going bonkers but I took the screening anyway.  The portal says that no information is collected, stored or sent over the Internet. To ensure complete privacy, exit your web browser after completing the screening.

See the text-only version.

Results between 0 and 20 indicate few or no symptoms of PTSD. Results between 21 and 29 indicate minimal symptoms of PTSD. Results between 30 and 85 indicate many of the symptoms of PTSD.   The PTSD Screening is, however, careful to explain that it is not designed to provide a comprehensive assessment or diagnosis of PTSD:

“Only a qualified physician or mental health provider can provide a complete assessment and diagnosis of PTSD. Only a qualified physician or mental health professional can differentiate symptoms of PTSD from other medical conditions. Only a qualified physician or mental health provider can prescribe appropriate treatment for PTSD or other medical conditions.”

The State Department has its own  Four Question PTSD Screener and says, “If you have answered “yes” to three (3) items or more it is considered “positive” and your screening results are consistent with symptoms of PTSD.  Also that if the screening results suggested the need for further assessment/evaluation, to check out the following resources:

  • Visit a primary or mental health care provider.
  • If you are not sure about benefits or don’t have a primary care manager:
    Contact the Employee Consultation Service at MEDECS@state.gov or Call 202-663-1815.
  • Contact the Deployment Stress Management Program at MEDDSMP@state.gov or Call 202-663-1903.
  • Contact MHN Support Services are available through web, phone, and in-person.
    Internet: https://members.mhn.com/ company code: ‘unaccompanied tour’.
    Phone: Call toll free, 24/7 at 1-800-213-5811

As you can see, we tried that company code and it’s a dud.

Domani Spero


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Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker “Dedicates” The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio – to Whom?

June 26, 2012 By in Af/Pak, Ambassadors, Huh? News, US Embassy Kabul Tags: , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Via El Snarkistani over in It’s Always Sunny in Kabul:

And this took over a year? Don’t they have Macbooks at the Embassy?

So part of Crocker’s legacy at the Embassy, besides being really excited about how much money has been siphoned out of the country due to massive corruption, and making sure that the majority of Department of State staff in this country never left Kabul, is the eponymous TV studio that took over a year to complete.

Now, instead of outsourcing ridiculous television ventures, the Embassy staff can now be inept all on their own.

Oh, El Snarky, so harsh. What is El Snarkistini talking about? This one:

Caption from US Embassy Kabul/FB:
The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio was dedicated on 24 June with a ribbon cutting at the Embassy by Ambassador Crocker and Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy, Eileen O’Connor. The production studio, which took over one year to complete, will give the Embassy the ability to do live television broadcasts and studio quality videos for the web.

Paging Mr. Universe, you are needed in Kabul A-S-A-P where you can now do live television broadcasts and studio quality videos for the web in Afghanistan, a country where 4.2% of the population are internet users and where more than half never uses television. That teevee number goes up 73% in the rural areas of Afghanistan, by the way.

Whose bright idea was this? Please do tell so we can give appropriate credit!

Okay – so since Ambassador Crocker “dedicated” this ahem, Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio on June 24, to whom did he dedicate this to?  To the best of our memory, even the late Richard Holbrooke who reportedly had his own personal archivist did not go so far as dedicate a building to himself.

Um, pardon me?  You mean why can’t ambassadors name stuff after themselves in a country where money obviously is not/not a problem it’s leaking left and right?

Because. It’s bad form. And it’s muy, muy embarassaurus. I’m writing this post under my desk, you guys!

Oh, yes — wouldn’t that look  like ambassadors are building a temple of their own greatness or something? But pray, what’s wrong with that? If they are in fact, great?

Well, for one thing, it reminds us of Alexander the Great who liked to found cities and name them after himself, in honour of his own achievements. By the way, last year the BBC had this interesting piece about the pitfalls of naming places after famous people. It’s a must read if you’re thinking of renaming things after yourself, too.

And then there’s El Jefe, Rafael Trujillo.  In 1936 the capital city of the Dominican Republic was changed from Santo Domingo to Ciudad Trujillo. The province of San Cristobal was changed to “Trujillo”, and the nation’s highest peak, Pico Duarte, was renamed Pico Trujillo. Heck, this is a broadcast studio, it’s not like they’re naming a mountain after him.

Right you are, but huge problems with bad associations, see?

And it creates a bad precedence.   Seriously.  Are they going to start naming the chanceries and ambassadors’ residences with ambassadors’ names? Or new embassy compounds, or water towers?  Or roads and bridges built with aid money? What?

C’mon Ms. Eileen O’Connor, Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy and US Embassy Kabul folks, youreallydon’tthinkthislooksbad?

The State Department already has a  $10,000 award named after Ambassador Crocker (see Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy). I get that.  But I don’t know whose brainchild is the Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio or how much this cost American taxpayers. And this is still a shocker.  Also a production studio need folks to work there, so more 3161 employees are needed. And here I thought we’re shrinking our footprint there by 2014. Oops wait, aren’t we supposed to be there until 2024 to the Karzai’s clan endless delight? While we’re in the business of naming stuff, can we please, please name something big, a bridge, a building, the Parliament, “2014” as a reminder?  Oh, we can always rename it “2024” later to celebrate the next phase of this perplexing relationship.

In any case, I fervently hope that the Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio‘s name is carved in stone or the next ambassador might be tempted to re-brand that new shiny thing with his/her name. Of course, who’s going to say “no” if he/she wants to replace the carved stone with a new carved stone with a new name, hmnnn?

Domani Spero

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