Thursday, March 17, 2011




  This is a story of a near death experience where the author chose to remain anonymous. Many of the events of this story I can relate to. How the author states that he was communicating with someone and he could hear him in his head. It reminds me of when I was eleven and was told by someone to go back home. That voice was not mine but in came from within my head, much like the author tells in his story. I do not feel I have any supernatural gifts but on several occasions I have been spoken to by some force outside of myself, yet, the words came from within.
  Having dealt with things that cannot be explained only increases my desire to delve further into the unexplainable. The dreadful dealing I have had with PTSD has made me wonder if the demon is of my own making. Why would I put myself through such turmoil? There are many questions I cannot answer but I will not stop seeking the answers. There are too many unknowns happening in my life to give up.





  In the early morning hours of April 14, 1993, exactly one month prior to my college commencement I was involved in an automobile accident.Earlier that evening, I went out to dinner with one of my roommates, "B," to celebrate the arrival of my new car; a Mustang convertible given to me by my parents as a graduation present. The entire week leading up to that night I found myself terribly apprehensive as if I were waiting for something dreadful to happen. At the time, I was in the middle of a romantic breakup with a woman whom I felt with all my heart was "the one": true love. It seemed as if an evolving melodrama was playing itself out with me as the lead character.
  I remember speaking with "D," my roommate and recounting a terrible nightmare I had the day before my accident. I told him that in my dream I was witnessing a funeral service. The room was dark and gloomy: there was so much pain and sadness. Everywhere I looked, I saw a familiar face: friends, family, and acquaintances. As I looked upon each face, I could here how they really felt about the deceased. Finally, I made my way to the casket and saw myself within it. Unfortunately, it was too late. Some things are meant to happen. Sometimes, its just too late to redeem ourselves. Or at least, that is how I felt at the time.As we drove towards my apartment, I can't remember it all, but I believe I was cut-off by another car, accidentally I can only assume. I swerved onto the sidewalk to avoid hitting a third car directly and continued along the sidewalk until I struck an electric pole that set off my air-bag. I lost control of my car and it careened off the electric pole and into a tree. The car that was before me, which I maneuvered to avoid hitting, was "B's" car.
  I remember seeing a bright flash before I hit the tree. It engulfed me. It felt like standing in a dense fog. When you know the rest of you is there, but you just can't see your own hand before you. I felt no pain upon impact, but my injuries where severe. My face received minor burns from the exploding air-bag; my seat belt left additional burn marks on my neck; my lower front teeth were crushed; the force of the impact snapped my seat from its bearings flinging me forward into the dashboard and backward into the rear seat several times; my right fist shot forward with such power that it smashed an air vent ripping the skin on my knuckles and thumb. I suffered internal bleeding and a ruptured spleen. I laid prone for close to ten minutes waiting for an EMT unit. "B" said that he ran to the nearest phone to call for help. I sometimes wonder if he was not more responsible for my accident than he admitted. I think he was afraid and guilty. I think that is why we eventually drifted apart and no longer speak. It is as if we share a secret we wish to forget.
  I remember hearing a voice, but it wasn't talking at me; it was talking from within me. It was putting words into my head: ideas, thoughts, feelings, and sensations. I felt so composed and comfortable in its presence. It took no human form, but it allowed me to recognize its presence as the authoritative voice of an older man (maybe in his mid-30's); he felt so loving, and kind. He talked "in me" about the people who loved me and the people I loved. He offered me the opportunity to continue with him on my journey. But I turned away, because of the love I felt for him, I achieved clarity and in a moment of pure love I told him that I had to go back because there where people who needed me. That I would complete my mission out of love to him regardless of the pain and anguish I may endure. Suddenly, I felt myself pushed back into my body; as if I had been dropped from up on high. I felt so powerless as the arms of EMT members struggled to resuscitate me. As they lifted me into the ambulance, I felt my life force return. I rose from the gurney and struggled with them. In reflection, I think I wasn't fighting feelings of disorientation so much as I was fighting to show everyone I was . . . alive.The rest is a blur. I do remember just before my parents "M" and "J" came into intensive care unit to see me, I could feel the presence of my deceased grandparents standing at the side of my bed. I had so many wires stuck in me and my eyes where completely shut, but I saw and heard them in my mind. I never knew them well. (One who had died prior to my birth; the other, died when I was three years of age.) My grandmother, "M," was so sad. I felt her touch me and heard my grandfather, "G," tell her that it was going to be a long recovery but that I was "alright" and that I would be "okay." At that moment, I heard my father's voice and no longer felt my grandparents near me. I remember hearing my father say that he and my mother where there and they loved me. I remember him telling me to "squeeze daddy's hand if you love me." I tried in futility to do so but I could not. I tried to will a response with my mind, but I was too weak and too incapacitated to speak.
  I remember awakening several days later in a private room with family and friends around me. I remember feeling contented and at peace with myself. But I also felt like I knew something that I could never share with others because they would never be receptive to it unless they had experienced it themselves.
  Months passed by and I sunk into a deep depression. I began to resent the suffering I endured. I never blamed God or my angel. I felt like they allowed the decision to be mine whether to return to my earthly life or to rejoin them. I miss them so much. Nothing comes close to their love. No matter how many friends I collect, no matter how much "human love" I receive it pails in comparison to the moment of ultimate love and truth I experienced. I struggle with these feelings each day. Some days it is easier than others. But, I will make a promise to fulfill my mission to seek "truth in all things" regardless of what I may be forced to sacrifice.
  The only offering we can make that justifies the love that God and our angels give to us is to come back to this world and bring new souls to God. We all share the "same" life force. We are all linked. My angel made me aware of things that I had never taken the time to recognize before. Now when I look at another human being, I can look into his or her soul and sense their insecurities, and recognize the pain the feel each day: for broken promises, lost loves, and the inevitability of failure and loneliness. I know things. I don't consider myself to be of the caliber of Edgar Cayce or Michele de Nostradamus, but I have premonitions. I sense things coming--simple things like knowing when a friend is about to call; knowing when its going to be "good" or "bad" news; knowing when someone will be sick . . . feeling the presence of death within someone with a terminal condition.
  I know other things. I told "M" a friend of mine that Bill Clinton would be politically assassinated on August 18, 1998. I wrote that on a sheet of paper in November, 1996, and told her to keep it to prove me correct when it happened. In a manner of speaking, he was "politically" assassinated with the Lewinsky scandal when he spoke to the nation and admitted his guilt. However, the date was too exact to be a lucky guess, especially since I knew of it 2 years before it happened. I don't have a crystal ball or any magic spells of incantation. It happens like this: Someone may ask, "What do you think will happen to Dan Smith during his heart operation?" I will focus and it will come to me and I offer a statement or two. One constant of the process is that I never feel emotion towards the things I feel or "see" so to speak. I feel somewhat disconnected from their sorrow. Maybe that is the only way I am able to maintain pure thought. Some people say I have luck at guessing and that could be true, but than how come I can't pick lotto numbers to save my life.
  I try to focus and control this "new" knowledge, but it is difficult to do so since part of me doubts its validity and the other part of me worries about becoming a "conduit" for something I cannot control completely. I do not consider myself a religious person or for that matter an advocate of secularized religion. However, I am quite spiritual. It has been several years since the accident, I feel like that voice, that thing I experienced is my guardian angel. He has become my greatest source of strength. I now feel guilty when I consider acting or speaking in ways that may hurt others. It's like a burning sensation that overwhelms me. I can best equate it to the feeling you may have had as a child. Remember, when you would sneak out to the kitchen and take that extra cookie before dinner and think that if no one saw you, than you must have gotten away with it? Similarly, I find it difficult to hurt others behind their backs. I feel that every time I act callously towards another, my angel is looking at me in such disappointment wondering if I will ever recognize the gift of knowledge that he has given me. I am so afraid of failing him or dishonoring him that I tend to act with greater clarity and precision towards others. My flaw is that I speak the truth regardless of the context of the situation in which I may find myself.
  Each day I heal myself a little more by healing others. I speak to others curious about my experiences to help them to realize that there is so much more to our existence than what we experience in our common daily routines. I guess I just want people to know that know matter how troublesome life may seem we are not alone. Love can heal the sickest heart. Love can make a difference. We each are destined to experience at least one moment in our life when we feel completely isolated and despondent. This is the moment in which we stare into the abyss of the unknown and find our character by taking a "leap of faith" for ourselves, for those we love, and for God. Remember that love makes the difference and that God is with us in all things.



The common attribute in most NDE's is the brilliant light. How can so many people have the same hallucination as the 'experts' suggest?         theblogmeister

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

PTSD: The Disorder Continues

  The previous story is one of the extreme cases on record. I agree with the author of the story that you do not have to have combat experience to have a PTSD diagnosis. I was diagnosed with PTSD several years ago and I am taking medication for the nightmares. The nightmares over the years have not changed to the extreme. Most of my visits at night come from the colonel that manipulated a teenager into carrying out his plan because he was too much of a coward to do it himself. The real reason is probably financial. If he had committed suicide he would not receive the benefits and the life insurance he had planned on using to care for his wife, Bunny. Why the colonel continues to haunt me in my dreams, I have no idea. He has terrorized me for over 30 years for doing exactly what he asked me to do. End his life in a way that would not raise suspicion. I used a chemical that is found in the body, naturally, so if there was an autopsy no questions would be raised. What do I get for granting his last request? I will never know. Bunny asked me to come to the reading of his will but because of the shame I was feeling, I did not attend. I just feel that he abused our friendship to get me to do his dirty work. I hate him for that. Thanks to him, I am constantly being terrorized by him in my dreams. Thanks a lot, colonel. That is something I did not need. Life is hard enough without having to deal with nightmares that effect my waking hours. There was a time that I really loved you and Bunny and my feelings toward you have changed dramatically. Leave me alone. Let me get on with my life. I do not need you, anymore. I hope you are proud of yourself for ruining a kids life. Thanks for nothing.    theblogmeister

Monday, March 14, 2011

PTSD : An Indepth History


Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder stemming from continuing and severe stress, including the stress associated with combat, concentration camps, near-death events, and other horrors. Killing, sustained exposure to the possibility of sudden death, and witnessing the violent death of friends can have a lasting, traumatic consequence for a high percentage of survivors.

PTSD has been prevalent among Vietnam War veterans, for example, even several decades after the war. Of the approximately 1,600,000 American soldiers who served in Vietnam, 800,000 have had severe emotional and psychological problems since the war, and 200,000 have been diagnosed as having PTSD. Virtually none of those vets diagnosed as such have had any measure of substantial relief in the years since, despite massive treatment intervention.

(3/29/07) The Iraqi War has yielded its own bumber crop of problems. In one report, "Iraq Reservists Face a 'Perfect Storm' of Post-Traumatic Stress", AlterNet has brought attention to the fact that while active-duty troops are required to participate in post-combat mental health sessions for 90 days after their reentry, National Guard reservists are not provided the same amount of support. In fact, if they are not diagnosed within two years, they lose all rights. Inasmuch as the reservists have to wait an inordinate amount of time for a comprehensive mental health evaluation and following that allowed access to treatment, the odds are very clear that they will not make the deadline. Accordingly, the statistics on Iraq PTSD will likely be skewed toward lower numbers, despite reality.
  Symptoms of PTSD in Vietnam veterans who have returned to the United States include dramatic personality changes, increased levels of drug abuse and criminal activities, continuing nightmares of having died in combat, and a grotesquely high rate of post combat suicides. It has been estimated that the number of casualties from suicides of veterans who returned to the United States now exceeds the number of combat-related fatalities! Truly, these are some of the most horrifying statistics of that ill-fated war.
  But PTSD is not confined to war veterans. PTSD sufferers also include survivors of airline crashes, witnesses and survivors of such tragedies as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and 9-11-2001, as well as individuals who have been close to the death of others and who were simultaneously psychologically vulnerable to the traumatic effect of that person or persons’ death(s). While the medical history of veterans in the post-Vietnam era provides for a massive data base in dealing with PTSD, the continuing plague of PTSD sufferers in all walks of life -- along with the largely ineffectual treatment of PTSD and related problems over the last several decades -- makes it clear that alternative treatments of this condition are necessary and perhaps essential. From the viewpoint of the PTSD sufferer (as well as his or her friends and family), alternative treatments that are effective -- even those treatments which are far outside the mainstream medical and psychiatric community -- must be considered a viable and worthwhile possibility. Effective treatments -- whether or not they are recognized by medical authorities -- may be far more valuable than the ineffective, standard practices of mainstream medicine and psychiatric practice.
Given this disclaimer of the ideas and concepts suggested in this brief discussion, an appropriate beginning might be the description of an actual scene between a therapist and a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD. In the scene, the vet is relating to his therapist the details of a nightmare which has been repeating itself over and over in his mind (nightmares being a common symptom in all cases of PTSD including non-combat ones).
“It’s a trail. In Vietnam. It goes down the hill and then curves around to the left. There’s a hill on the left and some kind of embankment on the right. I’m with five guys and there’s lots of noise.”
“What kind of noise?”
“Guns. M-16s. And helicopters. Hughies, I think.”
“What happens next?”
“We’re going down this road, and I’ve got this feeling that somebody’s going to get hurt. Maybe Jim. He’s point man. I was supposed to be, but Jim’s my best friend. He took point.”
“Your friend’s going to take point?”
“Yeah. But they’re all my friends. We’ve been together a long time. Six or seven months. Anyway, we start down the trail... Suddenly everything’s coming apart. Mines are blowing! Everybody’s blown to pieces! Jim’s right side is blown away!”
“You see it?”                                                                                                               “I see it. I’m the medic and I grab all the morphine I can find and I’m just crawling around because I’ve got shrapnel in my hand too, and I crawl (sob) around and I’m trying to help them and they’re screaming. I’m trying to hold their bodies together. They’re screaming. The VC opens up and they mow the rest of us down. Oh God! I shouldn’t sent Jim out there!”
“Wayne, there was nothing you could do.”                                                                 “I should have been the one. I should have... I grabbed him, and I’m crawling up the side of the hill. I’m dragging him, we’re going to get out, we’re gonna get out of there, somehow. Get to the top, this hill...”                                                                    “Who are you dragging up?” “Jim. What’s left of him.” “Is he still alive?”               “Still alive.”
“Okay. You get to the top of the hill.”
“I get to the top of the hill. There’s a helicopter, he’s coming down. The door’s opening, and I... I don’t have much strength left. It’s just about all I can do. The CO’s there. He’s yelling at me. ‘What happened, Wayne, what happened?’ I don’t give a damn. I pick what’s left of Jim up and put it in the helicopter. He’s bleeding. There’s not much left of him. He’s dying. He’s dead.”
“Jim’s dead now, isn’t he. You gave him morphine?”
“Yeah.”
“You eased his pain in the last minutes, didn’t you.”
“The CO’s screaming at me. He’s asking me what happened. He thinks it’s my fault.”
“He thinks it’s your fault?”
“Yeah. Smashed him right in the mouth.”
“Good. What happens next?”
“Blacked out, I guess. Next I knew I was in the hospital. They said I’d been there for 3 weeks.”
“Do you remember anything during that time?”
“Sometimes. Like seeing my body from overhead. I wanted to help.”
“You wanted to help?”
“Yeah. Give him strength. So I went in.”
“Give who strength? Who went in?”
“Me. Jim. Wayne was my buddy. I figured I could help him. All of us did. So we went in.”
“You went into Wayne?”
“Yeah.” “You said, ‘all of us’.” “All four of us. Tom, Jeff, Sammy. All of us.” “Who am I talking to?” “Jim.” “Is Tom or Jeff or Sammy there with you now?”
“Yeah. You want to talk to them?”
“Not yet. Jim. You were point man that day, weren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“It was pretty awful. Everybody was real tired. It was real hot. We got packed up, going down the road. We knew there might be mines, but we figured what the hell. Anything was better than where we were at. I just went on down, truckin’ it down the road. All of sudden, there was a big explosion. I didn’t feel anything at first. Everybody else was yelling and I turned around and I wasn’t all there. I started screaming. I couldn’t help it. Oh God, it hurt!”
“Where?”
“My whole right side’s gone. Wayne comes barreling down the hill. Trying to help everybody. He was everywhere at once. And the road kept blowing up.”
“The other guys...”
“He was trying to get to me. He was yelling, ‘I’ll be there in a minute, Jim, I’m coming. I’m coming. But it was too late. I knew I was gone. The last thing I saw was his face. He was crying.”
“He drug you up the hill, to the helicopter?”
“I was dead. He just didn’t know.”
  “Were you watching him drag you up?”
“Yeah.”
  “Were you in your own body?”
“No.”
  “Were you in pain?”
“No. The hurt was all gone.”
 “What happened next?”
“Well, I was, what was left of me, laying on the floor of the heelie. It was really a mess. The CO was laying in my blood. (laughter) The heelie went up and they landed. I was quite a ways from the base camp, about four clicks.”
  “What about the other guys on the road?”
“Well, they were... It was pretty ugly, man. They were just smashed everywhere. They’d have to look around trying to pick those guys up. They blew ‘em everywhere.”
  “And you’re still in the heelie watching all this happen?”
“Yeah. We were just like up on the ceiling or... weird!”
 “We?”
“Yeah. Tom and Jeff and Sammy.”
“And then what happened?”
“At base they take what’s left of my carcass -- it’s pretty awful looking -- and they just stick it in a bag. They take Wayne up to the hospital and I followed him.”
“You followed Wayne?”
“I did!”
“Not your body, but Wayne?”
“Yeah. I was afraid. I didn’t know what was gonna happen to him. I couldn’t just let him think that it was his fault. It’s not his fault.” “He thinks it is.” “I know.”
“You heard him a few minutes ago?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve been hearing him right regular for the last ten years.”
“When did you enter Wayne?”
“When he was in the hospital. He’s out. They’re keeping him out. All he was doing was just screaming anyway. He’s not making a lot of sense. They tried sending a shrink in there to talk to him, but he won’t talk about it. He won’t talk about it at all. It’s gonna be OK though. Me and the guys are gonna help.”
 “All four of you go in?”
“Yeah. Been there ever since.”
  This incredible dialogue is taken from the actual transcript between a therapist and his client. The implication is that a Vietnam veteran named Wayne, brought four of his dead buddies back to the States with him. All four of these personalities were somehow incorporated into Wayne’s memories. And in some fashion, the thoughts, dreams and nightmares of those four dead men became Wayne’s. In Hendin and Haas’ book, Wounds of War, numerous Vietnam veterans describe their dreams and nightmares -- dreams and nightmares very similar to that of Wayne’s. In considerable detail, the authors write that veterans “mourn for friends who have died, but they also mourn for what they have lost themselves, and often perceive themselves as having died in combat.” [emphasis added] One of their patients said that “he recurrently dreamed that he was back in Vietnam and someone would sneak up behind him and cut his throat. Periodically, he would be overcome with a desire to end his life and had made several suicide attempts. He had no idea why he sometimes became suicidal.”
Yet another veteran suffering from PTSD had nightmares in which he would see himself in combat fatigues, lying dead in a coffin draped by an American flag, while members of his family, including his wife and sister, would be seated around the coffin, crying. Other therapists such as J. O. Brende and I. L. McCann have reported on one veteran who claimed that since his return, something had changed inside of him. “Something was locked up within me.” [emphasis added] One veteran was preoccupied with friends who had died in an ambush. He dreamed of them frequently, but when he did, it was as if they were not dead. In another vet’s recurring nightmare, he would be turning over the bodies of soldiers who had been killed, and one of the bodies would turn out to be his own. Invariably the dream image involved finding his own body and sensing that part of him had died in Vietnam.
  Hendin and Haas noted that “this theme has a striking parallel with many Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress whose words and lives express a sense that their survival in combat is an illusion and that they have in reality died in the war.” [emphasis added]
  The conclusion seems tantalizingly easy. Perhaps there is a kernel of truth in the nightmares wherein the memory of dying is a real, actual memory. In other words, in some form or another the memories of a deceased personality who has died still continues to reside in a living person. The possibility is best described by a veteran who continually relived the experience of being shot by a Vietcong woman, felt the impact of the bullets, fell backward, and died. Hendin and Haas have noted that in many of the episodes where the veteran relived the experience, the vet seemed to “dissociate from his present life. He was absorbed with the death of his friends in combat, Vietnamese civilians, enemy soldiers, and his own sense of having died.” [emphasis added] After his tour, he wrote [taken from Wounds of War]:
  “Even dead men. Ours and theirs -- reside inside,rotting in my head.”
  Can we interpret the words in this poem in a literal fashion? Do they mean precisely what they say? Are many cases of PTSD but instances of the personalities of deceased individuals somehow incorporating themselves into living individuals, and thereafter residing within the mind of that living person? Hendin and Haas describe one veteran’s recurrent nightmare in which the vet “would be shot and killed, but he would be like a spirit outside of his body looking at what happened.” [emphasis added] If this description sounds like Jim’s account, or like the tens of thousands of individuals who have had a near-death experience and lived to tell about it, perhaps there is something very significant here. In near-death experiences, for example, individuals often report leaving their physical bodies and/or viewing it from a vantage point outside of their bodies. Often this vantage point is above the physical body remains -- just as in Jim’s description. With remarkable consistency, subjects describe a total cessation of pain, and often an intense feeling of peace and calm. Many are pulled very rapidly through a dark space, typically described as a tunnel, cylinder, cave, enclosure, or valley (i.e., “the valley of the shadow of death”). In their out-of-body state, they may become aware that their spiritual body lacks solidity, that physical objects appear to move though them with ease, and that they are unable to grasp any object or person that they try to touch. The spiritual body is reported as weightless, while the person describes sensations of floating or drifting. Many subjects involved in a near-death experience report being surrounded by a brilliant, guiding Light. The Light is invariably sensed as being quite bright, but never to the point of being uncomfortable for viewing. Once in the presence of the Light, any feelings of loneliness are replaced by remarkable feelings of peace, tranquillity, and intense happiness. Many subjects sense the presence of a close friend or relative, or in some cases a religious figure of importance to the subject. Communications with those entities in the Light is a direct, unimpeded transfer of thoughts, with no possibility of misunderstandings.
  George Gallup, Jr. of Gallup Poll fame has reported in Adventures in Immortality, that five percent of the United States adult population have had near-death experiences. Well-established medical doctors, psychologists, theologians, cardiologists, social scientists and researchers such as Cobb, Crookall, Savage, Hyslop, Richet, Moody, Kubler-Ross, Sabom, Lundahl, Gabbard, Twenlow, and a host of others have compiled an extensive and varied library of professional journal articles, research papers, and extensively researched books on the subject of near-death experiences. The validity and reality of these experiences are no longer in question by rational, open-minded individuals who have studied the subject. (But this does not assume that all who write on the subject -- both pro and con -- are necessarily “rational, open-minded individuals who have studied the subject”.  
  By implication, one can take the reality of near-death experiences -- along with the equally significant research from deathbed experiences -- and their combined description of what lies beyond and one can begin to grasp the immediate aftermath of death. Instead of the hell and damnation some would have us believe, human beings, as they encounter the life transition known as death, find themselves without pain, at peace, and surrounded by a warm and nurturing Light. Friends, relatives and religious figures may be there to welcome -- literally welcome -- the transiting soul into the Light (which may be simply another name for Heaven).
  The extensive research in the area has also brought to light [pardon the pun] the apparent reality of spirit attachment -- wherein the spirits from once-living human beings somehow attach to a living human being. Just as in the case of Jim, Tom, Jeff, and Sammy -- who having been killed in combat, their spirits left their physical bodes, and thereafter attached to their friend, Wayne; their buddy who had survived the war in Vietnam -- spirits from deceased individuals do not always go into the Light upon their death. In effect these spirits or souls, take an unfortunate detour from the Light, and for whatever reason find themselves “earthbound”. Instead of going into the Light, they remain in transition.
  One of the most knowledgeable therapists and researcher in the field of earthbound spirits and spirit attachment is William J. Baldwin, Ph.D. He has described in detail much of what is currently known about the subject of spirit attachment and its symptoms:“The emotions and feelings connected with a sudden, traumatic death can become the force which binds a spirit to the earth plane. Anger, fear, jealously, resentment, guilt, remorse, even strong ties of love, can interfere with the normal transition. Confusion and disbelief concerning religion and spirituality can prevent the spirit from moving into the Light. Obsession with food or sex can detain a spirit as well, and thereafter finds that it must attach to someone in order to indulge its needs through the physical sense of a living being. Drug and alcohol habituation exert a powerful hold on a being, even after death, and these appetites can only be satisfied by attaching to a person who already uses the substances, or can be induced to use them.
  “A discarnate spirit may attach itself to anyone who is available and open for whatever reason. The choice may be completely random. It may occur because of close physical proximity to a person at the time of death. Victims of an air crash, or fatal automobile accident, for example, can be drawn to a bystander who is deeply compassionate or sympathetic. One who dies in a hospital of a condition with certain symptoms, may be attracted to another patient with similar symptoms.
  “The disembodied consciousness seems to attach itself and merge with the consciousness of a living person, exerting full or partial control over the mental as well as the physical body. The physical, mental, and emotional conditions that characterized the entity when it was alive, may be imposed on the host. The attached spirits may not cause noticeable symptoms, but will use the energy of the person. In some cases, the only indication of an attachment is chronic fatigue. However, in cases of very recent attachment, personality changes may occur. Physical appetites for food, sex, alcohol, and drugs can increase dramatically. Personal behavior and attitudes may change quite noticeably. Symptoms of physical ailments may suddenly appear. The voice and even facial features and appearance can change dramatically. A victim of this phenomenon can be totally amnesiac about episodes of complete takeover.
  “Physical sensations and symptoms, in the absence of a medically sound cause, can indicate an attached entity. These sensations often move about in the body. A subject may report hearing voices, originating outside of themselves or from within, and have no other psychotic symptoms or behavior. Dreams or spontaneous visual images of faces, sometimes grotesque and frightening, may indicate the presence of such an entity. Severe stress may cause susceptibility to the influence of an intrusive spirit. Personality changes after surgery or accident, the sudden onset of drug or alcohol usage, inappropriate speech and behavior patterns, may signal the newly formed attachment of a discarnate being.”
  The good news is that earthbound entities, even those attached to other living beings, can be released and sent into the Light. In what is referred to as Spirit Releasement Therapy, attached spirits are counseled, healed, and guided into the Light. In effect, the normal transition procedures associated with death are reinstituted. For example, it is generally believed by investigators and researchers in the field, that when an individual dies, spirit helpers and guides are there to meet the soul consciousness after the death of the physical body. Unfortunately, strong feelings and emotions, those often accompanying drug related, violent, or untimely deaths, seem to block the connection necessary for a soul to be guided into the Light. Lack of religious beliefs, or strong incorrect thought forms regarding the afterlife, can also prevent contact. The spirit helpers simply can’t be seen. In many case, the person who has died is not even aware of that fact. They end up groping about, experiencing confusion and frustration, and ultimately do not make the transition into the Light. It is these spirits -- such as Jim and others -- who in their confusion and lack of understanding, do not complete the transition of death and are thus unable to find the Light on their own.
  The solution is to resolve the strong emotional feelings of the attached spirits, and acquaint them with an awareness of their own condition. Ultimately, this will allow them to see the spirit guides and helpers. Once that occurs, the attached spirits can then complete their transition into the Light.
  This kind of “therapy” has been practiced for centuries. It is indirectly recognized by the Catholic Church, where Catholic theology has long recognized the reality of people being earthbound for a variety of reasons. The Church’s response has been to pray for the deceased, conduct masses for the dead, perform last rites, and include usually the sacrament of reconciliation and communion.
  But often, such rites are insufficient, or are provided too late for the earthbound and attached entities. Often, these entities simply do not hear or see. Instead, a specific therapeutic session is required, such that each attached entity -- and there is often more than one attached spirit for each sufferer of PTSD and related conditions -- can be individually counseled and led into the Light. One at a time, the attached entities can be counseled and released, until the living patient is completely clear. Incredibly, often a single therapeutic session is required for releasing all of the attached entities. Some will, even after reading this passage, catch on or begin to understand, look up for the Light, find it, and quickly and easily move on. The results can be dramatic to say the least.
  Earlier, we included material from an actual transcript of a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD. In the process of hypnosis, the therapist, Dr. Baldwin, talked to several entities, including four of the G.I.’s friends, a Klu Klux Klan member (attached to one black G.I.), and a Vietnamese boy. The therapist was told about “several” Viet Cong, a baby, and “several others”, all residing within one living person. By the end of the session, the therapist had sent all of the attached spirits into the Light. In a subsequent visit to his therapist, the veteran reported that he no longer was having any symptoms of PTSD. Several other Vietnam veterans who were victims of PTSD have found similar relief.
   The idea that PTSD may be spirit-attachment in some cases is no doubt incredible. But if spirit-releasement therapy works, not using it because it sounds fanciful and nonscientific would constitute nothing short of malpractice. Surely it is time to try any means necessary to “heal the wounds of war”. At the same time, victims of PTSD stemming from more recent horrors, such as the Oklahoma City bombing disaster, the Twin Towers of New York City and Pentagon suicide attacks, may, in some cases, also be suffering from the same form of spirit attachment; whereby entities of formerly living human beings -- who having died so abruptly and traumatically that they were unable to make the transition into the Light -- attached themselves to another human being. The victims at the time may have been extremely vulnerable to the attachment of these spirits due to their own traumatic reaction to witnessing or being involved in the tragedy.
Whatever the causative trauma of PTSD, it appears that many of these cases may be due to spirit attachment, and that Spirit Releasement Therapy is capable of providing substantial if not complete relief. With the assistant of open-minded, licensed professionals in the medical and psychiatric fields, many of the symptoms of PTSD may be alleviated, and the sufferers of PTSD -- along with their family and friends -- may encounter a long-sought relief from a disabling, chronic problem.

This is a raw version of what soldiers go through in combat and as a result of combat. God Bless them all and God Bless the U.S.A.       theblogmeister

PTSD is a Hidden Killer

  I suffered in silence for over 30 years. The battle raging in my head is a constant one. One that I cannot foresee. I have a different traumatic stress than the ones our military men are getting because of the terrible things they are re-living. I feel for our soldiers who have had to endure the atrocities of war. I am not worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as those brave men and women. However, we do share a common problem. Learning to deal with the traumatic stresses that, unfortunately, claim the lives of those that cannot bear the burdens.
  My traumatic stress occurred while I was in the military but do not involve combat. I was a medic in a regional hospital on a military base and was asked by a dying man to stop the pain. This patient and I had grown to become great friends. He and his wife, Bunny, had no children and they treated me as one of their own. I had this person on my unit for over six months and grew to love them, both. He was a retired fighter pilot and I would sit in awe of the stories he would tell. Unfortunately, he was dying of cancer and I still, after being warned by the staff, became very close to him and his wife. Then came the day that he asked me if I would do him a great favor. He knew that I would do anything for him. When he asked me to put a stop to the pain I was stunned. I knew exactly what he meant. He wanted me to go against everything I believed and do the opposite of what the Hippocratic Oath says, 'I will do no harm.' I struggled with this request for many weeks. I finally gave in and told him I would help him end his life. The day came, we said goodbye, and with tears rolling down my cheek, I administered a fatal dose of potassium chloride. I immediately left the room. By going against all I believed in it began years of mental torture. He began appearing in my dreams as a demon. I suffered in silence for the next few decades without telling a soul. The nightmares became such a part of my life that I could not function as a normal human being. It took years of therapy after I told a medical professional and medication to have a life that would seem to those outside fairly normal. My life is not a normal one. I still have nightmares involving him and I do not know if it will ever change. I want those that still suffer there is a way to live. I am not saying it is easy, however, it does get easier with time. Please, hang in there. Do not be afraid to talk with someone and get it off you. Life is too precious, live it as best as you can.    theblogmeister

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Silent Killers of Our Military

  They are the casualties of wars you don’t often hear about - soldiers who die of self-inflicted wounds. Little is known about the true scope of suicides among those who have served in the military. But a five-month CBS News investigation discovered data that shows a startling rate of suicide, what some call a hidden epidemic, Chief Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reports exclusively. “I just felt like this silent scream inside of me,” said Jessica Harrell, the sister of a soldier who took his own life.
"I opened up the door and there he was," recalled Mike Bowman, the father of an Army reservist.
  "I saw the hose double looped around his neck,” said Kevin Lucey, another military father. "He was gone,” said Mia Sagahon, whose soldier boyfriend committed suicide.
Keteyian spoke with the families of five former soldiers who each served in Iraq - only to die battling an enemy they could not conquer. Their loved ones are now speaking out in their names. They survived the hell that's Iraq and then they come home only to lose their life.Twenty-three-year-old Marine Reservist Jeff Lucey hanged himself with a garden hose in the cellar of this parents’ home - where his father, Kevin, found him.
"There's a crisis going on and people are just turning the other way,” Kevin Lucey said.
   Kim and Mike Bowman’s son Tim was an Army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road."His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn't there anymore," Kim Bowman said. Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim shot himself. He was 23.

  Diana Henderson’s son, Derek, served three tours of duty in Iraq. He died jumping off a bridge at 27."Going to that morgue and seeing my baby ... my life will never be the same," she said.
  Beyond the individual loss, it turns out little information exists about how widespread suicides are among these who have served in the military. There have been some studies, but no one has ever counted the numbers nationwide."Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total," Bowman said. "Why do the families think that is?
Because they don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known," Lucey said.
  Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.
"If you're just looking at the overall number of veterans themselves who've committed suicide, we have not been able to get the numbers,” Murray said. CBS News’ investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers.
CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.
  "There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem," he said
Why hasn't the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?"That research is ongoing,” he said.
  So CBS News did an investigation - asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information. And what it revealed was stunning.In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year. Dr. Steve Rathbun is the acting head of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department at the University of Georgia. CBS News asked him to run a detailed analysis of the raw numbers that we obtained from state authorities for 2004 and 2005.
It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)
One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)
  "Wow! Those are devastating," said Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst who is now an advocate for veterans rights from the group Veterans For Common Sense."Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems," he said.
“We are determined to decrease veteran suicides," Dr. Katz said.“One hundred and twenty a week. Is that a problem?” Keteyian asked.“You bet it’s a problem,” he said.
Is it an epidemic?“Suicide in America is an epidemic, and that includes veterans,” Katz said.
  Sen. Murray said the numbers CBS News uncovered are significant: “These statistics tell me we've really failed people that served our country."Do these numbers serve as a wake-up call for this country?“If these numbers don't wake up this country, nothing will,” she said. “We each have a responsibility to the men and women who serve us aren't lost when they come home."

  These young men and women we are sending to deserts in the mid-east are dying, not from terrorist EID's, of even from gunfire that is being rained upon us by people that we do not know if they are friend of someone that hates Americans who would love more to see our military dragged trough the streets as they did in Somalia.
  We are losing our youth by not giving them the proper mental health therapy they deserve. I know what it is like to have a demon haunting my dreams. We have to do better if we want to keep those brave soldiers, who risked their lives, so we could bitch and moan about why we do not like consolidating schools. Thank God for the men and women in uniform and God Bless the USA!     theblogmeister






There are two issues for me are the most important issues that we face, today. The first is suicides in our military and the other is near death experiences or commuting with those from the other side. These are the two topics that I most write about in my blog.
  This story was written by Spenser Ackerman and it is a story that must be told.


  Citizen soldiers are killing themselves at record rates, the Army announced on Wednesday. Last year, 145 Army Reservists and National Guardsmen committed suicide, compared with 65 suicide deaths across the entire Guard and Reserves in 2009. Worse, Army leaders aren’t entirely sure what’s caused the increase. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s deputy chief of staff and its point person on suicide prevention, told reporters at the Pentagon that there were 343 suicides amongst active and reserve soldiers, Army civilians and family members last year. The number of active-duty suicides in 2010, 156, declined by 6 from 2009, indicating what Chiarelli called the “modest success” of Army suicide-prevention efforts. But 101 Guardsmen took their lives last year, an increase of 53 from 2009, as did 44 reservists, an increase of 12.

The stress rates don’t appear to be linked to going to war, though. About half of National Guardsmen who committed suicide last year never deployed, said Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter, the acting head of the National Guard; fewer than half of Army Reservists did, according to Reserve chief Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz.
  In the aggregate, the economy is another x-factor. While Chiarelli said that the Employer Support to the Guard and Reserve had to help identify links between persistent unemployment and self-destructive behavior, only about 15 percent of National Guardsmen who committed suicide in 2010 didn’t have a job.
As best as the three generals can determine, romantic troubles are a high contributing factor to the reservist suicide increase. But none were willing to attribute the rise to any single factor. “If you think you know the one thing that causes people to commit suicide, please let us know, because we don’t,” Chiarelli said.
  Access to suicide-prevention efforts for non-active duty soldiers remains a problem. The fact that reservists only spend a small portion of their time outside of call-up on Army bases or with their units means that they can’t always get access to the suite of services the Army’s set up for dealing with emotional stress. Not all know about the online Comprehensive Soldier Fitness exam that seeks to build what Chiarelli calls “resilience” from emotional difficulty. All three generals pledged to push reservist commanders and senior enlisted officers to check in on their units more often and called on community groups and family members to help recognize and combat the warning signs of suicide — especially the abuse of prescription drugs.
  The military has noticed a recent spike in prescription drug usage in both troops and their families, particularly for anti-anxiety and depression medication. It’s also experimented with a variety of post-traumatic stress relievers, from yoga and “bioenergy” to online counseling. A new “virtual PTSD experience” based in Second Life launched just today. While not all post-traumatic stress is combat stress, the apparent lack of a link between deployments and reservist suicide rates call into question whether tools like those are what citizen-soldiers need to overcome their hardships.
  Chiarelli said a key focus for the Army — active and reserve — would be to remove any stigma surrounding mental health treatment. He noted that 35,000 Americans are estimated to have committed suicide in 2010, meaning the Army accounts for less than 1 percent of last year’s suicide deaths.


If you have had a son or daughter in the military who have committed suicide I just want to take this time to tell you that you child was a hero. Thank you and I hope God blesses you in the future.    theblogmeister





The Living Speaks With The Dead

This is another example of what a care givers, one that sits with elderly patients, believes about communicating with loved ones that have crossed that realm to a new dimension. You can believe what you choose. I am just giving you another example of the phenomenon of the living communicating with the dead.

  When people are approaching death - maybe weeks, even months sometimes - it's not uncommon for them to experience dead relatives coming to visit. The husband who died years before. Mom and Dad visiting an 88-year-old daughter. People with Alzheimer's and other dementia also have these visitors.
  For family members, who may not know or be involved with other elders as they are with their own parents, can be really upset by these dead visitors. However, there's no need to be upset. They're just passing visitors, or visitations, or waking dreams or - you decide. One thing they are NOT is crazy. They're not even unusual manifestations.
They're so usual that someone like myself, who spends a fair amount of time being with elders who are dying, or going to get there, are familiar with the phenomenon. Ask any hospice nurses - they'll tell you the same.
Now I don't really even try to define what the phenomenon is, because how would I know - other than that these are normal around-dying events. People are very comforted by these visits.
  I have a dear friend of 92 who was seriously ill in hospital, from which she recovered - thank goodness. When she returned home, she told me her late husband had been sitting in the chair beside her bed the whole time.
So should I have called in the psych nurses? Told her doctor she was crazy? Phoned for the exorcist to drop round to her house? Of course not. If you spend time with the dying, you'll find they often have these experiences and are happy to share them. I'm happy to hear about them I'm happy they still feel so in touch with those who loved them. I happy to hear that the continuing spirits of those who have left their bodies come to help and comfort the living who may soon join them.
  I neither believe nor disbelieve in their experiences. I don't have to, because they're not my experiences and furthermore, they are clearly helpful, spiritually uplifting and loving experiences, so what the heck?
  I'm always amazed that people who purport to be practicing Christians, a religion in which life after death is a big feature, get bent out of shape by accounts of these experiences.
And they do. They get upset, they want Mom medicated out of her visitations - weird huh? It's as if they just can't handle that there may actually be life after death. Me> I'm cool with people's accounts of their experiences.
  There's hardly a culture or religion in the whole world not familiar with such accounts. visitations, experiences. But in the USA, oh my! Actually, in my experiences of talking with a lot of Americans about a lot of personal lives, I find that these around-death experiences probably touch about 70 percent of everyone. They're just afraid to talk about them in case we think they're nuts. Isn't that sad?
  So, my dears, if Mom tells you Grandma and Grandpa came to see her - and you know they've been dead for 50 years - don't be spooked. Just smile and nod and be glad that her heart, her mind, her spirit, the drugs or your grandparents, are supporting at a time of greatest need for such visits.
Remember, dead relatives coming to visit - that's normal.


  I have had many relations with those that have crossed to the other realm. This is someone else's perspective.    theblogmeister