Major Malik Nidal Hasan and PTSD: Was Stress Disorder to Blame?

by Amy Judd | November 6, 2009 at 01:17 pm

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Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man behind the Fort Hood shootings on November 5th when 13 people were killed and 30 were wounded, and much speculation has taken place today about why he may have done it and what his motivation could have been.

Nidal Hasan is still in hospital and is not able to speak about the incident yet, but a lot of experts today are talking about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the effects that it can have on a person.

Fort Hood is an army base with the highest number of Army suicides and it is believed that this is due to it being the arrival and departure point for soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. Hasan had also recently been told he was deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan himself.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder and is considered quite a common mental health problem. It is caused by a psychologically traumatic event, usually one involving death or serious injury and can be experienced alone or in a group. Such examples include rape, natural disasters, military combat and severe accidents such as a plane crash.

After a traumatic event, it can take about 3 momths for any symptons to show up but it can also take years. Symptons can include re-living the event in flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of other people and numbing of emotions, and changes in sleeping patterns and even an increase in alertness.

PTSD can affect those who live a traumatic event, but it can also affect friends, family and those who are charged to care for people with PTSD such as emergency workers and doctors.

Cases of post-traumatic stress disorder quadrupled from 2005 to 2007, and PTSD affects even those — like Hasan — who haven't gone off to war. "Mental-health issues are a real problem for the Fort Hood population," an Army study concluded last year. "Soldiers don't live in a vacuum," it added, noting that they have "families and friends who are also affected by the trauma the soldiers experience."

According to Shad Meshad, one of the leading experts on PTSD and Compassion Fatigue, what Malik Nadal Hasan could be experiencing is Secondary PTSD.

Said Meshad, "We do not have all the information on Nidal Malik Hasan and his motives. But if he was treating soldiers with post-traumatic stress who were returning from combat in Iraq, and then faced deployment to the very place all this trauma was being experienced by his patients, it might have been enough, combined with other stressors, to cause the kind of psychotic break that could explain such horrific violence."

Hasan has been exposed to those with PTSD for many years, as he spent six years at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and then was transfered to Fort Hood's Darnell Army Medical Center. He was often described as a loner and he spent much of time giving counseling to soldiers who had returned from combat.

Nader Hasan, Malik's cousin said that he would tell them about the horrible things he would hear from his patients.

A study released in July 2009 stated that major crimes have been on the rise at army bases since 2003 and suggested that mental illnesses related to increased deployments and casualties overseas were most likely to blame.

What Malik Hasan did on Thursday November 5th will most likely increase the cases of PTSD at Fort Hood and more psychiatrists will have to be relocated to the base to help with the rising number.

On a New York Times blog, Joseph A. Kinney, a Marine combat veteran states that the government has failed soliders when it comes to PTSD.

The concept of post-traumatic stress disorder was coined to give unequal experiences a dubious uniformity. Clinicians cannot cure P.T.S.D. with therapy and anti-depressants. P.T.S.D. is an illness that cannot be treated, only placated.

Mr. Kinney says that he has argued for years that combat veterans must set up PTSD groups so that they feel they have support amongst themselves and not wait for their clinicians to do this for them.

Mr. Kinney questions if the warning signs at Fort Hood went unnoticed in regards to Malik Nidal Hasan. At this point, no one knows, but it is a question that will no doubt be answered as more information comes to light.

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smkovalinsky

at 14:26 on November 6th, 2009

Great posting, Amy. I think PTSD can also have been picked up by his counseling of others with it, in wars which were opposed to his Muslim background. He needed an early dismissal, and they must be sorry they did not act more quickly with him.

Amy Judd

at 14:47 on November 6th, 2009

Yes I agree with you about how he could have picked it up for sure.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 15:39 on November 6th, 2009

The question is: Why did he receive the assignment to Afghanistan? He received a lousy Officer Evaluation Report and you would think that would have required counselling by the supervisor that wrote it.

The alleged comments he made should have been a trigger to start assessing his mental state.

PTSD is a severe problem among the military, especially with multiple tours. One estimate is that up to 15% of troops require some kind of counselling. It is still a taboo subject in the world of combat arms soldiers. Who wants to be seen as a wimp by his buddies.

CBCs Fifth Estate had a great documentary on it last weekend. They interviewed three soldiers that are presently being treated. All of them had to be convinced by their families to attend group sessions.

Drugs and Alcohol are a common defence for those that have PTSD.

Rory Cripps

at 19:26 on November 6th, 2009

ACP: I think that the guy suffered from something other than PTSD. It's called ideology. What's disturbing is that the American Military was hard up enough (and PC enough) to accept this excuse for a human being into its ranks. This guy's loyalties certainly weren't with the good ol' USA. This is another reason why I urge all American troops to get the hell out of Afghanistan as soon as they can and not re-enlist. A loyal American that wants to serve his country needs to figure out a better way to serve his country. This prick should have been whacked the second he opened fire. It doesn't say very much about America's military when stuff like this can occur on the world's largest military base . . . .

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 20:03 on November 6th, 2009

Rory I wasn't implying that Maj Hasan had PTSD. I was merely trying to profile PTSD for those that aren't aware what it is and that it exists. It used to be called shellshock in World War I.

Years ago, I believe it was in the 70s, a Dr. Gabriel from Walter Reed, Department of Psychiatry, briefed us on this phenomenon. He called it Combat Stress Reaction then. So this phenomenon has been around for a while and has only recently been dealt with.

Here is a brief History of Combat Stress Reaction

a211423

at 12:19 on November 7th, 2009

I knew a man who had PTSD from his participation in Desert Storm as a member of the 101st Airborn. His life was a shambles, and I don't know if he survived it, for I have not spoken to him for several years. I had to end our friendship because it became so difficult to be his friend, and he ended up using our friendship to further his tendencies to self destruction.

His story was he killed a little girl during an assault, and he had flashbacks, nightmares, and his whole life was devastated because he could not accept what he did. He would call me at 2 or 3 in the morning and tell me he was going to kill himself. He would go to bars and drink himself into oblivion night after night, then be disgusted with his own behavior. He lived with his ailing parents as an adult man, and that presented even more problems and interfered with his addressing his own illness.

Sometimes I wonder how he is doing, but I am also fearful that he is among one of those who decided living was too painful. It's an ironic tradgedy as well that attempts to be a friend and suggest therapy had limited effect, which ultimately ended our friendship.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 16:14 on November 6th, 2009

Retired General Romeo Dallaire, now a Senator in Canada's Upper Chamber, contends that the war dead for Vietnam are not 58,000, but 160,000. 102,000 Vietnam Vets have died as a result of PTSD.

General Dallaire, who was the UN Commander during the Rwanda Genocide, tried to commit suicide 4 time himself. In his capacity as Senator, he is a powerful advocate for treatment of PTSD. Although the Canadian Forces have started to get better at diagnosing PTSD and the treatment of it, a lot more must be done.

I would definitely agree that Major Hasan, after hearing all the horror stories of PTSD victims, may have become a victim himself.

If anyone is interested, Romeo Dallaire wrote the book Shake hands with the Devil

Amy Judd

at 16:14 on November 6th, 2009

I've read that book, an excellent read for sure. Thanks for bringing this up.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 16:51 on November 6th, 2009

You're welcome Amy:)

QueensHart

at 07:01 on November 7th, 2009

Yes it is possible my marriage ended too for my ex was a viet nam vet. He was a control freak. He will never fly..I could not lay a newspaper down and go back to it. It had to be thrown away. He was a heavy drinker and always played real hard with men off on "sales meetings" where they really just got drunk. He was hell to live with. It was never him but me. I was a fabulous wife: )....gorgeous...great cook...the works....and he ran away and left two beautiful children. They said he would have left me and no amount of effort could have prevented it so I wemt to Al anon and learned about codependence, enabling, detachment, living one day at time and a new way of looking at life. We can never save people that won't walk the walk. It is also why I do not believe in
Government programs. It never works. People have to want to change. Many never ever wake up. People could not believe it. I attributed it to alcoholism but I also know he had serious childhood issues..loss of Mother at 7..mean Father..etc.. He re joined the military in Viet Nam to get an office job for he said the Captain draggin them around in the swamps was nver clear about the mission. The stories were awful . He was in the platoon that was on TV called Friendly Fire. Carol Burnett played the role of the Mother whose son was killed.

I just thought about this Carl. PTSD is a horrible thing. It is about pain that is repressed and not felt...they run away from it It amazes me that we still cannot see the need to do primals and bioenergetics to help these men. Cognitve helps some but the body speaks the pain...the body needs to be allowed to speak...........We have no hero's for our men coming home. One has to have been thru the "recovery" to know it works and then spread the good news. After I discovered this from my own experience I wanted to get my husband to do it but he had his prescription cure. Another state, another woman and more travel. Be a holiday dad.

War is not about dead people only. We have walking dead all around us ...lost souls.

Roy C

at 20:41 on November 6th, 2009

Something is wrong with the major. That something prompted a conversion to a religion that he apparently needed to keep him from succumbing to some internal demon or other.

But, the pseudo-cure ended up only delaying the inevitable breakdown, which was not caused by PTSD. I am not an expert on it, but since I have had it, I do feel secure in saying that that alone would not have caused this atrocity. He needed an ideology that channeled his own feelings of inferiority and rage elsewhere with patented good guys (his side) and bad guys (Americans who made him feel inferior).

That religious conversion postponed the inevitable confrontation with his own demons, but the same religion that made him superior to his compatriots, in some way, also made him feel inferior as he saw the jihadists beaten in Iraq. The poor state of Muslim states around the world also contrasted with the reality that prompted his conversion.

QueensHart

at 06:45 on November 7th, 2009

Wow that is very good. The whole thing is a wake up call and especially to obama. He did not want to have this on his watch... We have cells everywhere. I am afraid this will further the gun sales and people carrying them. Of all things on a militarybase and no one could take him out sooner.

cbtry (not verified)

at 22:38 on November 6th, 2009

I have ptsd and don't think I got it from waching TV. Talking to a shrink, or talking to other vets? Talking about your feelings is part of the healing! I think they should check with his Iman!

galit cohen (not verified)

at 12:03 on November 7th, 2009

are you serious? I have PTSD and I don't go around killing people. This was obviously an ideological suicide attack done for Islam. Every suicide bomber in Israel has their psychological reasons, but the bottom line is they are terrorists and murderers. when Israelis have PTSD we go home and watch television, we are not programmed to murder. I agree that the US should leave Afghanistan, but is the solution - to slaughter soldiers- that he was supposed to help? Islam is like a cult. very difficult to deprogram them. why do you think the middle east war is never going to end?Another question worth asking is - why didn't the FBI stop him? they knew what he was planing.