Setting Off The Daisy Chain

I'm not particularly anti-psychiatry, but I had no idea where else to post my story, so I've planted it here.

I was a strong, independant person until I entered counseling. I was in the Air Force at the time and had been awarded 5 ribbons and medals and two promotions, had served a tour in the Saudi Arabia, spent 8 months as a counter-drug informant for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, had orders to an intelligence squadron in Korea, everything was going well until I got hit with a diagnosis of cervical dysplasia and a false-positive for hepatitis C. I was young and healthy and it was hard to comprehend that I may die in a matter of years (ironic, I know, for a military member during war)...I checked into counseling on base. I was doing great until I was hit with a diagnosis of adjustment disorder. Within 3 months I was discharged from the Air Force. Within three months the diagnosis was depression, and within 9 months from there it was Major Depressive Disorder. I only wonder what it will be next.

I was a healthy person, young, strong, independant, great career ahead of me. It amazes me how helpless and dependant a person can become once diagnosed with a mental disorder, and how one trip to a counselor's office can set off a daisy chain of events and diagnoses that completely destroys a person's life. The military/martial/law enforcement life is all I know. The adjustment disorder kicked me out of the Air Force. Once I was kicked out of the Air Force, I began looking for work elsewhere, but no one would hire a military reject, so after a few months of unemployment, I became depressed. Suddenly, the diagnosis is depression. A few more months pass, I still cant find work, the VFW denies me membership, no branch of the military will take me back, the Department of Defense denied me employment, as did the local police department, next thing I know I'm diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder.

I'm nearly at a loss for words at this point. I cant seem to understand how getting dealt a bad hand in life equates to a mental disorder. Adjustment disorder---what the hell is that? When I first heard it, I thought it was something the Air Force made up. After researching the matter, I discovered---wow, it is real. I guess there's a diagnosis for everything, probably even pouring water on your breakfast cereal or urinating off your back porch. Why arent people given a chance before such diagnoses are made? I mean, good lord, you cant help it if people wont hire you and you're trying to take care of and provide for your family. Does it make you mentally ill if you've run out of options and are resorted to working as a part-time secretary at minimum wage on a temporary basis? God, it wasnt my fault all of this crap happened to me, but I'm being eternally punished with these diagnoses.

I dont know how to get past this crap. I went through 18 months of counseling after I left the Air Force, was taken off anti-depressants a year ago and the Major Depressive Disorder is supposedly "in remission", but I still cant get a decent job.

What gets me is that mental problems arent preventing me from working, its the diagnosis that keeps getting in the way. Its automatically assumed that I'm incapable of working because I was diagnosed with a mental disorder, even though I've been perfectly capable of working my whole life.

Of course, my last statement would probably be considered "denial", and if I were to share this with a psychiatrist, I'd probably be diagnosed with something else.

Again, I'm not anti-psychiatry, but I am against diagnosing someone with a mental disorder at the drop of a hat, and the fact that it seems everyone has a "mental disorder" these days, and that we've resorted to advertising anti-depressants on television, as if to encourage people to medicate. I personally believe medication should be reserved for people with mental problems so severe they cant function without them, and anti-depressants are prescribed entirely too often nowadays and seem to be hashed out in lieu of counseling, which is equally effective in the long run.

Sorry for the length of the rant, but I needed to vent.

Comments are very much welcome, whether you agree with me or not.

Hello! I would like to tell you that you are not out of options. First off did you get an Honorable under Medical discharge from the Air Force? If you did, this is good because you can file a claim and recieve money for your illness that occured during your duty. Check your phone book for the nearest Department of Veterans Affairs office and make an appointment to talk to a representive about your illness that started in the service. You can also collect Social security benefits if you are unable to work which fits your gategory. I was a marine in Afghanistan and I have schizoaffective disorder which started in the service about six months before I was discharged from the military, but I recieved and Honorable discharge because I was scared to tell anybody about the symptoms I was having. Right now im recieving 40% out of 100% possible from the VA and that comes to about $500.00 a month tax free! Im also waiting right now for Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) to kick in and that will be another $871 a month. Theres no reason why you cant collect money for your illness especially from the military. I would say you have a good chance of receiving 100% disability which comes out to $2400 a month tax free. Hopes this helps!


Bill

Try also: http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php

http://www.ivaw.org/

They have plenty of experience of vets abused by the military/medical system