As many of you have previously read, my favorite blog is The Carpetbagger Report by Steve Benen.  I love that blog not only because Steve does a fantastic job of putting together some very insightful posts, but the commenters there are amazing!  That is one community I am proud to be a part of.

One comment caught my eye and I wanted to pass it along.  This is from McSwin on McCain's mental health and PTSD:

Many voters are concerned about John McCain’s age and health. Many wonder, and mainstream media refuses to ask, if John McCain suffers from PTSD from his the five years of captivity, including three years in solitary and torture so extreme that, as he put it, “broke” him to the point he attempted suicide several times.

Google the news section for ‘mccain ptsd’ and you will see zero articles from mainstream media pondering this question.

Google the news for ‘mccain mole and you will see over 600 mainstream media articles about a simple mole removal.

One of the most important considerations with regard to medical predictions of future PTSD, is how the initial trauma was dealt with:

In 1999, Dr. Michael M. Ambrose, director of the Robert E. Mitchell Center for Prisoner of War Studies, was contacted by John McCain to conduct a mental health review. The quality of the review is a matter of dispute as some say Dr. Ambrose did a full medical exam of the patient and others say the doctor only reviewed McCain’s old medical records.

After the evaluation was completed, John McCain’s 1999 campaign released a statement by Dr. Ambrose, which stated:

“McCain has never been diagnosed with or treated at the center for a psychological or psychiatric disorder (The term PTSD first appeared in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980, years after John McCain’s initial military medical evaluations). He has been subject to an extensive battery of psychological tests and following his last examination in 1993, we judged him to be in good physical and mental health.”

The McCain campaign press release included a statement by Dr. Ambrose, which reveals John McCain created a fantasy world in order to escape the reality of captivity and torture. They further stated McCain always heard the guards coming with his food, but “was often so much in his private world, that he strongly resented their coming around and bringing him back to reality by intruding. He was enjoying his fantasies so much.”

“findings suggest that it is less what happens at the time of a trauma (e.g., disrupted encoding) that predicts PTSD than what occurs thereafter (i.e., persistent avoidance).” [John Briere, Ph.D., Catherine Scott, M.D., and Frank Weathers, Ph.D.]

The keyword here is ‘persistent avoidance’ which was evidenced by the findings of Dr. Ambrose.

“The presence of dissociative symptoms soon after exposure to trauma has been found to predict the subsequent development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” [Gary Tucker, MD, Published in Journal Watch Psychiatry October 9, 2002]

“The amount of dissociation that follows directly after a trauma predicts PTSD” [American Psychiatric Association]

“Individuals that are more likely to dissociate during a traumatic event are considerably more likely to develop chronic PTSD” [Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998). Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law.]

“In several studies, dissociation at the time of a trauma (peritraumatic dissociation) has been found to predict symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder at follow-up assessments’ [Michael W. Otto, PhD, Published in Journal Watch Psychiatry July 21, 2005]

” early numbing contributed to the prediction of later PTSD” [Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, Psychiatry Department, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine]

“Peritraumatic dissociation is frequently considered to be a risk factor for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” [Doris C. Breh PhD, Department of Psychotraumatology, Psychosomatic University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany]

Ambrose later told the Associated Press “He had a very healthy way of dealing with his experiences.” One of the examiners even noted that McCain had improved his ability to control his infamous temper due to his years of torture and captivity.

Anyone familiar with Workers’ Compensation or personal injury cases understands full well you can pull the right strings or pay a ‘company’ doctor to say anything necessary to help your client.

It is worth noting the 1999 McCain campaign only released a small number of redacted medical records, the pages were not allowed to be photocopied and only a few select news organizations were privy to what few medical records were made available under these conditions.

John McCain has a consistent history of out of control outbursts of anger and even admits an adverse reaction to the sound of jangling keys. Author Robert Timberg, who McCain has said “knows more about me than I do,” calls these episodes “an eruption of temper out of all proportion to the provocation” and says they are a result of Vietnam coming “back to haunt him.”

VA studies have shown time and again that POWs suffer a much higher risk of developing PTSD than combat veterans. Even so, to this date, mainstream media still has not pushed for full disclosure of John McCain’s military medical records and refuses to ask the one simple question:

‘Is John McCain emotionally fit for the most stressful job in our country, the Office of President of the United States, our Commander in Chief?”

Journalists have a choice. They can continue to tiptoe around the elephant in the room, put a politician before country, violate the spirit of journalism and ignore the ethics that bind them, or they can do their job.

Food for thought?  If we had a media doing its' job, we might actually be having a conversation about this.  We might be having conversations about what it takes to be president.

Has anyone else noticed that every president (that I can remember, baring Reagan) who has served, their hair turned to gray by the time they left office?  Even Bush, who is the least working president in history, who sleeps like a baby, who has no cares or concerns, HIS hair has turned gray.  How much of that is normal aging vs. the stress of being the most powerful person in the world?

Journalists, please allow me to give YOU something to chew on:

What are the physical and mental strains associated with running this country?   Why are we not discussing that? 

Why are we not discussing those 1400 pages of medical reports that McCain allowed journalists to fondle yet not record in any way (two hours, on a Friday afternoon, with no cameras, phones or notes allowed)? 

Why is it not being discussed that those 1400 pages were not his complete records?    What is in the rest?  Hell, what is in those 1400 pages?

Why is there no journalistic curiosity about the pressures of being POTUS and the need for one to be healthy?

Thank you, McSwin for an incredibly insightful comment.

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