McCain Refusing To Release His Psychiatric Records... Salon

This is a great article that covers not only McCain's fuckups with airplanes
but PTSS and its implications







What's in John McCain's medical records?

He'll be releasing everything about his repeated cancer surgeries. But he won't release his psychiatric records, which hold clues to the effect of his Vietnam captivity.

By Mark Benjamin




May 22, 2008 | Presidential candidate John McCain has survived three plane crashes, four melanomas, and more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, enduring torture and solitary confinement. There would be questions about his health and his fitness for the office he seeks even if he weren't turning 72 in August, and even if he weren't likely to be running against a man 25 years his junior.>>>>snip


In 1999, McCain responded to the questions about his mental health by allowing selected reporters to peruse 1,500 pages of his health records dating back to his release from Hanoi in 1973. Reporters were not permitted to photocopy any of the documents. The reporters who looked at the records did not describe any mention of a PTSD diagnosis. However, they failed to note that it would have been impossible for McCain to receive such a diagnosis -- since the term "post-traumatic stress disorder" was not in use until seven years after McCain's release from captivity. The term first appeared in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980.

There are behaviors associated with the candidate that would be consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD. Author Robert Timberg mentions McCain's intense explosions of anger --- a hallmark sign of lingering mental trauma from war -- in his book "John McCain: An American Odyssey." Timberg describes the episodes as "an eruption of temper out of all proportion to the provocation." Timberg, who McCain has said "knows more about me than I do," wrote that McCain's sudden fury is a result of Vietnam coming "back to haunt him." McCain has himself described having an adverse reaction to the sound of jangling keys, which reminds him of his Vietnam jailers. McCain also told doctors that during solitary confinement he had strayed pretty "far out" and had referred to himself as "mentally deteriorating." >>>>>snip


http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/05/22/mccain/

:crazy: :crazy:

:crazy: :crazy:

:crazy: :crazy:

But I want to know if it is from inorganic or organic brain disease with objective findings.

issues. PLEASE.

He is at that age when physical and mental disabilities, starting from the ordeal as a POW 40 years ago, really come home to roost. That is par for the course for his POW colleagues, now in their 60s-70s.

Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff termed a "disability pension" from the Navy.

When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return. McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said that McCain was technically disabled. "Tortured for his country -- that is how he acquired his disability," Salter said.

Certain types of military and veterans pensions are either partially or completely tax-exempt, depending on the seriousness of the disability. In McCain's case, the exemption is 100%.

Here's how 100 percent disability is defined, according to the Military Times:

At the other end of the spectrum, the military may not exceed the rating ceiling for a specific diagnostic code under the VASRD. However, the VA can award a 100 percent disability rating for the same condition if it finds that the severity of the condition rises to the level that the veteran is incapable of being trained for any type of gainful civilian-sector employment.

Here's my question:

Legally speaking, would it be a fair statement or a stretch of the law to say that John McCain CAN'T run for president on the legal grounds that he is not (by his own VA classification of 100% disable ) capable of being trained for any type of gainful civilian-sector employment?

By paying this 100% tax-free disability pension to John McCain, is the Navy saying that political positions such as ' Senator and/or President ' ARE NOT gainful civilian-sector employment? If these political positions in fact qualify as " gainful civilian-sector employment ", then why would McCain continue to be receiving a 100% tax-free disability pension if he is ABLE & CAPABLE for civilian-sector employment?


Just curious if anyone has any idea how this could be.


http://www.militarytimes.com/community/ask_lawyer/military_askthelawyer_071203w/


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-pension22apr22,1,2872446.story

repost it in it's own thread?

The Manchurian Candidate was written by George Axelrod.

Barack Obama's campaign manager is David Axelrod.

Hmmm ...

--p!

thanks.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0043480/">George Axelrod at IMDB

He wrote some good ones.

--p!

Thanks

:thumbsup:

Richard Condon and George Axelrod -- two of the writers who made the zeitgeist of the 1960s immortal.

--p!

"is the kindest, bravest, warmest most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life"

Sid

what is the significance?

for the brainwashed soldier in The Manchurian Candidate.

Sid

...dive from the stage and maul Tim Russert before the Secret Service agents can switch out for bean-bag rounds.

PB

I don't want somebody with a hair-trigger temper as POTUS--but he deserves compassion for what caused his psychiatric problems.

Just to be clear--however tragic the circumstances that gave him mental health problems, I don't want somebody with a hair-trigger temper as POTUS.

Most have worked very hard to rebuild healthy lives. Every indication is that McCain has made similar efforts. I respect that. PTSD results from horrific injury and results in deep anxiety. The healing process requires more personal introspection and discipline than most so-called "normal" folks can imagine.

There are far better reasons than the effects of his Vietnam experiences to oppose McCain's election.

Did you read the article? You think that PTSD is not a condition
that can effect him as President and thus has no bering
on his effectiveness and judgements in the office of Presidency?

Has he been treated since 1973, when they didn't even have the diagnostic
tools to describe,let alone the proper therapy to treat PTSD?

graduate level training in a wide variety of mental health issues and have many years of work experience in a field where those issues are relevant and prevalent.

More importantly I have known folks who suffered from PTSD - and I have known them for decades and known them well. I used to play in a band with a Vietnam vet diagnosed with PTSD. And the longtime spouse of my best friend (who really is a psychologist) of nearly 30 years is a Vietnam vet who also was diagnosed with PTSD. He was an advance man whose job was to go out and locate and disarm trip lines and booby traps. Both of these men have been through treatment. Neither currently meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and they haven't for many years.

Just because someone is diagnosed with PTSD it does not mean that they are forever condemned to live a life of mental illness. Healing is possible.

If you believe otherwise then you are ignorant of the disease and its various treatment modalities. PTSD is an anxiety disorder - and is classified as such in the DSM-IV. If you are familiar with the scholarly writing on PTSD then you will know that many experts consider PTSD to be a ***normal*** reaction to very abnormal and traumatic circumstances - events which realistically are often understood to threaten physical survival.

By the way, phobias are also diagnosed as anxiety disorders - and those who suffer from them often find themselves afraid of things with which they have little familiarity and experience. Phobias are far more irrational than PTSD. It would make more sense to criticize candidates who are afraid of spiders or snakes or heights or germs or whatever the hell they irrationally fear.

While you are reading up on PTSD I suggest you also reread my post. You obviously misunderstood what I said and attributed thoughts to me which I did not express. I will speak for myself thank you very much.

As far as I am concerned attacking McCain because of his experiences while serving his country in the military (and that would be the source of any PTSD he may have experienced) or because of his age is stooping just as low as attacking Obama because he is of a mixed race or attacking Hillary because she is a woman. Attacking a candidate who arguably is a war hero because of his war injuries (and that is exactly what PTSD is) really isn't very smart when one's own candidate has not faced the horrors of war and years of solitary confinement as a POW. That is just a reminder that the other candidate has already sacrificed for his nation - and that he has some very practical understanding of torture. Complaining of race baiting while criticizing an opposing candidate because of their age or gender is the epitome of hypocrisy.

If Dems can't put forth better arguments against McCain than his age and some speculation regarding whether or not he suffered from PTSD decades ago then frankly Dems deserve to get their asses kicked come November.

Surely Dems can offer arguments on behalf of their candidate that go to the substance of policy and issues. It's a rational appeal rather than a personal attack that often appeals to emotions and to the fears and bigotry of our citizenry. Yeah, it takes a little more work. A little more effort.

Be the change your candidate wants to bring.

The irony is that the repukes should find this horrifying. Imagine if a Democratic candidate had ever had even passing, temporary psychiatric treatment.

I think this issue may be viewed a test of whether Obama really is the candidate of change who is running a clean campaign and successfully directing the campaign efforts of his supporters.

There are a lot of reasons not to vote for McCain that have nothing to do with whether or not he ever had PTSD. Or with his age.

I would hope that Dems have the good sense to focus on those issues rather than resorting to their own variety of fear mongering.

to mental health issues. We should do and be so much better than that.

And, McCain's impulsivity is notorious on Capitol Hill. That's not something I look forward to in an executive.

and he was only running for VP.

Then it was revealed that he had had electroconvulsive therapy, popularly known as "electric shock treatment". The repukes and press pounced, McGovern had to drop him like a hot rock, and it all went downhill from there.

have it on film?

weird sex porn films?

Yikes.

Not enough brain bleach to erase this one from my head.

because mccain may be either dead, incapacitated, or in a straight jacket before 4 years is up. so being mccain's VP is kind of like being president in waiting.

Both terms were used to describe what we now call PTSD.

ever even had been treated for a psychiatric condition?

Bet that standard isn't going to be used on McInsane.

Between 1960 and 1966, Eagleton checked himself into the hospital three times for physical and nervous exhaustion, receiving electric shock treatments twice.<1>

The hospitalizations, which were not widely publicized, had little effect on his political aspirations, although the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was to note, in 1972, immediately after his vice presidential nomination:

He had been troubled with gastric disturbances, which have led to occasional hospitalizations. The stomach troubles have contributed to rumors that he had a drinking problem.<1>

1972 Presidential Campaign

Selection as Vice Presidential Candidate

In 1972, Richard Nixon appeared unbeatable. When Senator George McGovern won the Democratic nomination for President, virtually all of the high-profile Democrats such as Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale and Birch Bayh turned down offers to run on the ticket.

Having been declined by the "name" Senators, McGovern turned to lesser-known candidates, and Eagleton, who had opposed the Vietnam War, was selected on July 14 with only a minimal background check. Eagleton made no mention of his earlier hospitalizations. Newspapers soon revealed them. McGovern and Eagleton initially joked about the case with Eagleton saying he would undergo a psychiatric examination if other candidates (e.g., Nixon) would do the same. But the charges kept coming. Columnist Jack Anderson wrote a column falsely accusing Eagleton of being arrested for drunk driving — a charge that Anderson had to retract.

Replacement on the Ticket

McGovern said he would back Eagleton “1000%”, but on August 1, Eagleton withdrew at McGovern's request and was replaced by Kennedy in-law Sargent Shriver.

A Time magazine poll taken at the time found that 77 percent of the respondents said "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote." Nonetheless, the press made frequent references to his shock therapy, and McGovern feared that this would detract from his campaign platform.<1>

McGovern's handling of the controversy was an opening for the Republican campaign to raise serious questions about his judgement. In the general election, the Democratic ticket won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

here's why..

When you are severely depressed or anxious, you go to a therapist to say the crazy stuff you are thinking.. not because you plan to DO them. but because saying them out-loud to a family member would freak them out, but in a safe consultation with a therapist who keeps it confidential, you are free to talk out things that freak YOU out..

For a therapist to release information that, taken out of context, would portray you as a totally insane person, would be unfair..

If a therapist has a concrete diagnosis of something like schizophrenia or M P D , that would be different, but I do not see any reason why his mental health consultations should be dissected & examined, anymore than someone's vomit, after a dinner of bad clams...

Totally agree and well said :)

Crazy M$#@$#*&@!*r1!!1!!1!1!!1!!1