Thread by @RedWarriorQueen

@newyorkpost
I understand the country is reeling in the wake of another senseless mass casualty gun shooting, however, you need to reconsider your inflammatory headline about the shooter. This is in no way to protect him, as he committed unspeakable acts and cut

short the lives of many promising individuals, but to protect those who have honorably served our country and continue their daily battle with PTSD.
Your headline lists this person “was a Marine maybe suffering from PTSD”. First, you have no evidence to

corroborate your claim of PTSD as that is protected health information under HIPAA. Unless this has been disclosed from close family-you have no way of validating this claim. All this does is further stigmatize those who truly suffer from PTSD, specifically combat-related PTSD.

You have absolutely no qualifications in which to label him with this diagnosis. Second, in the first line of your article you refer to him as a “former Marine”. If you are going to write an article, please know your audience. Not one Marine will ever tell you they are “former”.

In a short Facebook post I can never get you to understand the enormous damage you do to our brave veterans with these inflammatory headlines. PTSD in and of itself does not make one a violent person. In fact, if you are familiar with the

DSMV-none of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD includes violent behaviors. If you REALLY understood or cared about the injuries and illness inflicted upon our veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you might realize the real culprit behind new onset behavioral issues is

traumatic brain injury, and more recently on the medical forefront-chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The fact of the matter is that PTSD is a battle with your internal demons. It is a soul wound that never quite heals. PTSD in and of itself, while a struggle to deal with, does

not make you a violent or dangerous person. Military service does not predispose you to violent behaviors. You cannot paint these brave men and women into that corner. If you had an unstable and violent personality before service….you will most likely have one upon your exit

from active duty. The military will not give you a personality trait or predisposition to violence if those qualities were not already there.
This post is most likely in vain, but I do implore you to reconsider your headline. Veterans already struggle everyday with the stigma

that surrounds PTSD. This struggle does not need to be made worse because some angry coward chose to essentially execute a bar full of college kids.
Sincerely,
Leah N. Jenkins, MSN, APRN, ACNP-BC - NP, veteran spouse, someone who gives a damn. #ThousandOaksShooting #newyorkpost

#ptsd #ptsdawareness #veterans