Research study solicitation
We were approached by Emily Burris, a graduate student who is about to be commissioned into the Army as a psychology intern and future Army psychologist. I’ll let her explain;
I am currently completing my dissertation research validating a new computerized measure, determining its usefulness with a military combat population. I am seeking OIF/OEF/OND veterans with a history of deployment/combat related PTS symptoms to participate in the study, which is completed in an online format. Veteran participants are compensated $50 for 60-75 minutes of their time.
I have a Facebook page set up for the study and have made a video introducing myself and the study.
Here’s her Facebook page with the introductory video. I urge anyone interested in helping this youngster out with her studies, to contact her at her FB page. What could it hurt?
Category: Who knows
The DRG is feverishly logging into FB. The other posers also. Hope she has her BS detector turned on.
I have a feeling that with her facebook page linked on TAH that the DRG will start harassing anyone commenting on it and claim that the commenter is Hondo.
Part of the data gathering process would be to qualify the respondents to take the survey. You bring up a good point that many phonies would jump in, claim to be war veterans with PTSD, and get money on top of completing the survey. Without a way to definitely verify whether the person getting paid to do her survey is bona fide or not, her results will include those who don’t actually qualify to take her study.
Perhaps she’d be able to include this in the part of her dissertation where she covers potential gaps in her study, and where she makes proposals for future studies that compensates for that gap.
As an aside thebesig…how do you make the green smiley face?
: mrgreen : with no space.
Thank you brother.
:mrgreen
He swings…he misses.
And that one’s out of the park folks!
I’ll try what I have.
:mrbigdick:
The last one didn’t work…bummer.
😈
❗ ❓ 💡
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Emily, crank up your BS detector with that offer.
At least she is willing to pay compensation unlike Lars…
Cheap bastard.
There’s a limited time to gather the information needed to complete a dissertation, offering compensation to participate in the study increases the chances that the student gets responses, and decreases the time the student gets the number of responses needed to do the qualitative or quantitative portion of their dissertation.
Lol, it took me a second to figure out what you were referring to.
I am most using the forum for a research paper of dissertation.
I learn a lot from the forum but it really is validating the results I read in other people’s research. It has nothing to do with my research interests and serves no academic purpose for me.
Dammit. That means I have to keep going to the blood bank each week for my cigarette and Pepsi money.
No, No, not the blood bank. You need to go to the SDC (Sperm Donation Center) nearest you for Pepsi and cigarette money.
The SDC pays more, plus they have all sorts of “helpful materials” to make your 20 minute stay with a happy ending more memorable./Smiley Face
*not
not “most”.
So annoying that a have so many malapropisms.
Holy shit!!! Hey, if that is what PTSD counselors look like…I just caught it BAD. Suddenly I am all fucked up.
I definitely need to be interacted with. That is one sexy woman.
She is going to pay me? Thats a first, now if she owns a boat and a liquor store I will be as fucked up and emotionally needy as she wants.
Dave I didn’t want to sat it but since you mentioned it first, yea I’d like to hit it.
I wonder if she has a twin sister…
Yeah, her name’s Lars…
That there was funny, kinda makes me worry about the “Happy Ending” now.
For crying out loud you had to say it ????
Nothing is more sexy than a woman who is trying not to be…but is anyway.
I might need some references that will verify how fucked up I am.
Please feel free to let her know I might need some help with my denial. I think she might be able to help me.
I’ll vouch for you Brother!
Ditto, man, you are hosed.
Yea Dave, meds this morning?
She could probably just read these pages and get sufficient material for several theses (that’s the plural form Lars).
Never has there been a den of more screwed up crazy people than the denizens of this corner of the intertoobs. And that’s not even counting Dave and IDC SARC.
And there’s no crowd I’d rather hang out with than this raggedy ass bunch!
You people are just terrible! She is obviously a serious young lady, who is deeply immersed in researching a very serious problem. These vile remarks must stop now! You are dreadful, dreadful people! All of you!
Hey, I agree…she is seriously HOT! I would love to be immersed in research with her. You know how serious my problems are.
Sparks made me do it. He is a bad influence.
Sure Dave blame the Spec 4.
As a former SFC I approve this message. 🙂
LMAO! “No that was not meant to laugh at you Sergeant. It was just a laugh at something I remembered.”
The E-4 mafia was in full effect when I was still in and we blamed any shenanigans that happened on them.
“No that was not meant to laugh at you Sergeant. It was just a laugh at something I remembered.”
I heard that one before. I used to get talked smack to when I was a PSG by the Soldiers, but I never got upset because I had started it and what kind of leader would I be if I could dish it out but not take it. If it was in the rear it was all in good fun (as long as they didn’t cross the line).
Second by a retired SSG
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Sorry Ex-PH2. I was just going with Poet Laureate Jerry Reed who said, “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot”.
Do you think she will require pants during the skype interview?
Adding to the harem Dave? Why do you get all the beautiful ones? Well if you’re replacing one, remember I volunteered to take the Russian. 🙂
Technically, I’m a PTSD counselor Dave. Want me to interact with you? *sly wink*
I wish her all success. Emily I seriously think you should find a way to properly vet those who want to participate. If you don’t, there will be great numbers who are posers and never served in combat or even the military. They know enough to skew your data and in general, make your work harder. Best of luck to you in your career.
Don’t want to sound like an old fart cynic, but does this mean you have to give up your direct deposit bank account number in order to get the $50.00?
What about the veterans who are living off the grid? Are they disqualified?
Remember, Trust but Verify, and only accept cash.
I’d be happy to accept cash from a hot young college student. But I guess its not just me.
Claw, why wouldn’t you sound like an old fart cynic? You are one. Me too. That’s why I’m coming to see you!
We’re (Mrs. Claws and Scooby too) counting the days.
Have given 3/17 a heads-up on your ETA.
So far, so good.
I did it for free. I’m in school myself to be a mental health counselor and I don’t take money to help other veterans.
I’m doing it for free I’ve even offed up my Narsun and paper work from when I was at NIcoe at Bethesda walter reed if it helps I hop it helps her to weed out the bull-shiters I saw enough of that up at madigan at lewis to last me two lifetimes
Lol, I did the same. Told her I’d send any documentation she wishes.
When were u at Nicoe? I was retired from Walter Reed in 2013.
2012 at NIcoe , I was retired in May of 2013 from the Army
November 2013 I believe from the NG I’m still confused about this one
Nobody seems to know Lol. Until I get a nasty letter from the VA but that stopped a year and a half ago so
Worst faker I ever saw was at an intensive outpatient group, following a suicide attempt, for military called TAPS near Dix/Macguire/Lakehurst. The group was supposed to be for combat vets for PTSD but someone stuck an Airman in fresh out of recruit training who “caught” the PTSD after an instructor yelled at him.
After a group mate threw a chair at the kid, they rushed him out to a more appropriate group. I still don’t know why they stuck him with 14 combat vets, but I’m sure some staffer got an ass-chewing over that one. Kid never got the PTSD diagnosis he was looking for, last I heard he was facing an admin separation for failure to adapt.
Who needs puppies and circle jerks with this kind of treatment.
She can keep the $50…hey did I ever tell you about the time I was surrounded, knee deep in spent brass and grenade pins?
I hope she gives us the list of people she paid $50 to so we can write a couple of years worth of poser blogs.
Whats a dissertation anyway? If she is doing one…I volunteer to be one.
Wait…is a dissertation contagious? Not ruling her out if it is, if so is there a shot for it?
Dave, I’m thinking she could do her entire dissertation on YOU. Bwhaaaaaa
Oh, my, she is gorgeous. Well, gotta go, I need to gundeck a new 214 to ‘prove’ my service for the time period in question.
Some people never open their e-mail, you know.
Sorry, I was distracted by all this. I didn’t realize how badly I was affected by PTSD until this moment.
So you’re having dinner and a movie on Saturday night, right?
All the crass remarks aside, someone – some RESPONSIBLE adult – should contact Miss Emily and advise her that phonies will show up to collect some cash from her and waste her time. And then tell her how to get them vetted, like the good neighbors you are.
Ok, I called her this morning. She is actually a very pleasant woman who seems to be doing honorable work.
I was very professional and tried to be encouraging and helpful.
She is still smoking hot none the less.
Thanks Dave for being professional with her. But still, I’d hit it, with or without the cure for dissertation. Like you said, nothing like a sexy woman who doesn’t have to even act like she is.
Did you offer to share your results with action figure therapy, Dave?
VALID POINT
WARNING: DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN ACTION FIGURE THERAPY IN MIXED COMPANY.
Got it!!! Thanks Dave. Now that I know she is researching Pussy Test for the Sexually Demented…I’m all in. To get good data from me, she needs to get me in the horizontal position and prove to myself that I no longer need Viagra. Nothing sucks war stories out of my clogged brain like the sight of big ‘ol tits. That’s right…..tits!
bust me up side the head with a mammary and I turn to mush. Hell, I’d probably let her interview me for free.
I hope she’s also looking at the opposite side of that fence, the vets who put up with a lot of crap but didn’t catch the PTSD from it. It makes it more balanced.
Crass. “That’s an ugly word this…crass”. Using another word what is that movie line reference?
Yeah, if she doesn’t cull the posers, her research will be badly flawed.
IDC SARC must be sleeping in this morning…
Or driving himself to her university to volunteer his experiences for her study.
That’s my vote. IDC SARC has already stopped for gas twice.
He’s hoping to use that condom that has been in his wallet for the last 6 months.
Good job! Emily tells me that she’s overwhelmed by the number of your responses. I guess her offer of some weekend “self medication” funds was the clincher for you guys.
She’ll need counseling after interacting with all these yahoos…
She can use my therapist. He already knows about this bunch. 😉
Cool, I hope she does not get overwhelmed. I have a bunch of really fucked up veterans wanting to know is she offers group therapy.
There’s gonna be a group???!!! When? Where? Details I need details!
Emily, good luck on your research and I hope that you get some quality data to help our brothers and sisters that have served and need help.
^This!
SEA grads (AKA old farts) unite! Protest! Not including us in the study is discrimination!
Humor aside, good luck Emily. You might ask your interviewees the opposite question, “Did being in combat put your head on straight?” You might be surprised at how many answer affirmatively.
Emily: I have yet to see a psychological study of PTS that asked the question, “Why do the greater bulk of combat soldiers NOT get PTS?”
Why is that? Is there an inherent bias in these studies?
I made a point of asking how a study of PTS could be done without investigating the people who haven’t been functionally diminished by the experience could be done on her Facebook page.
A helpful “do-gooder” (you know the type…”I’ve read a lot about it and I’m studying to be a counselor”) immediately jumped in to let me know he was “there for me”.
She didn’t really answer the question except to explain that she was working with PTS…not PTSD.
Here’s my problem. PTS is basically “a normal human reaction”. If it’s PTS it isn’t treated because most people recover within a short period.
It’s when it becomes a disorder that it’s a concern.
You’re right. The vast majority of combat veterans do NOT exhibit symptoms nor are they disabled by their experiences.
The only reason I can give for no one being concerned about them is that there’s no money or fame involved with it.
And yes…I’m a cynical old bastard myself.
That “do-Gooder” was me Ray. I was trying to be a civil human being, something I guess flew over your head.
As far as PTS goes on active duty, following traumatic events counsellors are provided to most active duty troops and the ones who appear to be struggling are often sent (voluntarily or involuntarily) to in theater combat stress centers. Those who recover are sent back to their units, those who don’t are sent back to the states.
This has been going on since at least 2006, because I was sent to one such center in Bagram after a Mass-Cas incident. This was years before I was ever diagnosed with PTS.
So to answer your question, yes treatment is being offered before a diagnosis. Often years before. Sadly, the mental health stigma still exists in the military and troops (like myself) go years without dealing with issues because we refuse to take what’s offered.
Oh, it didn’t “fly over my head”. It’s a behavior I’ve become used to and expect to see. Maybe it’s “under your radar” because you’re the perpetrator. I’m an Engineer in two separate fields (Mechanical/Electrical). I’m also extensively trained in what is known as DOE (“Design of Experiments”). It’s a systemic method that strives to determine the relationships in processes to determine how inputs affect outputs. The best way to describe this system is that it is used to determine “cause” in “cause and effect relationships”. It pretty much codifies the basis of what is known as “the scientific method”. This is why I ask these questions. I am completely at a loss as to what value an anonymous survey performed on an unqualified and self-identified group is going to have. As far as I’m concerned, the process described is a perfect incubator to provide further proof the “Garbage In/Garbage Out” maxim. My reference to the “do-gooder” appellation? It comes from experience…and you checked all the blocks. I asked a simple question…and “some guy on the internet” immediately interjects, apparently assuming I am “one of the afflicted”, claims an affinity, expresses concern, then offers qualifications on why I should “accept the unsolicited offer of help”. I used to laugh my ass off at our Rugby games when I was in the military. Invariably, anytime someone was hurt (or even sometimes slow to get up from a pretty good lick) scores of medics would fall out of the stands, aid bags in hand, and converge on the poor injured soul. For many of them…that guy on the ground was little more than a f*cking training aid…and an opportunity for them to ply their wares. It was so obvious that people in the stands began screaming “MEDIC TRAINING AID!” whenever someone went down…or went back to the line with limp or a trickle of blood running from a nose, lip, or knee. Lest I be judged for unfairly maligning these wannabe Florence Nightingales…consider…we KNEW those Medics. They lived with us. They went to the field with us. Many partied with us…and when… Read more »
And the reason she is working with PTS and not PTSD is there is contention amongst the professional medical community to classify it as an injury instead of a mental disorder. This is because of extensive research showing legitimate cases of PTS exhibit physical brain changes similar to TBI and degeneration of key brain structures within the amygdala.
Genetics could play a factor, we know females are much more likely to be diagnosed with it than males.
Also, brain injuries play some factor. Recent studies by the Canadian military show that PTS shows up on a MRI with profound degeneration in the amygdala.
Also, how warfare and training are fought nowadays plays a role. Lt. COL David Grossman has 2 books “On Combat” and “On Killing” that go into great detail why this is.
Lastly the numbers may be far larger than people realize. Unless the condition has reached a point where the soldier is a danger to himself (like I was) or to others, it will go relatively unnoticed unless that soldier seeks treatment for it himself and with the ongoing stigma associated with mental illness, few soldiers do this unless they are promoted by an outside force such as their command.
Ok, since we want to get a technical and shit, I will give it a whirl. Seems like I have to post this about once a year. Behavioral abnormalities in adults are most often attributed to a diminished capacity. With the exclusion of certain preexisting physiological onsets the causality points to environmental events that modify behavior. Most all of us are subjected to traumatic stress during our lives. When a traumatic event is coupled with guilt or sudden onset the ego intuitively rejects acceptance. Hence the ‘denial’ phase of the grief cycle. Fixation during that phase of the cycle manifests itself in behavior that is observed as aberrant by those not subjected to the associated stress. I have spent decades dealing with individuals concerning these issues. I can offer my own attestation to the existence of post traumatic stress, almost all of us can. What I reject is the trend to ‘normalize’ a fixation or stagnation in any stage of development. Rejecting a swift kick in the ass as a treatment modality is unconscionable. There is a current social reinforcement of the hypothesis: I have been subjected to traumatic stress therefore prolonged abnormal behavior is acceptable. Reenforce this with financial rewards, special recognition, and a social reluctance to confront the behavior and it is perpetuated. Insofar as Veteran Victimization is concerned the aforementioned hypothesis is perfectly suited with a minor modification: I am a veteran therefore prolonged abnormal behavior is expected. I should receive special attention, financial rewards, and the general public will not confront my behavior. Since I have just a modicum of experience in these matters let me offer the following advice to my fellow veterans that are stagnated in any particular stage of development: You are not special, you do not deserve special attention, you do not deserve to receive money, and there is at least one veteran in this world that will call you out on your bullshit. I have and will continue to march straight into hell to help another deserving veteran. PTS and the onset of PTSD are being over diagnosed. Now there is… Read more »
Gee, can I play, too? PTS (post-traumatic stress for the uninformed) is an emotional reaction to some unexpected event, such as seeing a nasty accident happen right in front of you, or getting held up by two idiots with one gun on the back steps of your apartment and chasing them off.
Some people react to the ‘event’ by consuming excessive amounts of alcohol.
Others pound on their downstairs neighbor Sam’s door, interrupting his sack time with his signif other and asking him to call the CPD, and then kick the walls in sheer, unadulterated anger while they’re waiting for the CPD to show up 20 minutes later so that they can give the cops a description of the two perps and then take the dog for a walk in the alley, carrying a can of hairspray and a paring knife.
Now, you can either get drunk, offer your services at work for three weeks as a bodyguard, or curl up in a corner and whimper and cry. It’s when you drag it out for a prolonged period of time, including feeling sorry for yourself and work that into getting sympathy or getting drunk a lot, that it turns into something else.
Some of this is from the loss of adrenaline, which provides the ‘fight or flight’ reaction. When that drops back to normal levels, energy levels also drop. There are, as we all know, people who want that adrenaline fix and will go to great lengths to get the rush that comes from a threatening event.
How you react to a stressful event that triggers an adrenaline rush determines whether or not you are going to return to ‘normal’ (whatever that is, I think it’s down near Bloomington) or dwell on it and become morbid over it.
And frankly, there are people who enjoy being as morbid as they can for as long as possible because it gets more attention than moving on.
That is PTS, and it is not a mental disorder unless it’s turned into one.
I applaud her efforts and congratulate her on her impending commission but I’m wondering on the validity of any study based on anonymous answers on an online forum.
I’m going out on a limb but I’m guessing that once a person signs up his/her name will be vetted to assure service in that time frame and deployment as stated actually happened but every answer from there could be wholly fabricated and there is no way short of an actual face to face assessment to assess the claims as true or not rendering the whole study dicey at best.
“Behavioral abnormalities in adults are most often attributed to a diminished capacity. With the exclusion of certain preexisting physiological onsets the causality points to environmental events that modify behavior. ”
I disagree with diminished capacity. Define abnormalities and are you inferring experiences as environment as in external events beyond the control of the subject in a broad sense?