Dossier Syndrome de Stress Post Traumatique

Trouble de stress post-traumatique
L'alcoolisme à la base de l'itinérance chez d'anciens combattants

Agence QMI
Charles-Antoine Gagnon
14/01/2011 16h25

TORONTO – Une enquête menée par des chercheurs de l'Université Western Ontario révèle que l'alcoolisme, et non les désordres psychologiques causés par le trouble de stress post-traumatique (TSPT), est la raison qui explique pourquoi de nombreux anciens combattants canadiens se retrouvent dans la rue.
Les professeurs Cheryl Forchuk et Susan Ray du département de sciences infirmières ont interviewé 48 anciens combattants à London, Toronto, Victoria et Vancouver et, disent-elles, leurs trouvailles se sont révélées «étonnantes» puisque leurs résultats diffèrent des études américaines qui ciblent le TSPT comme un des principaux facteurs menant à l'itinérance.

«Pour plusieurs d'entre eux, les problèmes de consommation ont commencé dans l'armée et ne sont allés qu'en s'accroissant au fil des années. L'alcoolisme s'est installé avec comme conséquence la perte de leur emploi, la fin de leur relation et la perte de leur logis», a indiqué Mme Ray, qui s'attendait plutôt à voir le TSPT comme cause de l'itinérance.

La moyenne d'âge des anciens combattants devenus sans-abri qui ont fait partie de l'enquête est de 52 ans. Ils ont quitté le service il y a 20 ans, et leur première expérience dans la rue est survenue dix ans après leur retraite des forces.

«Vous avez ce groupe qui, il y a 20 ans, n'était pas déployé au Rwanda ou en Afghanistan. Ils ont servi lors de missions de paix ou sur les bases canadiennes. C'est ce groupe, croyait-on, qui ne devait pas éprouver de difficulté à s'adapter à la vie civile», a expliqué Ray.

Le sénateur Roméo Dallaire, général à la retraite des Forces armées canadiennes, n'est guère surpris par les constatations des chercheurs, et il s'est dit heureux que cette situation soit enfin découverte.

«Nous avions un programme pour tenter de réhabiliter les personnes dépendantes de la drogue et de l'alcool, mais ces gens perdaient leur emploi et étaient abandonnés dans le public s'il y avait un échec», a raconté le sénateur Dallaire.

«Nous voulons que la situation canadienne soit claire et précise, a signalé Mme Forchuk. Nous ne voulons pas que des mesures correctrices soient mises en place selon ce qui se passe ailleurs. Nous appuyons ce que le ministère des Anciens Combattants effectue au chapitre du TSPT, mais nous souhaiterions voir une alternative où les gens sont évalués régulièrement au chapitre de l'alcoolisme».

Le colonel à la retraite, Michel Drapeau, croit que beaucoup d'anciens combattants font face à un vide, et qu'ils ignorent leurs droits et l'aide qu'ils pourraient possiblement obtenir.

«Ils ne sont pas les bienvenus chez les militaires et, s'ils frappent à la porte des Anciens Combattants, ils ont toute une côte à monter parce qu'ils doivent démontrer que leur inaptitude, leur condition médicale ou leur détresse est due à leur service militaire. Ça paraît plus facile à dire qu'à faire», a indiqué M. Drapeau, qui recommande à ces gens de s'adresser au fédéral pour obtenir de l'aide.

source -> http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/
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Canadian veterans battling homelessness

By RANDY RICHMOND, QMI AGENCY
Last Updated: January 3, 2011 6:32pm

LONDON, Ont. - Dozens of largely middle-aged veterans in Southwestern Ontario are battling homelessness after years of valiantly fighting to stay off the streets, a first-of-its-kind study in Canada finds.

Nationwide, the number of homeless vets may number in the hundreds or thousands. And despite improvements in care over the past decade, a London, Ont., researcher leading the study warns new veterans may face the same challenges.

"Veterans Affairs is getting better, but many could still slip through the cracks," said Susan Ray, an assistant nursing professor at the University of Western Ontario (UWO).

"A lot of the veterans I spoke to said, 'I don't know if anything can help me, but maybe it could help somebody now'."

Her more immediate concern is the group of vets, average age 52, who find themselves homeless several years after leaving the military structure.

"Everything is looked after for you. It is a big family with the commander who is the big father," Ray said.

"They found it difficult to make the transition to civilian life. They found it difficult to have freedom and make choices."

Ray and co-researcher Cheryl Forchuk, a UWO nursing professor, presented their preliminary findings at a military forum in Kingston, Ont., in the fall.

"As far as we know, it is the first study looking at homeless vets in Canada," Ray said.

Based on interviews with 32 homeless vets in London, Ont., and Toronto, the research found:

-- The average age is 52, with the youngest 30 and the oldest 87. The average time spent homeless was six years; the most was 32.

-- The average delay between release from the military to becoming homeless was 24 years, but the range was from two years to 64.

-- Many vets said they learned to drink in the military and alcoholism fuelled a downward spiral.

-- Many also said there was little help available to them after they left.

-- Many were frustrated with long and sometimes futile fights with the government over pensions.

-- Homeless vets recommended Veterans Affairs do a better job identifying early signs of problems, such as alcoholism, and of following up with soldiers once they leave the military.

One of the more unusual findings -- few of the homeless vets had been deployed overseas.

Ray suspects combat vets suffering from trauma are more easily spotted and helped through agencies set up specifically for them, such as the Operational Stress Injury Clinics established in Canada over the past decade.

Many vets she surveyed left the military after serving in Canada and without showing outward signs of problems.

After years of bouncing from job to job, perhaps supported at times by family, their growing depression, anxiety or other illnesses grew too large to handle.

"It can be several years before supports start to fall away," she said.

Canadian vets have to battle military tradition surrounding discharges, said UWO military historian Jonathan Vance.

"The moment of disclosing a problem is when you leave. If you develop something after, too bad."

Military culture imbues vets with the belief problems that surface afterward are probably their own doing, Vance said.

"They start to think, maybe it had nothing to do with the service. It becomes even harder to take the step to go back to the military for help."

Pride also plays a factor, Ray and Forchuk found.

It took them months to find homeless vets in this region. They're extending their research, funded by the federal government, to British Columbia.

It's difficult to gauge the number of homeless vets in Canada.

In the U.S., vets make up one in four homeless people but account for only 11% of the general adult population, Ray said.

She and Forchuk hope to have the research done by March and will later make recommendations to Veterans Affairs.

Their troubles finding homeless vets came as no surprise to Art Scadden, the Royal Canadian Legion's regional commander for the London, Ont., area.

"Veterans are proud. They don't want to admit they are homeless."

The legion has tried for decades to help homeless vets, but has had difficulty reaching them, he said.

"Unless you know somebody who knows somebody, you just can't find them."

source -> http://www.ottawasun.com/news/
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voir -> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_de_stress_post-traumatique