Nous avons eu notre attention attir\u00e9e par un texte de Paul Woodward, sur son site War in Context<\/em>, le 13 f\u00e9vrier 2011<\/a>. Woodward y signalait un long reportage de Jennifer Senior, dans le New York Magazine<\/em> du 6 f\u00e9vrier 2011<\/a>, sur la crise psychologique \u00e9pouvantable o\u00f9 se trouve plong\u00e9e l’U.S. Army. Le titre lui-m\u00eame vaut citation, puisqu’il parle d’une guerre caract\u00e9ris\u00e9e par une multitude de m\u00e9dicaments pour traiter les affections psychologiques : \u00abThe Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Effexor, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan, Restoril, Xanax, Adderall, Ritalin, Haldol, Risperdal, Seroquel, Ambien, Lunesta, Elavil, Trazodone War<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tIl s’agit d’une description sans complaisance de cette crise psychologique, qui se traduit par des pathologies psychologiques innombrables, des taux de suicide extr\u00eamement \u00e9lev\u00e9s. Il s’agit du constat d\u00e9sormais fameux selon lequel, en raison du nombre de suicides et de morts caus\u00e9es en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral par les d\u00e9sordres psychologiques, les guerres ext\u00e9rieures que m\u00e8nent les USA conduisent \u00e0 un nombre de morts plus \u00e9lev\u00e9 du fait de l’action des soldats d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9s contre eux-m\u00eames, que du fait de l’action de l’ennemi. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abEven at the lowest point of the Global War on Terrorin April 2004, say, when the number of casualties was spinning out of control and it looked like there was no end in sightmorale among our troops ran fairly high. Yet today, with casualties tapering and a slightly improved prognosis for stability, our troops, by every conceivable external measure, are falling apart. Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars make up a disproportionate number of the jobless; the Army’s divorce rate, which used to be lower than the civilian population’s, has surpassed it and is higher still among those who’ve deployed. A spokesman at Fort Drum, home to the 10th Mountain Division here in New York State, tells me by e-mail that one-quarter of its 20,000 soldiers have received some type of behavioral health evaluation and\/or treatment during the past year. Defense Department spending on Ambien, a popular sleep aid, and Seroquel, an antipsychotic, has doubled since 2007, according to the Army Times, while spending on Topamax, an anti-convulsant medication often used for migraines, quadrupled; amphetamine prescriptions have doubled, too, according to the Army’s own data. Meanwhile, a study by the Rand Corporation has found that 20 percent of the soldiers who’ve deployed in this war report symptoms of post-traumatic stress and major depression.The number climbs to almost 30 percent if the soldiers have deployed more than twice.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbI feel like people with my symptoms are becoming the majority of the Army, says a major from the New York area who recently started taking Effexor, an antidepressant, and a variety of sleep meds after a second tour in Iraq. Feeling anxious when you don’t have a reason to, being a little depressed, having low-grade anhedonia, not sleeping wellthis is the new normal for those of us who’ve been repeatedly deployed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe Army’s own research confirms that drug and alcohol abuse, disciplinary infractions, and criminal activity are increasing among active-duty service members. Most ominously, a growing number of soldiers can’t handle the strains of war at all. Until three years ago, the suicide rate of the Army, the branch with by far the most men and women in this war, was actually lower than the American population’sa testament to the hardiness of our troops, given that young men with weapons are, at least as a statistical matter, disproportionately prone to suicide. But in 2008, the Army suicide rate surpassed that of the civilian population’s, and the Marines’ surpassed it shortly thereafter. So grim is the problem that this summer, the Army released a remarkably candid suicide report. If we include accidental death, which frequently is the result of high-risk behavior (e.g., drinking and driving, drug overdose), it concluded, we find that less young men and women die in combat than die by their own actions. Simply stated, we are often more dangerous to ourselves than the enemy.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbIn other words, nearly as many soldiers are dying at home today as are dying abroad.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbFor most of the past decade, the Army has downplayed the collateral damage this war has had on our soldiers’ nerves. Until The Nation brought the practice to light last spring, the Army sometimes assigned the label of personality disorder to those suffering from post-traumatic stress, often rendering them ineligible for disability; Warrior Transition Units have continually earned harsh scrutiny, most recently from the Army’s inspector general himself. Under the direction of Peter W. Chiarelli, the four-star general and vice-chief of staff, the Army has at least made an effort to lend some transparency to its troubles and to address them more aggressively. The problem is that the Army woke up to its mental-health crisis quite late, and the more closely Chiarelli looks into the issue, the more confounding it seems to be to solve.<\/em> []<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bb… The Guard and Reserve, that’s the population I’m really scared of, Chiarelli says. I’ve got 45 more suicides in the National Guard this year than last year. Forty-five. And in fact, the Army would later release data saying the number of suicides from the National Guard and Reserve nearly doubled between 2009 and 2010.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbFeelings of idleness and inutility aren’t unique to the home front, of course. They can also descend on a soldier while he or she is still in theater. Platoni notes that she spent the last quarter of her most recent tour on a quiet installation in northern Afghanistan, where the soldiers saw little combat. She suspects that’s precisely why she saw so much of them. Monotony, boredom, a lack of value and meaning and purpose to your missionthese are factors, she says. Especially that loss of a sense of purpose: What am I doing here? I’m not suffering like my buddies in the south. There’s a tremendous feeling of guilt.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbIt’s an agonizing paradox, but one that many mental-health professionals now entertain: Our troops may be in such horrible distress right now because the operational tempo of this war has slowed down, and they’re fightingdoingless.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tLes phrases de conclusion du rapport de l’U.S. Army qui est cit\u00e9 dans cet extrait sont particuli\u00e8rement remarquables, notamment la derni\u00e8re que nous soulignons en gras : \u00abIf we include accidental death, which frequently is the result of high-risk behavior (e.g., drinking and driving, drug overdose), we find that less young men and women die in combat than die by their own actions.<\/em> Simply stated, we are often more dangerous to ourselves than the enemy.<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb A cela, on ajoutera les constats que la crise s’est brutalement aggrav\u00e9e depuis les ann\u00e9es 2008-2009 et qu’elle est particuli\u00e8rement intense, notamment dans les zones o\u00f9 les combats sont peu intenses.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tOn est ainsi conduits \u00e0 remarquer qu’il y a eu une \u00e9volution, sinon une rupture, par rapport \u00e0 la crise psychologique<\/a> des ann\u00e9es 2003-2007 chez les militaires US, notamment et singuli\u00e8rement li\u00e9e \u00e0 la violence et aux conditions des combats en Irak. Il semble que l’aggravation de la crise n’ait pas de rapport avec la violence, et m\u00eame au contraire. La phrase que nous avons soulign\u00e9e (\u00abSimply stated, we are often more dangerous to ourselves than the enemy<\/em><\/strong>\u00bb) pourrait alors \u00eatre lue selon une signification double, ou deux significations compl\u00e9mentaires avec un prolongement particuli\u00e8rement r\u00e9v\u00e9lateur. Cette phrase d\u00e9signe effectivement un fait incontestable mais, de fa\u00e7on bien plus significative et r\u00e9v\u00e9latrice, elle d\u00e9crit l’action g\u00e9n\u00e9rale du Syst\u00e8me sur ceux qui le servent, dans les conditions o\u00f9 ils le servent. On observe en effet que les psychologies sont atteintes et rendues malades par le fait des situations impos\u00e9es par les actions g\u00e9n\u00e9rales qui sont entreprises par le Syst\u00e8me, par le climat psychologique qu’installent ces situations, par la perception, consciente ou inconsciente (et plut\u00f4t inconsciente, sans doute), qu’ont les soldats de ce climat et de ces situations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tOn conna\u00eet bien entendu les conditions g\u00e9n\u00e9rales de ces guerres, leurs asym\u00e9tries diverses, techniques et tactiques certes, mais aussi culturelles, politiques et morales, et ces asym\u00e9tries particuli\u00e8rement impos\u00e9es et cultiv\u00e9es par les USA, dont l’absence de sens culturel par rapport au reste est bien connu. Ces conditions se sont aggrav\u00e9es naturellement avec la dissolution progressive de la narrative<\/em> sur la Guerre contre la Terreur. Pour ces soldats de cet am\u00e9ricanisme qui constitue le cur du Syst\u00e8me, ces guerres sont d\u00e9sormais per\u00e7ues confus\u00e9ment, sinon inconsciemment, par leur psychologie m\u00eame, comme n’ayant aucun sens, aucune l\u00e9gitimit\u00e9, \u00e0 la fois guerres insens\u00e9es et guerres sans fin, \u00e0 la fois guerres indignes et guerres injustes, etc. M\u00eame si elles ne font na\u00eetre aucune culpabilit\u00e9 directe chez les soldats, elles cr\u00e9ent des malaises psychologiques d’autant plus profonds que la cause de ces malaise reste souvent non identifi\u00e9. On voit que ce qu’on nomme vaguement l’innocence am\u00e9ricaniste, et qui est plut\u00f4t le trait psychologique de l’inculpabilit\u00e9<\/a>, comprend des revers terribles pour l’\u00e9quilibre psychologique ; en effet, comment supporter l’absence de culpabilit\u00e9 devant des situations aussi compl\u00e8tement d\u00e9structurantes et d\u00e9vastatrices, arbitraires et cruelles, o\u00f9 l’on est partie prenante volens nolens<\/em>, y compris dans leur d\u00e9clenchement ?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tOn en arrive ainsi au constat que, m\u00eame \u00e0 ce niveau des combats ou des situations militaires les plus communes, le Syst\u00e8me se montre compl\u00e8tement autodestructeur. Il met ceux qui le servent, ou qui sont oblig\u00e9s de le servir, dans des situations psychologiques d’extr\u00eame vuln\u00e9rabilit\u00e9, transform\u00e9e rapidement en pathologies, jusqu’\u00e0 l’autodestruction individuelle (le suicide). Le paradoxe est que toutes ces forces, ces troupes, etc., sont particuli\u00e8rement bien \u00e9quip\u00e9es, bien prot\u00e9g\u00e9es, etc., et que c’est souvent cette impunit\u00e9 qui entretient la crise de l’inculpabilit\u00e9 et contribue d\u00e9cisivement \u00e0 la vuln\u00e9rabilit\u00e9 psychologique puis \u00e0 la pathologie.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \tMis en ligne le 14 f\u00e9vrier 2011 \u00e0 16H36<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nous avons eu notre attention attir\u00e9e par un texte de Paul Woodward, sur son site War in Context, le 13 f\u00e9vrier 2011. Woodward y signalait un long reportage de Jennifer Senior, dans le New York Magazine du 6 f\u00e9vrier 2011, sur la crise psychologique \u00e9pouvantable o\u00f9 se trouve plong\u00e9e l’U.S. Army. Le titre lui-m\u00eame vaut… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3289,3634,4280,3099,3741,5491,2671,6532],"class_list":["post-72757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloc-notes","tag-army","tag-inculpabilite","tag-pathologie","tag-psychologie","tag-psychologique","tag-suicide","tag-us","tag-vulnerabilite"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.dedefensa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}