Hearing voices….
It was an odd case for sure a National Guard soldier goes to the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital seeking help, saying he is “hearing voices” and “feeling clairvoyant”, expecting to be admitted, instead he was denied help and was shuffled out the door.
His doctor in this case concludes the man, identified later as Blake Uddin was suffering from “”an acute, significant, psychotic break.” Then after a two-hour exam, doctors said he was not a threat to himself or others, even though they called his Guard unit and suggested he not be allowed around weapons?
He was told to come back the following week.
Hearing voices?
Uddin, was born in St. Louis Park and grew up in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, joined the Wisconsin National Guard after high school. “I wanted to be a member of a team — an elite organization.”After completing basic training Uddin was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2010, when he worked “maintaining communications equipment.” When interviewed Uddin doesn’t believe his experiences in “a combat zone contributed to his problem”, and he has not been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Instead, in the weeks before he went to the VA for help, he felt increasingly anxious from two weeks of missed classes. He had just returned from an intensive eight-week language course in California and was facing a weekend of Guard drills and three weeks of make-up Guard duty.
On that fateful August Friday, Uddin said he packed a bag, sure he “would be admitted” to hospital, and sat for hours in the parking lot of the Minneapolis VA, worried how seeking mental help adversely affect his military career.
Uddin was later asked if he was feeling suicidal. “No,” he would tell a doctor. “But I didn’t want it to get to that point.”
By all indication Uddin did the right thing.
“The veteran did not want medication fearing that it would negatively impact his professional [military] standing,” the VA’s notes said. The visit lasted from 4 p.m. until 6:12 p.m.
Uddin reported to the armory in Eau Claire on Monday.
Still unable to sleep that night, scared something was going to happen to him.
That’s when things get fuzzy.
He remembers making coffee at his apartment.
He would tell doctors he believed “agents were coming for him because he had lied on a security application.” The voices told him he was “going to be raped as punishment”, another voice instructed him to “run.”
And ran he did, as if trying to escape something.
According to various reports, Uddin went crazy.
“Bypassing” the ease of his front door, he climbed out the window of his Inver Grove Heights apartment, ran past his own car and headed toward the parking lot of the Inver Hills Community College. He remembers getting into a car and driving.He had actually tried to steal two cars in the parking lot that morning. But one driver accelerated and Uddin kept hanging on to the car as he drove away. A woman putting her books in her backseat looked up to see Uddin sitting in the driver’s seat.” He told her: “I had to do this.” The choice was not his own? Minutes later, Uddin pulled her car onto the side of Hwy 52. Video shows his next frantic two minutes as he grabs at several passing cars in the northbound lane, then hops the median, running in front of four oncoming cars before stepping in front of the slowing semi. Uddin then jumps back into the center lane, where a van, swerving to try not to hit him, knocks him 50 feet. He broke several ribs and his right shoulder” (see: Vet Heard Voices, Sought Help, and Was Turned Away http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/147459825.html).
COURT WILL DECIDE IF VA AT FAULT
The matter is being litigated in a court of law as we speak according to the Military.com article and seems to be a failure on the part of the VA for not treating him properly when he tried to self admit himself in the hospital. Instead he was turned away. “It is somewhat perplexing to this examiner that more consideration was not given to an inpatient plan or more time devoted towards helping the defendant understand the advantages of taking anti-psychotic medication that evening,” Boswell wrote in a 24-page evaluation. “If Mr. Uddin had been started on appropriate medication, the events of 8/23/11 would likely have been attenuated, if not prevented.”
John Baker, Uddin’s attorney in the criminal case, said Uddin’s situation is similar to the 2007 suicide of Iraq war veteran Jonathan Schulze, which prompted criticism of the St. Cloud and Minneapolis VA. Schulze’s death initiated reforms in the VA’s suicide prevention programs.
“If you peel away the layers, nothing has really changed,” Baker said.
A month after Uddin’s incident, Dr. Charles Dean, a psychiatrist at the VA who saw Uddin that initial Friday, wrote an addendum to the original report.
While Uddin “seemed a bit irritable at times” and was hearing voices, the doctor said there was no signs of “conceptual disorganization” or suicidal behavior.
Most likely Uddin will be discharged from the military but other questions remain.
WAS HE TELLING THE TRUTH?
For example was Uddin telling the truth about hearing voices and being clairvoyant? Some suggest he was telling the truth, since he was not judged to be “crazy” or suicidal at the time he was first evaluated by VA doctors.
A case of “demonic possession?” What Uddin describes is not uncommon to people who are demon possessed.
Modern western psychology and psychiatry do not consider demonic possession to be a clinical reality. However, more enlightened practitioners and researchers now feel that certain types of psychosis (such as schizophrenia), or any sudden or radical change in behavior, can be signs of spirit possession.
Signs of Spirit Possession
Any or a combination of the following behavior pattern is indicative of spirit or demonic possession. Number one on that list is “hearing voices”:
“1. Hearing voices directing the person to perform acts he may not have considered doing. “
(see article: Spirit Possession And How To Avoid It http://www.rense.com/general15/spiritpossession.htm).
See also: “Psychic or Schizophrenic” https://sites.google.com/site/hopefrombeyond/psychic-or-schizophrenic
“Once a person realizes that they possess clairvoyant skills they will often wonder who is in control, themselves or the spirits. They should understand that clairvoyance neither involves, nor is dependent, on any outside assistance or intervention, whether it is from the spirit world or this earthly world”, according to the Para Nexus Anomalous Research Foundation website.
See also Schizophrenia Forum – Can This Actually Be Demonic Possession? ehealthforum.com › Mental Health › Schizophrenia Forum
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS REMAIN
In this case it’s very hard to tell and opinions vary on the subject.
The fact is we can’t say for certain the soldier was possessed at the time of the incident but it is strange nonetheless.