Combat stress is topic of international conference starting tomorrow
U-T San Diego – May 14, 2014
By Linda McIntosh
CARLSBAD — An international conference on combat stress and the connection between military suicide and psychiatric drugs starts May 14 and runs through May 18 at Tri-City Wellness Center in Carlsbad.
“From the Battlefield to the Neighborhood” is the theme of the 21st International Military & Civilian Combat Stress Conference.
The event features the San Diego premiere of the documentary “The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert Agenda.” The film looks at the growing rate of military suicides and the increase in use of drugs prescribed by psychiatrists. The documentary, produced by the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights International, a Los-Angeles-based nonprofit mental health watchdog, features interviews with 80 service members and experts.
Keynote speakers include Congressman Scott Peters and retired Army Col. Bart Billings, a clinical psychologist and founder of the International Military & Civilian Combat Stress Conference.
“We’ve been doing this conference for 20 years and it is the longest such conference around,” Billings said.
Billings cites that 23 soldiers and veterans are committing suicide each day. Many of the medications service members are taking have known side effects such as increased aggression and suicidal thinking.
“In the documentary troops talk about their experiences taking medications both on the battlefield and on the homefront,” Billings said.
The 1 hour and 45 min. film will be screened 6 p.m. May 16 at the Tri-City Wellness Center, 6250 El Camino Real. Free to the public. A reception with the film’s producer and director will be held before the screening.
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http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/may/13/military-suicide-drugs-combat-stress-conference/
Watch Chapter 7 of the Hidden Enemy documentary, “Epidemic: Suicide” here:
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