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anxiety, behavioral health, consumer power, empowerment, health care, health care reform, healthcare, Howard Schultz, mental health, mental illness, stress, well being
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz recently announced that he is donating $30 million to help U.S. veterans. The bulk of that endowment will be used to fund brain trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) solution research.
PTSD is a behavioral condition triggered by witnessing a frightening event, or by experiencing chaos first hand. During the moment, the human body will naturally respond with a fight-or-flight response. However individuals suffering from PTSD can have damaged reactions to reality and may feel stressed or scared even when there is no danger.
The mental health disorder is extremely common in both the general population and in returning military veterans. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately seven to eight percent of people suffer from PTSD, while 30 percent of Vietnam veterans, 10 percent of Gulf War Veterans and 11 to 20 percent of Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffer from the condition.
PTSD can manifest and appear in several ways. The National Institute on Mental Health has organized the symptoms into three categories that include re-experiencing the initial trauma, avoiding engaging in life and hyper arousal symptoms.
The latest move from Starbucks progressive CEO will help provide returning troops with the treatment and understanding they deserve. Schultz told CBS news “…we’re going to fund the opportunity for significant research and for medical practitioners and science to understand the disease and, ultimately, hopefully, come up with some — a level of remedy.”
It was a trip to Walter Reed Hospital that forced him to realize that was not enough. Of that visit, socially conscious Schultz said, “I was not mentally prepared, or emotionally prepared, for what we saw [there].”
Starbucks commitment to the country’s military began when Starbucks launched an initiative to hire veterans and spouses of active military over a five-year period.
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Posted by Frank R. Harrison | Filed under News