![]() ![]() Let's start by determining what a typical person would see when looking at electromagnetic radiation of a single frequency. Once the visual information leaves the eye, basic physics ends and neurocognition takes over.Ĭolor is determined first by frequency. I don't feel qualified to say much about that end of this process. The neurons of the brain are probably best thought of as wetware - a fusion of hardware and software or maybe something completely different. The brain is not like a computer with fixed hardware of transistors and capacitors executing some sort of software code. They eye is very much like a camera, but the brain is not at all like a video recorder. Here's where the biology kicks in, or maybe it's the psychology, or maybe it's both. This signal is processed by the part of the brain near the back of the skull (called the occipital lobe). Light falls on specialized receptor cells (called cones) at the back of the eye (called the retina) and a signal is sent to the brain along a neural pathway (called the optic nerve). Our perception of color is not an objective measure of anything about the light that enters our eyes, but it correlates pretty well with objective reality.Ĭolor is determined first by frequency and then by how those frequencies are combined or mixed when they reach they eye. Spectral power distributions exist in the physical world, but color exists only in the mind of the beholder. Objects don't have a color, they give off light that appears to be a color. She added that the department "is working hard to encourage servicemembers and their families to seek care for PTSD by reducing the stigma and urging them to seek professional care.Color is a function of the human visual system, and is not an intrinsic property. Servicemembers diagnosed with PTSD "still warrant appropriate medical care and disability compensation" even though they're not eligible for the Purple Heart, Lainez said. Historically, the Purple Heart has never been awarded for mental disorders or psychological conditions resulting from witnessing or experiencing traumatic combat events - for example, combat stress reaction, 'shell-shock,' combat stress fatigue, acute stress disorder, or PTSD.Current medical knowledge and technologies do not establish PTSD as objectively and routinely as would be required for this award at this time.Several members could witness the same traumatic event, for instance, but only those who suffer from PTSD would receive the Purple Heart. The requirement that a qualifying Purple Heart wound be caused by "an outside force or agent" provides a fairly objective assessment standard that minimizes disparate treatment between servicemembers.PTSD is specifically listed as not justifying award of the Purple Heart in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations.Based on the definition of a wound - "an injury to any part of the body from an outside force or agent" - other Purple Heart award criteria, and 76 years of precedent, the Purple Heart has been limited to physical, not psychological, wounds.Other factors that resulted in the advisory group's findings are: "The Purple Heart recognizes those individuals wounded to a degree that requires treatment by a medical officer in action with the enemy or as the result of enemy action where the intended effect of a specific enemy action is to kill or injure the servicemember," she continued. Lainez explained that "PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event." It is not, she said, "a wound intentionally caused by the enemy from an outside force or agent."īy that definition, PTSD sufferers do not qualify for the Purple Heart, she said. ![]() The group is composed of awards experts from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the military departments, the Institute of Heraldry, and the Center for Military History, Lainez said. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, conferred with the Pentagon Awards Advisory Group, which researched the matter. The decision was reached in November when David S.C. "The Defense Department has determined that based on current Purple Heart criteria, PTSD is not a qualifying Purple Heart wound," department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said today. WASHINGTON - After months of evaluating the criteria, Defense Department officials have decided against the notion of awarding the Purple Heart to military members who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. ![]()
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