Military Families Face Challenges

Military families live all across the United States and more than likely you know at least one or you, yourself, are actually a military family. In the excerpt from “Military Children and Families” by Nansook Park, Park argues that greater attention needs to be established by psychologists towards military families in order to implement more effective programs to help support military families. To support her argument, Nansook Park uses an effective amount of pathos and logos, citing credible psychological studies and along with pathos and logos, she uses ethos as well.

This article left me wondering what other ways military families could cope with psychological effects of deployment aside from those already

Military life can be a big amount of stress for children. There is multiple deployments where they go through long separations from their parents. Children even could experience a parent getting injured or possibly a death. That all is the reality for children who has a parent in the active duty military(website 1). There is such a huge impact on children’s mental health and high rates of trauma from them experiencing their parents going on deployments. More than two million American children have had a parent deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. At least 19,000 children have had a parent wounded in action and over 2,200 children have lost a parent in Iraq or Afghanistan(website 1). After all of this occurring in their lives, it then causes a huge change in the child. These changes are lashing out in anger, changes in school performance,

Military service members who are and have been deployed to the middle east show high levels of emotional distress and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both active duty and reserve component soldiers who have experienced combat have been exposed to high levels of traumatic stress. As a consequence, many have gone on to develop a wide range of mental health problems such as PTSD. “According to researchers, PTSD is a long-term reaction to war-zone exposure that can last up to a few minutes, hours, several weeks, and for some a lifetime.” Common symptoms include: emotional numbing, anxiety, feelings of guilt, and depression. If the disorder turns chronic veterans may experience functional impairment (Friedman, M. J. et al., 1994, p.

The family environment impacts the health of each member. Studies have found that there are poor health outcomes for children (including depression, poor development, higher rates of illness, lower academic performance, and cardiovascular and neuroendocrine disruption) were linked to a stressful environment (Ray). Secondary Traumatic Stress can occur among the individual(s) caring for the person who has been traumatized is affected by the traumatic experience (Stahl 37). The older children tend to be more affected by the veteran’s new behavior and worry about themselves, blame and feel responsible, and may often mourn the person the veteran once was (Ray). No treatment for the parents can lead to the possibility of the child experiencing psychopathology when compared to a normal population. Both parent and child are becoming emotionally numb and aren’t communicating so the relationship shatters. A stressful home means a stressful veteran who doesn’t to want participate in the world and will result in poor treatment outcomes. Just by misdiagnosing a veteran with the wrong condition can lead to a huge mess of problems. Therefore, it is clear to see that the VA should do some reform on their policies and medical diagnosis procedures to ensure that the veterans do end up on the wrong path to

War creates a great amount of stress on families that go beyond the regular struggles that occur in every day family life. When a family member is deployed to a war, no one is left unaffected. Just as the soldiers themselves go into the war unaware of what effects it will cause neither does their families. War instills vulnerability throughout families as it is not certain that the enlisted family member will return home again. Robert Ross from Timothy Findley’s

A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that children from military families have a higher risk of social, emotional and behavioral problems such as anxiety, depression and suicide ideation. Other reports have shown that military families also have a high rates of domestic violence, child abuse and spousal abuse. The immense strains and pressures of the military lifestyle create inconsistencies in the lives of military families that are often overlooked by those considering joining the military. Over the years the U.S government and other organizations have been doing ample research into family health in the military and effectively identifying and addressing critical issues that are faced by military families. Speaking from

Long absences can very often lead to complications in marriages and in relationships with children. Soldiers can miss very important moments because of a war, such as holidays and birthdays. The parent who is not at war also has to take on all of the responsibilities for home, children, and finance while their significant other is deployed. In addition to this, the parent who is left behind often finds themselves dealing with a change in behavior from their children, which is very likely a result from their other parent’s long absence. Many returning veterans blame the complications in their lives after their life in the military on their time deployed. It may seem insignificant, but this is a big reason why military force has an impact on the everyday lives of Americans who do not even serve for a military branch.

PTSD does not just affect the person who has it but can also affect the people around them such as their friends and family. The physical and psychological injuries experienced by soldiers can be passed to family members as separate psychological injuries. This phenomenon is commonly described as secondary victimization and secondary traumatic stress. PTSD can affect the family members of the veteran families or cause issues in numerous ways. Some of these, but not limited to are the relationship of couples, parenting and child development. The findings from studies indicate that war veterans tend to both develop and use more unhealthy styles of communication with family and friends, are less interested, and are less involved in their families’ lives. The fact that they start to be less interested in things, them developing bad or unhealthy communication

Intro: There are almost two and a half million Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF ), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) veterans in the United States (DoD, 2014). Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are signature wounds of these military operations, and are commonly referred to as “invisible wounds of war” (Tanielian et al 2008, from bello have another?-). OEF, OIF, and OND consisted of the longest and most frequent deployments in U.S. History with forty-eight percent of veterans having served at least two deployments (DoD, 2013). Children’s and non-deployed parent’s ability to cope and adapt to the deployment decreases as the length and frequency of deployments increase (Chandra, Martin, Hawkins, & Richardson, 2010; Lester et al., 2010). Children 's and partner 's stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression increase as the length of their loved one 's deployment increases (Gorman, Blow, Ames, & Reed, 2011; Mansfield, Kaufman, Engel, & Gaynes, 2011; Lester et al, 2010). Support from within the military branches, Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, extended family, health care providers, schools, and other social infrastructues/institutions within the community is critical for healthy family functioning and the future of military-connected children (MC).

The direct effects of mental illnesses additionally represent an extensive, and frequently unanticipated, caregiver obligation. The effects of post-combat mental and cognitive conditions inevitably extend beyond the affected service member. As they try to continue with life, their injuries can wear down those with whom they interact, and those closest to the service member are likely to be the most extremely affected. There is an expansive scope of negative outcomes that post-combat mental disorders have had on the families of service members returning from conflicts. The brunt of the burden of service members with mental illness happens to fall on the people who are close to the individual, usually their spouses.

Military children are in a league of their own, and at very young ages are thrown into situations of great stress. Approximately 1.2 million children live in the U.S. Military families (Kelly. 2003) and at least 700,000 of them have had at least one parent deployed (Johnson et al. 2007). Every child handles a deployment differently, some may regress in potty training, and others may become extremely aggressive. Many different things can happen, in most cases when a parent deploys and the child becomes difficult to handle, it can cause a massive amount of stress on the parent that is not deployed as well as added stress on the parent who is deployed. There are three stages of a deployment, pre-deployment, deployment, and reintegration,

An article titled "How Deployment Stress Affects Children and Families: Research Findings" estimated that “by the end of 2008, 1.7 million American Service Members had served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF).” Each person is different. They experience and interpret situations unique to their personality that varies depending on the person, but war produces the same problems for members of the nuclear family. War creates a cloud of worry and anxiety. “Parents of [military personnel] often have misgivings (Lediaev).” These reservations and

Deployment and integration are one the greatest challenges military families and children have to face on a daily basis. When a family member deploys or reintegrates within the entire family, it not only affects the service member but it affects the entire family. Deployment can often lead to families and children, experiencing a negative mental health outcomes and compromised wellbeing. Bello (2015) found that most families and children (80.5% required less than one month to adjust to the return of their deployed parent (Bello, 2015). Accordingly, the families and children are often quick to adjust to having their family member back in the home. Interestingly, discoveries are surprising in light of the fact that when contrasted to another family, the discoveries are definitely unique. Boberiene (2014) found that three out of every four families feel that reintegration after the first three months is the most stressful phase of a deployment (Boberiene, 2014). This is because the family experiences many emotions while the member is away.

One way to accomplish this is through answering research questions related to military family life, such as “How do multiple deployments, multiple moves and other military lifestyle factors affect the development of attachment in military children?” and “What is the long-term impact on military children who have experienced multiple deployments, relocations and other life-disrupting events associated with military life?” As America continues to send service members to the Middle East in the midst of the longest military conflict in its history, gaining an understanding of the long-term impact on this generation of military children is crucial to aid in the development of programs and resources with the hope of ameliorating the challenges they have encountered. Additionally, the answers to these research questions may assist in identifying protective and risk factors and increase positive outcomes for these children as they grow into