Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Veterans

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one

“My mind is on fire as I fear that any second, another enemy round will rip into my body and finish me off” (Johnson 2). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) effects the lives of many soldiers after returning home from war. PTSD is a psychiatric condition described in the DSM-IV as, a condition that requires a specific event to have occurred as a criterion for the diagnosis. The criteria for this disorder, according to the book Combat Trauma, can include flashbacks, times where you feel as if you are reliving the traumatic event, shame or guilt, upsetting dreams about the traumatic event, trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event, feeling emotionally numb or not feeling at all, anger or irritability, poor or destructive relationships, self-destructive behavior, trouble sleeping, memory problems, hallucinations, not enjoying activities you one enjoyed and feeling as if you no longer know who is living your day-to-day life.

Due to current operations in the Middle East and the recent combat operations in the past decade, many citizens have met somebody who has experienced their share of combat related stress. When you look at somebody who has been in combat, they may look like your average person on the outside, but on the inside lays memories of the violent scenes of war torn countries. Their mental health may not be noticeably altered, but they could very well suffer from haunting memories, flashbacks, and even post-traumatic stress disorder.

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.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans has been prevalent in the United States ever since the diagnosis of shell shock after World War I. PTSD continues to be prevalent in veterans from the Vietnam War, to the Gulf War, to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among veterans during the Vietnam era was 30.9% for men and 26.9% for women (U.S. Department of Government Affairs, 2015). Based on a population study the prevalence of PTSD among previously deployed Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom was 13.8% (U.S. Department of Government Affairs, 2015). PTSD in combat veterans can be very difficult to understand. This is widely due to the lack of research

Once a soldier finishes his or her term of war and comes home for good doesn't mean they have truly returned from war. A soldier brings back home nothing but the haunting memories of war. This is the factor that continues to make living with PTSD so overwhelming. Veterans may say, "for me, there was no safe place, even my home" (Phillips, 2014). Insecurity is not the only aspect that overwhelms the mind, many other symptoms of the disease are just as horrific. "I couldn't close my eyes without envisioning the face of my attacker. I suffered horrific flashbacks and nightmares, and four years after the attack I was unable to sleep in my house alone" (Phillips, 2014). in cases like this, the effects of PTSD later find its ways to literally dictate the lives of veterans and many other victims.

1 in 8 returning soldiers suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Soon after returning home, family members start noticing a change in the soldiers. Most are in denial about having PTSD. What they need to know is that the earlier that they can get help, the better off they’ll be. With so many suffering, where are all the treatments? Even though some soldiers would abuse the treatment provided for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, American Veterans need to be provided with the proper treatment for it.

Some veterans experienced feelings of depression and distrust, and that the war impacted them negatively. PTSD is a severe emotional disorder that an individual can get after a traumatic life event they experienced, and for the veterans it was the Vietnam War. War includes witnessing terrible violence, the feeling of guilt of having to kill people and seeing your friends injured or dead, and the mixed emotions in the battlefield. In 1988, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study reported that 481,000 men and 716 women currently suffer from some degree of PTSD as a result of their experience in war, and overall 40% of Vietnam veterans have suffered from PTSD at some time of their life. In addition, it has been estimated that 900,000 Vietnam spouses and partners, and approximately 1,098,000 children are affected by their respective partner's and father's combat-related PTSD. These statistics showed that the Vietnam War extremely affected the veterans', and not in a good way. PTSD could have been very common among the veterans', because of the traumatic experiences they went through in the war. The war was not to be treated like a game. The war was a reality for the soldiers, and they could have constantly had the feeling of "I am going to die any minute now". Another issue that they developed was domestic violence. About one-third of six hundred men were reported of physically violating their partners. Their violent behaviour towards their partner/family could have also linked to PTSD. Veterans who were reported to perform domestic violence were treated with therapy to help them reduce their threatening behaviour. They either had group therapy with their family, or individual therapy. Not only was PTSD terrible for the veterans', but it was also bad for their children. Due to their children being raised in a home with their father having PTSD, the disorder could have

One of the most well known and most common mental conditions that afflict veterans is PTSD. PTSD stands for post traumatic stress disorder and is caused by having high stress levels at any given time. While anyone can get PTSD, Veterans acquire it most often due to their strict training and the horrors of war. Richard Weaver, a veteran that served as a Navy Medic for two years in Iraq shared an example of what PTSD is like. He says "I could be in a classroom here and somebody would walk past and drop a book. Well, that’s a loud “pop” sound in an echoing hallway, and I’m set off for the rest of the day. I’m looking around. I’m nervous" (“Two”). Having PTSD greatly affects everyday life for veterans. For Richard Weaver, all it took was

Whether inflicting harm on others or the harm is being done on them, it is not easy to recover from that. “Individuals with PTSD are at increased risk for depression, physical injuries, substance abuse, and sleep problems, which in turn can affect thoughts and actions. These risk factors also occur with brain injury,” (BrainLine Military). This shows that PTSD continues to affect soldiers after they get out of war. Substance abuse is a never ending cycle until they get professional help. It’s the same with PTSD; never ending until you get help. “We have been always taught not to hurt others. I know when we go to war, we're taught to kill directly. The current war, in particular, will have a profound effect on people. Because of the very nature of the directness of the killing. We're not talking about distance killing. We're not talking about a firestorm, [like the one] in Dresden that killed 200,000 in a night. We're talking about disintegrating someone in front of you. That needs to be addressed by acknowledging that it does have an affect on people. That is what it means to go to war. But, that person will [need] some support in understanding themselves better and not to have a silence about it,” (Dooley). The silence about addressing these occurrences has a dramatic effect on troops. They feel as if the military doesn’t care about how it take a mental toll on them.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, affects many of our nation’s veterans. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that in the Vietnam War, almost thirty-one percent of its veterans, when they came back to the United States, developed PTSD. In recent history, eleven percent of veterans from the Afghanistan War and twenty percent of veterans from the Iraqi War have developed PTSD after arriving back in the states. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, though brought into the light recently by veterans, is still widely unknown, mainly in what the symptoms are, diagnosis, and treatments.

Many of the veterans experience a multitude of issues linked to PTSD. Some of these can include depression, employment, increase demands on healthcare services, and social impairment. Physical health issues associated with PTSD can include respiratory, hypertension, skin, hearing and deafness, stomach, urinary and even musculoskeletal complications (Benyamini and Solomon, 2005:1271; Boscarino, 2006:253-254; Hoge, et al., 2006:1023; O’Toole and Catts, 2008:34). A number of soldiers in these studies reported an increase in substance abuse. This misuse of substances is either through alcohol, cigarettes, prescription medications, or other drugs (Benyamini and Solomon, 2005:1268; Browne et al., 2008:628; Hanwella, et al., 2014:4-6; Smith, et

The trauma that is attached to all of these sudden life changing injuries often lead back to substance abuse, alcohol abuse that is attached to a mental illness which takes a toll on a soldiers family as well. Ann Jones writes in her book, They were Soldiers: How Americas wounded come home the untold story, "Sooner or later almost every American soldier comes home on a stretcher, in a box, in an altered state of mind." As the wars in foreign countries ends, the war continues on in within our soldiers.

Mental illness is very common among men and women who serve in our military. According to American Psychiatric Association (2015), military men and women face unique challenges, including actively participating in war, being separated from their families and friends, and various other stressors that come with being deployed. These stresses can lead to anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and substance abuse following their return back home. Addition to mental health illnesses, military personnel during combat may also have encountered traumatic brain injury or multiple concussions. While few Veterans who experience traumatic brain injury do recover, others face long -term consequences that impair their physical and mental health (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015).

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a deeper mental problem than being anxious and jumpy. Veterans who have PTSD lose themselves as people. PTSD is one of the most common health issues among military personnel who served in a combat zone. When families have a loved one serving in combat zones, they fear that their soldier may not return home or will have a serious physical injury. But unlike the feared physical injuries, PTSD is not a visible wound, it is an injury of the mind. The PTSD will take a part of their loved one away, the veteran will not be at emotional or social. This disorder is an incurable mental condition caused by a traumatic event or events in person’s life. The soldiers who have PTSD have no way to get rid of