Essay On Military Veterans

There are three variations of post-traumatic stress disorder: acute, chronic and delayed onset. In acute PTSD, symptoms last less than 3 months. If symptoms last either 3 months or greater it is classified at chronic PTSD (“Posttraumatic Stress,” 2001). Delayed onset PTSD, symptoms first appear at least 6 months after the

Psychological Analysis. When an individual is diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), multiple criteria must be addressed which I will elaborate in the document. When Mr. Wertz was deployed to Iraq in the infantry division, he witnessed the death of a comrade and in his second deployment he had many mortar attacks fulfilling criterion A of PTSD. Conclusively, there was a presence of a trauma while in the army when Mr. Wertz witnessed the death of soldiers in his division. Mr. Wertz recounts having nightmares about his combat. The nightmares are described as reoccurring for the duration of two months. The dream described is Mr. Wertz and his unit being barricaded in a house and being fired at directly;

With the traumatic events causing PTSD come the reactions people will experience after a traumatic event. Nightmares associated with the incident, flashbacks, problems with sleep, and being jumpy are just some of the reactions people will have associated with their incident. The reactions will vary from one person to another and may not even be noticed until several months after a person returns from war. "Some go through a

PTSD takes many forms and arise immediately after the experience or even decades later” according to goodtherapy.org, a website about therapeutic treatments.

Using the diagnostic algorithm discussed in class as a guide, explain how you would arrive at a diagnosis of PTSD based on the clinical data in the case example. Be sure to justify the ways in which the client meets all of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and provide information about how you would go about elaborating on your diagnosis according to this model.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that causes anxiety and distress due to an extremely terrifying event. PTSD occurs in people who have experienced an event that is life-threatening, terrifying to include seeing someone they personally know or don’t know endure death (Kalat, 2013, p. 383). Recently the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) has seen significant rises in diagnosing and treating PTSD sufferers in returning combat soldier from Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the National Center for PTSD out of 100 veterans 20 are likely to return with PTSD symptoms (Veterans Affairs Administration, 2010). This is out of the roughly two million soldiers that have fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan war. It is noteworthy that

It may be that certain experiences, situations or people trigger flashbacks or other symptoms. These might include specific reminders of past trauma such as smells, sounds, words or a particular type of book or film.

It is also estimated that approximately twenty percent of these people progress and develop PTSD. One out of every nine women are diagnosed with PTSD which makes them about twice as likely as men to suffer the effects. Prior to PTSD being a clinically diagnosed disorder, our military personnel returning from various wars throughout history were said to be suffering from “shell shock”. Soldiers experiencing this displayed behavior related to having difficulty adjusting the life after combat. The first-time PTSD was identified as a disorder was the result of the Vietnam War. Our soldiers were finally diagnosed correctly and the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was first spoken. Currently, mental health providers such as psychiatrists and psychologists can attempt to understand people’s response to these traumatic events and help them recover from the impact of the trauma. Although the disorder must be diagnosed by a mental health professional, symptoms of PTSD are clearly defined. To be diagnosed with PTSD, you must have been in a situation in which placed you at risk for death, serious injury, or sexual violation. Traumatic, life-threatening events leading to PTSD must have been witnessed or experienced in person, and not through media, pictures, television or

Some experiences, like the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, can also cause PTSD. Symptoms usually begin early, within 3 months of the traumatic incident, but sometimes they begin years afterward. To be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have at least one reexperiencing symptom, one avoidance symptom, two arousal and reactivity symptoms, or two cognition and mood symptoms. A few examples of re-experiencing symptoms would include flashbacks, bad dreams, and frightening thoughts. These symptoms can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings and may cause problems in a person’s everyday routine. Signs of avoidance symptoms could be staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the experience, and avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the traumatic event. For example, if someone were to witness or be involved in the event of a robbery, they might try to stay away from that store because they don’t want to have to be reminded of the memory. Arousal and reactivity symptoms include being easily startled, feeling tense or “on edge,” having difficulty sleeping, and having angry outbursts. These symptoms will constantly remind the person of the event, and may make it hard for them to sleep, eat, or concentrate during their daily life. Cognition and mood symptoms can make the person feel alienated or detached from friends or family members. They can cause people to lose interest in

PTSD can affect all kinds of people in many different situations. People who have repeatedly experienced severe neglect or abuse as an adult or as a child, severe repeated violence or abuse as an adult, such as torture or abusive imprisonment and even police, fire fighters or ambulance workers are also likely to suffer from PTSD as they often have to deal with horrifying scenes. The most common person suffering from PTSD are soldiers returning from war that may have been be shot at or blown up, and most likely has seen friends killed or injured. People who suffer from this illness usually can show symptoms immediately or as soon as weeks to a few months from the traumatic event that happened.

There are distinct symptoms that people with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome exhibit. These symptoms are reoccurring over a certain amount of time. (Placeholder1) These symptoms are often broken down into three separate groups. The first group is classified as flashbacks. (Placeholder1) Flashbacks involve a person reliving their tragic experience or event over and over. (Placeholder1) Symptoms of flashbacks also include one’s heart racing, swelling, bad dreams or nightmares. (Placeholder3) Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome patients have scary thoughts of certain objects or situations, which trigger them to reexperience the event. (Placeholder3) The second category is called avoidance symptoms. This would be when the person stays away from things that remind them of the tragedy they experienced.

As such, healthcare practitioners should be careful during the process of assessing a patient to ascertain whether the symptoms are characteristic of complex PTSD or PTSD and a personality disorder co-occurring. The sufferer may have thinking and talking difficulties concerning trauma-related topics since trauma-associated feelings are often overwhelming. Moreover, the sufferers may engage in self-mutilation as well as other forms of self-harm in addition to indulging in alcohol and substance abuse as a way of numbing the feelings resulting from the trauma. The survivors may mistakenly be seen as having a weak character due to trauma from repeated

T. Stecker, J. Fortney, F. Hamilton, and I. Ajzen, 2007, address that mental health symptoms have the likelihood to increase within post deployment for military veterans, especially for the ones who have seen combat. An estimated quarter of recent war veterans who are currently receiving care in the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Health Care System have reported mental health problems. Soldiers who have served in Iraq come home suffering from depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Statistics of Iraq soldiers meeting the criteria for depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is greater than the soldiers who served in Afghanistan. The mental health symptom rates for soldiers who served in Iraq were as high as 20% for PTSD, 18% for anxiety, and 15% for depression.

Through history further and further studies are ongoing into the unseen horror. Some say it is caused directly in relation to combat; others may say that it is from the images seen. In the book Redeployment by Phil Klay, he develops several stories from fictitious Marine Corps veterans that represent veterans one may encounter in the real world. Phil Klay’s book contains stories of relationships at home falling apart all the way to the high stress of patrols as Marines. With these stories it better shows the unseen horrors of war. Many veterans return home with a serious disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the by-product of war, and people need to know more about it to help our returning hero’s.

I also hope to show the damaging effects that patients may suffer as a result of this disorder. Such individuals are often doubly handicapped. John Doe has shown what an honor it is to have the opportunity to save other person’s lives, but it has also proven that it has lasting effects as it often leads to PTSD which has caused him to have a difficult time assimilating in his daily live after the war. He is just an example of one of many veterans who return to their loved ones with a psychological trauma and they could never return to be the person they used to be. It is important that we limit the number of soldiers that are deployed to war as most do not volunteer for it and the effects that come along with it. However, I believe that with treatment, John Doe will have a better relationship with his family and friends and he will resume his life without