The first step in assessing a service member for MST is to evaluate if the service member has experienced any unwanted sexual attention, uninvited sexual advances, or forced sex while in the military and whether the experience continues to affect their daily life. Some other assessment questions should assess for prior history of trauma, the types of responses they received at the time of the MST and whether the MST happened once or was repeated over time. Due to MST being associated with PTSD, depression, anxiety, or substance use, it is important that an assessment also looks at past experiences with psychiatric conditions as well as current mental health diagnoses. Similar to assessing for PTSD, a provider should assess for, work functioning, interpersonal functioning, recreation and self-care, physical functioning, psychological symptoms, coping mechanisms, and past traumatic events or deployment experiences. Some other characteristics an MST assessment should have include questions based off of the experiences someone with MST may have. Some responses to MST may include, sexual difficulties, chronic pain, weight or eating problems or gastrointestinal problem. Psychologically, as a result of the MST service members may have PTSD or depression. They may also experience strong emotions, difficulties with memories, feeling of numbness, or trouble sleeping due to nightmares. Socially, service members may experience difficulties in their relationships (Military Sexual
Whether or whether not women speak up, doesn’t change the fact that it is happening in the military. Women in general deal with the effects of sexual trauma, but military women may have to re-live it on a day to day basis. As quoted in the article, perpetrators are typically other military personnel, and victims often must continue to live and work with their assailants daily (para. 5). Because of the seriousness of MST, each VA hospital now has a designated coordinator to oversee MST screening and treatment (para. 5). The authors purpose is ultimately to study the VHA’S MST program. It provides the opportunity to investigate the screenings for sexual violence (para. 2). It is very important that women with MST are able to get some type of help, and medication for the after effects of the traumatic experiences they endured while in the
This experiment had 327 women in the sample, all from various wars from WW2 all the way the Persian Gulf War. 157 of the women had served overseas, 39 experienced exposure to enemy fire, 206 women reported experiences of sexual harassment during their service. 141 experienced rape or attempted rape. Of all the 327 women 191 of the women had PTSD at the time of evaluation.
Military Sexual Trauma (MST), includes any sexual activity where you were involved against your will. When assessing a service member for MST it is important to use a biopsychosocial approach. Some biological or physical responses to MST may include, sexual difficulties, chronic pain, weight or eating problems or gastrointestinal problem. Psychologically, as a result of the MST service members may have PTSD or depression. They may also experience strong emotions, difficulties with memories, feeling of numbness, or trouble sleeping due to nightmares. Socially, service members may experience difficulties in their relationships. As a result of all of these symptoms, as service member may have problems with alcohol or drugs to cope with the emotions or memories they may have regarding the incident.
Nearly one in four active duty members showed signs of a mental health condition, according to a 2014 study in J.A.M.A. Psychiatry. You can get post traumatic stress disorder which will give you trouble sleeping, nightmares, anger, being jumpy and alcohol and drug abuse. If these troubles do not stop it could be post traumatic stress disorder. The 2014 J.A.M.A. Psychiatry study found that the rate of post traumatic stress disorder is fifteen percent higher in people from the Armed Forced than from civilians. Mental health problems can ruin your life.
Throughout many wars that the United States of America had endured within the 238 years, recently America have another war to handle which is Military Sexual Trauma. Only recently the social media decided to take part of acknowledging that many veterans have mental health issues. However, they are mainly focusing on one problem which is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The society needs to learn that PTSD isn 't the main source of conflict for active service members and veterans. There is a secondary leading mental illness that these soldiers are experiencing and that is call Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Although the public has not mentioned or announced the existence of MST. As a member of the community, we need to teach the world as well as one another the meaning of Military Sexual Trauma, the effects of it that cause individual to have certain symptoms when dealing with MST and lastly the different kind of treatments that are offer by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to assist many family members, friends and spouses who have MST because it is the secondary leading mental health problem for veterans right next to suicide.
What is interesting about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among soldiers is that many of the soldiers tend to not let people know they suffer from it. This is bad because then they can not get treatment to help take care of the disorder. They go about their life as everything is okay. However you can still tell that they suffer from PTSD. Some signs that were recorded are that they tend to shy away from talking about their time spent in the services (Legarreta, 3). Another sign that was recorded was the fact that the veterans tend to be "cold hearted" and have very little emotion.
The leading psychological condition of a returning veteran is post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The Mayo Clinic defines PTSD as a, “Mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.” PTSD has been known to affect the lives of many returned veterans as they try to re-enter into society. Some of the more common symptoms of PTSD include, “recurring memories or nightmares of the event(s), sleeplessness, loss of interest, or feeling numb, anger, and irritability (What is Post traumatic Stress Disorder).” This can really affect the way people live their day to day life. There are people who cannot go a whole day without having an episode or panic attack. Some can’t even be around other people without it triggering bad memories, making it impossible for them to leave their homes. Other complications of PTSD include, “Increase your risk of other mental health problems, such as: Depression and anxiety, issues with drugs or alcohol use, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and actions (PTSD).” This disorder is more common than most may realize and is so commonly not diagnosed or treated due to how they felt their peers would see them or even the potential damage to their careers. Nbc news wrote that, “Only 38 percent to 40 percent of those who indicated
Media leakage have soared questioning the height of military veteran abuses requiring CO to assess ways to reduce the national embarrassment and media coverage of disclosing such information to the public (Soriano, 2013). Therefore, the purpose of the PTSD assessment is to focus on developing realistic and doable research to evaluate the veteran’s mental health status for possible substance abuse or potential domestic violence cases (Soriano, 2013). The possible PTSD symptoms among pre-discharge military personnel’s need to examine and evaluate using the mix-method methodology to satisfying stakeholders that are the spouses, children, media, and organizations (Creswell, 2009; Soriano, 2013). The goal is to conduct several required assessments that will help CO to determine which discharge personnel’s exhibit signs and symptoms of PTSD. Considering the mental health status and substance abuse to provide preventative social services needed protect the veterans and their loved ones call serious attention (Soriano,
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) impacts a Veteran’s quality of life as well as their physical health. Longitudinal studies demonstrate that Veterans’ experiencing MST have seven times the likelihood of co-existing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social phobia, depression and generalized anxiety. Moreover, Veterans suffering from MST are at higher risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), substance use, suicidal behavior and self-inflicted injury. Accordingly, alterations in emotional and cognitive functioning due to traumatic experience impair a Veteran’s ability to adhere to prescribed treatments impacting their physical and emotional well-being. The evidence regarding a need to provide comprehensive supports to help Veterans understand
It is common for war veterans to return home with physical and emotional damage from the traumatizing sights they’ve seen and terrible places they’ve been. It is also common for women to return home with MST (Military Sexual Trauma). This occurs when a woman has been raped or assaulted by another person in the military. When these women return from duty, they suffer greatly. Many of them become homeless. Two dozen female veterans were interviewed, and of them, 16 said they were assaulted in the service. 53% of homeless female veterans experiences MST.
At Oceanside Trauma we would use several assessment tools for Mr. Van Winkle including the Clinicians Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Generalized Contentment Scale (GCS), and the Mississippi Scale for combat Related PTSD (M-PTSD). The military PTSD checklist may also be utilized if needed. Each respective assessment was chosen for their unique properties and documented success. The CAPS provides information on both current and lifetime PTSD. It provides a continuous measure of each PTSD symptom along two dimensions: intensity and frequency. Recent studies show that CAPS has become the instrument of choice in drug or psychotherapy treatment research. The GCS is a 25 item scale that measures the client’s degree, severity, or magnitude of depression. It focuses largely on affective aspects of clinical depression. The assessment focuses on the respondents feelings with respect to behaviors, attitudes, and events associated with depression. Empirical research has showcased its excellent scores in both reliability and validity. The M-PTSD scale is a 35 item assessment designed for deployed veterans. This scale compliments the GCS as it focuses on both guilt and suicidal tendencies. It is the appropriate instrument to administer to all of our combative veterans. It has performed extremely well in research and clinical settings (Friedman 2000). The
The main problem discovered is military members are experiencing psychological problems from stressors due to deployments and not seeking help for their discomforts. Many of the military members returning
The social issues surrounding mental health; the causes; and the treatments of disorders; have always intrigued me, especially regarding our veteran service members. Being a veteran myself, I identify with the struggles and hardships that our veterans face every day. Our servicemen and women are exposed to a variety of traumas (e.g. combat, family separation, and being in a constant state of arousal) that contribute to mental illness. However, not all servicemen and women suffer from mental illness. Therefore, I am interested in identifying why these men and women who share similar exposures of combat related traumas, do not suffer from or show signs of any mental illness. Additionally,
A mental problem that is due to going into war is “shell shock”; which the term was coined by the soldiers themselves. Symptoms included fatigue, tremors, confusion, nightmares and impaired hearing and sight. Although this was a problem for the soldiers, it was only diagnosed when a soldier was unable to function. Due to many symptoms that are physical, shell shock resembles a little to the modern diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder or is better known its acronym PTSD. A couple indicators that help doctors diagnose PTSD in soldiers coming back from the war are flashbacks, nightmare, sleeplessness, recurring anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and troubles paying
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.