Living In The Middle East

Over the last decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drastically increased the need for effective mental health services and treatment for U.S. veterans and service members, especially those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly 1.5 million American service members have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001 (Price, Gros, Strachan, Ruggiero, & Acierno, 2013). Approximately 25% of soldiers and wounded warriors returning home from OEF/OIF present with mental illness due to combat-related violence and other trauma exposure (Steinberg & Eisner, 2015). According to Price and colleagues (2013), OEF/OIF soldiers and veterans are at greater risk for developing mental illness compared to others who served in past military operations.

With that in mind, the Army conducted the very first study on the mental health of Iraq troops which discovered that “one in eight [soldiers] reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder” (“1”). In addition to this, the study evinced that “less than half of those with problems sought help, mostly out of fear of being stigmatized or hurting their careers” (“1”).

We have all seen or read about the political and social upheavals caused by war. Some may have even experienced it first-hand. Throughout history war has had negative psychological implications on those effected. However, there is no greater negative impact of war than the psychological and emotional turmoil that it causes individual soldiers.

Perhaps attesting to the enhanced understanding of PTSD and alarm at the troubling suicide rates of veterans, the media seems to be raising the public’s attention about the condition, for example, through the use of documentaries. In 2005, during the second push of the Iraqi and Afghanistan war PBS FRONTLINE released a documentary entitled, “The Soldier’s Heart,” This documentary gives an overview of the history of PTSD, but focuses specifically on the psychological toll of the Iraq war. It illuminates the fact that despite advances in our understanding of PTSD, there continues to be a stigma against psychological problems in the

Veterans make up seven percent of the American population, but they account for twenty percent of its suicides. Yes, that is indeed a real statistic, more importantly, what is the government, the people that ordered those men and women deliberately into harm’s way, doing about this tragedy. In light of recent conflicts the United States has been engaging in, such as the conflicts in the Middle East, a new silent killer of returning veterans, has become more visible to the public. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, has taken its toll recently on Veterans returning from the harsh

Among survivors of urban violence, 79% had not sought help from mental health care institutions (Van der Ploeg et al., 1985). This implies that many individuals who have been exposed to war and to other violence are not seen by health care professionals. An important question is how these individuals have adapted. If they did well without professional help, then we might learn from their ways of coping. If, on the other hand, they did not adapt well, this would raise the question why they did not seek support from health care professionals. Knowledge about motives for (not) seeking professional help may enable policy makers and health care professionals to improve the fit between the needs of survivors of war and other violence and the health care organization. The present study was conducted among a large random community sample of people who experienced World War II (WWII) to find out what proportion of the Dutch WW II survivors sought medical or mental help and what the characteristics of these help-seeking survivors are as compared to non-help-seeking survivors. The majority of these survivors experienced the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940-1945). Others experienced the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (1942-1945) and the subsequent violent Indonesian independence struggle (1945-1950). (pp. 243-61)

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.

Furthermore, the lack of proper rehabilitation or care programs post-war will also reflect the state of the nations. After the catastrophes of war have subsided, the affected areas are left in not only physical ruin, but also mental and emotional ruin. Child soldiers, who have been separated from their families, are stuck between not knowing if their other family members were

Over the past few decades, the war changed everyone’s perspective. According to NCBI, 61% civilians suffer from psychological disorders caused by wars. Specifically, two books, Night and Persepolis, talks about the author experiences during the war and their struggles. Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, documents his childhood when he was maltreated by the Nazis, and Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, share her experiences during the Iraq-Iran war of how it change her. War changes childhood because of near-death experiences, family departure, and witness horrific acts of violence.

War causes death, poverty, diseases, destruction, and many more devastating and unavoidable consequences. The government drafted men into military service, giving them no choice but to separate them from their daily lives, friends, and families. Soldiers fight in wars while putting their lives on the line and are only rewarded with physical or psychological injuries. Countries wage war against one another in order to resolve disputes and disagreements between them. Individuals, such as nurses, soldiers, and civilians undergo traumatic events when they are caught in the middle of a war. Although some may argue that war does not impact the self the most, based on the informational text, “War Escalates” by Paul Boye, the short story, “Where

​War takes a toll on those who fight, or are affected by it, this is undeniable. Over the course of the 20th Century, within the U.S. Military and Psychiatric Community the way that this effect is identified and treated has changed many times based on the conflict and the mindset of the American public. The purpose of this report is to discuss the history of the mental effect of the trauma created by US involvement in wars within the 20th Century and the steps that were taken in those eras to predict, prepare and treat for those effects.

The Iraq war and the Afghanistan war involved several injuries; as well as, four thousand casualties, and the number of suicides from 2012 to present outnumbers the soldiers dead from combat. The high cost of soldiers were dying in an unpopular war by the Bush administration and the cost to Americans at home and abroad in caring for these wounded warriors, as a result, by 2003 to 2010 the deaths in military action suicides, and suicides at home at a rate of thirteen point five per one hundred thousand troops (Lancet). This only includes America’s causalities, not the deaths of Afghanistan, Iraq, allies and Iraq civilians killed during the war, yet on top of that; rebuilding their shattered lives. The tragedy of war did not just affect Americans; the American soldiers were in

Wounds of War: the Psychological Aftermath of Combat in Vietnam by Herbert Hendin and Ann Pollinger Haas was published in 1984, roughly a decade after the end of the Vietnam War. Its purpose is to inform the public about the trauma, treatment, complications, and other perspectives that the Vietnam War veterans went through. Herbert Hendin is a psychiatrist and Ann Haas is a sociologist. Describing that both the combat experiences and the post-war treatment was cruel, Hendin and Haas came to the conclusion that overall, it was the post-war treatment to the veterans of Vietnam was the biggest cause of the number of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder victims. A value of the book is that Hendin is a psychologist who has studied suicide and depression

Recently a study has been carried by the American Army on the health of the military troops that have just returned from Iraq. It has been found that one in every right soldier is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Another important fact mentioned in the report is that more than half of the military soldiers from these are in a need of help but do not make their conditions public as they could be suspended from the army that can hurt their careers.

War obviously has many repercussions and side effects that may often be overlooked. Lives are lost and soldiers are haunted with memories for the rest of their lives. American civilians are privileged with the ability to remain off of the front lines in a safe environment. In the article, Exposure to War as a Risk Factor for Mental Disorders, the mental stress that living in a war environment in the Middle East causes on innocent civilians is analyzed.