Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Soldiers

PTSD has become quite common in war veterans, seeing that they have been around people being brutally killed and probably have even killed people themselves. Essentially what is happening from a neuroscientific standpoint is that the brain has become damaged, in that an incorrect synapse fires, making the body react as if it was going through or seeing something terrible. The National Institution of Mental Health describes it like so:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD is an emotional condition that can develop following a traumatic or terrifying event. PTSD has only been recognized as a diagnosis since 1980. This emotional disorder was brought to public attention after soldiers would return home and often referred to as “shell shock or combat fatigue”.

In this particular article, five authors collaborated and discussed the recent innovations in the PTSD treatment field such as new technologies and family/spouse therapy, where veterans who are diagnosed go through therapy sessions with a family member or spouse instead of alone. This article is extremely credible because it has five authors that are all in the medical field.

The freedoms Americans enjoy come at a price; brave military men and women often foot the bill. Many men and women pay with their lives; others relive the sights, sounds, and terror of combat in the form of PTSD. Several causes and risk factors contribute to the development of PTSD. Combat-related PTSD appears slightly different than traditional PTSD. History tells of times when soldiers diagnosed with PTSD were viewed as “weak.” Resources have not always been available to struggling soldiers. The adverse symptoms of PTSD on soldiers and their families can be crippling.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can produce emotional responses caused by the trauma endured during combat operations. It does not have to emerge immediately, but can actually happen weeks, months, or even years after the traumatic event. PTSD was often referred to as “combat fatigue” or “shell shock” until 1980 when it was given the name post-traumatic stress disorder. According to

PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a mental health condition that can occur after a person experiences a traumatic event such as disasters, assault or combat. This is an issue that many Veterans encounter while being involved in military duty. However, there is help available.

To the millions of veterans that have served this country by leaving behind their world as they once knew it, thank you. Entering the world of a soldier comes with a culture of warriors who are taught and trained to be ready to kill, but also ready to save, heal, and comfort (Hansen). Sergeant Hansen served in the United States Marine Corps for nine years and was deployed three times, once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. He was honorably discharged in April of 2014, however like many other veterans, his military experience has impacted his new civilian life due to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. It is paramount that a proper system concerning military veterans of the United States is established for the process of re-acclimating soldiers back to a civilian lifestyle. Within the current system and process that is being used, veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are discharged without the support and guidance they need to efficiently return to the civilian world.

Post traumatic stress disorder is characterized by a history of exposure to a traumatic event. The majority of veterans suffer with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after fighting in war(s). As stated by Galbicsek, “Almost 30 percent of Vietnam veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD at some point in their lives. Between 11 and 20 percent of those who fought in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom suffer from PTSD (Carol, “Galbicsek”). More than a quarter of veterans after fighting for these wars experience PTSD.

with macabre memories of war that can cause them to lash out at people and do things they would not normally do. This is a disease known by medical examiners as “Post Traumatic Stress Drama” or PTSD for short. PTSD was first researched after the Vietnam War and the first diagnosis was in 1980. (Glover, Lacie). Roughly 31% of Vietnam veterans have suffered from this disease at some point. (Glover, Lacie). As if the previously listed statistic was not sad and shocking enough, the next statistic will make your heart sink. The number of PTSD-diagnosed Vietnam veterans that are still suffering at least moderate impairments even after more than three decades of combat is a heart cramping 85%. (Glover, Lacie). While Vietnam is one of America’s most heavily studied and remembered wars, Vietnam veterans are not the only veterans suffering from PTSD.

PTSD is defined as mental health disorder triggered by a terrifying event (Mayoclinic). This ordeal could be the result of some sort of physical harm or threat to the individual, family members, friends or even strangers. (NIMH) While PTSD is typically associated with someone who has served in the military, it can affect more than just that genre of individuals. It could affect rape victims, victims in a terrorist or natural disaster incident, nurses,

In fact, it isn't uncommon for soldiers to take their own lives at the hand of the trauma. To put this into perspective, in 2013, The US Department of Veterans Affairs released a study that covered suicides 1999 to 2010 showed that around 65 war veterans commit suicide every day. War was the leading cause of death in the military nearly every year between 2004 and 2011 until suicides became the top means of dying for troops in 2012 onward. This just goes to show the extent that post-traumatic stress disorder effects soldiers that have experienced war and why we should be concerned as this number of suicides is only going to get larger as war continues to plague the

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is "an anxiety disorder, characterized by distressing memories, emotional numbness, and hyper vigilance, that develops after exposure to a traumatic event" (Doyle-Portillo, Pastorino 490). Traumatic events include physical abuse, rape, military combat, death of a close friend or family member, natural disasters, or witnessing events such as terrorist attacks, a violent crime, or a horrible accident (Doyle-Portillo, Pastorino 490). All these different events lead men and women to have nightmares, flashbacks, and tormenting memories, especially the men who fought in the Vietnam War. Around "19% of Vietnam veterans developed PTSD at some point after the war" (Doyle-Portillo, Pastorino 491) from the events they witnessed out in the Vietnamese jungles during combat that it would have been highly unlikely for them not to develop PTSD.

To effectively treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD in combat Veterans and service members, therapists use different techniques, which are preceded by addressing any underlying pain associated with the disorder. In their research, Chard et al. (2011) reported significant modifications to the CPT protocol for use with patients in a TBI-PTSD residential treatment facility, including increasing the number of sessions per week, combining group and individual therapy, and augmenting the treatment with cognitive rehabilitation. However, their research was marred with the use of few participants which provides doubts regarding the outcome of the proposed treatment procedures. Moreover, the researchers do not state with certainty as to the

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition caused by experiencing or seeing a terrifying event. It has been known to affect mostly war veterans but has also affected people who are not veterans. Rape victims and people who have suffered severe abuse have also been diagnosed with PTSD. In most cases, veterans have a higher percentage than others.

“When I was in serious danger I was almost completely paralysed by fear, I remember sitting with a coffin (a fellow soldier) on the fire-step of a trench during an intense bombardment, when it seemed certain that we must be killed”(The Psychological Effects Of The Vietnam War). Our soldiers that we send to war to protect us against the countries trying to harm us are put into dangerous situations that affect them physically and mentally and leave them with permanent damage to their minds and bodies. The server damage that our military soldiers faced when returning from war is PTSD which stands for post traumatic stress disorder and is the most common disorder that returning soldiers are diagnosed with , but a more tragic diagnosis from war