Throughout the time of modern man, great conflicts have occurred. When man is placed in a position that is not natural, it can be difficult on a human’s mind to process events and deal with the effects on long term health of a person’s psychological. War is defined as conflict between two different groups of individuals. There are many reasons for why wars and other conflicts happen, but the warfighter has the greatest psychological burden placed on them. Over time understanding and acceptance on dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has increase dramatically. Although PTSD can be associated with any event that a person develops a strong emotional response to a remembered event. Conflict environments have the greatness number of victims that suffer from PTSD symptoms. Increased awareness about PTSD, continuation of treatment, and choices of treatment therapies for victims suffering with PTSD will help suffering victims. Throughout the last decade the United States military involvement conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, has put focus on the stress on mental health for returning military members who participated in conflict theater. Although PTSD is not a new phenomenon in the United States, every war that the country has participated in has had some version of the same mental disorder.The ancient Egyptians were some of the first to document the mental toll that war can take on a solider’s mental well being. Names like: Hysteria, Shell Shock, Combat Stress
Approximately 70 percent of adults in the U.S. have encountered a traumatic occurrence at some point in their existence while 20 percent of that population proceed to develop PTSD. Furthermore, an estimated 1 in 13 people of the U.S. (about 8 percent) will develop PTSD. For those who have served or “spent time in war zones,” 30 percent experience PTSD (“What”). Of course the rates of this mental illness varies from war to war, however, “current estimates of PTSD in military personnel who served in Iraq range from 12 percent to 20 percent” and “in Afghanistan between 6 percent and 11 percent” (“What”).
This paper explores post-traumatic stress and how it is seen as a disorder. Post-traumatic stress can manifest into post-traumatic stress disorder. The evaluation and review books and articles seem to reveal a relation to these symptoms and military member, either active or non-active veterans. These symptoms do not manifest strictly into the full-extent of the disorder in all cases of military, however, things such as depression and other physical symptoms are discussed through the readings. The end result is that we discovered that through the readings PTSD will in fact lead to suicide if left untreated.
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.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (commonly known as PTSD) is an important issue associated with military soldiers. The primary focus of this paper will be on the causes of PTSD and the effects it has on returning soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will attempt to elaborate on the soldiers' experiences through my own experiences in combat both in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will explain what PTSD is, look at the history of PTSD, how people get it, and differences of PTSD between men and women, and treatment options.
PTSD having been on the rise following various deployments necessitated by the various wars against terror, where the soldiers encounter traumatic experiences like harsh training conditions, unfavorable living standards, enemy attacks, extreme working environment, explosions, torture by enemies, loss of colleagues as well as long term separation from family back at home (Melinda S & Jeanne S., 2012). This therefore calls for a concerted effort in handling the pandemic of PTSD since it has been constantly on the increase and as a
a. The current thought about evidenced based practice is that it can be useful if the evidence is good and been proven to work. Just like any other new thing in the medical field it has many criticisms but they have been debunked on the basis of underlying misinformation or misunderstandings. One of the problems with evidence based practice is human judgement, when picking out which evidence to use it can be influenced by a decision maker 's biases and political interests. Another problem with evidenced based practice is that some of the EBP out there does not meet the requirements of scientific evidence.
Anger, aggression and confusion are a few symptoms of the fabled myth of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). An over whelming feeling that devours men and women of the armed forces, but hasn’t been talked about openly until, now. A subject no one likes to openly speak of, due to fear of being cast out as an outsider among the normal people who never witnessed something so traumatic can function in normal society today.
The battles that go on between countries of the world are not just left on the grounds in which they were fought. The trauma of everyday exposure to the elements of war has created a lasting and often debilitating disorder for many veterans. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD has been a recurrent result of war leaving many survivors with prolonged physical, mental and emotional distress. Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced daily stressful situations including bombings, combat fire, and injuries. For those that make it home, PTSD is a common development of these stresses. Those who develop this disorder may experience relentless sleep disturbances, triggers, and recurring “flashback” or vivid memory recollections
Military Pathway (2013) concluded “Military life, especially the stress of deployments or mobilizations, can present challenges to service members and their families that are both unique and difficult”. Hence, it is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war environment often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This paper provides a historical perspective of PTSD affecting soldiers, and how this illness has often been ignored. In addition, the this paper examines the cause and diagnosis of the illness, the changes of functional strengths and limitations, the overall effects this disease may have on soldiers and their families, with a conclusion of
Over the recent years PTSD- post traumatic stress disorder has become a problem among veterans returning from the Afghanistan and Iraq war. Even after returning to American soils, veterans are battling with the effects of this mental illness, but who else is suffers from this illness. Family members and caregivers are also affected from PTSD. The soldier, the family member and caregivers once knew before going over sea to war is no longer the same. It can take an emotional toll on someone, whose loved one suffers from PTSD. The symptoms and side effects of PTSD can be terrifying for someone that does not have an understanding of PTSD. Family members and caregivers have different reactions when it comes to family members that suffer from PTSD, which can cause relationship problems among them. Treatment is always an option among families that are having a hard time with the effects of PTSD.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is described as a mental condition that results in a series of emotional and physical reactions in individuals who have either witnessed or experienced a traumatic event in their life. The person experiencing or witnessing this traumaticevent may feel intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is defined as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders cover different forms of abnormal, pathologicalanxiety, fears, phobias and nervous conditions that may come sudden or gradually over a long period of several years andmay make a hard for a person to complete their daily activities. There ismore than just emotional trauma that follows PTSD, there is also the physical preventions. PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event (National Institute of Mental Health [NIH], 2016). It is said that the psychic trauma that an individual suffers after the shocking experience causes the inner agency of the mind to lose its ability to control the disorganizing effects of the experience, and disequilibrium occurs. Many traumatic events can cause PTSD, like combat exposure, child sexual abuse or physical abuse, terrorist attacks, sexual or physical assault, serious accidents, or natural disasters. However, not everyone that suffers a traumatic event may develop PTSD. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2016), it is not yet clear why some people develop PTSD and others do not. Many factors influence on whether or not an individual will develop the disorder, such as: how intense the trauma was or how long it lasted. Whether or not the individual was injured or lost someone important to them. How close the individual was to the event. How strong their reaction was. How much the person felt in control of the events, or how much help and support the person received after the event (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016). PTSD is not exclusive to adults only, children can also have the disorder.
Author Carl-John X. Veraja once stated “ The world has PTSD. It is a veteran a blown mind, having flashbacks as it begs the Sun for one more go-round. ” This statement uses the Earth and orbit of the Sun as a metaphorical representation of the constant struggle that veterans and non-veterans face daily due to PTSD. PTSD or formally known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is known as, “…a psychiatric disorder that can occurs following the experiences or witnessing of a life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood”( “What is PTSD?”) . PTSD has affected millions that have encountered a traumatic experience. People that have more stressful occupations or life experience such as being a military employee seem to be more prone to being subject to PTSD. PTSD among soldiers have soared over the last fifty years even with the increase reports of rape, domestic violence, and sexual assault reported by The New York Times (Bannerman). Though the military have impanelment more action toward the growing dilemma it has yet to make any monumental acts to promote the well being of soldiers that are mentally affected by their time in the army.
There are several multifarious studies on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its evolution. There are studies that delve into the psychological effects of PTSD on people 's brain activity and human behavior after a traumatic experience. There are also studies such as those written by Patience Mason and Kay Marie Porterfield which provide information centered specifically on the development of PTSD in the area of combat and war throughout history. The authors of Straight Talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and A Short Story of PTSD describe and explain how troopers from the past have coped with the existence of PTSD and the treatment of society, which tends to affect the development of the illness. In this report, further analyzes will be made on the different influences and effects of PTSD of soldiers.
A British solider returning to home from World War I, re-entered a changed man into a changed world. Yet, expectations were maintained that he, and everyone else, were to act in the same manner as they always had. The horrors of the war were not forgotten; never had a war pervaded into the lives of so many in such a horrific manner, dragging with it all the associations of nervousness. Though shell-shock was a new phenomenon, it was not the first war related nervousness. Indeed, 1.2 million soldiers were wounded or sick, a quarter of which were admitted to hospitals as psychiatric casualties . These numbers are immense and when put in perspective with a general public, demand to be spoken about. With the wide spread introduction of neurasthenia, disordered action of the heart and, what we now know as, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , shell-shock became an umbrella term for the non-diagnosable nervousness caused by modern warfare. The changing perception of war and its psychological casualties brought forth waves of new material for authors, like Woolf, to discuss. Mrs Dalloway discusses not only the role of the returned soldier, in Septimus, but also the deeper routed nervousness in the British public. The figure of Clarissa Dalloway embodies a ‘shell shock’, or neurosis, as much as we see with Septimus’ character. Widening the themes of war nervousness to the public allows Woolf to investigate coping mechanisms, alongside a direct commentary on the state of a