Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Adcances Essay

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.

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to

“A 2014 study of 204,000 veterans, in The Journal of the American Psychological Association, found nearly two-thirds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans stopped Veterans Affairs therapy for PTSD within a year, before completing the treatment. A smaller study from the same year found about 90 percent dropped out of therapy.”

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder statistics are exceedingly difficult to gauge among veterans. According to the following source, “it is possible to have undiagnosed PTSD for 30 years and not realize it” (Veterans and PTSD). Symptoms may not be diagnosed anywhere from 1 year after service to a lifetime. Also, it must be taken into account that after retiring many veterans may lose touch and not receive treatment for symptoms or further affiliate with the military. In the 1980s, regarding PTSD in Vietnam veterans, it was found that 15%-30% of veterans reported having PTSD; however, in 2003 a new study found that four out of five reported symptoms.

Using the Google Scholar search engine, the phrase “OIF OEF veterans struggle for care” yielded 2100 articles between the years 2000 to 2016.  Of the 2100 articles, only 2 articles supported the current research topic. Using the phrase “OIF OEF veterans’ barriers for not seeking treatment” yielded 3,180 results. Specifiers such as changing the years from 2008 to 2016 and adding citations and patents yielded 2960 articles. Amongst the 2960 articles, 5 articles were selected following screening. These articles were considered relevant to the current research topic. Of the 9,277 articles yielded in the overall research, 9 articles were used in conducting research supporting the barriers that OIF/OEF veterans face when seeking treatment for PTSD

The mission statement of the VA Social Workers is to eliminate significant barriers to clients in need and offer interventions for veterans and families. It is accomplished by developing and maintaining integrated, in-depth programs in patient care, research, and education (Hoffer, Elizabeth. F., Dekle, Judith. Ward., & Sheets, Carol., 2014). Its proposed 11 percent to 20 percent of Iraq, Afghanistan veterans as well as 30 percent of Vietnam vets encounter (PTSD) posttraumatic stress disorder traumatic incidents like combat can lead to PTSD, military sexual trauma of military service member, and veterans may possibly deal with depression, anxiety in addition to other mental health concerns. Vets distress from these mental health and cognitive

Both PTSD and substance abuse in Veterans not only affects themselves, but it also affects their families and communities (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017). The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2017) states that there are 3.1 million immediate family members to the veterans in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017). These family members can potentially suffer from second-hand trauma symptoms (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017). The U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S Department of Veteran’s Affairs both offer care that veterans and their families are eligible for, but a substantial number of veterans and their

Treatment for our veterans when it comes to PTSD has not changed much, this is due to the thinking that every case of PTSD is the same. As we do with a lot of other things we think are the same we group them together to try and solve multiple problems with just one medication or one form of therapeutically intervention. As we can see through years of research these accusations are not accurate at all, if anything grouping people together and not taking the time to individualize personal help leads to more problems than it was designed to fix. The Veterans Association (VA) does a lot to help veterans that need help receive help although this is the first step in assisting our wounded warriors we need to do more for them than just set up an organization that they go to three times a week to receive help and then are sent home when the government decides there is nothing the veteran can do to improve further or the funds for that veteran have been exhausted. Are we providing care that truly does contribute to our veterans in a productive way? Melissa Suran, the author of The Veterans Administration Provides Inadequate Care in Many Cases, shows how our system has failed Gil Rivera who was a Vietnam soldier that suffered dearly from PTSD. In this article Suran makes some very interesting points, one being that PTSD and Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) are not the same due to the fact that PTS can sometimes stay below what is classified as a disorder although if your

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

According to (Rosenheck and Fontana) "Recent trends in VA treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders” Claim that treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans is a high priority for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The number of Persian Gulf–era veterans diagnosed with PTSD grew by 8,000 veterans per year from 2003 to 2005. Since 1997, however, the median annual increment in all users of VA specialty mental health services has averaged 37,000 veterans per year, including 22,000 per year with PTSD (14). This expansion was associated with a 37 percent reduction in mental health visits per year. The VA has substantially increased financial support for PTSD

This study is significant because it is the first national study of VA non-mental health medical service utilization in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The findings are important because in the population studied the soldiers who were found to have mental health issues used all types of non-mental health services than those with no diagnosis. Veterans diagnosed with PTSD had the greatest utilization in all service categories. One million of the service men and women who have returned from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with the disorder. Prior research on this topic has revealed that returning war veterans are at a higher risk for developing mental disorders than any other group in the united states.

As the Vietnam War began preventative measures were being taken to decrease the psychological impact of war on soldiers. Unfortunately as the war ended soldiers were often met with hostile demonstrations by anti-war activists and society offered little acceptance of Vietnam veterans even years after the war. This is when early studies on PTSD and the effects on military families began being documented. Early research showed that PTSD can have devastating, far-reaching consequences on the patients functioning, relationships,

The evidence has shown by PTSD has grown into one of the fastest growing compensated conditions in the Veteran Affairs and Social Security. This disability program covers over 3 million veterans between 1999 and 2004 (Speroff, T,2012). When the diagnosis

For the last eight or nine years we have been hearing about a disorder that is seemingly new. This disorder is known as post traumatic stress. We hear on the news that a veteran had hurt his or her family and this disorder was the cause. We have seen the countless reports of the number of divorces that are cause by post traumatic stress. Just by reading the reports and watching the news one can conclude that this is a disorder that is cause by war. PTSD is not a diagnosis solely held by war veterans. It is a disorder can affect anyone and their families. In this paper we will discuss just what post traumatic stress is and how it affects people whether or not they have been to war.

From September 2001 to January 2015, 2.7 million American troops were deployed overseas to fight in America’s wars (Hautzinger et al, 2015). These men and women of many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds have been exposed to a plethora of war traumas that can lead to mental health problems. Most people will recover with time; However, others can go on to develop chronic PTSD, which can have long lasting mental impacts on our soldiers. According to a general health questionnaire, an estimated 21-29% of those soldiers experience PTSD (Sloat, 2014), this is significant because only 7% of the general population gets PTSD sometime in their life (Nebraska, 2007). This is significant because the discrepancy