Ptd In The Military Essay

PTSD could possibly be treated with a combination of treatments that consist of pharmaco-therapy, psychotherapy, or a combination of the two. In addition, PTSD can be treated with various psychotropic medications that helps reduce the symptoms. The researchers identified the most effective evidence-based treatment are classified as trauma-focused treatments. Examples of trauma-focused treatments consist of prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, and cognitive processing therapy (CPT) ( (Mcintyre-Smith, St Cyr, & Roth, 2013, p. 197).

(1) “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an anxiety disorder than can develop after a person witnesses a traumatic event. A traumatic event can take many forms; a natural disaster, sexual abuse or a terrorist attack such as 9/11, but for veterans, PTSD is most often related to combat or military exposure. In wars prior to Vietnam, the disorder was referred to as “shell shock” or “battle fatigue” and was not very well understood beyond the fact that it limited the soldier’s performance on the battlefield. Today, the disorder is more widely studied. We know that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can lead to other mental health problems such as depression, social withdrawal, and substance abuse.” This disorder is such a heavy price to pay for our soldiers. Many come home and can not function in normal society and never really get the help they need to cope with their problems. Many more soldiers suffer in silence and never even tell anyone that they may have these issues because so many of them feel they are ‘macho’ and can handle it alone, but the truth is that they simply can

Since the Post 9/11 Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended, there has been a plethora of veterans, returning back home to the United States. Out of the thousands of veterans who were exposed to combat during their deployment, many of these soldiers experienced Acute Stress Disorder, which later turned into (PTSD) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, after one month of their condition not being treated (Yehuda & Wong, 2000). What makes matters worse is that many of these veterans, who endured PTSD, fail to receive treatment for their disorder, which later led to other detrimental issues, including other psychological disorders, child abuse, divorce, substance abuse, suicide and job loss. In fact a study

Soldiers going into their 2nd tour/war enter into it with a at least 5% of them being depressed; leading symptoms in PTSD. With P.T.S.D coming up that is becoming very bad but it can be helping people at the same depending on what treatment that they take. P.T.S.D in veterans is very serious but it can also be cured by the multiple resources. The topic of P.T.S.D possesses a multitude of causes, which negatively impact the victim, his or her family and the society in which the victim lives; nevertheless, many treatments or solutions are provided for the victim to lessen that impact on the future of his or her life.

However, you can manage your symptoms and live a very productive life. Most people with PTSD have issues dealing with past feelings and keep them inside. Counseling or Talking to a Therapist is very beneficial in getting better. One of the most effective treatment for PTDS is Cognitive Behavioral therapy or CBT. The two forms of CBT most frequently used are Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy. The four main parts of CPT are: patients learn about the symptoms of PTSD, they become aware of their thoughts and feelings, they learn skills to help question and challenge their thoughts and understand the changes in your beliefs. There are also four main parts to PE therapy they are: education, breathing, real world practice and talking through the trauma. The most common medication to treat PTSD is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. (Cohen, H. (2015). Some alternative treatments are yoga, acupuncture and

Many veterans who have been through war and experienced the gruesome nature of it come back to civilian life as a whole different person. Once they have returned, it is extremely difficult for them to function normally and go back to the way they used to be. One adjustment issue that individuals with PTSD struggle with is having this unrestrained feeling of being on edge that occurs spontaneously. As a soldier, these people were trained to always be on guard, fully alert, and be ready to pull the trigger during combat. As a result, some of these individuals develop a violent and agitated behavior, which is very hard for them to control. Furthermore, many veterans with PTSD have flashbacks of the horrors of warfare and have constant nightmares

With the advances in technology and military medicine, improved amounts of armed veterans are surviving the injuries they endure at war. These brave men and woman are faced to enter the civilian life after enduring the things that they cannot remove form their memories. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a common psychological and physiological consequence of deployment for combat in military veterans. For an individual to be diagnosed of PTSD, the person had to have been exposed to an intense traumatic situation, which resulted in terror or helplessness and continue to re-experience the event for at least a month (World Health Organization). It can be very difficult for a military personal to return from active duty with the mindset that

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in war veterans is most commonly created when soldiers are put into situation in which they fear for their life. Recent war have changed in the way in which they have been fought. In past wars like World War I and World War II they type of fighting was strategically planned out. There would be attacks and retreats back to safety allowing some time to recuperate. However, in today’s war like in Iraq and Afghanistan soldier are attacking and being assaulted on the daily basis where there is little if any time for recuperation. The daily stress and common occurrences of horrific events and casualties but tremendous stress on soldiers’ brains. This daily stress is not just left on the battlefield once the soldiers return home. The physical, mental and emotional strain that war has on humans leaves lasting impression on the brain and body. When PTSD results from this strain, veterans can experience a wide range of symptoms. According to the Journal of Occupational Medicine the most common general symptoms include re-experiencing phenomena, avoidance tactics, and increased arousal (Bisson). Re-experiencing phenomena refers to a patient’s recurrent psychological recollections to the events that transpired to cause his or her PTSD. For many patients once they find a stimulus that causes them to have a recollection many try to avoid such areas in attempt to block their memories of the events. Arousal is shown through numerous methods with the most common being inability to sleep, difficulty concentrating, or irritability. Each treatment that follows is focused on reducing a patient’s symptoms and the severity in which it affects their

Cognitive therapy is which is known as talk therapy and is usually used with exposure therapy, which is a behavioral therapy where you face your fear. Another therapy used to treat PTSD is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing which is a combination of exposure therapy with a series of guided eye movements that help you process traumatic memories and help how the patient reacts when experiencing a PTSD flashback. Therapy is not the only types of treatment used for PTSD, medications are also used in combination with therapy or by themselves if therapy is not needed. The types of medication used are antidepressants, Anti-anxiety medication, Prazosin and medical marijuana. Antidepressants or selective serotonin reuptake can help symptoms of depression and anxiety which can also help with sleep problems and concentration. Prazosin help patients who are experiencing nightmares or dealing with insomnia. Medical marijuana is a new form of treatment for PTSD and has been showing as a good alternative to traditional medicine, helping patients deal with insomnia, depression and can help with anxiety. Even though the drugs can be easier option when dealing with PTSD it should not be the first choice when helping people instead cognitive therapy should be the first option.

Although American service members have felt the lasting effects of combat throughout the history of the nation, it was not until 1980 that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was formally added to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Once referred to as “irritable heart” or “shell-shock,” PTSD made its way into the national spotlight in the years following the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan due to U.S. military members having difficulty reintegrating into civilian life. High rates of suicide, depression, and elevated levels of violent crime within the veteran community made the need to find an effective treatment of this disorder a top priority for the Veterans Health Administration. While it is widely accepted by medical professionals that there is no single, definitive cure for PTSD, many different methods have been cultivated within the past 15 years that make coping with it an easier process; some to a greater extent than others. While medications, namely antidepressants and benzodiazepines, usually find themselves at the forefront of any discussion regarding mental debilitation, they are not a one-size-fits-all solution to the problems that combat veterans face. As this particular disorder is attached to a certain memory or traumatic occurrence, alternative methods of rehabilitation such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE) have also shown promise in

Anger may disengage the veteran and hinder a therapeutic alliance or the potential developing alliance between veteran and healthcare provider. Many research studies continue to support the finding that veterans with PTSD are at much higher risk to engage in aggressive or violent acts than veterans with no signs or symptoms of PTSD. During a study using combat veterans with high levels of anger at the intake phase didn’t change following treatment, while measures of anxiety and substance use had changed. (Jakupcak 2007) There is a high degree between symptoms of PTSD and general and/or partner aggression this is noted to be prevalent in Veteran and civilian populations. Studies continue to support that there is a strong correlation supporting anger and PTSD in military personal. Many studies in the past indicated that Veterans diagnosed with PTSD demonstrate higher levels of anger compared with Veterans without PTSD and many veterans suffer from high comorbidity rates. (Casey T. Taft, PhD 2012) Symptoms of PTSD can include and are not limited to an episode leading the veteran to re-experiencing in their mind, the symptoms cause self-memories of the traumatic event and can reappear and can come back at any time. A trigger is something one sees, hears, or smells and can instantly bring one back to the horrific event. A flashback is

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, affects many of our nation’s veterans. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that in the Vietnam War, almost thirty-one percent of its veterans, when they came back to the United States, developed PTSD. In recent history, eleven percent of veterans from the Afghanistan War and twenty percent of veterans from the Iraqi War have developed PTSD after arriving back in the states. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, though brought into the light recently by veterans, is still widely unknown, mainly in what the symptoms are, diagnosis, and treatments.

If veterans do struggle with PTSD after they return from combat the Department of Veterans Affairs, a governmental agency that helps struggling veterans recover, offers two treatments. Studies have been done to see if one of the therapies is more effective than the other. There is not yet evidence that one therapy is better than the other. Cognitive processing therapy, CPT, helps by giving the vet a new way to deal with the maladaptive thoughts that come with PTSD. It also comforts them in gaining a new understanding of the traumatic events that happened to them. One of the other benefits of CPT is that it assists the person in learning how these disturbing events change the way they look at everything in life and helps them cope with that (“PTSD: National”). The second newer option of the two is prolonged exposure therapy, which is repeated exposure to these thoughts, feelings, and situations (“Most PTSD”). This type of therapy is now a central piece in the VA’s war on PTSD. “The problem with prolonged exposure is that it also has made a number of veterans violent, suicidal, and depressed, and it has a dropout rate that some researchers put at more than 50 percent, the highest dropout rate of any PTSD therapy that has been widely studied so far,”(“Trauma Post”). Both of the therapies are proven to reduce the symptoms but both have extremely high drop out rates and low follow through. It

Psychotherapy and medication are the two forms of treatment for PTSD, but often they are used together. While these methods are not exclusive to PTSD, they are also used for anxiety and depression as well as other mental illnesses. Psychotherapy is often referred to as talk therapy which is where one discusses their problems while learning to cope. Cognitive therapy helps one recognize that negative thoughts about normal situations will not help in overcoming their disorder. Exposure therapy helps one face what is causing the trauma, but is conducted over a period of time while in a safe environment. This therapy is usually used with cognitive therapy when someone has PTSD, however they work with other forms of mental illness disorders as well. (“Post-traumatic stress,”

Another factor that affects violence in the military is the lack of mental health care. Although “between 12% and 20% of veterans of the Iraq war suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” there is little access to mental health care, especially for troops in the Army Reserves who are not stationed near military centers. Untreated Posttraumatic Stress Disorder holds many risks, but the major one for my purposes is the increased aggression and risk of