The men and women currently deployed to these areas frequently engage in combat, and regularly witness injuries, trauma, and death. Even if a person tries not to internalize the horrific events they experience, they will likely be changed by war. Soldiers are negatively affected by combat; many return from war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts. Some soldiers return from war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to the article "What Is Combat PTSD?”, Diagnosing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can be hard because soldiers view reporting their symptoms as a sign of weakness (What, 1).
Statistics exist regarding the divorce rate among military families, surveys involving how soldiers feel before and after deployment in regards to their families, and firsthand accounts by therapists who have treated these individuals. These all point to the need for a better transition program for soldiers that are reunited with their families after combat deployments. Introduction Combat deployments can be extremely difficult for a soldier for a variety of reason. The damage done during deployment can be external and internal as well. This damage can continue to adversely affect the individual long after they return home, and even after they leave the armed forces.
Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their anxiety . Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental distress when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley very precisely portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his novel ‘The Wars.’ Findley suggests that war can change a person’s behaviour negatively. Robert Ross, the protagonist of his novel, shows symptoms of what is today known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
PTSD is most common Soldiers and Veterans who have gone into combat. PTSD also occurs in the workplace in civilian jobs. Occupations such emergency medical services, police officers, and doctors can experience PTSD form their exposure to the events such as vehicle accidents, homicides, and emergency surgery. PTSD symptoms may get better or go away over period of time. The worse cases of PTSD last for years, sometimes increasing because of the impact on the individual that has experienced it.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, can be defined as a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms usually include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the particular event. Not everyone who goes through a traumatic event will develop PTSD. Although a victim of a traumatic event may have trouble coping and adapting after the incident, it’s not considered PTSD until those symptoms become disruptive to everyday life, and last for at least a month after the event. In some cases, the symptoms won’t even appear until months or years after the traumatic experience.
These are all symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Defined by the Mayo Clinic, PTSD is a mental health condition that is triggered by a terrifying event. The symptoms of this disorder can at times be so severe and painful that those affected by it often start ruining their health, their sanity, their families, and lose control of their lives. Official recognition of PTSD is fairly new, but history of combat-related stress goes as far back as the Civil War. During this war, soldiers were not deemed as “manly” if they succumbed to their traumatic
Many of the results of physical pain were due to the oppressed environment and the very nature of war. The emotional injuries were encountered through the soldier’s constant struggle for survival. Soldiers were sent home after their tour of duty but many experienced post traumatic war syndrome; mentally and psychologically scarring these soldiers. In a war it is evident that wounds always remain for those who have experienced it. Physical pain is a primary ‘stereotypical’ effect of war which most people understand of being the broad result of war.
Suicide is a lonely, desperate act, carried out in secrecy and often as a cry for help. The impact on the family who remain can be catastrophic. In some cases, families might have been unaware of the true feelings of their loved one; being forced to confront the issue of their illness may do great good, perhaps even allowing them to persuade the patient not to end their life. In other cases, it makes them part of the process: they can understand the reasons behind their decision without feelings of guilt and recrimination, and the terminally ill patient can speak openly to them about their feelings before their death. At the moment, doctors are often put into an impossible position.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder People who live through a horrific event may be affected by the experience for a long time. Veterans of military combat were described as having “shell shock” or “combat fatigue” when they had psychological problems which persisted after the fight was over(Dingley, 2010). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or (PTSD) can result from experiencing near death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened violation of one’s physical integrity. PTSD can result from witnessing the death or injury of another. Some of the symptoms of PTSD are the traumatic event is persistently re-experienced.
“Trauma survivors with PTSD often experience problems in their intimate and family relationships or close friends. [It] involves symptoms that interfere with trust, emotional closeness, communication… and effective problem solving” (Counseling Military Families, pg 226). PTSD can be mild enough to make the individual feel uncomfortable in certain situations or it can be severe enough to where they change into a completely different person with their outbursts, anger, or even physical violence. Many experiencing PTSD may have difficulties falling asleep, relaxing, and may constantly feel anxious, worried, or distant. PTD is a disorder not a disease and those who experience it should not be treated differently but instead assisted in trying to maintain the normal lifestyle they once had to get past the trauma as much as possible, not only for themselves but for their families as well.