PTSD Effects in the Military Research Paper

PTSD Effects in the Military

The military and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The Iraq occupation cost the Americans as citizens and as a government more than was foreseen hence brought more harm than immediate good to the U.S.A. As a nation. This is in light of the collateral damage that the war has caused to the people of America physically and emotionally. Many arguments have been fronted that the benefits of the occupation in Iraq were mostly myopic and imaginary than factual hence they are hard to physically point out as the troops come back home.

There are disorders that came about as a result of exposure to life-threatening and stressful situations during the several wars which the military personnel had no control over. Affected people often have flashbacks of the situation where they had no control over and they may have night mares.

PTSD can be defined as a psychological reaction which occurs after one has gone through an event that was stressful. This is normally characterized by anxiety, depression, recurrent nightmares, flashbacks and avoiding anything that reminds the person of the event even in the absolute absence of the danger.

Mental health costs of war on military

This aspect of war is rarely catered for by statistics of many wars yet there are several psychological disturbances that can be witnessed among people who have been to the battle field. The atrocities witnessed in the wars, the tortures experienced, the forced recruitment of child soldiers, the arbitrary imprisonment as well as the disappearances and deaths of loved ones can hugely compromise the mental status of the millitary. Unfortunately these were common sights in the war in Iraq and the other wars that the U.S.A. has engaged in. There are other traumatizing experiences like the sexual abuse and war rape as well as flight from homes that contribute hugely to the mental disturbance of the military, be it that they participated in such acts of witnessed such acts meted at the victims of war.

There is a high prevalence of mental distress among people who have been subjects to wars and civil strife as well as violent conflicts that run for a long duration, with the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) being the most common aspect of the mental health problem. Even though there may be few cases of the PTSD, there are other mental complications that may be manifested by these people like anxiety as well as depression. These mental illnesses are common to the displaced population as well as the military personnel and the combatants in the battle field, indeed, it is estimated that 1 out of every 10 Iraq war veterans suffer stress disorder (msnbc.com news services, 2006). The manifestation of PTSD is the increase in drug abuse among the sufferers during and after the wars and conflicts, probably as a coping tactic. There have been also cases of psychosis as well as schizophrenia that are manifested as a result of violent interlude in an individual's life.

Military Deployment stressors

Two types of stressors are prevalent among the military; mission related stressors associated with warfare circumstances or interpersonal stressors that result from pressure that comes from an individual being separated from their family and working closely with other troops (Wiley, 2008).

Mission related stressors that have implications of post deployment health include; combat exposure, difficult working and living conditions, experience of perceived threat, and lack of preparedness for their deployment. Most of these stressors are apparently prevalent among the National Guard and Reserve personnel who get deployed into war fields. One reason is indicated as the fact that they receive less training as compared to the active duty personnel thus they are likely to receive the perceived threat in response to the actual combat circumstance and they might feel they are less prepared for being deployed when compared to active duty personnel (Wiley, 2008).

Interpersonal stressors have not been focused on much in the past but findings indicate that issues related to family disruptions, sexual harassment and lack of social support that is likely to be the case during deployment have an implication on the post deployment adjustment of the military rejoining the community

Symptoms of PTSD

Anyone can be a victim of PTSD without age discrimination or gender, with most of the PTSD sufferers being veterans, accident survivors, victims of physical assault, sexual assault victims and even disaster survivors and the list is not limited to these alone. However, it is not everyone who suffers PTSD has undergone such dangerous experiences. Some can be as mild as a family member or friend having suffered the harm or even losing a loved one in a sudden manner can drive some people into PTSD (National Institute of Mental Health, 2013). Many men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq also have a big predisposition of suffering from mental health problems. The wars in these zones have become so personal such that almost three quarters of the soldiers have reported that they at one point they have been in situations where they could be killed or severely injured. These reports are so prevalent that almost each military personnel knows someone who had died or was injured or a member of their team had been a casualty if it is not a personal experience (Shea-porter, 2009).

It is worth noting that there is a relationship between stressors the military personnel is exposed to and mental health problems that may be exhibited. For instance, there is a linear relationship between the level of combat and a positive screen for anxiety, acute stress, depression and other mental health problems. It is noted in a report for both depression and anxiety, that the likelihood of soldiers screening positive is 2.4 to 2.6 times if they are experiencing high combat as opposed to those experiencing low combat. Multiple deployments are what increase the incidences of mental health problems as those deployed more than once are more likely to screen positive for PTSD compared to first timers (Shea-porter, 2009).

The symptoms of PTSD are majorly categorized into thee classes as follows;

a. Re-experiencing symptoms- here the victim has flashbacks and they relive the trauma and even manifest physical symptoms such as a fats heartbeat. They may also have bad dreams, get frightening thoughts and these may distract the daily lifestyle of the individual since words or sight that may remind the person of the incident will likely trigger a reaction.

b. Avoidance symptoms- the victim will try to stay away from the places of the incident or any similar one that may remind him of the incident, they may feel emotionally numb and removed, feeling of depression, guilt and worry. The person may also lose interest in activities that hitherto were enjoyed by the person. Here too, the person may change the daily routine like avoiding cars as much as possible after a car accident that led to PTSD.

c. Hyper arousal symptoms - these people get easily startled and often feel tensed. These people may also have difficulty in sleeping with several angry outbursts. These arousals are usually constant and not necessarily caused by events that remind the person of the traumatic event. The victim may feel stressed and angry due to the arousal and these may interfere with the daily schedule like eating, sleeping and even concentrating at whatever they are doing.

Treatment of PTSD

There are basically two measures that can be taken for the treatment of PTSD. The first is the well-known psychotherapy that involves talking to the victim and helping him overcome the anxiety, fears and the emotional imbalance. This may take time but it has been proven to be a very efficient way of helping people with PTSD overcome their fears and recover (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2013).

The other approved method is by the use of medication. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two types of medications for treating adults with PTSD. One of them is Setraline (Zoloft) and the other is paroxetine (Paxil). Both of these are antidepressants and are used to treat depression, fear, anxiety and can be used by the victim in order to constructively go through psychotherapy (Patricia W. et.al, 2013). The psychiatrist have a central role in the treatment of the patients and the other pertinent partners in this process are the family members and friends whose presence and constant encouragement is central to the fast recovery of the patient (Helpguide, 2013).

Terryn M, (2013) also suggests that the relatives or the friends should try to give the emotional support to the individual, show patience to him, understand his situation and offer encouragement. There is also need for the friends to learn about PTSD so that they can fully understand what the friend is going through. There is need to listen carefully to the feelings that the victim is expressing and understand the situations that may cause PTSD or trigger reaction to the same. One should also…