Preview

PTSD In The Military

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
215 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
PTSD In The Military
Every day, hundreds of airmen, soldiers, and sailors are exposed to hazardous areas in combat zones. Throughout decades, thousands of service members have served their time in the military. Currently, there is an estimate of 1.3 million men and women serving active duty in the United States military (Gould, 2017). And of those millions, approximately 11,000+ service members within the American military are deployed in combat zones (Sisk, 2017). After a long and rigorous deployment, many troops return, only to begin another unsettled fight in their own home.

In the military in the past, having PTSD was thought of as a sign of weakness. Posttraumatic stress disorder, or most commonly known as PTSD is a result of exposure to a severely distressing

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    A 30-year-old married, Caucasian female, who served three tours of duty in Iraq, presented to a Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in Madison, Wisconsin. On intake to primary care, she screened positive for PTSD and was referred for specialty services to the posttraumatic stress clinical team for experiencing traumatic symptoms over the duration of 1.5 years. The patient reported that her primary combat duties included driving fuel tankers in a convoy from base to base and performing guard duties to secure the perimeter of the base. In the context of that duty she reported being exposed to multiple life-threatening situations, witnessing dead and mutilated bodies, a near plane crash, daily mortar attacks on the base, making many split-second life-or-death decisions, and the loss of one of her soldiers. After returning to the United States she began to experience at least five distinct intrusive memories and nightmares from these combat experiences. She engaged in avoidance through attempted thought suppression, conversation redirecting, and alcohol abuse. She avoided crowds and social situations and began to fail out of college because she felt unable to focus on her academic duties as a result of her symptoms. She expressed severe nightmares/tremors and had an eradicated sleep schedule. She wakes up numerous times throughout the night and on some nights avoids sleeping completely. On presentation to the posttraumatic stress clinical team, she was diagnosed with PTSD. In addition to her other symptoms, the patient reported engaging in compulsive checking behaviors. She reported checking her front door lock 5 to 10 times a day and peering out of her windows on a constant for lurking individuals. The patient also reported engaging in checking behaviors whenever she had an…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ptsd in the Vietnam War

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined as an anxiety disorder that can occur after being exposed to a traumatic experience like combat, terrorist attack, or child/sexual abuse. (National) Most times that PTSD is developed are in the time of war. The reason it is developed more during the time of war is because these people are exposed to most of the types of trauma that will cause PTSD. Not every person involved in the war develops PTSD though because the development of PTSD depends on how intense the trauma was, how long it lasted, if the person was injured, if they lost someone important, or how much support they received after the event. (National) After an event has happened, the person involved is given a screening exam to see if they have PTSD. The main things the doctors look for in the exam are symptoms of PTSD. Some of the symptoms of PTSD include, reliving the event, avoiding situations that resemble the event, feeling numb, and feeling keyed up. (National) Along with the PTSD, some other problems may occur. These problems include feelings of hopelessness, depression, and drinking or drug problems. There are…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Military Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental health disorder that must be better understood by the military. PTSD, battle fatigue, shell shock, and several other phrases describe a condition that has been observed in war veterans for centuries. In Achilles in Vietnam, Jonathan Shay studied veterans of the Vietnam War with PTSD and explained the similarities between these veterans and Achilles in the book The Iliad. PTSD is triggered by traumatic events that result in symptoms that can lead to very bad behavioral problems. Without proper awareness and understanding of how to identify and treat the disorder, many veterans will have difficulty functioning normally in society.…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ptsd

    • 1493 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Experienced, witnessed, or was confronted by death or serious injury to self or others and Responded with intense fear, helplessness, or horror…

    • 1493 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    PTSD: A Short Story

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages

    So, turning on the TV, he turned down the sound and poured himself a full glass once he opened the bottle. As he sat in the recliner with the glass in his hand, he took one sip and then another before drinking the entire glass in two gulps thinking he could get a little bit of sleep if he drank just enough to get a buzz and take the edge off the nightmare. Unfortunately, it didn’t take a medical degree or one in psychology to know he was suffering from PTSD or that he was extremely depressed. As a result of his honor and duty, even though the United States Army and his country dumped him like yesterday's garbage, he’d still give his life in an instant, if asked. Refilling his glass, he sat in the recliner while sipping the brown liquid and…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I have been a military wife for almost 21 years and all the above has and still have an effect on my family. I have heard about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) throughout the 21 years but not until the last few years have hit close to home. My cousin's husband has recently been diagnosed with PTSD. My cousin's husband got a dog donated by a local Vets program (Guardians of Rescue's Paws of War program) the dog wakes him or her up if he starts having bad dreams. This organization gets dogs from places like Fort Braggs shelter and Cumberland County No Kill Shelter, they send them to a training center in New York and then some local…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our service men and woman are returning home from serving their country damaged for life by a silent disease. These men and women have been trained to fight opponents they can see. They are trained to survive in situations in which others would falter. Why are our service men and women returning to their homes and country damaged and scarred for life in ways that are not always visible to the eye?…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Even in times of trauma, we try to maintain a sense of normality until we no longer can. That, my friends, is called surviving. Not healing” (Goodreads). This quote by author Lori Goodwin explains the truth that there is no such thing as complete healing from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The effects that it has on a person are so severe, that it completely alters their reality. As a result of this physical and mental change, one’s perception is permanently distorted from the truth of reality. Research has shown that the trauma in war caused many World War II victims to suffer from irreversible mental instability. Likewise, in the novel A Separate peace, John Knowles explores the issue of perception versus reality through the character Leper Lepellier entering into the war and Gene Forrester through the war inside himself.…

    • 1624 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    "There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds." This is a powerful quote by L. Hamilton about invisible wounds/scars. Throughout history the world has been introduced to several disasters, terrors and wars. Some of these traumatic events causes stressors that are outside the range of normal human experience. Such as torture, rape, abuse, the Nazi Holocaust, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, natural disasters (such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcano eruptions) and human-made disasters (such as factory explosions, airplane crashes, and automobile accidents). When a person has to go through something as traumatic as these things they can develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that develops following exposure to extreme psychological trauma. Throughout history PTSD has also been known as railway spine, stress syndrome, shell shock, battle fatigue and traumatic war neurosis. PTSD is not just a military disorder. It can affect anyone, both adults and children.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Multiple Deployments Contribute to Suicide Among Veterans." Veterans, edited by Dedria Bryfonski, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010686244/OVIC?u=coll72001&xid=07aa4ac5. Accessed 7 Apr. 2017. Originally published as "US Military Struggling to Stop Suicide Epidemic Among War Veterans," Guardian, 1 Feb. 2013. In this article Libby Busbee shares her son's tragic story. Her son, William Busbee, served three year long tours in Afghanistan before retiring from the military. When he arrived home he wasn’t the same person he was when he left. William once said to his mother, “You would hate me if you knew what I’ve done out there.” He had nightmares frequently and eventually began sleeping in the closet for a better sense of security. On one occasion William was so startled that he lept out of a moving vehicle after a nearby train sounded its horn. On the date of March 20th, 2012, William Busbee locked himself in his car and shot himself in the head. Opposing Viewpoints in Context states that “In 2012, for the first time in at least a generation, the number of active-duty soldiers who killed themselves, 177, exceeded the 176 who were killed while in the war zone”. This article shows the tragic reality of a traumatized veteran and the shocking…

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1980, the APA which is the American Psychiatric Association added Post Traumatic Disorder to DSM-III. PTSD is very unique disorder because of the great important placed on the traumatic stressor, an etiological agent. PTSD was a psychological condition of Veterans who were unable to face their experiences on the battlefield. PTSD is an anxiety disorder where some people develop after living or seeing event that caused or threatened serious death of a person or serious harm. PTSD is related to changes in brain structure/function in which these changes provide clues to the origin of PTSD, treatment and prevention of PTSD.…

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    PTSD

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through the samples, Myers and her colleagues at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta were able to map an effect in the pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) gene and its receptor PAC 1.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    PTSD

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Post-Traumatic stress disorder can occur in anyone but it all starts when a terrifying event happens and basically scars you for life. I have one cousin who was in the military who has (PTSD) and he said the horrors of war gave him the disorder. Many people who have the disorder do get it from after they leave the military it’s very common and many veterans go to see therapists for physiological help.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    PTSD is a psychiatric disorder brought on by a single horrific experience or traumatic experience. Most commonly diagnosed, are soldiers who have been to war, and women who suffered child sexual abuse. Although anyone who has been through a traumatic experience can develop PTSD. PTSD is a complex disorder and it is very difficult to treat as told by Leveque, 2007. Dr. Leveque has worked with numerous veterans of war that suffer from PTSD.…

    • 2162 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychological illness in which people repeatedly remember relive, or dream about a terrible experience” (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” 710). Explanations of PTSD mainly focus on the way the mind is affected by traumatic experiences. The mind is unable to process information and emotions properly when one is faced with overwhelming trauma (Cohen Web). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder changes the body’s response to stress by affecting the stress hormones and chemicals that deliver information between the nerves (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Web). The “fight-or-flight” response is damaged in a person with PTSD. They are constantly feeling stressed or freighted even when they are no longer in danger (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Web). This disorder can led to substance or alcohol abuse, depression, and or panic attacks (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Web). Due to many soldiers developing this disorder it was formally known as battle fatigue, combat fatigue, and shell shock (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” 710).…

    • 1565 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays