Summary: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Veterans

Care and Support for Veterans with PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder is among the leading diseases that veterans face after their time in the military. Most veterans, some being homeless, have some form or symptoms of PTSD. This disease destroys veterans’ lives one day at a time. Veterans with PTSD go unsupported and uncared for every single day. Veterans who suffer from PTSD need more support from the government they served under and from the people they protect. PTSD affects not only the mind, but the body as well. PTSD is an intense mental illness; it is the exposure to death, injury, sexual violence, crime and any horrific life changing event. Many veterans acquire PTSD from anything war related (Piotrowski 1). The reason military
. . . Usually the defense attorneys claimed their clients untreated PTSD had caused the violence” (qtd. in Jaffe 3). Writer Greg Jaffe gives a great example about how untreated PTSD changed the life of a soldier. Staff Sgt. Robert Carlson, a man who spent a total of forty months in Iraq and Afghanistan, had seen a lot if horrific things (1). During his tours, he faced many life changing challenges (1). For example, he killed a man in front of the man’s children (Jaffe 1). All of the events he had seen or been involved with changed him. At home, after a night out of drinking with his wife and friends he threatened his wife with a gun and then pointed it at his own head (2). He even fired shots at police officers (Jaffe 2). He was later tried in court and got convicted of his crimes and he was sentenced to nine years in prison (Jaffe 4). After all of, this he realized he had PTSD, but it was too late; he already had lost everything (Jaffe 7). He is just one of many veterans who have committed crimes caused by unsupported PTSD. Several cases have shown up of veterans committing crimes due to their untreated
It is causing soldiers and veterans to commit inhumane actions. The military is at constant battle with trying to figure out what triggered a strand of suicides by military soldiers in 2013 and the fall before there were 42 overall deaths, 25 suicides and 17 other deaths all caused from PTSD (Pedwell 1). While all of these deaths are happening, there is still no change in the amount of support for veterans. Care is only provided to those who ask for it (Pedwell 2). Even the government does not support veterans with PTSD as well as it should. “But Harris said the government needs to fund programs to help soldiers cope better before their problems get out of hand, and to reduce the stigma that exists about mental disorders (qtd. in Pedwell