¶ … Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces has declared that the country should put in more effort to treat the occurrences of Post-traumatic stress disorder and suicides among soldiers. In just a span of one week, there were four Canadian military suicides (Fekete, 2013). These soldiers went on to commit suicide after returning from war. It is known that hundreds and thousands of men and women have lost their lives in numerous battles till date. Suffering even after war is over and not being able to take over one's nerves is just horrible. Countries like Canada and U.S. are quite concerned over the increasing rates of PTSD amongst veterans. This event shows that PTSD amongst veterans is a serious problem and is becoming quite common.
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that develops after a person experiences one or more traumatic events. PTSD is a very severe condition, and it usually follows traumatic events like serious injury, threat or death, sexual assault, near death experiences or serious injury. PTSD is a psychological disorder and the diagnosis of this disease is confirmed when a certain number of symptoms occur together. Even though the name states that this disorder does occur after trauma; it is not likely that every traumatic event will result in PTSD.
It is the body's normal response to prepare to defend itself whenever there is a danger nearby. This "fight-or-flight" reaction is a healthy response that does yield positive benefits for the person who applies. However, it is known that excess of anything is never good. PTSD is a classic example of that. It is seen that people who have PTSD go on to feel frightened or stressed even when they are not in danger.
Causes
Even though the trauma is the most obvious and apparent reason for PTSD, other causes have been linked to it. Many scientists have gone to state that the genes of a person can go on to increase or decrease the risk for developing PTSD. The role of Stathmin and GRP in increasing development of fearful memories is still under research. Even though genes and brain areas might have a link with development of PTSD, there are many environmental factors such as childhood trauma, history of mental illness, or a head injury can also go on to affect the development of PTSD. A study by Bremmer (1993) when on to look at the relation of combat related PTSD with childhood trauma. The study revealed that the persons who were seeking treatment for combat linked PTSD had increased rates of childhood violence, as opposed to the veterans who were not diagnosed with PTSD.
Signs and Symptoms.
It is normal to feel sad or frightened after a traumatic experience. The normal person does, however, learn to move on with life. Despite going through the awful experience, he learns how to see things positively and does not stay stuck with a constant feeling of pain and danger at all times. The symptoms of PTSD are primarily divided into the re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoiding reminders of trauma and increased anxiety and emotional arousal.
As the name suggests, the re-experiencing symptoms are such that the person feels that he is reliving the trauma and over again. He feels the same feelings like sweating or increased heart rate like he did at the time of trauma. Even though the person might not be hallucinating, he relives that trauma in his dreams. Therefore, bad dreams are very common occurrence in PTSD. In the case of war veterans, this could mean that they witness shootings or their bunk mates dying over and over again. These people do want to forget the horrific images that they saw, but they keep dreaming about it and seeing them again. The person's thoughts are also filled with the same thoughts and images that he saw during the trauma. A very important point here is that there are always certain objects or situations that go on to remind the person of the traumatic event. Therefore, these triggers can also cause the re-experiencing symptoms.
Avoidance of symptoms basically means that the person himself tries to stay away from the events, objects or places that remind him of the experience. A veteran might not want to see his uniform ever again. The same person who used to enjoy watching movies with shootings and violence might totally avoid them after the trauma. The person might also feel emotionally numb. Having strong feelings of depression or guilt are another symptom of PTSD....
The embedded traumatic experiences are usually deeply disturbing to the individual and can lead to typical symptoms of PTSD, such as depression, suicidal tendencies and loss of personal motivation. In terms of existential analysis, these traumatic experiences can be understood and analyzed from the subjective and experiential viewpoint of the individual. The advantage of this form of analysis and treatment is that it is based on the view that the
, 2010). This point is also made by Yehuda, Flory, Pratchett, Buxbaum, Ising and Holsboer (2010), who report that early life stress can also increase the risk of developing PTSD and there may even be a genetic component involved that predisposes some people to developing PTSD. Studies of Vietnam combat veterans have shown that the type of exposure variables that were encountered (i.e., severe personal injury, perceived life threat, longer duration,
The study also revealed that 9% of those still in active military service developed psychiatric disorders. It concluded that many of them displayed psychotic symptoms other than flashbacks and dissociative symptoms. These symptoms are essential parts of PTSD. Most of the war veterans investigated exhibited psychotic symptoms of either depressive or schizophrenia. O the PTSD patients, 9% also suffered from major depressive disorder with psychotic features, while 11% had psychotic
For many reasons, children in such families are especially vulnerable (4). Many studies have established that, in comparison with children of combat veterans without PTSD, the children of combat veterans with PTSD have more frequent and more serious developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems (2,5-10). Some of them also have specific psychiatric problems." (Klaric et al., p. 491) It is thus that the discussion on PTSD must shift toward a more
In his book, Finley relates to the stories of four soldiers that suffered PTSD, including a U.S. Marine named Tony Sandoval "who can barely complete a full sentence about the horrors he saw" and by an Army soldier (Jesse Caldera) who "is haunted by fears he killed a child" (General OneFile). An article in the journal Policy Review references an early example of PTSD, suffered by an Athenian warrior that
There is a culture inside the military that continues to harass those who try to take advantage of mental health services (Hall, 2008). Because of its continuing and transient nature, chronic suicidal ideation (CSI) compared to active suicidal thinking is often not an indication for hospitalization. This can be a difficult factor in treatment of veterans with PTSD. For many who have experienced considerable trauma in their past and continue
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