...history, people have recognized that exposure to combat situations can negatively impact the mental health of those involved in these situations. In fact, the diagnosis of PTSD historically originates from observations of the effect of combat on soldiers. Since the 1800’s grouping of symptoms that we now refer to as PTSD has been described in the past as "combat fatigue," "shell shock," or "war neurosis." Combat veterans often return from deployment having experienced a wide range of exposures, symptoms and medical conditions. The Department of Veterans Affairs established war related illness and injury study centers to serve combat veterans with unexplained illnesses. History Although many coexisting disorders have been reported with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), little reference has been made to the presence of psychotic symptoms. Post-traumatic stress disorder is commonly described among victims of severe trauma outside of normal human experience, in this case the combat veterans returning from deployment. Traumatic events can lead to reevaluation of life and its meaning; a reconsideration of what is truly important which often changes one’s set of priorities. Trauma often causes abrupt cessation of continuity in coherence in sense of one’s self (Barlow, 2002). In the early 1800’s military doctors began diagnosing soldiers with "exhaustion" following the stress of battle. This "exhaustion" was characterized by mental shutdown due to individual or group...
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...Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a growing concern that the U.S. military must address. About a third of the 1.7 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict suffer from PTSD (Brennan, 21012). Though the military has been aware of the increase in the number of PTSD cases, there is a lack of a systematic mental health program and insufficient resources available to treat those with the disorder (Steenkamp, Nash and Litz, 2013; Brennan, 2012). Further, the military has made little progress towards lessening the stigma associated with seeking treatment for PTSD (Brennan, 2012). The Department of Veteran Affairs does not have enough resources, particularly staff, to treat the large number of soldiers affected by PTSD (Brennan,...
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...Military service members who are and have been deployed to the Middle East show high levels of emotional distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both active duty and reserve component soldiers who have fought in the war (i.e. experienced combat) have been exposed to high levels of traumatic stress. As a consequence, many have gone on to develop a wide range of mental health problems such as PTSD. “According to researchers, PTSD is a long-term reaction to war-zone exposure that can last up to a few minutes, hours, several weeks, and for some a lifetime.” Common symptoms include: emotional numbing, anxiety, feelings of guilt, and depression. If the disorder turns chronic veterans may experience functional impairment (Friedman, M. J. et al., 1994, p. 265).” PTSD is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders from veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In general, the younger veterans are the more likely they are to develop PTSD when deployed. Deployment related issues from veterans may have a devastating impact on their relationships back home. “Numerous research studies have linked PTSD to family relationship problems (Goff, Crow, Reisberg, &ump; Hamilton, 2006).” PTSD is likely to be “the” contributor to relationship problems that are not related to deployments. Spouses or partners of veterans who are diagnosed with PTSD are at greater risk of hostility and aggression in their relationship than spouses whose veterans are not diagnosed. To combat this direction...
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...Are women capable of serving in combat roles in the military psychologically? Kevin Carpenter BCOM/275 July 16th, 2012 Sandra Payne ABSTRACT According to an article in the Huffington Post women handle combat stress as well as men (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/08/women-combat-stress_n_873381.html). It is the purpose of this paper to show that psychologically women do not handle combat stress as well as men. Through research I will show that women have a higher chance of suffering from Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and have increased risk of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The definition of MST used by the VA is given by U.S. Code (1720D of Title 38). It is “psychological trauma, which in the judgment of the VA mental health professional, resulted from a physical assault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which occurred while the Veteran was serving on active duty or active duty for training.” Sexual harassment is further defined as “repeated, unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature which is threatening in character.” In more concrete terms, MST includes any sexual activity where you are involved against your will (http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/military-sexual-trauma-general.asp ). PTSD as covered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs can occur after a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something terrible and scary that you see, hear about, or that happens to you like combat exposure...
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...or commonly known as PTSD is a psychiatric disorder which commonly falls in military psychology which comes under the subfields of psychology. Posttraumatic stress disorder occurs after you have been gone through a trauma. Trauma is a shock, it can be a horrible scary thing which you see or that happens to you. It can be Experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, paranormal visions, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. These life changing situations may lead to this horrible psychiatric Disorder. The interesting fact here is most survivors of these traumas return to their normal lives with the time but some will carry the flashbacks, memories which cause side reactions and even their lives will be miserable with the time these are the people who develop PTSD. Some traumatic events that can trigger PTSD 1) Traumatic experiences following military combat 2) violent personal assaults such as sexual assault, physical attacks 3) torture 4) terrorist attacks 5) severe road accidents 6) being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness such as cancer 7) observing the serious injury or unnatural death of another person due to violent assault, accident, war, or disaster 8) unexpectedly witnessing a dead body or body parts 9) exposure to natural disasters such as earth quakes, Tsunamis After getting a general idea on PTSD, It is important to discuss...
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...Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental anxiety disorder, affects 13% to 20% of armed force members returning from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) (Hoge, et. al, 2004), in addition to a large population of Vietnam Veterans. Within the past 32 years, awareness of this disorder has escalated and the realism of the severity of this disorder has been noticed. Efforts to screen and treat PTSD in military veterans have been established by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Screening is conducted once military personnel return from deployment and treatments including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Exposure Therapy, and medications are used to relieve the symptoms of PTSD. These screening and treatment methods are evaluated and s suggestion for improvement is made. Necessary Improvements the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the United States Department of Defense Must Make With Regards to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In current political debate, the United States is arguing where budget cuts should be made and how the U.S. should go about spending money. The U.S. military is consistently brought up in these considerations. In such considerations, topics such as downsizing the military and the military’s budget overall is discussed. The military budget comes into play when considering posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among military personnel. Mark Creamer shared:...
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...The Military, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and Personality Jaye Crouse Northcentral University Dr. Claire Clifford PSY8100 Jul 20, 2014 Introduction The field of personality psychology has developed out of the necessity to know why people act, feel, and think like they do, to analyze their inward and outward motivations, and to discover where behaviors originate. It is the age-old debate of nature versus nurture that is found in many psychological theories and personality is no exception. Some researchers are convinced that the structure of personality is uniform and personality traits are universal, fundamentally heritable, and comprised of broadly defined dimensions where cultural, social, and gender influences are irrelevant and personality traits are fairly stable (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970; McCrae & Costa, 1997: Terracciano & McCrae, 2006). Other psychologists such as humanistic and positive psychologists believe quite the opposite and contend that humans are essentially good with free will to make choices, change outcomes, and seek out opportunities to enhance their quality of life with the goal of self-actualizing, making personality a more fluid and less deterministic perspective with a focus on values, resiliency, and subjective well-being (Cloninger, 2013). Other researchers such as Freud, Adler, Horney, and Jung believe culture, society, and environment are profoundly important influences on personality (working in tandem...
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... Page 1 I have been in the military since 2007 and have witnessed several of my friends change during this time period. I have only one friend who is seeking help for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) I find it interesting that even though they are suffering they will not seek help. My question is why are most military troops less likely to seek help for PTSD? The mental health in our military troops is becoming more of a concern. It has been found that one in eight US soldiers returning home from either Iraq or Afghanistan has PTSD. The major problem occurring from this is soldier are for one reason or another not seeking any help for this issue. This problem has been going on for as long as there has been war. Fortunately our society is starting to understand the effects war has a a person and are paying more attention to this issue. It is important that our society pay more attention to this problem because their can be lasting negative effects if soldiers do not seek treatment. The short term effects of PTSD are sleeplessness, panic attacks, intense fear, nightmares, self destructive thoughts, and depression. The long term effects of PTSD are subsidence abuse, anger management issues, loneliness, and severe depression. In 2012 the military sent out a survey to military spouses and found out that over sixty percent of soldiers believed they have PTSD but will not seek help. The wives also provided explanations as to why they...
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... Abstract Military veterans have consistently experienced high unemployment rates. Challenging veterans’ efforts in finding and maintaining employment is the issue of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Exacerbating this problem, is civilian employers’ utilization of deficient hiring and employment practices. In particular, employers have developed a sense of fear and uncertainty about PTSD. These perceptions often prove to be a reason why employers choose not to select veteran candidates for employment. Additionally, organizations fail to successfully acclimate and socialize new veteran employees (who do or may suffer from PTSD) into the organization’s culture. Such failures can lead veteran employees to quit their job. Together, the deficient hiring and employment practices displayed towards former service members have significant ethical implications that serve as the catalyst for high unemployment rates for the veteran population. To minimize these implications and to improve veteran employment opportunities, organizations’ human resources (HR) departments must develop and incorporate new approaches to hiring and employing veterans who do or may suffer from PTSD. Keywords: PTSD, invisible disability, human resources, implicit bias Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Unethical Business Practices and their Influence on Veteran Unemployment Since the onset of World War II, United States military veterans have been plagued...
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...Military Veterans From research studies, military veterans aren’t well compensated for their service in the military. Not only are they not well compensated, there were many combat soldiers coming home with anger issues, PTSD, depression, and other psychological problems. According to research, half of the homeless individuals are military veterans not just an opinion but it’s a proven fact. Veterans are often not honored, as they should be. Why aren’t they? Another question is why aren’t our veterans not well taken care of? No health insurance for veterans First, scientific studies show that working age veterans don’t have health insurance. According to Genevieve Kenney, a senior fellow with the Urban Institute and co-author of the report...
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...Over 7 million American adults over 18 years of age have PTSD (ADAA, 2015). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by repeated episodes of re-experiencing a traumatic event that involved an actual or threat to death, serious injury to self or others. This person would have responded with extreme fear, helplessness or horror (Halter, 2014). A person can develop PTSD from military combat, natural disasters, crime related events and many other traumatic experiences. This paper will look at the portrayal of PTSD in the movie and story of Chris Kyle in American Sniper. The signs and symptoms of PTSD usually occur within 1-3 months of the traumatic event and must last at least one month. The signs and symptoms can include flashbacks, dreams of the event, avoiding any stimulants that trigger or are associated with the event, increased arousal, irritability, exaggerated startle responses, and chronic depression (Halter, 2014). In the movie American Sniper, Bradley Cooper who plays Chris...
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...there. – ARMY COMBAT ENGINEER, POST-IRAQ Transition can mean the big picture of how a warrior has to try to adjust back into society, but the short term is very critical, from when a warrior leaves the battlefield to when they hit the streets at home. If there’s one thing I learned from my experiences, it was that there was no transition at all. –VIETNAM VETERAN Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has become the major medical issue with our soldiers returning from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. For many soldiers, it is a badge of honor to have served but for most, it is a start to an endless battle of finding the courage to continue to serve or be labeled an unfit soldier for the military and useless to their family. PTSD affects not only the soldier’s way of life but the core of who the soldier is. For this reason, the government should take special care informing society what is PTSD, who gets PTSD and what types of treatments are available to them. Government must ensure there are programs in place to assist soldiers and family members in dealing with PTSD issues. The Department of Defense and Veterans Administration to encourage service members and veterans to seek help early, before problems...
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...hyper-arousal. In spite of the deleterious impact of PTSD within the U.S. military, our current understanding of the human pathophysiology governing the divergent paths associated with extreme stress response the remains unabated. Given the widespread phenomenon of ‘trauma’, it begs the question of whether or not preexisting features accompany some suffers who have developed PTSD and why others may or may not face the same effect. Much research has been conducted in this arena and it seems that no one researcher has a definitive cause, much less a standardized treatment approach for PTSD sufferers. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops as a consequence of traumatic events such as interpersonal violence, disaster, severe accidents, or other life-threatening experiences. The most common characteristics of PTSD are the re-experiencing of symptoms linked to a specific event. Patients involuntary re-experience aspects of the traumatic event in a very vivid and distressing way. This includes: flashbacks, in which the person acts or feels as if the event were recurring, nightmares, intrusive images or other sensory impressions from the event. For example, one soldier witnesses another, mortally wounded during a bombing. Consequently this survivor continues hearing the sound of the explosion and unwillingly relives the memories of the horrific encounter over and over. Patients who suffer from PTSD display periods of both hyperarousal and numbing...
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...Disorder (PTSD) Post traumatic stress disorder is discussed in chapter 12 on page 407. It says it is brought on when someone experiences an event such as a natural or human made disaster, a threat or assault, or witnessing death. It also states that people suffering form it typically show a rapid heart rate, feelings of anxiety and helplessness. They may have sleep issues, irritable out bursts, and difficulty concentrating. It goes on to say that people with PTSD typically try to avoid thoughts and activities connected to the traumatic event. I understand what the above information is trying to say about people suffering from PTSD. That they stay away from anything that would make them feel as if they were in the situation that caused their PTSD in the first place, hence making them relive it. That they are generally frightened, nervous, timid etc. I would say this would all depend on the individual who is experiencing PTSD. I have PTSD myself. However I do not exhibit anxiety, I do not avoid anything connected with shooting, the military, driving etc that may spark my PTSD or worsen it. I would agree that I have issues at times concentrating, and have had sleeping issues for about 12 years. Those would be the only two signs listed above I would say I experience. I do not have nightmares that I know of, I just have issues actually falling asleep before 3 am. What I did notice in the text that was somewhat alarming was A. no mention of PTSD concerning military members...
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...Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often associated with war veterans. These days, assuming symptoms of PTSD in soldiers returning from combat tours is almost stereotypical. In fact, in the 2012 American Psychological Association (APA) annual meeting, some argue to change PTSD to post-traumatic stress “injury” to be more accommodating to soldiers, and to resolve the issue of unreported PTSD-related symptoms within military ranks (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Military officials explained that many soldiers do not report their symptoms because of the fear of being viewed as weak (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, the incidence of PTSD can be as common among civilians as it is for those in the military. Barlow and Durand (2013) reported recent studies showing that those who are “raped, held captive, tortured, or kidnapped, or badly assaulted” are more at risk for developing PTSD than those who experienced military combat. While the reports conveying “zero” conditional risk of PTSD from exposure to military combat seem to need clarification, PTSD remains to be a debilitating condition for those who have the proclivity to develop the disorder. This paper will discuss the diagnostic criteria, etiology, effective treatment, and outcome research pertaining to PTSD. PTSD: A trauma and stressor-related disorder PTSD now belongs in the group of trauma and stressor-related disorders as published in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual...
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