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Ptsd Research

In: English and Literature

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Lack of Support for Soldiers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Soldiers in the war are subjected to many violent and traumatic events which can affect a person internally and emotionally without being noticed for a period of time. This is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is a common disorder found in soldiers in the United States military who have been to war. PTSD can cause many health and social issues. In order to help soldiers cope with PTSD and lead normal lives the government should focus more the counseling programs available for soldiers once they return from war.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is “the psychiatric diagnosis now given to a set of reactive symptoms that results from experiencing a traumatic event or a series of such events” (Nidiffer and Leach 1). During The Revolutionary War the soldiers began showing signs of emotional stress and started to refuse to fight. By doing so the soldiers have been viewed as cowards and were treated as though they were deserters of the military. Most of these soldiers were discharged due psychiatric problems, so rather than getting them help they just sent the soldiers back to civilian life. However, “by the end of the war Benjamin Rush, a physician of the period, became among the first to suggest that rehabilitation in some form would be better than mere punishment…Rush’s efforts to understand mental disorders and to promote humane treatment for those patients suffering from it set the foundation for American efforts to better respond to mental health needs and began the slow progression towards treating rather than scourging soldiers suffering from PTSD” (Nidiffer and Leach 7).
Over the next few wars following The Revolutionary War PTSD and other combat related stress has become more readily diagnosed among soldiers. “During the Civil War, for the first time, physicians began to see emotional and behavioral problems from combat activities as a medical condition” (Nidiffer and Leach 8). During the wars “many soldiers received supportive therapy at their battle aid stations and were returned to combat within a few hours” (Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley 162). This is not enough time for soldiers to deal with their PTSD. Most of the time symptoms do not show up until later on. “In cases of delayed PTSD, some soldiers who stood up exceptionally well under intensive combat have experienced PTSD upon their return home, often in response to relatively minor stresses they had handled easily before” (Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley 171). Once this disorder became more noticeable soldiers began receiving disability pensions. Yet has failed to help the soldiers cope with PTSD. In fact many soldiers feel that they cannot come forward, because of the effect on their careers.
Another reason why the government is not doing enough to help veterans with PTSD is that many of them are coming home from war and getting in trouble with the law. Many of these soldiers have never been diagnosed with the disease. In the Houston Texas, “three hundred veterans are booked in to the Harris County jail every month” (Swartz 8). This county has teamed up with the Veterans Administration to help create a program to help diagnose these veterans in the Harris County jail and get them the proper treatment and released from jail (9). It took a spike in veteran prisoners to find a program. This should not be the case, if the proper diagnosis is found prior to discharge or by doctors treating the veterans more programs like this can be developed to help them before getting into trouble.
While programs are available for soldiers, soldiers should be treated regardless of symptoms. More so, because symptoms do take days, weeks, or even years to show up. Without the help for PTSD military members become increasingly susceptible to other health issues, including suicidal ideation. In fact, “linking suicidality to re-experiencing symptoms of PTSD, which predict suicide ideation much more robustly than symptoms of emotional numbing, avoidance, and hyper arousal” (Bryan, Kanzler, Durham, West, and Greene 3). Proving without the proper treatment these soldiers need the help once returning home from the war zone.
The Veterans Administration (VA) has been put in place to serve military veterans, but specifically for healthcare. The VAMC centers are usually placed in the city and are usually busy regardless of having an appointment. This deters veterans from seeking help from the VA. The VA provides free healthcare to veterans, but the veterans can only go to the VAMCs to get healthcare. While the VA is taking steps to help the mental health crisis, “additional obstacles to care include the location of many VA medical centers (VAMCs) that are not easily accessible to veterans” (Steenkamp and Rauch 52). Creating smaller centers in rural areas would actually help with the accessibility problem. Also, give veterans the option to go to a healthcare provider closer to their home if the VAMC is more than fifty miles from their homes. This will help veterans receive the treatments they need.
Next, the VA provides the following programs: PTSD Clinic Teams, which provide one-one support, Day Hospitals, which is an outpatient clinic, Specialized Inpatient Unites, which provide hospital stays from twenty-eight days to ninety days, and other various forms of treatments. Not all of these VAMCs offer all of these services, therefore making it inconvenient to the veterans that need help. The government should provide some funding making it possible for the veterans to be able to travel to the locations that best fits their needs.
While most people believe that the veterans are not getting enough help for their PTSD, some will argue that veterans receive disability and free medical insurance. Knowing that veterans can receive benefits for their PTSD, does not mean that they automatically qualify for disability benefits. Even though veterans receive free medical insurance some will not take advantage of it, because of long wait times and lack of education on PTSD. The VA does however provide internships for doctors and nurses to deal with PTSD patients. However, these programs are only available in certain areas, for example the Specialized Inpatient PTSD Unit provides inpatient treatment for twenty-eight to ninety days, but the closest hospital from Snellville Georgia is over two hundred miles away. So, while there are programs available there are limits to these programs for the veterans,
In conclusion, the government should provide better service for current and past veterans suffering from PTSD.

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