An article on CNN.com states that army suicides are up twenty percent from the previous year and that attempted suicides are up by over five hundred incidents from the year before. Now you need to keep in mind these numbers may appear to be high but chances are they are nowhere near the actual numbers that never went reported.
The majority of these tragic events are tied into PTSD and this is no surprise. If there were proper numbers kept after any major war, battle and conflict it would show that this is to be expected as there are some things the human brain can not comprehend or justify that leads to PTSD or substance abuse to cover up the symptoms one experiences when suffering from this crippling disorder.
PTSD definition in the DSM – The essential feature of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one’s physical integrity; or witnessing an event that involves death, injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of another person; or learning about unexpected or violent death, serious harm, or threat of death or injury experienced by a family member or other close associate.
The number one factor that they list that may lead to PTSD is military combat. To put PTSD into my words picture an event so terrifying and traumatic that your brain can not justify it so you can not just handle it internally and let it go. The worst part of PTSD is the bloody flashbacks, you can be having a great day and for what ever the reason get triggered to where you not only see this defining event go through your head but you swear your right back in it and that is how your body responds to it, your heart is jumping out of your chest, your shaking your head trying to get the images to go away and the line between yesterday and today has vanished. Finally the flashback goes away and if you are lucky will be gone for the remainder of the day that is until you find a way to fall asleep but take a wild guess what your are going to dream of.
My exwife woke me up one night by turning on the light and throwing a pillow at me for I was beating the living crap out of my pillow and she said to me “Baby I don’t know who you are fighting but I am pretty sure you killed him” as the intensity level was extreme, needless to say I take a lot of meds before I go to bed now.
The worst part of flashbacks is you never know when they are going to show up and for how long they are going to last. PTSD does not go away without proper treatment the personal event I detailed in the previous paragraph that was the source of the nightmare happened well over two decades ago. A lot of people turn to substance abuse where they drink or drugged themselves into a stupor so the flashbacks and nightmares don’t show up. Other people seek out therapy which is difficult when you are male and I would imagine especially difficult if you are in the military due to the stigma attached to it for you basically have to tell your doctor that your getting your ass kicked by nightmares and flashbacks which is a hard thing to do. I was diagnosed during my first hospital stay when I woke up half the floor in the middle of a nightmare.
PTSD effects your daily life in a large way as you walk around paranoid and full of anxiety praying that a flashback does not appear and you know all it takes is one single trigger to do it. A trigger can be anything from a noise to a smell to an object to damn near anything. The goal of therapy is not only help to deal with the defining event but to identify all of the triggers and begin to desensitize them which can take a long time..
If your son or daughter or mother or father comes back from the war and their always on edge and appear to be stuck in another place get them to a doctor as soon as you can. Like most mental disorders the faster the illness is diagnosed the faster treatment and recovery can occur. The people who suffer from PTSD are treatable but the proper steps needs to be taken and to be honest I am not sure how well stocked the US military is when it comes to mental health professionals who are trained to deal with PTSD clients but I can guarantee all of them are going to be busy for a long time to come. A lot of the time the war does not end when the soldier returns home for now he or she needs to justify everything that they participated and witnessed while on a foreign soil which at times the human brain will not allow and PTSD is born.
Imagine a nightmare that you can not escape, imagine the monster from the nightmares chases you while your awake and may be hiding around the next corner this is PTSD at its bare bones and unfortunately for some they take an extreme permanent route to escape it and we have another casualty of war.
Very scary stuff and unfortunately it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. I wonder if the military addresses mental health with the brave Men and Women before they are deployed and if they don’t then maybe they should. I don’t think there is a way to prepare someone mentally for war but sometimes knowing help is standing by if or when they need it may bring the numbers of suicides and suicides attempts down. Of course the military has to make sure that there is always someone available to listen which I don’t believe is the case right now and these soldiers need to remember they are human regardless of where they have been or the training they have gone through or the stereotype they model their lives after and it is okay to ask for help.
Incoming search terms:
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Great job taking on this really important issue. There is a lot to learn and share about PTSD, and the more we talk about it the more people will be aware. Keep up the great work!
Although a lot is known about PTSD it is hard to get treatment for it. It’s a good point, your making, that with the war the number of walking wounded is certainly going to rise.
I am really unsure of the numbers of qualified therapists in the US who deal with PTSD. I do know where I am in a community of a little over two hundred thousand there is one therapist who won’t treat me as she is uncomfortable with self harm clients. This is going to sound terrible but if I was a therapist in the states the second I hear about the upcoming war I would have went to get my PTSD qualifications as business is going to be booming in the near future, of course not all therapists are in it for the money just a very high percentage of them. Thanks for responding
I remember 2 soldiers, both having PTSD who were handled by one psychiatrist . These 2 soldiers were both deployed years ago to Mindanao, a terrorist infested place here in the Philippines .According to their history, both traumatically underwent fears involving bombings they hear. As far as I recall, they also lost friends during the combat with the terrorists. It was my dear psychiatric nursing professor of whom these 2 ppl were more at ease and became more open during our daily immersions and rounds. I believe I have mentioned already in my previous comments of this professor who took time to really immerse himself with the different mental and behavioral problems and or both of each patient he would handle, as well as do a lot of researches. Obviously, psychiatrists don’t automatically make good therapists. They must specialize per related diagnosis and must possess real interest.
PTSD is such a lonely and erratic ride to combat with, the way I ahve observed these 2 army soldiers. It was an ordinary sight to see them being gripped with fear- hiding somewhere in the 4 corners of the therapy room(without the psychiatrist ,geez…and left with psychiatric nurses (pyschiatric nursing professors and students as well), and then all of a sudden shouting and expressing words coming from a seemingly military scenario, and with harried movements . Obviously, all these are manifestations in an attempt to debride themselves off from an anxiety they cannot bear anymore. It was sad to see them ebcasue I can feel their anguish. At this time, the dear old professor would say “Do not call his attention yet. Let him voice out and when he is done, approach him calmly. But be on guard as he migth harm myself”. In reference to the harm factor, prior to immersion, we would keep the room free from pointed objects and inspect all else. But then again, if a patient doesn’t trust you enough, you are also considered as a potential harm to themselves. Trust is a very important factor. It’s the first thing a hcild learns that must come from a significant person in his 0-1 year of life- his mother or in the absence of a mother, a surrogate mother.