PTSD : Author Unknown You are in the desert. Explosions, gunfire, and people screaming are all around you. You grab your weapon and start to run toward the battle. A terrorist starts to charge. You strike him in the head with your fist and take him to the ground. Your hands find their way to his throat and you begin strangling him… You are awakened by the blood curdling scream of your wife. She is trying to get you off of your child. Your hands wrapped around the neck of your own daughter. Another night terror. Your little girl is rushed to the hospital to bring life back into her body. All you can do is pray for an answer. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a serious illness among combat veterans. Some of these soldiers that are diagnosed with PTSD often have problems that lead to violence, substance abuse, rape, and even murder. Treatment should be made mandatory for all returning veterans to be sure that no one is left undiagnosed so the safety of others is not jeopardized. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined as a mental health condition that is triggered by a terrifying event. Most people have some sort of stress reactions after a traumatic event, and members of the military being exposed to the war are at a terribly high risk in developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There are many symptoms that include flashbacks, nightmares severe anxiety, substance abuse, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Women are more likely to have PTSD than men. People that suffer from this illness often have a hard time coping and living their normal lives. Glenn Schiraldi, Ph.D. wrote in his book entitled The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook, Wrapped up in the trauma material may be a unique sense of identity, or who you are, since people often feel very different during the trauma. So you might feel like a different person since the trauma or when the traumatic memories intrude your awareness, (14). Soldiers tend to numb themselves emotionally mostly with the people in which they used to be close to. The victims of this illness are often bothered by the anniversary of the event and try to avoid situations bring up the happening. According to the National Institutes of Health, The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that PTSD afflicts: Almost 31% of Vietnam veterans, as many as 10% of Gulf War (Desert Storm) veterans, 11% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan, and 20% of Iraqi war veterans (10-14). Those numbers are just of the veterans who have been diagnosed. What about the people who have not been tested for this illness? These are the men and women that become incarcerated. Proper treatment including medications and therapy should be provided by the government. It seems only fair to the people that have served our country to receive the care that they need. It is the least that the government can do for the ones who gave their lives to protect what they believe in. I asked my father what it is like having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and he replied, Its hell. You feel like you need to be in control of everything and everyone. I find it hard to control myself when I am set off. My father has been diagnosed with PTSD since 2005 and has not been able to return to work since his second tour in Iraq. The government fears that he may murder someone in the office because his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is so rigorous. He has been misdiagnosed with a different mental brain injury and has been put on many medications that did not help him. That was when he went to a different psychotherapist and they realized the severity of his problem. Since then, he has been receiving the proper care. Many of the available treatment options failed to work for him, but he has now obtained a service dog to aid with his anxiety all thanks to the help of correct diagnosis. Diagnosis of PTSD should be administered immediately after returning from a soldiers tour. Donna Sabella wrote in the American Journal of Nursing that, A recent study of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan found that younger veterans were at higher risk for being diagnosed with PTSD than veterans ages 40 or older, (49). Since the numbers of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder victims are increasing, it would be quite reasonable to administer testing of the illness in all veterans. There are a lot of cases of undiagnosed veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder being sent to prison. The most recent United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of Inmates in local jails 2002 data indicate that 9.3 percent of people incarcerated in jails are Veterans. The controlling offense for 70 percent of these Veterans was a non-violent crime, and 45 percent had served two or more state prison sentences. At minimum, 90,000 of the 9 million unique inmates annually released from U.S. jails are Veterans, (Justice for Vets). There is no excuse for that number of veterans to be in jail. PTSD can cause blackouts and these soldiers do not even know what they are doing when going through that phase. With mandatory screening for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, I can guarantee that there would be a lot less veterans in prison. Justice for Vets also stated that as many as 25% of veterans that have been incarcerated are mentally ill. For the veterans that have been established with PTSD, there are a number of available treatment options. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says that, Each PTSD program offers education, evaluation, and treatment. Program services include: One-to-one mental health assessment and testing, Medicines, One-to-one psychotherapy and also family therapy, Group therapy (covers topics such as anger and stress, combat support, partners, or groups for Veterans of specific conflicts, (VA). These are some of the options available for veterans. Of course, some curing options work better than others. The treatment options might not even work at all for some soldiers. Another option that recently became available to veterans is service dogs. There should be mandatory screening for all returning soldiers to see if they have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It should be a program that provides a pre-release and a follow-up test. After returning to their home state, they must go to their local Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital and see a PTSD therapist. The idea is to have a therapist do a series of tests on the veteran and be sure on whether or not they have the mental illness. If a particular veteran is difficult to diagnose or if they do have PTSD, then a follow-up test should be administered approximately once every two weeks. This program would also be administered to the veterans in prison. It is believed that 60% of all people in jail have a mental infirmity and one-in-six of those people get the proper treatment for their illness. Veterans laid their very own lives down on the line for us and our country, and they ended up in prison. It does not seem fair that these men and women should suffer for the rest of their lives because of a mental disorder that disrupts their daily activities. Dealing with the combat veterans that have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can be very dangerous. They have seen murder, some have even committed murder. They are not afraid to do it again. In their mind, they have nothing to lose. It is a very sensitive situation, and the wrong move could cost you your life. The value of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in combat veterans is such a given in our culture and is so vital to how we see things that my position of counseling being made mandatory to all returning veterans might seem unreasonable. It even could be easily dismissed because in court cases, lawyers have the possibility of thinking the soldiers being tried are weighing heavily on PTSD for an insanity claim. On the other hand, according to Justice for Vets One in five veterans is diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. One in six veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom suffers from a substance abuse issue. Research continues to draw a link between substance abuse and combat–related mental illness. Left untreated, mental health disorders common among veterans can directly lead to involvement in the criminal justice system. This study shows our society may need to re-examine this hypothesis. Instead of having our returning veterans come home and struggle to settle back down in their environment, which could lead to getting in trouble with the law, therapists should be made available to examine each soldier for symptoms of PTSD and mental health disorders. There are already psychotherapists available, but today it is up to the veteran to notice if they have the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. That would be like diagnosing yourself with a deadly disease. How would you know if you have it? You obviously dont know. Therefore, every single returning soldier should be made to attend counseling and be evaluated before they are able to go home. There should also be a follow up examination for all vets being that sometimes the symptoms of PTSD do not show up until after having some time back in their home surroundings. Providing therapy for all combats would take a long time to complete with the amount of active duty we have in our country. However, this would be a great opportunity to open up jobs for many unemployed Americans to help the ones that have served their country. In the end, this would help out the economy and our patriotic soldiers achieve the ultimate goal. If you were sent to war, saw someone killed or injured and returned home would you pick up your life where you left off? Soldiers are shipped off the other countries and they see the worst. They are trained to numb themselves of the pain in that they many endure, but some cannot handle the pressure. After they are home, they are unable to return to their daily lives. Some are diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and that can lead to violence, substance abuse, rape, and even murder. Treatment should be made mandatory for all returning veterans to be sure that no one has been missed during undiagnosed so the safety of others is not jeopardized. Sources Justice for Vets. Veterans Treatment Court Studies and Statistics. 2012. Web. National Center for PTSD. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 2 July 2012. Web. National Health Institute. PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. NIH Medicine Plus (2009): 10-14. Print. Sabella, MEd, MSN, Ph.D, RN, Donna. PTSD Among our Returning Veterans. American Journal of Nursing (2012): 48-52. Print. Schiraldi, Ph.D., Glenn R. The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 04:01:06 +0000
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