On Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 11:33 AM, GM Writers Ten <[email protected]> wrote:

Post-traumatic Stress among Veterans and Their Families

The deployment of veterans to war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan war has placed a great burden on veterans and their families. A study on military families under stress found an increase in military divorce rates among servicemen in Iraqis and Afghanistan war compared to previous wars. Post-traumatic stress was found to be rampant among soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. It has a major impact on a large segment of the United States’ population, both soldiers and civilians. An unmatched figure of veterans deployed in these wars participates in PTSD therapy while several others endured the psychiatric symptoms in silence. According to the study carried out by RAND Corporation, about twenty percent of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans test positive as for depression or PTSD. The research reveals that it is common for veterans returning from war zones to show some reactions due to their experiences in battle front (Tanielian and Jaycox 97). It is, therefore, important to safeguard veterans’ psychological, mental and psychical health, with consideration to the effect of post-traumatic to soldiers and their families.

According to Keane, Marshall and Taft, post-traumatic stress arises as a tardy and protracted response to either short and long enduring traumatic incidents or situations of an extremely threatening or tragic nature, likely leading to pervasive grief to many people. Some of the stressful events that lead to PTSD include torture, combat, violent deaths, severe accident and adverse crime. Post-traumatic stress is associated with recurrent and disturbing events comprising of recurring distressing illusions, perceptions, delusions, deliberations, imagery and hallucinations. It is apparent that PSTD can result from severe psychological grief and stressful flashbacks caused by traumatic events and the recurrence of such events (Keane, Marshall and Taft 162).

Post-traumatic stress is typified by psychological reactions and a constellation of symptoms, which follows a life-threatening or extreme traumatic event. The trauma can result from an abrupt event that may last for a few minutes, few hours, or recurrent, chronic, and ongoing events, which include deployment in combat zones, sexual abuse and physical abuse. The major symptoms or indications of PTSD include the numbing of general responsiveness, averting stimuli related to the traumatic event, re-experiencing the trauma, and elevated states of arousal. The avoidance symptoms include efforts to avoid conversations, feelings and thoughts that relate to the trauma, physical evidence of conditions or circumstances resembling the traumatic events, and decreased responsiveness or receptiveness to the outside world (restriction of emotions, reduced interest in normal activities) (Potts)

Veterans and their families are vulnerable to psychological injuries with PTSD being the most common disorder. These psychological effects put at risk the lives of soldiers and military families prior to, during, and subsequent to the military deployments. Pre-deployment phase stressors are the imminent long-lasting family separation, and battle preparation for the soldier. Children usually fail to understand why their parent is leaving while wives and other family member fear what may happen during the deployment period. In the deployment phase, stressors include separation anxiety and lack of communication. In the post-deployment period, soldiers have to blend into the society and deal with post-traumatic stress. This results in maltreatment, anxiety, substance abuse, suicides, domestic violence and divorce (Henry 6).

It is common for PTSD to be associated with low satisfaction of veterans with family relationships. Veterans from war zones are likely to be very sensitive or alert with things happening around them, which threatens their interaction with other people. Family functioning may influence veterans with PTSD. Mental and psychological pressures resulting from adverse experiences in the war zones make veterans incapable of handling challenging moments in their families such as parentage or financial responsibilities. Besides, veterans suffering from PTSD can to be violent or aggressive with children and partners (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 16).

According to Lite, children in military families are likely to experience adverse effect of veterans’ post-traumatic stress. They experience unique tribulations resulting from military life and practices, such as deployment, conflicts and mistreatment. Depression and stress among these children is associated with the apprehension of parents’ death, separation, movements and presence of only one parent in the household. Parents’ conditions and behavior also affect children’s wellbeing. Children in military families are affected by physical injuries, mental disorders, cognitive impairment and PTSD of their parents returning from military operations. Furthermore, behavior of the parent left behind upon a veteran’s death in combat substantially affects the welfare of these children, particularly because of the fear of what to expect in absence of another parent (Lite 4).

Research studies have indicated a significant increase in family members’ maltreatment in military families. The deployment and mobilization of soldiers in war zones causes stress in military families and weakens the relationships. In addition, people left to take care of children are associated with cases of child maltreatment, which shows that stress due to war not only affects soldiers but also the whole military families. Although the government provides financial, health and resource support to military families, it is required that further measures are put in place to minimize or eliminate negative effects associated with PTSD and other disorders. Such interventions include additional support, providing learning programs to affiliates of military families who are left behind and increasing scrutiny of the family role in stressful moments (Rentz, Marshall and Loomis 1201).

Several techniques are available for managing and treating stress resulting from military deployment operations, including psychotherapy, constructive relationships and interactions, emotional support, visualizing pleasing contemplations, and physiotherapy such as breathing and muscle relaxation techniques. It is required that veterans and members of military families learn to have an optimistic and positive outlook concerning separation and alienation from family members. Further, veterans and their family members should build visualizations or thoughts that counteract stress. This requires development of a suitable short story that will be used by these families in fearful periods and times of anxiety (National Institute of Mental Health 5).

A number of techniques of minimizing or averting anxiety and resentment can help veterans and their families to deal with post-traumatic stress. Open discussion and communication can also effectively assist veterans and their families in dealing with post-traumatic stress. Through couple therapy, veterans have access to social support, and they are enabled to reduce interpersonal conflict. It provides ways of dealing with experiential avoidance, which is fundamentally associated with posttraumatic symptoms. Combat veterans along with their partners can adapt the Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) in their efforts to minimize conflict and elevate intimacy by means of acceptance and skills strategies. Further, veterans become able to manage emotions, activities and interpersonal conditions that cause combat-related distress, which facilitates their recovery from PTSD (Erbes et al. 973).

Although PTSD can be treated, there are many soldiers failing to participate in psychotherapy and other treatment approaches. Deluca claimed that “toughing it out” skills of veterans are the main cause of their resistance to obtaining or accessing PTSD treatment. Combat soldiers are more likely to hold back their problems rather than seek help and show the weakness. This does not only intensify their conditions but also affects their recovery process. In fact, recovery process entails assisting veterans in breaking their habits of keeping the suffering to themselves, and determining when to use the toughing it out skills. Besides, other veterans do not obtain help on PTSD due to the stigma associated with psychological and cognitive health problems. These veterans fail to understand that PTSD is a functional reaction to dangerous and extreme conditions of war rather than a personal weakness. It is, therefore, important for veterans to eliminate impediments of PTSD treatment in order to acquire skills and attitudes necessary for functioning around their families and the community. Stigmas and toughing it out skills should not prevent veterans from seeking help on PTSD (Deluca 4).

The deployment of US veterans is associated with several negative effects on veterans and military families. They are vulnerable to psychological injuries, and post-traumatic stress is the most common functional reaction of veterans returning from war zones. PTSD puts at risk the lives of veterans and military families prior to, throughout, and subsequent to deployments. Partners and children are subject to violence, mistreatment, inappropriate relationships, divorce and other negative effects resulting from veterans’ reactions. To eliminate these reactions, veterans can adopt several techniques for managing and treating PTSD such as psychotherapy, couple therapy, physiotherapy, counseling and medications, among others. However, toughing it out skills and PTSD-related stigmas prevents some veterans from seeking help. It is necessary that such mentalities be avoided, and further measures be implemented for helping veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress, and their families.

Works Cited

Deluca, Lisa C. Combat PTSD and Iraq War Soldiers: Why Afghanistan & Iraq Combat Veterans Often Don't Seek PTSD Therapy. 2012. <Web>. 27 February 2015.

Erbes, Christopher, et al. "Couple Therapy with Combat Veterans and Their Partners." Journal of Clinical Psychology 64.8 (2008): 972-983.

Henry, P. The Psychological Effects of Warfare on Soldiers and their Families. 2011. <Web>. 27 February 2015.

Keane, T, A Marshall and C Taft. " Post-traumatic stress disorder: etiology, epidemiology, and treatment outcome." Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 2 (2006): 161-197.

Lite, L. Military Families Face Stress & Secondary PTSD. 2011. <Web>. 27 February 2015.

National Institute of Mental Health. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." 2014. <Web>. 27 February 2015.

Potts, N L. Pediatric nursing: caring for children and their families: caring for children and their families. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

Rentz, Danielle E, et al. "Effect of Deployment on the Occurrence of Child Maltreatment in Military and Nonmilitary Families." American Journal of Epidemiology 165.10 (2007): 1199-1206.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Returning from the war zone: A guide for military personnel. 2009. <Web>. 27 February 2015.