The mental and emotional effects of PTSD

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The Mental and Emotional Effects of PTSD

Tatijana Jones

The Mental and Emotional Effects of PTSD

Asnaani, A., Reddy, M. K., & Shea, M. T. (2014). The impact of PTSD symptoms on physical and mental health functioning in returning veterans. Journal of anxiety disorders, 28(3), 310-317. Retrieved on https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0887618514000280

The article discusses the unique impact of PTSD on returning veterans by focusing on their physical and mental health functioning. It establishes that a majority of soldiers are at a higher risk of suffering from PTSD since a lot of resources are channeled towards their mental and physical wellbeing after service. It, therefore, focuses on 168 veterans six months after their return from deployment and uses various studies to emphasize the emotional and mental impact of PTSD. The results of the study indicate that of the 168 participants, 86% were exposed to traumatic and life-threatening events while they were deployed and thus had reduced mental and emotional functioning. For physical health, the study relied on age while for mental health scores, it relied on depressive symptoms. For instance, most returning veterans experience depressive symptoms which predispose them to trauma and other disorders such as alcohol use disorder.

Armenta, R. F., Rush, T., LeardMann, C. A., Millegan, J., Cooper, A., & Hoge, C. W. (2018). Factors associated with persistent posttraumatic stress disorder among US military service members and veterans. BMC psychiatry, 18(1), 1-11. Retrieved from https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-018-1590-5

This study argues that PTSD can have long-term and far-reaching mental, physical and emotional impacts on health and thus proceeds to examine the factors that are associated with persistent PTSD among U.S. veterans and service members. It is based on the idea that combat experiences are the most salient risk factors for PTSD. It relies on 2409 participants who met the criteria for PTSD and finds that multiple factors are associated with the effects of PTSD. Coupled with a history of depression, disabling injury, and physical assault, service members and veterans can experience hypervigilance and recurrent nightmares which may also result in sleep problems. Closely related is hyperarousal which makes people anxious and prevents them from living high-quality lives. PTSD can also affect the way the service members and veterans perceive themselves and if unchecked, it may result in low self-esteem.