Only 3.6% of Americans are diagnosed with PTSD according to a study done at The Nebraska Department of Veterans’ affairs. While only a small number of Americans are being diagnosed, the toll it takes on the surrounding communities is shattering. As human beings, it is our natural instinct to gravitate towards groups that are defined by a clear mission and motivation--otherwise referred to as "tribes". Throughout modern society, mankind has lost the majority of the tribal connection that once existed. In order for mankind to psychologically survive, we need to find a way to revitalize those tribal connections that once existed. Junger speaks not only of PTSD from veterans’ perspective, but he shows how everyday citizens can be diagnosed with …show more content…
Not only does he discuss veterans but includes those who have been through a traumatic event that in turn causes some form of PTSD. Junger opens up with his experiences with this problem as he explains the feelings that overcame him coming back from his service in the military, saying, “I mentally buried all of it until one day a few months later when I went into the subway at rush hour to catch a C train downtown. Suddenly I found myself backed up against an iron support column, convinced I was going to die. For some reason everything seemed like a threat: there were too many people on the platform, the trains were moving too fast, the lights were too bright, the world was too loud” (Junger 72-73). The experiences that are occurring here are most similar to what veterans feel after their military service. He has no idea why it is happening, but something in his brain is telling him that there is danger and he does not know how to cope with it. Even though he has “forgotten” about all the terrible things he has experienced, they still affect his daily life as a civilian. Hamilton Nolan, a writer for Splinter news, asks a few war veterans their stories in his article, “PTSD and Me: True Stories from Military Veterans”. One veteran, who he names “I’ve never escaped,” discusses his troubles with the war. He speaks about what he has gone through in the military and how his life has changed as a result of it. As he reviews all he has done during his service, he explains that “There are a lot of grudges that I hold close to my heart, in some sense it means that I will always be at war. At war with my actions, at war with my survival, at war with suits who tell you that you kill for a good cause and that we (the west) were/are the good guys” (Nolan). War not only affected his psychological state, but his everyday life as well. These affects are what most war
Junger 125: Through this quote, Junger gives a realistic wake-up call to the readers. Depression and PTSD rates in soldiers are so high because they come back from war, to a society that is at war with itself. Junger concludes that modern society is completely disconnected from our tribal instincts, this disconnection is what leads to PTSD and other mental disorders. This disconnection is shown through the hostility that civilians in America have towards one another, as well as the many statistics Junger provides on a variety of topics.
Tim O'Brien, a Vietnam war vet, had similar experiences as the soldier above. Even though O'Brien didn't die, the war still took away his life because a part of him will never be the same. Even in 1995, almost thirty years after the war, O'Brien wrote, "Last night suicide was on my mind. Not whether, but how. Tonight it will be on my mind again... I sit in my underwear at this unblinking fool of a computer and try to wrap words around a few horrid truths" (Vietnam 560). 1 think that O'Brien is still suffering from what he experienced in Vietnam and he uses his writing to help him deal with his conflicts. In order to deal with war or other traumatic experiences, you sometimes just have to relive the experiences over and over. This is what O'Brien does with his writing; he expresses his emotional truths even if it means he has to change the facts of the literal truth.
The reality that shapes individuals as they fight in war can lead to the resentment they have with the world and the tragedies that they had experienced in the past. Veterans are often times overwhelmed with their fears and sensations of their past that commonly disables them to transgress and live beyond the emotions and apprehensions they witness in posttraumatic experiences. This is also seen in everyday lives of people as they too experience traumatic events such as September 11th and the fall of the World Trade Center or simply by regrets of decisions that is made. Ones fears, emotions and disturbances that are embraced through the past are the only result of the unconscious reality of ones future.
James was a Marine right out of his second tour of Iraq, during which he faced a bloody
Cowardice, shell shock, battle fatigue, combat stress reaction (CSR), war neurosis, acute stress reaction, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are merely a few titles describing the extreme psychological changes occurring in battle veterans enduring long periods of service as combat line troops since the advent of long-range artillery and rifle-fire. Native Americans were used and cast aside by a government responsible for taking their tribal lands and requesting of them to serve during World War II by means of the draft. Tayo’s achievement recreated within him a sense of purpose and a new connection with his mother’s people after purging his body of the horrors of war he experienced and by repairing the tear in Ts’its’tsi’nako, Thought-Woman’s web tore by the destruction of the White Man’s conquest and his World War represented by his quest directed by the Shaman Betonie only then will he reconcile his past with the present and open the proverbial doors to his future.
Tom , Holm. "PTSD in Native American Vietnam Veterans : A Reassessment." Wicazo Sa Review. 11.2 (1995): 83-86. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
The Vietnam War caused many U.S. soldiers to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so when is the war over, is it really over? For soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, the war may not ever be over. Doctors are on the peak of finding treatments for the ones affected by PTSD and how to prevent it from occurring or even helping them to recover from PTSD has major affects on Vietnam soldiers, their family members and today’s society.
“Studies show that PTSD occurs in 1%-14% of the population. It can be diagnosed at any age, and can occ...
Many individuals look at soldiers for hope and therefore, add load to them. Those that cannot rationally overcome these difficulties may create Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tragically, some resort to suicide to get away from their insecurities. Troops, notwithstanding, are not by any means the only ones influenced by wars; relatives likewise encounter mental hardships when their friends and family are sent to war. Timothy Findley precisely depicts the critical impact wars have on people in his novel by showing how after-war characters are not what they were at the beginning.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), originally associated with combat, has always been around in some shape or form but it was not until 1980 that it was named Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and became an accredited diagnosis (Rothschild). The fact is PTSD is one of many names for an old problem; that war has always had a severe psychological impact on people in immediate and lasting ways. PTSD has a history that is as long and significant as the world’s war history - thousands of years. Although, the diagnosis has not been around for that long, different names and symptoms of PTSD always have been. Some physical symptoms include increased blood pressure, excessive heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, nausea, diarrhea, problems with vision, speech, walking disorders, convulsive vomiting, cardiac palpitations, twitching or spasms, weakness and severe muscular cramps. The individual may also suffer from psychological symptoms, such as violent nightmares, flashbacks, melancholy, disturbed sleep or insomnia, loss of appetite, and anxieties when certain things remind them such as the anniversary date of the event (Peterson, 2009).
Imagine living in despair after coming back home, dismayed from a war that got no appreciation. Robert Kroger once said in his quote, “The brave men and women, who serve their country and as a result, live constantly with the war inside them, exist in a world of chaos. But the turmoil they experience isn’t who they are, the PTSD invades their minds and bodies.” Eleven percent of Vietnam Veterans still suffer with symptoms of the terrifying disorder of PTSD (Handwerk). Vietnam Veterans struggle with the physiological effects of PTSD after war, which leads to despair and many deaths.
...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.
Tim O’Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his short story “The Things They Carried” presents the effects of the war on its young soldiers. The treatment of veterans after their return also affects them. The Vietnam War was different from other wars, because too many in the U.S. the soldiers did not return as heroes but as cruel, wicked, and drug addicted men. The public directs its distaste towards the war at the soldiers, as if they are to blame. The also Veterans had little support from the government who pulled them away from their families to fight through the draft. Some men were not able to receive the help they needed because the symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) did not show until a year
...ust deal with similar pains. Through the authors of these stories, we gain a better sense of what soldiers go through and the connection war has on the psyche of these men. While it is true, and known, that the Vietnam War was bloody and many soldiers died in vain, it is often forgotten what occurred to those who returned home. We overlook what became of those men and of the pain they, and their families, were left coping with. Some were left with physical scars, a constant reminder of a horrible time in their lives, while some were left with emotional, and mental, scarring. The universal fact found in all soldiers is the dramatic transformation they all undergo. No longer do any of these men have a chance to create their own identity, or continue with the aspirations they once held as young men. They become, and will forever be, soldiers of the Vietnam War.
Our soldiers not only risked life and limb for our country while serving in the Vietnam War, but they continue to suffer immensely. Americans as well as Vietnamese troops and civilians suffered great losses when it comes to casualties. Witnessing first-hand the pain and death of strangers and allies, isn’t something one is likely to forget. Post-Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been one of the many repercussions of witnessing these gruesome events (Mental Health America). Veterans, their families, and the government have come together in combat in attempts to address the detrimental effects of PTSD.