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War and post traumatic stress disorder
Psychological impact of war on soldiers
Psychological impact of war on soldiers
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“Trauma. It doesn 't eke itself out over time. It doesn 't split itself manageably into bite-sized chunks and distribute it equally throughout your life. Trauma is all or nothing. A tsunami wave of destruction.A tornado of unimaginable awfulness that whooshes into your life - just for one key moment - and wreaks such havoc that, in just an instant, your whole world will never be the same again”(Holly Bourne, The Manifesto on How to be Interesting). In "Moral Injury," Tony Dokoupil explores the guilt, shame, and regret that burdens countless veterans. In "The Man I Killed," when author Tim O 'Brien kills an individual for the first time it traumatized him as a young soldier in Vietnam. This action wreaks havoc within O 'Brien, altering his
“The mystery lies in the effects of the primary blast. Theories range widely: Is it the shock wave’s entry to the brain through the cranial orifices” (page 36). No one truly knows what causes returning soldiers to suffer from PTSD however, when veterans return, they aren’t the same person that left. Going through all of the perpetual hostility and seeing what they have seen is not a painless undertaking. However, the training that the soldiers undergo is not any easier. “ Mild TBI may increase vulnerability to certain psychological disorders, possibly accounting for the high rate of such disorders and even suicide among veterans.” (page 37) With the unbroken tone of explosions and gunshots the brain gradually weakens in ways that dreadfully weaken a person. Shock waves released from a blast impact the brain “For days after the larger explosions, breachers reported dull aches in the chest and back “like someone had punched them” as well as headaches”(page 37). Warfare undoubtedly affects a person mentally and the brain has always been a challenging enigma for the researchers: with all the electrical impulses and biochemical reactions that control an individuals body and mind. PTSD interrupts all the “harmonious interactions among the brains 100 billion cells”(page 43). Hearing a blast affects the harmonious interactions that are in the
The guilt, shame and, regret fills the empty voids that are left within them. When going to war an individual expects to kill someone, although, the physical act of killing another person takes an emotional toll on a person. Various veterans return suffering from PTSD and without a cure. There is no definite cure for PTSD for the reason that everyone 's brain is different and every individual 's case is unique to themselves. “Moral Injury” can be viewed as a representation of what Tim O’Brien encounters in “The Man I Killed.” What David Linley went through changed his life for the worse. He lost his family and was sent to jail for a condition that fighting for his country graciously gave him PTSD. Everything about war causes destruction in every aspect even hearing an explosion can alter an individual 's brain and this is proven in “The Invisible War On the Brain”. Going to war is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly; war is a life changing event that alters an entire person’s life. In these predicaments ,the maze of destruction, known as war is a horrifying atrocity; that afflicts pain and demolishes the lives of the men and women
In Brian Turner’s poem “Jundee Ameriki” (American soldier), he gives gruesome details of a situation that triggered posttraumatic stress disorder in a soldier of war. The poem, written in 2009, addresses a suicide bombing which occurred during the War on Iraq in November of 2005. At first the poem shares the events of his doctor’s visit. While getting the shrapnel fragments removed, the soldier is quickly reminded of the horrific events that led to the injury. The poem then begins to describe the emotional effects of posttraumatic stress disorder. The narrator uses symbolism and the structure of the poem to demonstrate how the emotional pain of posttraumatic stress disorder is much greater than the physical pain it causes (even if the emotional
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
In the aftermath of a comparatively minor misfortune, all parties concerned seem to be eager to direct the blame to someone or something else. It seems so easy to pin down one specific mistake that caused everything else to go wrong in an everyday situation. However, war is a vastly different story. War is ambiguous, an enormous and intangible event, and it cannot simply be blamed for the resulting deaths for which it is indirectly responsible. Tim O’Brien’s story, “In the Field,” illustrates whom the soldiers turn to with the massive burden of responsibility for a tragedy. The horrible circumstances of war transform all involved and tinge them with an absurd feeling of personal responsibility as they struggle to cope.
The violent nature that the soldiers acquired during their tour in Vietnam is one of O'Brien's predominant themes in his novel. By consciously selecting very descriptive details that reveal the drastic change in manner within the men, O'Brien creates within the reader an understanding of the effects of war on its participants. One of the soldiers, "Norman Bowler, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a Thumb. . .The Thumb was dark brown, rubbery to touch. . . It had been cut from a VC corpse, a boy of fifteen or sixteen"(O'Brien 13). Bowler had been a very good-natured person in civilian life, yet war makes him into a very hard-mannered, emotionally devoid soldier, carrying about a severed finger as a trophy, proud of his kill. The transformation shown through Bowler is an excellent indicator of the psychological and emotional change that most of the soldiers undergo. To bring an innocent young man from sensitive to apathetic, from caring to hateful, requires a great force; the war provides this force. However, frequently are the changes more drastic. A soldier named "Ted Lavender adopted an orphaned puppy. . .Azar strapped it to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and squeezed the firing device"(O'Brien 39). Azar has become demented; to kill a puppy that someone else has adopted is horrible. However, the infliction of violence has become the norm of behavior for these men; the fleeting moment of compassion shown by one man is instantly erased by another, setting order back within the group. O'Brien here shows a hint of sensitivity among the men to set up a startling contrast between the past and the present for these men. The effect produced on the reader by this contrast is one of horror; therefore fulfilling O'Brien's purpose, to convince the reader of war's severely negative effects.
After an event of large magnitude, it still began to take its toll on the protagonist as they often “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die” during the war (O’Brien 1187). The travesties that occurred with the brutality of war did not subside and began to affect those involved in a deeply emotional way. The multitude of disastrous happenings influenced the narrator to develop a psychological handicap to death by being “afraid of dying” although being “even more afraid to show it” (O’Brien 1187). The burden caused by the war creates fear inside the protagonist’s mind, yet if he were to display his sense of distress it would cause a deeper fear for those around him, thus making the thought of exposing the fear even more frightening. The emotional battle taking place in the psyche of the narrator is directly repressed by the war.
...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.
One of the worst things about war is the severity of carnage that it bestows upon mankind. Men are killed by the millions in the worst ways imaginable. Bodies are blown apart, limbs are cracked and torn and flesh is melted away from the bone. Dying eyes watch as internal organs are spilled of empty cavities, naked torso are hung in trees and men are forced to run on stumps when their feet are blown off. Along with the horrific deaths that accompany war, the injuries often outnumber dead men. As Paul Baumer witnessed in the hospital, the injuries were terrifying and often led to death. His turmoil is expressed in the lines, “Day after day goes by with pain and fear, groans and death gurgles. Even the death room I no use anymore; it is too small.” The men who make it through the war take with them mental and physical scarification from their experiences.
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).
In the novel The Wars, Robert Ross is a sensitive nineteen year old boy who experiences first-hand the horrors of battle as a Canadian Soldier in the First World War in hopes of trying to find who he is. Being named a Lieutenant shortly after arriving in Europe, Robert is thrust into combat. War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Timothy Findley shows the effects wars have on individuals in his novel The Wars. Findley suggests that war can change a persons behaviour in many different ways, however it is seen to be negatively more often then not. Robert Ross, the main character of The Wars, shows symptoms of what is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in today’s society.
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.
In the article “Wounds That Time Alone Can’t Heal “by Jane E. Brody, the author addresses the psychological disorders veterans face after returning from war and the ways in which they could be treated from these disorders. The author starts her article by asking a bunch of rhetoric questions directed at the reader in which she answers later in the article by mentioning the fate of veterans returning from war. Afterwards, the author discusses the emotional wounds that veterans experience and time cannot heal. Veterans experience moral injury, which unlike PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress disorder) is not recognized as a psychiatric disorder but has equal or worse harmful effects. Moral injury makes people more inclined to harm themselves and become
War is no child 's play, but unfortunately, we have had times in our past when the youth of our great nation had to defend it. Combat is not an easy for anyone; watching death, the constant ring of gunfire, the homesickness, fearing for your life, and witnessing bloodshed daily, this will begin to take its toll. The minds threshold for brutality can only handle so much and eventually will become sickened by these events. This sickness is called Post-traumatic stress disorder. As shown through the characters of The Things They Carried, soldiers of war may begin to show PTSD symptoms before the war is over, and may continue to fight the disorder after the war has ended.
Bracken, Patrick and Celia Petty (editors). Rethinking the Trauma of War. New York, NY: Save the Children Fund, Free Association Books, Ltd, 1998.
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.
He tells stories and accounts that encompass symptoms pointing towards Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). John Haley describes PTSD as, “A psychological disorder that can occur as a result of experiencing or witnessing an extremely stressful event” (Haley 1). A severe symptom of PTSD that Mr. O’Brien shows towards the end of the novel is where the person will become belligerent and relive their unsightly traumatic event or events over and over again, “At night I sometimes drank too much. I’d remember getting shot and yelling out for a medic and then waiting and waiting. Passing out once, then waking up and screaming some more….. I kept going over it all in every detail” (O’Brien 200-201). Another symptom related to PTSD is that the person will become detached from the outside world or depression. O’Brien describes his time after the war as, “I survived but its not a happy ending” (O’Brien 61). PTSD can cause a variety of effects; one effect that Mr. O’Brien reveals is about memory loss and goes on to say, “What sticks to memory, often, are those odd little fragments that have no beginning and no end” (O’Brien 98). In conclusion all these symptoms of story-truth Tim O’Brien point to him having post traumatic stress