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Psychological impact of war on soldiers
Psychological impact of war on soldiers
Essays on veteran suicides
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Description of Social Problem
Veterans constitute a large percentage of the United States population and with the number of soldiers returning home increasing after 9/11 there are concerns that are unique to this particular demographic. Veterans are returning home from multiple deployments after experiencing a multitude of physical and psychological complications that have left them unable to function in society like they had prior to being deployed. Failure to train service members how to navigate their return to society and adapt to their new environment leads veterans to be unable to function at work or feel comfortable with being out in public. These shortfalls result in veterans failing to be able to identify that the feelings they
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Service dogs assist with reintroducing veterans into society as productive members within their social and work communities. The utilization of service dogs allow veterans to gain confidence and function in society while overcoming combat related physical and mental health illnesses.
Recently more awareness has been brought to the struggles that veterans face returning from deployment and seeking help through The Office of Veteran Affairs, better known as the VA. Prior to recent campaigns highlighting the massive number of daily veteran suicides, very little had been done to raise awareness of the lack of treatment available to veterans with physical and psychological combat related injuries. According to Spiva (2017) the number of suicides by veterans is estimated to be 21 per day. To date, there are numerous organizations that are
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By identifying the alternative methods of treatment afforded to veterans, like pairing service dogs with veterans there is an opportunity to increase resources that are being directed to helping veterans such as programs that are issue specific and directed at veterans, families, and workplaces whom employ veterans just to name a few. This in turn results in increases to the overall productivity level at all levels including individual, organizational, community and societal
PBS’ Frontline film “The Wounded Platoon” reviews the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers as they return home and transition back into civilian life, focusing particularly on the rise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American military members from Fort Carson Army base (Edge, 2010). Incidents of PTSD have risen dramatically in the military since the beginning of the Iraq war and military mental health policies and treatment procedures have adapted to manage this increase (Edge, 2010). In “The Wounded Platoon,” many military personnel discuss how PTSD, and other mental health struggles, have been inadequately treated (if at all) by military mental health services. Reasons and Perdue’s definition of a social problem allows us to see inadequate treatment of PTSD among returning United States military members as a social problem because it is a condition affecting a significant number of people in undesirable ways that can be remedied through collective action (Reasons & Perdue, 1981).
Veterans had a hard time finding employment after the war. Employers considered a veteran’s service in the Vietnam War as evidence of drug addiction, and refused to hire them. The rejections only made the soldier’s struggles adjusting back to normal life even harder and encouraged their drinking and drug use. These harmful habits were their way of coping with the hate and rejection from society while still helping them forget their experiences in Vietnam. Veterans from the Vietnam War were the victims of an unprepared government.
Some medical professionals do not believe that mental health patients can benefit from therapy dogs and go as far as saying it is a risk far as to say that it is a to the patient and compromise the patients ability to take care of the dog. When people who suffer with mental health issues qualify to get a therapy dog. The mental health patient is tested to see if they are capable of taking care of the dog. Those in need of assistance should use therapy dogs frequently do to the part of the benefits to using these pets to improve mental and emotional health as and physical health. Therapy dogs are beneficial to people who suffer from mental health issues by providing companionship as well as support. Some people with mental health issues have a hard time trusting others and need someone to talk to; Service dogs are important because to make they people with mental health problems feel better and help people with these disorders deal with their emotions.
America is the land of opportunity and the land of second chances. People come to America to live a better life, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. When Veterans come back home, all they want is a second chance at life again. They want to come back and be able to start from where they left off. But the government has done very little to help these veterans. The government believes they have done enough with the programs they have created, but it hasn’t had much of a change. The purpose of this essay is to discuss my opinion and what I know about this issue, to benefit The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who are my intended audience. If the government were to put a lot of effort, like they do for pointless issues, there wouldn’t be many struggling veterans. If the government does more to improve every aspect of the reintegration process of veterans, so many benefits would come out of this action. There are a couple of reasons for why we should work toward improving veterans lives. First, there would possibly be a decrease in the veteran suicide levels and a decrease in the substance abuse aspect. Second, less veterans and families will have to worry about living and struggling with mental illnesses. Third, by improving the economical aspect for these veterans, more will find jobs and less will end up on the street homeless. And lastly, the reintegration process won’t be as hard for these veterans, and they will be able to resume a normal life. This essay is not meant to offend in any way, its purpose is to provide a new perspective over this issue, to cause a change for the better.
Veterans have struggles with their civilian life after separating from the U.S Armed Forces. Returning to the civilian life seem to be a big challenge for veterans who have no prior job’s skills for civilian life because they had been influenced from military’s training, have physical and psychological damage.
It can be a companion, an aide, or both. Pet dogs are loyal and make wonderful company, and an emotional support dog creates bountiful joy, but a service dog is much more. A service dog not only serves the same role as a pet, but creates a safer environment for its owner. Without the service dog it would be much harder for the owner to get around on a daily basis indecently. However service dogs and their owners are discriminated against because people are skeptical of the dog’s legitimacy, but instead the service dogs and their owners should be respected and treated as
Veteran homelessness must be attacked at multiple levels in order to ensure that it does not turn into a revolving door. So beyond simply providing temporary housing support we will also have to improve our veteran’s lives for the long-term. This entails treatment for their PTSD by providing them with access to health and wellness clinics, recovery resources, peer support groups, and individual counseling. (Note: Key information from HYPERLINK "http://www.voail.org" http://www.voail.org).
Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder need to receive better care, because post traumatic stress disorder is curable, damages relationships, and veterans made many dramatic sacrifices. The health care for veterans needs to be more easily accessible.
Social workers in all branches of the military are helping families and military personnel prepare for, and cope with, the hardships of war. They do so through a range of preventive and clinical services provided by the Veteran Administration with many different types of programs, including family-support and mental-health counseling. The mission statement of the VA Social Workers is to eliminate significant barriers to clients in need and offer interventions for veterans and families. It is accomplished by developing and maintaining integrated, in-depth programs in patient care, research, and education.
Most people are familiar with service dogs and have seen them in action. Animal-assisted therapy is similar service animals in that an animal-human healing partnership is being created. However, the difference is that therapy pets are typically used to treat a mental disability whereas people with physical disabilities use service dogs to help them in many ways. Therapy animals are used in a wide variety of places, such as, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, therapy sessions, mental healthcare facilities, and even in people’s homes. These amazing animals are used on a wide variety of different disorders, but they are utilized mostly by people suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For people with these mental health disorders, everything in live can be difficult and challenging, however with the help of animal-assisted therapy, their mood, motivation, and life can dramatically improve. Anyone who hears about these brave, loving animals soon falls in love with them. From a medical standpoint, there have been many successful studies and the support for animal-assisted therapy still continues to grow in doctors and therapists across the nation.
Suicides among U.S military members, both active and reserve, have become increasingly common as shown in Figure 3. Beginning after the...
A survey of OEF/OIF Veterans identified major rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, alcohol-related problems, social and family problems, and suicidal behavior. However the most alarming statistic is not about deployment rates or rates of diagnoses, the most alarming fact is that fewer than 10% of those diagnosed with PTSD or depression have received the recommended the mental health treatment upon re-integration into society. The dropout rate at the Veterans Association (VA) PTSD clinics is distressingly high as well when looking into VA records it was found that 68% of OEF/OIF Veterans dropped out of their prescribed counseling and programs prior to completion (Garcia et al., 2014). Because most of these men were deployed mul...
The combination of symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, fear, and guilt consume Veterans day and night. Many Veterans cannot escape the tragedies and ravages of war from a mental standpoint, which can cause problems returning to a “normal” life. In the article, Post Deployment Care for Returning Combat Veterans, Juliet F. Spelman states, “...deployment to a war zone is an experience that may profoundly impact a veteran’s health and personal life, carrying the risk of long-term physical, psychological, and social impairments”. The stress of war and the return from war alone can cause impairments not only in social interaction, but also thought process. PTSD can also cause violent mood swings, emotional detachment, and loss of interest or pleasure in activities.
Understanding veterans is an elongated process that requires diligence and open-mindedness to achieve a way to try and comprehend the unique circumstances they have been through in and out of the military. Since I personally have never been in the military, but have a significant other in the United States Navy, I will have to attempt to keep an open opinion and understanding through my research. My hypothesis is that if veterans received personalized treatment that addresses all of their issues, that they will be able to overcome many of their problems and see relief from their issues that were a result of their service. I believe that an experimental study will be able to use different forms of treatment and evaluate how effective they were for short, and long term treatment. Before researching, I will have to progress my understanding of the veteran lifestyle, as well as the active military member lifestyle; while continuing research on current and past studies and treatments.
Suicide is a growing epidemic among our service members and veterans, however, we really don’t know the full extent of this public health concern. The statistical information regarding veteran suicide isn’t sufficient nor does it accurately depict the severity of suicide among female veterans because not all veterans are accounted for, due to how the government defines the term “veteran” (Veterans Benefits, 2010; Department of Veterans Affairs, 2010). Therefore, social workers should be advocating law makers to change the definition of veteran to include all those who served and not just those who discharged under honorable conditions. If we included all prior service members into the veteran category, the daily average of 20 veterans committing