Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Veterans :: Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD

This essay discusses Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its effect on combat soldiers involved in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. The goal of this paper is to inform others about what the soldiers deal with during and after combat and the different treatments available for them to cope with and hopefully overcome this disorder. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops when someone is witness to or experiences a traumatic event. PTSD has specific symptoms resulting from traumatic life threatening experiences. Symptoms resulting from the event must be present in a certain way over a period of time and for certain duration. A person who witnesses two or more traumatic events in a short amount of time can cause the brain to release the hormone glucocorticoid which helps control the response to stress. When this hormone is low or depleted and a second traumatic event takes place before the hormone is replenished in the brain, the stress becomes even more intensified thus increasing the person’s chances of developing PTSD. Most people who develop PTSD get better but 1 out of 3 people may continue to have some symptoms over their lifetime. The main symptom of PTSD is reliving the traumatic experience through flashbacks and nightmares. Other symptoms include soldiers avoiding situations, people or conversations that would remind them of the trauma. They tend to avoid memories by becoming numb, distant, or stop showing love towards others. Activities, such as sports, that may have been a favorite pastime, may not be interesting anymore. The person may also show signs of paranoia as always being alert and on the lookout for danger. They may become jittery, easily startled when hearing loud noises such as a car backfiring or when a friend dove behind a store dumpster after a store employee threw a florescent light and it made a sound like an explosion. In some cases, the person becomes angry, irritable, and even violent. People who are dealing with PTSD may start drinking and using drugs to cope with the memories, flashbacks and nightmares. Many feel hopelessness, shame, or despair. PTSD makes holding down a job much harder, and relationships can be destroyed when there is physical, verbal or mental abuse. Some people cannot deal with the continual flashbacks and nightmares of PTSD and end up committing suicide. There are several treatments to help patients deal with symptoms of PTSD and to have more productive and happier lives.