Once a soldier returns home, returning to normal life can be a difficult task. For some it's hard to deal with the lack of excitement and need to be on edge, and for others it's a foreign feeling to feel safe and not under attack. Each soldier's experiences are different and each soldier adjusts to civilian life differently. For some the images and experiences cannot be deleted from ones mind, haunting them and causing daily struggles with a condition that many vets experience in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is caused by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. These events are all too common in war, leaving many veterans with a tough road when recovering from them. PTSD is known to cause depression and anxiety that in severe cases will lead to suicide death. Depression often provokes the use of alcohol or drugs to ease the pain and this also contributes to suicide in some cases. According to uswings.com the media has reported that suicide rates range from 50,000 to 100,000 or six times the non-Vietnam veteran population. The article states that during the first five years after discharge suicides were 1.7 times more likely among veterans than non-Vietnam veterans and that the true number of suicides based off of mortality studies shows that 9000 is a better estimate.
This topic is important because with each war there are people that will be faced with harrowing experiences and will suffer from the effects of PTSD. This struggle for good mental health among veterans needs to be brought into light more than it currently is. More can be done to raise awareness and help those who have served our country.
| (A Veteran visits the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC to pay respects to his fellow soldiers who lost their lives) |
(Site used for the research and symptoms of PTSD)
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967
(Site used for the research of statistics of war)
https://www.uswings.com/about-us-wings/vietnam-war-facts/
This is truly tragic while I knew that PTSD is very common anmong those that have served tours in the military and such none of my family memebrs ever fought in the war and its shocking to see these numbers and the toll it left on other soliders is still and imcomprehendable fact to me.
ReplyDeleteThis is truly tragic while I knew that PTSD is very common anmong those that have served tours in the military and such none of my family memebrs ever fought in the war and its shocking to see these numbers and the toll it left on other soliders is still and imcomprehendable fact to me.
ReplyDeleteI thin this topic is so interesting to me because I want to study Psychology, so these types of things really matter to me. What i really think hits me the hardest is that these men are fighting in the war for a small part of their lives, yet the war is still fighting with them for the rest of their life. Through out all their life they're going to be constantly reminded and impacted by the memories and experiences they had in the war. It really reminds me to be grateful for what I have and for my emotional state in my life, because it could be so much worse, like for all of these men.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be extremely difficult to adjust to normal life again after going to war, and i could not imagine what these soldiers have gone through. It is extremely sad that some have to live with severe consequences of war throughout the rest of their lives for protecting our country. Your article had lots of information and was very well written.
ReplyDeleteI was doing some research as well on the impact that the war had on the emotions of the soldiers. It is extremely sad to think about the affects that the emotions had on the soldiers. If they did not seek help or a support system, then some committed suicide because they did not believe thier life was worth living anymore.
ReplyDeleteI have done research on my paper to a similar topic of the soldiers that came home from the war, and I found that the number of suicides from the soldiers was outrageously higher than I thought. The fact that the mental health of our veterans is so weak feels painful to say the least.
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