How does war affect soldiers

They began their own protests against poor or unsuitable treatment by the VA systems and by other governmental agencies. And, their unstoppable defiance and indignation caught the attention of our government and their agencies. With this new and more enhanced description of the effects of trauma on soldiers came new and more concerned and informed awareness of the soldiers problems by medical, psychiatric and psychological professionals, and subsequently a greater emphasis on and improvement of treatment methods.

The VA administration responded to the pressures of Vietnam veterans by developing a parallel system of storefront psychotherapeutic clinics for war veterans that were staffed by war veterans who were trained as mental health specialists and psychologists experienced in working with veterans, and set up as places where veterans can easily go to get direct services with minimal red tape or bureaucracy.

These clinics were called Vet Centers, and they became effective in attracting disenchanted Vietnam veterans to seek services in their facilities.

Since the development of PTSD as a diagnosis and the introduction of the Vet Centers, services to war veterans have become much more available and more credibility has been given to the seriousness of war effects on veterans. This has produced the inevitable breakdowns in the system, like the waitlist problems that resulted in deaths of some veterans while they waited for services, and the falsification of statistics and outright lying by VAMC administrators.

Measures have been taken by our legislators, like Tim Walz, who are committed to improving veteran services, but problems remain in the VA system, and many veterans remain disenchanted. Category: Blog , Effects of War. Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to main content Skip to header right navigation Skip to site footer Call Us! Patient Portal. Get Started. These researchers exploit the variation in overseas assignments that control for mental health prior to deployment in order to study the relationship between military combat and young adults' mental health.

They find that U. They determine that the psychological costs of combat are largest for soldiers who kill someone or believe they have killed someone , are injured in combat, or witness the death or wounding of a civilian or a coalition member. These troops are at substantially increased risk of suicide or thoughts of suicide, depression, and PTSD.

Interestingly, the authors find that observing the killing, death, or wounding of the enemy has no independent adverse psychological consequences. Men become mothers to one another in combat. Carrying the wounded Time Life Archive Killing.

Young soldiers in combat inevitably confront killing. They take life away from others, and in so doing breach one of the most fundamental moral values of their society, often with long-term consequences. Fighting for survival in Vietnam, Karl Marlantes often felt satisfaction when his unit killed the enemy. In later years, he felt haunted by those deaths, as do other combat veterans. Yet, however compelling the reason, killing is a difficult act with difficult consequences.

Does that mean I like killing? Barbara Van Dahlen, Ph. Treatments were harsh. They were very commonly used to treat physical symptoms such as fits and tremors, as shown in the video below.

While the man in the video is shown walking again, it is unknown if psychological symptoms were alleviated. Due to the ineffectiveness of prescribed treatments, many soldiers who had witnessed trauma or experienced shell-shock attempted to self-medicate their symptoms. While prevalent, self-medication undoubtedly exacerbated untreated cognitive symptoms , such as flashbacks and nightmares, as is commonly found with PTSD today.

But some shell-shock treatments were highly effective: those that focused on the cognitive and behavioural symptoms now associated with PTSD. One army physician, Arthur Hurst , went to great lengths to encourage shell-shock patients to reconstruct their traumatic experiences, using films and simulations to help confront their traumatic memories. Although used rarely during the war, many modern PTSD treatments can trace their development to these talking therapies, moving away from only treating physical symptoms and targeting psychological issues , such as distress caused by traumatic memories.

Though the concept of shell-shock shares many features with PTSD, ideas of what constitutes trauma and treatments have since changed dramatically.