For years, I have suffered from severe anxiety and it used to harm my daily routine. In The Things They Carried, Ted
Lavender suffers from anxiety in the war. Soldiers still suffer from anxiety and worse,
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. In “TheTorment of a Distant War” by Mark A., he
discusses his time in the Vietnam War by saying, “When I first came home, I
thought I was fine. But over time, I became short-tempered and paranoid. I was
always on edge and alert—"hypervigilant," they call it.” Mark talks
about how he grew angry and his alcohol abuse
exploded. Just as Ted Lavender tried to self-medicate with marijuana, Mark used
alcohol.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Barbara Starr
declare, “The
mental health of troops in Iraq found one-third of soldiers and Marines in high
levels of combat report anxiety, depression and acute stress.” Anxiety has been
effecting soldiers and civilians for decades. A study published on March 12th
CNN explains that “31 percent of more than 100,000 veterans studied were
diagnosed with mental or psychological problems.” Still in 2013, Vietnam
Veterans are still struggling
with PTSD. In June, Web MD wrote a post that Vietnam Vets are at a higher risk
for heart diseases. Robert Preidt says,“The link between PTSD and heart disease
remained strong even after the researchers accounted for lifestyle factors such
as smoking, drinking and physical-activity levels, as well as for mental health
problems such as depression.”
Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder and anxiety can effect a soldier from the time they are at war
and then later in life as well. Tim O’Brien in
“The Things They Carried” could not express his feelings just as soldiers with
PTSD can not. Will there ever be a real
cure for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or anxiety? To soldiers it seems
completely incurable- if they can admit they
have a mental health issue.
Curing PTSD would be very hard to do if it is at all possible. Everyone always says, "anything is possible, if you just believe." If anything could cure this disorder it would be the simple thought of anxiety medicine and counseling. When going to war a soldier's complete worldly experiences and daily routines change completely. A soldier has to adapt and change his ways drastically when it comes to fighting in a war. A war does cause constant paranoia because you never know if you will be ambushed or shot at. The thought of relaxing could cause you your life especially in the ever so traumatic Vietnam war. When returning back home your surroundings change once again. As a soldier adapts to the surroundings of war then one would assume you could adapt once again back to the calm everyday American life. Can a soldier really go from calmness to high rate stress then back to calmness? That is the ultimate question. Maybe with counseling and talking it out a soldier can try to reach what he once knew as "normalcy."
ReplyDeleteI tip my hat to the brave men and women that have served our country over the years. As written in the article, PTSD is something that almost creeps up on you, you may feel fine at first, but the sadness and anxiety may hit you years or decades later. Finding a cure would be a miracle it seems. This doesn't seem fair to the soldiers that have served so willingly to live with, but that's what makes them the heroes they are.
ReplyDeleteI think that PTSD is one of the scariest things a veteran would have to deal with. None of can truly understand how rough it is on these men and women after they return home from war. I think more advances should try to be made to help these hundreds of thousands of veterans. There will never be a cure for these brave volunteers unless all war is ended, which I don't see happening in our lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteI respect those who put their life on the line for our country. Having to just leave your family and close friends is sad enough. PTSD is very scary and personally I would break down if I was in their place. I wish that there was something that could be done for this awful disorder. Sadly PTSD will stick with veterans forever. Would counseling make a difference for some of these soldiers or should they just keep it to themselves since this is so detrimental? I personally do not think so because PTSD is a very severe disorder that does not need to be handled the wrong way.
ReplyDelete(ptsd) is one of the most prevalent disorder among returning vets. It effects not only the soldier but there family as well.
ReplyDelete