A Research Paper on the Aftermaths of War Trauma

Traumatic events such as war, kidnapping, accidents, or rape have adverse health outcomes on victims and their families. Such outcomes are usually given less consideration when sending soldiers to war or when they are returning home from deployment. Countries mainly focus on winning wars. Therefore, governments recruit and send thousands of soldiers to war to protect their interests. Ohye et al. show that over 2.4 million US service members have been deployed to the Middle East following the 9/11 attack. According to Romero, Riggs, and Ruggero, veterans returning from overseas battlefields confronts unique mental challenges such as adapting to the mainstream society and post-traumatic stress disorder. Such mental health issues may have adverse impacts on their behavior, emotions, thoughts, and relationships. Sensitization of members of society about the impacts of traumatic events in the war on the well-being of soldiers and their families is an approach to managing the adverse health outcomes. This persuasive research paper holds topics of war trauma and its adverse health outcomes on both veterans and their families.

The Aftermath of War Trauma on the Health of Inflicted Soldiers and Family

Previous research studies have demonstrated that war trauma has several impacts on the behavior, relationships, and emotions of veterans. Trauma survivors have an increased risk of having conflict relationships and aggressive behaviors. The prolonged exposure to the battlefield diminishes the ability of soldiers to establish and maintain relationships with members of their family and society. Therefore, they have poor social skills and small social networks. Such factors are not healthy for an individual. The study by Hale et al. associates poor social skills with antisocial behaviors. The score for military personnel on the Antisocial Behavior scale for war veterans is high. Antisocial behavior is associated with aggression or violence when a person is overwhelmed with situations. Veterans may avoid people as a coping strategy because they fear that they become violent.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most common health problem among soldiers from the battlefield. The prevalence of PTSD among adult Americans is 6.8%. However, the prevalence is 15-20% among military personnel returning from combat environments. PTSD is a mental health outcome that may result from experiencing traumatic events such as war. This health issue has adverse impacts on an individual since it limits the relationships and activities done by an individual. The symptoms of PTSD include intrusive recollection, nightmares, flashbacks, emotional numbing, cognitive avoidance, and physiological arousal. These symptoms are much of challenging life since they make it difficult to adapt to the prevailing conditions in society. People who are not aware of the re-experiencing events encountered by the war veterans may be scared when they happen. Therefore, some victims may resort to behavioral avoidance or antisocial behavior. Additionally, they may avoid public places or environments with many people.

PTSD results in dissociation among victims since Haagen et al. found a positive correlation between the two concepts. Haagen et al. describe dissociation as the disruption of normal processes of consciousness, memory, identity and perception of the environment. Dissociation may be responsible for the unusual behaviors exhibited by war veterans since it alters their perceptions of happenings in their environment. Pathological dissociation that is common among veterans, which refers to the conscious detachment of individuals from their experiences. As a result, victims perceptions are affected adversely and they may not differentiate between unreal or dream-like situations from actual phenomena. Veterans experiencing PTSD and dissociation may not execute their social responsibilities effectively since their perceptions, behavior, and emotions are altered. For example, the symptoms of PTSD may prevent veterans from securing employment from which they can support their families financially. Given that war veterans experience emotional numbing and other emotional problems, they cannot offer effective emotional support to their children and spouses. Instead, they are the ones who need emotion and social support more than any other person in the family.

The families of war veterans also experience significant challenges. Spouses and children suffer from the absence of a family member or mental health problems experienced by veterans from combat environments. Ohye et al. indicate that over 1.1 million spouses and 2 million children below the age of 18 have their romantic partners and parents in the military. Family members experience the impacts of war trauma when veterans do not make a successful transition to civilian life after returning from deployment. According to Ohye et al., 35% of veterans returning from combat have at least one mental health problem. Therefore, 35% of veteran families are affected by mental health problems. Military deployments of soldiers to war increased their spouses’ risk of developing depressive disorders, sleep disorders, anxiety, and adjustment disorders . Family members usually worry about the safety of one of them deployed to combat environment because of the potential risks such as injuries and even death. The relationships between veterans and their spouses may be compromised by the lack of emotional presence.

Children are also affected by mental health problems since the well-being of parents affects their parenting abilities. Veterans returning from deployment are detached from the life of their children and need to adapt to the conditions in their families. However, their children need them during such times of adapting to the family. Ohye et al. indicate that the children of soldiers from military deployment are afraid of them, especially for veterans who do not have a successful transition to civilian life. Soldiers may employ harsh parenting style where they shout at their children or become violent towards them. Such parenting styles instill fear among children and may avoid their parents. Therefore, veteran parents have an increased risk of failing to provide the necessary emotional, moral, and social support to their children during their development. Children with such parents may develop emotional and behavioral problems. The high rate of unemployment among veterans compared to other adults limits their financial support to the family. Children from families experiencing socioeconomic difficulties are vulnerable to mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems.

Through research, various treatment options for the mental health problems experienced by war veterans have been developed to address these adverse outcomes. Approaches such as family social support, mind-body therapy, cognitive processing therapy, and the roles of religion and spirituality have been studied to determine their effectiveness in managing traumatic symptoms. More than one treatment method should be used to benefit from the strengths of each method in restoring the well-being of veterans with traumatic symptoms. One of the approaches families should use is through promoting spirituality as an approach to strengthening the relational bond with veterans returning from war. War veterans experience spiritual challenges that cause moral injury, which worsens the severity of traumatic symptoms. These researchers found that the promotion of religious and spiritual beliefs of trauma survivors is an approach to restoring their mental health and managing traumatic symptoms. Family members should focus on rebuilding the faith and beliefs of veterans soon after they return from their deployment. However, the process should be done gradually. Families should also provide social support to war trauma survivors since Romero, Riggs, and Ruggero found that has both direct and moderating effects on symptom expression. War veterans who receive adequate social support from their families improve psychosocial functioning and reduce avoidant coping strategy.

Cushing and Braun found that mind-body therapy is an effective treatment for PTSD experienced by war trauma survivors. This technique employs the holistic theory of healthcare that holds that feelings, thoughts, mental, spiritual, social, and social health of a person are interrelated. Therefore, by transforming the thought patterns of veterans with traumatic symptoms, they can realize positive changes in their behaviors, emotions, and relationships. Counselors should use mind-body therapy can be used to reduce stress, depression, and anxiety and improve the PTSD symptoms as indicated by Cushing and Braun. Cognitive processing therapy is a treatment method that involves patients writing down their traumatic events. It aims at solving the conflict between pre-trauma beliefs and post-trauma information. Hale et al. indicate that cognitive processing therapy is effective for managing PTSD symptoms among war veterans. Counselors can use the strategy in a group or individual formats. This approach is effective since its outcomes include reduced PTSD and depressive symptoms such as anxiety, sleep problems, flashbacks, antisocial behaviors, and dissociation.

Conclusion

The deployment of soldiers to combat environment exposes them to traumatic events, which have adverse short-term and long-term health outcomes on them. Trauma survivors may develop emotional, behavioral, social, and psychological health problems such as aggression, antisocial behaviors, and PTSD. The families of trauma survivors are also affected by the mental conditions of veterans after returning from deployment. Traumas compromise the mental, emotional, and social state of veterans, thereby, reducing their ability to relate with family members effectively. Spouses of veterans experience health problems such as anxiety, stress, depression, and sleep problems. Children of war veterans lack healthy parenting since their parents are emotionally and socially distant. However, families and counselors can use strategies such as rebuilding the spiritual life of veterans, providing necessary social support, mind-body therapy, and cognitive processing therapy.

Works Cited

• Cushing, Robin E., and Kathryn L. Braun. 'Mind–Body Therapy for Military Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review.' The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 24.2, 2018, 106-114.
• Haagen, Joris FG, et al. 'The Dissociative Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Subtype: A Treatment Outcome Cohort Study in Veterans with PTSD.' British Journal of Clinical Psychology 57.2, 2018, 203-222.
• Hale, Andrew C., et al. 'Predictors of Change in Cognitive Processing Therapy for Veterans in a Residential PTSD Treatment Program.' Journal of Clinical Psychology 75.3, 2019, 364-379.
• Ohye, Bonnie Y., et al. 'Three-Generation Model: A Family Systems Framework for the Assessment and Treatment of Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Related Conditions.' Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 46.2, 2015, 97.
• Radell, Milen L., et al. 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Burden and Gender Each Affect Generalization an a Reward-And Punishment-Learning Task.' PloS one 12.2. 2017, e0172144.
• Romero, Daniel H., Shelley A. Riggs, and Camilo Ruggero. 'Coping, Family Social Support, and Psychological Symptoms among Student Veterans.' Journal of Counseling Psychology 62.2, 2015, 242.
• Sherman, Michelle D., et al. 'Roles of Religion and Spirituality among Veterans Who Manage PTSD and their Partners.' Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2018.