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Emotional and psychological effects of war
The psychological effects of war
Impact of ptsd on veterans of the iraq & afghanistan wars
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When he was in Vietnam, he and his fellows soldiers were set up in a field by a river. Due to the hard rain, the field turned into mud and someone realized that the field they were camped out at the village toilet. As the night went on, things got worse for the soldiers and eventually, Norman’s friend, Kiowa, was trapped by the mud, sunk down into it, and Norman couldn’t save Kiowa. This experience caused Norman to feel detached from the world, making him unable to adjust to civilian life and his misfortune is followed up on in “Notes.” It also makes him insecure in the way that he doesn’t feel brave or courageous when he wasn’t able to save his friend because, ultimately, he was powerless in that situation.
Norman had felt as if he had no one to talk to or relate to because no one around him had experienced war like he had. He tried to keep jobs when he was home from war, but not one of them had lasted more than 3 weeks. Since he feels he is unable to speak to anyone about war, he writes a letter to O’Brien, telling his entire war story. He soon feels as if he cannot do anything without thinking about war and hangs himself in the locker room of his town’s YMCA.
In “The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell”, John Crawford shows how war can drastically change soldiers by having psychological effects on them and when soldiers come back from war they can feel like they are alone. Some psychological effects are post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, depression,
Norman could’ve easily saved his friend, but failed when he couldn’t handle the environment. He continues to blame the environment, and this blame would eventually drive Norman to the point of insanity. Norman did try to cope with the loss of his friend, but he only made his condition worse. He tried talking to other people, but no one cared to listen to him and ignored him. At this point, Norman made fake conversations in his head to comfort himself when no one else would in attempts to cope.
Prisoners of war held by the Japanese during World War II are particularly susceptible to this disorder due to the severe mistreatment and traumatic experiences they encountered. PTSD can ruin the lives of afflicted POWs. During World War II, soldiers held captive by the Japanese were treated with nothing short of brutality. Japan’s treatment of their POWs was abominable, and many POWs died because of it. In the study, Persistence of traumatic memories in World War II prisoners of war by Lance Rintamaki, the author reveals that approximately 37% of POWs held by the Japanese were killed, compared to less than 1% that were held
Authors Brian Mockenhaupt and Chris Heath write stories about living with PTSD and how having PTSD turned into suicide. Mockenhaupt’s “The Living and the Dead” talked about a man who went to war and came home only to deal with PTSD. In Heath’s “18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio”, he talks about a man who is a Vietnam Veteran, who committed suicide. Both essays have various nonfiction elements in common with one another. Brian Mockenhaupt and Chris Heath both suffer with PTSD from war and explore the theme of traumatic experiences by using the nonfiction forms characterization, biographical sketch, and sense of place.
In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, a character by the name of Norman Bowker becomes suicidal, and can not successfully return back to his “normal life” after experiencing the traumatizing death of Kiowa. PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a disorder in when a person can’t overcome a traumatizing event that has happened in his or her life. It can lead to nightmares of the event, lack of concentration, and a lack of sleep. It can also lead to suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders. People suffering from PTSD can have a higher risk of suicide or self harm, as depicted in the novel.
In the chapter Speaking of Courage, the narrator explains how Norman tries to save Kiowa, “He would've talked about this, and how he grabbed Kiowa by the boot and tried to pull him out. He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too.” (page 143). Norman lived with this for the rest of his life, playing what he could've done to save him over and over again in his head. Another example is in the chapter,
Norman Bowker was a solder that suffered from severe survivor’s guilt from his time during the
The loss of innocence and gain of war trauma affects almost every soldier in the war either during or after the war. Which is seen through the killing of Kiowa and the death throughout the chapters. O'Brien had tried to show Kiowa a picture at night with and turned a flashlight on and
Norman attended White Pine Bay High School, but then dropped out and was homeschooled by his mother around the age of 18. Around the age of 22, Norman developed other personality called “Mother”. She had emerged fully and slowly started to take over Norman’s life, specifically after the death of his mother. No one seemed to know why Norman was acting like this; therefore he did not have much support to get help with his disorder.
Mental Health Of Soldiers According to FHEHealth “between 2001 and 2014, the number of veterans committing suicide rose above 20 per day”. Veterans are suffering mentally to the point of suicide because of post-traumatic stress disorder from the trauma they experienced. As O’Brien writes about his stories he explains the effects war has on soldiers. War causes soldiers to become numb to death and the trauma from the war leaves them with PTSD, in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien demonstrates that war ruins soldiers' mental health.
He was barbarized by the war and hence he was unable to integrate himself back into society. He no longer had any humanity to try to be a member of society because the war deprived him of any civil interactions. Norman Bowker did not have a life outside of the war. Before he took his life, Bowker wrote to O’Brien stating how he felt back in the United States, “‘The thing is,’ he wrote, ‘there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town.
Often the symptoms of PTSD didn't start right away. The bad memories, nightmares, and survivor's guilt were often felt later in life by war veterans (Albrecht). Many of our veterans tried to hide these symptoms. Otis Mackey's wife, Helen, hadn’t told her about his problems until during his interview with Tim Madigan, but she did notice changes in her husband. ”He has not told me this”she said,”that he doesn’t care whether he lives or dies” (Madigan).
According to the American Psychiatric Association DSM-V, PTSD can stem from a direct experience with a traumatic event or being a witness to traumatic events. Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are derived from four symptom clusters: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in mood, and negative alterations is arousal and reactivity (“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”). Symptoms of “intrusion” are characterized by recurrent, involuntary memories, nightmares, or flashbacks with or without stimuli. In The Things They Carried, Kiowa, a soldier in Lt. Cross’ platoon, regularly recounts the events leading up to the death of Ted Lavender.
