Otis Mackeny And PTSD

It was a hot day and Otis Mackeny could feel the sweat rolling down his face. He and his comrades were crossing landmines. It was only a split second and he saw the mine and his comrade, McGee, didn’t. He saw the leg go flying and knew it was McGee. After the war, he went back home and drank heavily. He didn’t even know what was happening to him. “I didn’t even know why my wife stayed with me,” says Mackeny. He worked three jobs so he couldn’t dream at night and relive those horrible days. Before he had an interview with Tim Madigan he had been in therapy for about 7 months for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) also known as shell shock. Mackeny wasn’t alone there were many other WWII veterans in therapy, for PTSD (Madigan).

Throughout

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). Other veterans showed symptoms of PTSD louder than others.”Many people felt isolated or crazy, and they thought it was just them”Paula Schnurr- director of National Center for PTSD (Madigan). As the veterans aged some of the symptoms lessened, leaving pain for the years to

“Most of the World War II men that I worked with came to me in their 70’s or 80’s, after retirement, or after the death of a spouse,” said Joan Cook a professor of psychiatry at Yale and a PTSD researcher for Veterans Affairs (Madigan). She also told Madigan that the symptoms or side effects of PTSD increase as they age. Many veterans go through so much that it is unbearable and they can’t get it out of their mind. Just imagine watching your best friend that you have gone through much together, be killed right in front of you. By a landmine, bomb, or gunfire, and then thinking for the rest of your life that should have been you. It could have been you. Some WWII veterans attempt to take their life, or do. Carol Scholtz a daughter of a WWII veteran has helped her father with his struggles after the war (Madigan). She had to coax her father to put his gun down, he was suicidal (Madigan). Carol told Madigan that,“...what he conquered required as much courage as anything he faced on the battlefield.” A study in California showed that WWII veterans were four more times likely to commit suicide than any other person their age that haven't served in the military. PTSD often had terrible effects on families as it did on the veterans themselves (Madigan). The effects later in life were worse, but if they would have been rapid right as they acquired the disorder it might have had terrible