The Negative Role Of PTSD In Soldiers

Soldiers have been fighting in wars since the beginning of civilization. In the past 300 years, war has become a symbol of political unrest and dominance for the United States. Each war that the United States is involved in, more and more soldiers are enlisted and motivated through the war by many different factors. Although the motivation that soldiers gain during war can be beneficial to their minds, war still affects them in a negative way because many soldiers coming home have symptoms or have been diagnosed with PTSD or a corresponding mental illness.

Understanding the soldier’s minds psychologically before and during wartime is sometimes a hard thing to do because of the fluctuating beliefs and social outlooks that people have due to

PTSD is defined as a delayed stress reaction in which an individual involuntarily re-experiences emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of past trauma. Levers states, “the factors of: proximity and level of exposure to the traumatic event; the presence of a loss in status, personal power, and control; and the loss of bodily function through physical injury or pain; each have a multitude of differing experiences with which the individual soldier may face” (Levers, 2012), meaning that each case of PTSD is different. This makes it hard for psychologists and doctors to concretely diagnose PTSD and create treatments for these

First, low-intensity combat is where there are harsh strains on the soldier. Examples of this are the varying temperatures of the desert in Afghanistan and Iraq and the minimal hours of sleep that the soldiers get. Second, the immediate phase of intensive combat is where normal and predictable reactions to extreme stressors occur like disbelief, confusion, and fear. The soldiers also experience the fight or flight response with in their Autonomic Nervous System in the immediate phase of combat. The fight or flight response deals with the soldier’s Sympathetic (SNS) and Parasympathetic (PNS) Nervous Systems. It makes the soldiers feel aroused (the stressors) in a hectic situation (SNS), only to be returned to homeostasis by the PNS a short period of time after the combat ends. Third, the delayed phase of intensive combat is where unexplainable symptoms like social withdrawal, irritability, and persistent anger occur after the intense combat stressors resulting in substance abuse in a soldier’s life. Fourth, the chronic phase of intensive combat is where soldiers have continued intrusive symptoms with an infusion of existential questions and mood disturbances. This is because many chronic trauma victims lose their sense of self, commonly called dissociation. These conflicts are important because they show how life as a soldier