Donnie Patton

April 8, 2016
UWRT 1102

How Does PTSD Affect Returning Veterans

Must you carry the bloody horror of combat in your heart forever?
-Homer, The Odyssey
Since its creation in 1776, the United States of America has been at war for a combined
total of 222 years. This means that out of 240 years, fighting in countless wars on six of the
seven continents, America has been engaged in armed conflict for 93% of its total existence. In
total, approximately 3 million American troops have died fighting for our nation, which is a
miniscule number compared to the actual amount of veterans who have served their country. For
generations, American soldiers have returned home from the front lines after witnessing the
horrors of war. Many of those that returned came back as completely changed men, only mere
shadows of their past self. For years, these veterans quietly suffered a wide variety of symptoms,
ranging from addiction, mood swings, depression, and in some cases suicide. This condition has
been referred to by many names of the years: soldiers heart, shell shock, battle fatigue, and postVietnam syndrome. Nowadays this condition is now commonly known as Post Traumatic Stress
Syndrome. It is typical for returning veterans to have difficulty adjusting mentally, physically,
and socially back into society due to the effects of PTSD.

In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially recognized and began

diagnosing Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, otherwise known as PTSD. Officially, PTSD is
defined as a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to one or more traumatic
events, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, terrorism or other threats on a person's
life. After many experiments and random studies performed by the Department of Veteran
Affairs, it has been proven that returning veterans that suffer from PTSD have an especially hard
time rehabilitating to normal civilian life. The condition can effect a veterans mental stability,
their capability to interact socially with friends and family, as well as the individuals overall
physical wellbeing. I chose this topic out of interest and curiosity on the condition itself. My
father, who served in the Gulf Wars, Iraq, and Afghanistan as an Army Ranger has begun to show
signs of this condition. In general, our nations Special Forces a regularly exposed to more
intense and dangerous situations than the average enlisted man. My father has been one of my
biggest heroes throughout my life, and my goal from this inquiry is to gain a better
understanding of his condition so I may be able to help him in the future as he gets older.
PTSD, which is clinically defined as a mental disorder, can affect different individuals in
various ways. Some of the most common side effects, include violent flashbacks to a traumatic
event. These flashbacks can be triggered by even the simplest things in everyday life. For
example, many veterans have a hard time being around loud noises such as fireworks. These
sounds trigger subconscious memories of cannon fire, exploding mortars, and artillery shells,
hence the previous name Shell Shock. These subconscious memories can also trigger vivid
nightmares, causing a host of sleep related problems. Reports of depression also run rampant
through the veteran community. Some veterans may become detached, lose interest in specific
activities, have difficulty feeling positive emotions, and begin to develop suicidal thoughts.

In many cases, veterans that have been diagnosed with PTSD never fully leave the battle
field when they come home. Numerous veterans have documented that on a daily basis, they
experience violent intrusive memories or flashbacks. The individuals mind may become
bombarded with horrifying images, sounds, and memories of the horrors they experienced with
serving in the line of duty. These flashbacks have been known to appear at any time, sometimes
out of nowhere without any apparent reason. In a recent study conducted by the VA Center of
Excellence for Stress and Mental Health, experts found that a certain part of a combat veterans
brain may be more stimulated than that of a non-combat veteran. A greater activation in the
bilateral anterior insulae was observed in the PTSD versus the CEC subjects during anticipation
of combat-related images when the anticipatory period was of uncertain duration (Simmons).
The results concluded that because this specific part of the veterans brain is experiencing a
heightened level of activity, it may be directly related to the development of violent flashbacks
and nightmares.
One of the most common side effects of PTSD in combat veterans is depression.
Depression is defined as a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's
thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being. While, the definition of depression is
relatively clear cut, what triggers it however, is not so easily determined. Some veterans may
become depressed because of the struggles they face returning to civilian life, while some
veterans may develop depression as a result of survivors guilt or remorse for their actions on the
field of battle. Whatever the reason is, the fact still remains that depression within the veteran
community is no stranger.
In severe but rare cases, the burden of depression may prove too much for an individual,
and it drive them to commit suicide. In the documentary Wartorn 1861-210, they tell the story

of a young veteran named Noah Pierce, who committed suicide after his return home from
serving two tours in Iraq. According to his mother, Pierce had been battling PTSD and the guilt
he felt for his actions overseas. While Noah Pierces story is a tragic one, it is not one of a kind.
Similar cases to this have been documented since the civil war. The documentary starts with the
story of a young union soldier, who would write correspondence letters back home to his family.
As the letters progressed through his experiences in the Civil war, his personality begins to
change. He begins to write about the after effects that combat is having on him and the horrors
that hes witnessed. Coincidentally many of the side effect he wrote about are now recognized as
common symptoms of PTSD. Eventually, after being declared unfit for service due to his mental
instability, the soldier came home from the front lines. According to his family, the man that
came back was not the same boy that left. They described the soldier as irrational, and angry at
the world. Eventually, after being left behind by his friends who went on a hunting trip, the
young soldier followed them out into the woods where he took his own life using his hunting
rifle. While situations like this are rare, the VA hospital as started offering group therapy classes
to any veterans who may be experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts.
Veterans are also not the only ones whose lives are effected by PTSD. The soldiers
family are also left to combat the symptoms of this condition. When a veteran begins to display
the mental side effects of PTSD, the relationships they have with friends and family become
increasingly stressed. As mentioned earlier, as an effect of a veterans increasingly lowered
interest and motivation to participate in daily activities, their loved ones can become very
frustrated with this newly acquired behavior. Veterans suffering from PTSD are also prone to
mood swings and destructive behavior, which could leave their families concerned about their
own safety. Over time, these repeated behaviors can permanently damage or even destroy

relationships. Its our job as loved ones to educate ourselves on their condition and attempt to
understand what they are going through.
After returning home, many veterans struggle to readjust to the so called normal civilian
social life. Some veterans may appear to have lost their ability to experience pleasure in daily
activities and may seem emotionally detached or nonresponsive. This begins a pattern of
desocialization, in which the individual distances feels increasingly distant for their friends in
family. From personal experience, I can say that is behavior can put a lot of stress a veterans
loved ones. My father, who is an ex-Army Ranger, started this pattern of behavior after returning
home from his last deployment in Afghanistan. Although hes gotten gradually better over time, I
had never fully understood what he was going through until I interview him for this project.
During the interview he described himself as feeling cut off, or misunderstood by society. He
hated when people tried to relate to him about what he was going though, when they had
absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Sometimes, when people complained it angered
him because he feels like they dont understand what its like to have a real reason to complain.
So instead of blowing up on people and losing his temper, he decided that it was easier just to
remove himself from society in general.
When a veteran begins to desocialize themselves from their surroundings, it puts a lot of
stress on the other spouse. Although they have become accustomed to running the house by
themselves while their partner is way on active duty, they still expect a little help when the
soldier returns. Also, the soldier that returns home is not always the exact same person that left.
This can cause a lot of friction between the two, especially if there are kids involved in the
relationship. In some cases, the relationship may be too damaged and the couple eventually files
for divorce.

In comparison, societys understanding of PTSD today is miles ahead of where it used to

be. During the duration of both World Wars and even going into Korea, signs of PTSD were just
brushed off and paid little attention too. If a soldier was to break down, he would be labeled a
disgrace or a coward. A well example of this mind set was demonstrated by General George S.
Patton when he was addressing a soldier he found sitting in a field hospital claiming to be
suffering from anxiety and shell shock. It was said that when Patton came across the soldier he
began to scream, I wont have the hospitals cluttered up with theses sons of bitches who havent
got the guts to fight Send that yellow son of a bitch back to the front line before striking
the soldier upside the head (Wartorn). It was this type of mentality during that time period that
forced soldiers to keep their problems to themselves in fear of being looked down upon. It wasnt
until the Vietnam War that people began to take notice that there was a real problem going on
with the veterans returning home from war. Nowadays, although the medical field has made
massive strides in diagnosing and treating PTSD, I feel like the general public is still for the most
part uneducated about the disorder. The problems that most vets still face is that society doesnt
fully understand the extent of what they are going through.
One of the most documented physical side effects of PTSD is substance abuse and
addiction. To help combat the mental stains of PTSD, many veterans begin to use tobacco,
alcohol, or pain killers as a crutch and eventually becoming completely dependent on the
substance to the point of addiction. These addictions can progress into serious medical conditions
later down the road if the addiction goes untreated. Another common side effect from the
constant stress of PTSD is sleep deprivation and weigh loss. The stress can negatively impact the
sleep patterns and eating habits of affected veterans. If a veteran experiences the stressors for an
extended amounts of time, more serious effects may develop. PTSD has also been associated in

recent years with the onset of other physical conditions veterans may develop such as chronic
musculoskeletal pain, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity and cardiovascular disease
(Mcfarlane). Another example of the physical side effects of posttraumatic stress has to do with
the hippocampus, which is the region of the brain that plays a role in a persons memory. Recent
research has shown that subject who have been exposed to an extreme stressor sometimes have a
smaller hippocampus than subjects who have not experienced trauma. This is significant in
understanding the effects of trauma in general and the impact of PTSD, specifically since this
part of the brain plays an important part in developing new memories and experiences.