Soldiers Face Stresses of War

Lee,

First, let me say that PTSD is a very difficult diagnosis to make. I don't want to provide a list of symptoms that may be misunderstood and/or misapplied, so I won't get too technical with this answer. Please, if you suspect someone is struggling with a trauma (combat or otherwise) try to get them to seek help. Primarily, I look for significant changes in daily functioning, emotional regulation, and behavior. For example, in the film clip, a soldier talked about not being able to shut down, that he was always on edge. When a soldier continues to complain of being always on guard, can't sleep, chronic nightmares, avoiding topics or places that remind him/her of combat - those are things I look for that may suggest a possible problem. Increased substance abuse (to numb feelings and/or to attempt to aid in sleeping) is another indicator that something is amiss. (Self-medicating with alcohol or drugs is often associated with PTSD). Significant changes in mood (increased anger/rage, depression), increased isolation, and reckless behavior are some other indicators that something is wrong. Everyone reacts to trauma and posttraumatic stress differently. Many symptoms relating to posttraumatic stress may not appear for months to years after the end of the initial trauma/stressor. If a person is demonstrating problem behaviors that are not going away or are getting worse, get him/her in to see a professional healthcare giver. Many diseases and physical problems have the same/similar symptom presentations as PTSD. An accurate and complete assessment is the key to knowing what is going on.

1.The trauma. This is controversial, but the general idea is that the person needs to have experienced or been confronted with something that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury to self or others, and this experience has to have caused terror, horror, helplessness or intense fear.

2. Re-experiencing symptoms. The patient has trauma-related intrusive thoughts or images, nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional response to trauma reminders, including fear, anger, sadness, guilt or shame.

3.Avoidance symptoms. The patient avoids thoughts of the trauma, and situations that remind him/her of the memory. This can lead to social isolation, emotional numbness, a sense of shortened future, depressed mood, and lack of interest in the things that used to be fun or pleasurable. In addition, patients often report gaps in memory of the event.

4. Arousal symptoms. The patient experiences sleep difficulty, irritability, concentration problems, hyper-vigilance (wariness, paranoia), and exaggerated startle response (jumpiness in response to car backfiring or unexpected fireworks).

5. Symptoms more than one month and cause significant distress.