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Caroline Reichard
Cynthia Richardson
English Comp 1201 Online
14 November 2015
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

My son Chris is a Captain in the army. While stationed in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber
blew himself up a hundred feet away from my son. Chris was immediately taken to the closest
medical facility for physical and psychological evaluation. He was debriefed and deemed fit to
return to active duty. My son has never claimed to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a.k.a.
(PTSD). But who is to say what the future holds for him, there is currently controversy with the
diagnosis of PTSD, some would say it doesnt exist at all, while others claim it is over
diagnosed. I will be exploring the social, economic and psychological factors of PTSD. My son
has never been diagnosed with PTSD. Statistics prove PTSD is real and studies show the
majority of our troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are being diagnosed with some level
of PTSD. PTSD is an ongoing problem and as a society we would be negligent to pretend it
doesnt exist. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is very real. There are those who would argue PTSD
is over diagnosed.
To say PTSD doesnt exist at all, in my opinion, is coming from someone who is
uneducated... There are just too many facts to the contrary but for the people who think is it
misdiagnosed or over diagnosed. They may have a point to a degree and here is why, As
disability awards for PTSD have grown nearly fivefold over the past 13 years, so have concerns
that many veterans may be exaggerating or lying to win benefits, reports the Washington Posts.
The Post quotes studies and experts suggesting that roughly half of veterans may not really

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have PTSD. Depending on the severity, veterans with PTSD can receive up to $3,000 a month
tax-free making the disorder the biggest contributor to the growth of a disability system in which
payments have more than doubled to $49 billion since 2002, reports the Post. The Washington
Post, In the News October 25, 2014.
Unfortunately, there will always be those who try to cheat the system, in every facet of life.
The tragedy occurs when people who truly need help are shamed and labelled as a result of those
who cheat.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by a persons exposure to
life-threatening or otherwise traumatic circumstances. The term is most often associated with
mental health problems suffered by soldiers returning from war. In recent years, PTSD has been
diagnosed in people who have endured other types of high-stress experiences as well. Some
argue that the definition has been broadened too greatly, which has resulted in PTSD diagnoses
for people whose stress levels do not warrant the same level as genuine PTSD sufferers. Detroit:
Gale, 2015 (5)
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is diagnosed in civilians as well, and symptoms are the same in in
both civilians and veterans. Soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are being diagnosed in
record numbers.
PTSD is a common disorder in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan common
symptoms include depression, nightmares, anxiety and sudden displays of aggression. One in
five veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are diagnosed with PTSD and veterans account
for 20% of U.S. suicides. Suicides among troops overall are also up averaging nearly one a day,
the highest rate since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began a decade ago. Among the youngest

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veterans between 17 and 24 years of age, and primarily those returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan, have suicide rates four times higher than other veterans. According to the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs: The Relationship between PTSD and Suicide. (6)
While the department of Veterans Affairs, put the statistics out there, in true government fashion,
the Congressional Budget office, claims there is no hard data. Our soldiers put their lives on the
line for our country, and this is the thanks they get. While costs are nominal, without our soldiers,
we would not enjoy the freedoms we take for granted.
Government research indicates a link between PTSD and suicide but there is no hard data.
Treatment for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans suffering from PTSD has cost more than 2 billion
dollars, so far health care for a veteran with PTSD has cost 3 times as much as care for those
without the disorder per veteran, and treatment costs $8,300. 00 in the first year. According to
the Congressional Budget Office: The Veterans Health Administrations Treatment of PTSD and
Traumatic Brain Injury among Recent Combat Veterans.(3)
The diagnosis, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, came to be in 1980, before that is was called
Shell Shock or War Neurosis. The people who say it doesnt exist, in my opinion, have
never been exposed to long term trauma of any kind. Although not every soldier in combat is not
diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, through life people have been conditioned to react
to stress in different ways.
The Creation of PTSD as a diagnostic category emerged as much from politics as from
medicine. The disorder was first included in the DSMs (Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of
Mental Disorders) third edition, published in 1980, in large part because activists, many of the
Vietnam War Veterans, had lobbied for a formal diagnosis that not only validated the experience

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of delayed and prolonged psychic pain but also relieved sufferers of the shame and stigma
associated with mental illness. At the same time, clinicians who studied other traumatic events
as varied as rape and the Holocaust supported the idea that symptoms could appear months or
even years after exposure to the stressorone of the criteria the DSM incorporated. Detroit:
Gale 2015. (5)
The diagnosis of PTSD, is somewhat confusing. Having the diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder suggests you are normal and any other diagnosis suggests you are abnormal. The stigma
attached to any diagnosis, makes many of the men and women who serve in our military, suffer
in silence.
One of the reasons the system is so complex and dysfunctional is that the conceptual foundation
upon which it is based is fundamentally unstable. According to the DSM (the Bible of psychiatric
profession). The DSMs definition of the disorder is somewhat mechanistic: input a sufficient
degree of stress and you get a disorder. And therein lies the illnesses paradox: If you react
normally to trauma you have a disorder, if you act abnormally to stress you dont. Nancy
Andreason a neuroscientist, and psychiatrist at the University of Iowa, aptly observed in The
American Journal of Psychiatry in 1995. PTSD is the only disorder that patients want to have;
unlike all other psychiatric conditions which imply defects of some kind, and a diagnosis of
PTSD confirms the patients normality. Boone,Katherine The Wilson Quarterly 35.4 (2011). (1)
During World War 1, PTSD was thought to be a result of concussions caused by explosions,
which is how the term shell shock came about. During World War II it came to be termed war
neurosis which was said to be the result of inherent weaknesses, bad parenting and then
aggravated by armed conflict. The U.S. military, unable to provide the intense psychotherapy war
neurosis would consist of, started discharging soldiers with any psychiatric distress. A number of

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psychiatrists in 1980 were critical of the current definition of the disorder. Robert Spitzer, among
the psychiatrists, had advocated for a tightening of the diagnosis. There is concern the DSM, may
have broadened and even blurred more between normality and the disorder, not everyone is
affected anyway, even in similar circumstances. Any returning soldier would rather be diagnosed
with PTSD than any other mental disorder, thereby disqualifying them from further service.
Under such severe circumstances such as roadside bombings and suicide bombers, you are
normal if diagnosed with PTSD and not normal if diagnosed with any other mental disorder,
therein lies the paradox. According to Katherine N. Boone The Wilson Quarterly 35.4 (2011).
(1)
The soldiers who are affected by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, are not encouraged to come
forward. Paula Caplon, who writes for New Scientist, puts into perspective, by explaining the
dilemma.
When soldiers have experienced the horrors of war, they do not want to be labelled as mentally
ill. As returning soldiers explain their symptoms to a psychologist, they end up intensely saying
Thats crazy right? but given the amount of anguish suffered and the alienation from loved
ones its hard to let them know that they are indeed not crazy. Most of our soldiers are
discouraged from expressing their true feelings for fear and helplessness, because they will be
viewed as weak. The trend seems to be to try and remain numb to avoid expressing anger. They
also have insomnia in record numbers. If we ignore their numbness and silence, then who
protects them? The military ethos discourages soldiers from talking about their fear, frustration,
helplessness, and uncertainty. No officer said negative feelings were normal; sometimes someone
would say that any soldiers who felt depressed or anxious should tell their leader, and be passed
to a chaplain or counselor. But the message was clear: Needing help was unsoldierly. For men, it

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was unmanly; for women, it proved they should not be soldiers. For the most part, the military
offers little help for the emotional carnage of war. Its top priority is to produce soldiers who,
above all, continue to function. They often hand out anti-depressants to blunt emotions that only
resurface later. In the Second World War, a soldier who broke down after seeing a buddy blown
to bits was usually sent far from combat and given time to recuperate. More recently, the military
switched to the PIE approach, proximity, immediacy and expectation, claiming it was to protect
soldiers from survivor guilt. This means soldiers who have been overwhelmed by wars
horrors are kept near combat zones, sent back immediately, perhaps after a few days rest, with
the expectation conveyed that they will soon be fine. Of course, soldiers sent back to the front
are likely to see more comrades die, increasing the chances of suffering from survivor guilt.
Transition times can also be excruciating. Ray, a veteran who had been holed up near Kabul for
months, recalled how in preparing for leave, he was called to a meeting where soldiers were told
not to hit their wives. Thats all the advice we got. Ray said. Back in his home town, people
asked: Whats it like there? Ray was dumbfounded. How could he possibly convey what hed
seen to the citizens of this peaceful Midwestern place: the constant, battering uncertainty about
friends and enemies, the life and death stakes of a wrong guess? Even if he could, should he?
Soldiers have a duty to protect folks back home by fighting wars abroad but also to protect them
from our emotional nightmares, he said. People felt Ray was weird because he wouldnt talk
about the war. Chasms grew. His best friend stopped calling. Family interactions were
awkward. New Scientist, Nov 17, 2007, Vol. 196 Issue 2630 p56, 2p (2)
Ty Carter, is a fine example of a military man faced with the horrors of war, and his response to
being honored. In spite of what should have been a victory, he had experienced, what is known
as survivors guilt.

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Ty Carter, emblazoned in a battle during a braze Taliban attack. He survived earning a Medal of
Honor. He never felt like a hero and felt guilty for being alive and not being able to save his
brothers in arms. Tys Platoon Sargent encouraged him to feel proud. Ty says I was more
focused on getting to my bunk, burying my head into a pillow and not existing, I wanted to find a
hole and disappear. Foreign Policy 208 (2014). (4)
Not only do our returning veterans deal with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and being shamed
for claiming it. They have also had to deal with associate veterans who cheat the system and
some of them, have also been unable to get the help they need, should they find the strength to
speak up.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is reeling from the knowledge that some of its facilities
made military veterans wait for healthcare, The Veterans Affairs Hospitals kept bogus records to
cover up the delays. Robert McDonald, recently appointed Veterans Affairs secretary, is a West
Point Graduate and Former Chief Executive Officer of Procter & Gamble. Mr. McDonald has
vowed to streamline the huge department into a more effective organization better to able to
serve the 6.6 million patients who seek medical treatment each year. In spite of its recent
problems, the Veterans Affairs Hospital has conducted Nobel Prize-level research and delivered
high-quality care to most of its patients. Reforming Veterans healthcare, 21 November 2014.
(985-1008). (6)
People believe PTSD is over diagnosed. Some people believe it does not exist. There are in fact
some returning soldiers who do not have PTSD and claim to have it to obtain benefits from our
government. PTSD is a real diagnosis, and unfortunately, some people cheat the system in every
facet of life possible. There are returning soldiers who are afraid to speak up, because they do not
want to show any weakness or be shamed, so they are suffering in silence. If people infuse

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knowledge with compassion, then our returning veterans may feel better about coming forward
and getting the treatment they need to live a more fulfilled life. In the future it will be much more
difficult to cheat the system as scientist are seeing similar brain patterns in the soldiers who are
experiencing PTSD, through a process called magnetoencephalography. In the midst of the
controversy surrounding PTSD, will help be available for returning veterans? There is also
something else to consider, many war veterans may be fine when first returning home but what
about the long term effects? And if they are strong enough to reach out for help they may need,
will the help be available?

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Works Cited

(1)Boone, Katherine N. The Paradox of PTSD: thousands of soldiers are returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan with deep psychological scars. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a
common diagnosis but is it the right one? The Wilson Quarterly 35.4 (2011); 18+.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 April 2015 URL. Ohio Link. Sinclair Library,
Dayton, Ohio. 17 Oct. 2015
(2)Caplon, Paula J. Dont Call our Soldiers Crazy. New Scientist 196.2630 (2007: 56-57),
academic research complete. Web 18Oct2015 Ohio Link. Sinclair Library, Dayton, Ohio.
17 Oct. 2015
(3)Congressional Budget Office: The Veterans Health Administrations Treatment of PTSD and
Traumatic Brain Injury Among Recent Combat Veterans
(4)Dreazen, Yochi. Tour of Duty: Ty Carter Fought in Afghanistan and became a hero. Now he
has one more enemy to fight: PTSD. Foreign Policy 208 (2014): 52+. Opposing
Viewpoints in context. Web 4 Apr.2015. Ohio Link. Sinclair Library, Dayton, Ohio. 17
October 2015
(5) Face the Facts.org Photo Image
(6) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Detroit:
Gale, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web 4 April 2015 Ohio Link. Sinclair
Library, Dayton, Ohio 17 Oct. 2015
(7) Price, Tom Reforming Veterans Healthcare, 21 November 2014, CQ researcher, 24 9851008 retrieved from <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre201412100

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(8) US Department of Veterans affairs: The Relationship Between PTSD and Suicide
(9) US Department of Defense: The Challenge and the Promise: Strengthening the Force,
Preventing Suicide and Saving Lives
(10) Wipond, Rob Washington Post, October 25, 2014. In The News VA Struggles to Separate
Fake from Real PTSD, With Virtually no Patients Improving.