Multigenre Research Paper:

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

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Brittany Manous

Honors 10th World Literature and Composition

Ms. Lester and Ms. Hamilton

4 May 2012

Dear Reader,

My project is about PTSD and the effect it has on our soldiers and veterans. When my

research for this project began, I did not have a clear understanding of the illness. I personally

know soldiers and veterans who suffer from PTSD and studying this illness gave me much

insight as to why they act the way they do in certain situations. In the beginning, I knew that

PTSD was a serious illness but I had no idea how many forms and symptoms there are in our

military.

Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Lester as well as my fellow classmates gave amazing sources of

information. I personally got much of my insight from an interview I had with a family friend

who served in the Vietnam War. Gale Opposing Viewpoints and Gale Virtual Reference Library

were the two sources I relied on most. The most helpful sources came from Gale Opposing

Viewpoints because it let me look at both sides of the argument of PTSD and if it is being

ignored. Maketheconnection.net helped me by listening to interviews and first hand experiences

and although I did not quote or use the interviews in my project, I learned how soldiers and

veterans handle emotions and it gave me inspiration for deeper researching of the illness.

There are a few highlights of what I have learned. For instance, I learned that the suicide

rate and substance abuse rate is skyrocketing. Our government is completely ignoring the fact

that our soldiers are suffering daily. The men and women who serve in our military are crying

out for help and the military personnel medicate them heavily then send them right back into the

battlefield. I do not understand how or why a person could simply ignore a cry for help. I am

glad to have found many organizations who offer help to mentally injured veterans and soldiers

and I hope to one day be a part of the United States citizens who are trying to make a difference

in their lives.

I believe the study of this topic is important and everyone should make this illness more

commonly known. The truth about PTSD needs to be brought to the attention of the public due to

the fact that you could be around a soldier or veteran everyday who may suffer internally from

war and you would never know because all soldiers are taught to keep emotions bottled up. I

personally would like to see more done for prevention of PTSD and reintegration for when our

soldiers arrive home. PTSD affects not only soldiers but also their families and I would not know

what to do if I had to suffer through that alone. PTSD is becoming more and more prominent and

we can all take a part in volunteering to help them and their families through times of crisis.

Sincerely,

Brittany Manous

Table of Contents

Cover Page…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1

Dear Reader Letter………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....2-3

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

Research Paper…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………5-12

PTSD Recipe……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13

Faux Texts………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….14

Found Poem…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………....15

Skit…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16

Free Verse Poem……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17

Collage………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……18

List of PTSD Terms……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………19

Brittany Manous

Lester and Hamilton

10th Honors World Literature/Composition

4 May 2012

PTSD Research Paper

“The question is not whether PTSD is real and serious. It's a devastating mental illness.

The question is how many veterans have PTSD, and clearly our goal should be to try to address

the veterans' needs and help them deal with their problems and move on in life.” (Edwards)

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is an illness that 1 in 7 soldiers suffer from on a daily

basis (Boone 18-22). PTSD is an extremely serious issue and needs to be addressed at once.

PTSD is becoming more and more prominent and according to statistics, the suicide rate

in the past year has risen 11% in soldiers who have been turned away by the VA ("Combat's

Inner Cost"). This is extremely unacceptable and should not be ignored. These men and women

suffer everyday from issues that our government turns a blind eye to. “Seemingly my senses and

body would hijack my mind and I could only be a witness looking out as I reflexively reacted to

apparent hostility.” ("'Brothers' - PTSD: The Film") This quote was featured in a film about

soldiers who came to suffer from PTSD and this quote is important due to the fact that it shows

exactly how a person can be affected and how they cannot control what goes on internally.

It has been said, “A small combat squad that has experienced several fire fights develops

a sense of oneness with each other; they have become one organism through the forging process

of fight or flight.” ("A Decade of War Leaves a Generation to Heal") Brotherhood plays hugely

into how a soldier copes in wartime. Many soldiers say that they become closer to a brother or

sister of war than they do a lover or family member. When a fellow soldier is murdered, it is

more traumatic and detrimental to the internal health of the soldier who may have either

witnessed or caused the death. The soldier may never live this down and may constantly suffer

due to the death.

A man once quoted, “We send our soldiers to war for our freedom and then lock them up

when they are broken and of no use anymore.” (Adams) Once a soldier is diagnosed or shows

signs of developing PTSD, our government thinks that it is best to medicate them heavily or

ignore the fact that they are suffering altogether. Soldiers are sent into multiple tours of duty as

long as they are physically well enough to fight. If a soldier suffers from PTSD, they are

mentally broken. Once a man or women is mentally broken due to war, the government looks

down at them and considers them as ‘expendable.’ Soldiers then become veterans as they are

sent home to be reintegrated with family and daily life that they had left behind.

A soldier once reflected during an interview, “We can be true to our morals, or, we can

fix the problem. We cannot do both." ("Afghan Shooting Sparks Mental Health Concerns for US

Soldiers") This applies to all situations soldiers are placed into. In foreign countries, men and

women are introduced into a new culture with many new values and respects they may not

understand. Men, in Afghanistan for example, have the power to control the women and children

to do whatever they need. Many terrorist groups have used the sympathy of our soldiers to their

advantage for years. Our soldiers have to make life or death decisions every single day they go

into war. There are accounts of women strapping bombs to their children to injure the soldiers

and there are also accounts of children taking their own lives in order to attack a soldier.

In All Quiet on the Western Front, “No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every

soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.” (Remarque) Death after death, hour after hour,

shot by shot, soldiers are always fearful for their lives. Seeing the deaths of their brothers and

sisters, a soldier can never get rid of the images. No amount of medication can erase these

memories; only dull the pain of another day. The sights, the smells, even the taste of the air has

been reported as reoccurring flashbacks of PTSD.

The media and our government keep so much of the war censored from the public eye

and that is one reason PTSD needs to be brought to attention. “That is what death is like. It

doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons

are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we would never have war anymore.” The death

of babies, young children, and women are always most destructive to a soldiers’ mental health.

Almost every soldier in America is raised with some form of the belief ‘thou shall not kill.’ For a

man or woman to take the life of an innocent to protect a brother or sister is one of the most

difficult choices any soldier will ever have to make. Each soldier is a son, daughter, and mother;

father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or cousin. A soldier belongs to someone somewhere and no

matter what, that soldier has feelings and emotions that are constantly pushed behind them in

order to keep our freedom restored.

A very powerful quote, “America without her Soldiers would be like God without His

angels.” (Burling) Our soldiers are our protectors, our saviors, and how do we treat the mentally

ill in the eyes of our government? We treat them as they do not exist and like they are not worthy

of the government’s spending. Government spending, according to CNN, is being cut more

dramatically short with each passing year. Soldiers’ health is not our main priority and that is

heartbreaking. These men and women face danger every morning while we sleep, during the day

while we work, and at night just so that United States civilians can live a peaceful and danger

free life.

The consistency of our men and women of service who suffer from marital issues

continue to rise as well. “You can't patch a wounded soul with a Band-Aid.” (Carey) A soldier or

veteran needs love, support, and sometimes just a hand to hold. Soldiers are sent on multiple

tours of duty for even up to 24 months at a time with few breaks to return home. This puts a

strain on a marriage, a relationship, or a family just like it is expected to do. Soldiers have the

worry of cheating spouses, never seeing the birth of their children, never getting to be around for

their children, and as simple as it may sound, one female solder cried over not getting to help her

son with his homework. The rising stress levels add to the wartime stress a soldier may be facing

and there is only a certain limit to which a person can be pushed before something is bound to

happen.

As a soldier returns home and has nobody who can understand, there is a form of therapy

that is proving to become more and more helpful. “So many of our veterans are coming back and

they have a lot of trauma issues to work through ... Lucy has the skill of being a comfort dog.”

(Caprioli) Dog therapy is extremely popular with amputees who may have lost limbs in war due

to bombs, destructive shots, or mistakes made in battle. Soldiers may not be able to mentally

cope with the fact that they have lost a part of them in the war and that is a part they will never

again. Dog is ‘man’s best friend’ and this statement is put to the test as the army now works with

organizations to train dogs to cater to the needs of our veterans who have visible war wounds as

well as the psychological damage that goes along with it.

“The doctors with their swabs and theories didn´t understand.” ("'Disorder' Disease

Counseling Should Continue for Veterans") A veteran or soldier will always feel like there is

nobody that can understand what they have seen and what they have suffered through in war.

War is unexplainable because everyone has their own take, their own outlook, on the topic.

Soldiers who have first-hand experiences are going to say that war is not what you say it is, that

it is not what Hollywood portrays it to be. A veteran is going to say that war now is not the same

as war used to be. A civilian is going to regurgitate whatever facts about the war they know

through the news channels. In defense of the soldiers, nobody but the military has a clear

understanding of the morale loss, the mental anguish, and the internal pain it takes to make it

through just one more day. Veterans have said in the past that once you get into war, it is no

longer about your family or your brothers; you fight for your own life, for one more day of

living.

PTSD is not what the movies make it out to be. This illness has more symptoms and more

side effects than mostly any mental suffering that has been diagnosed. “Have you been told by

someone to stop living in the past? As if it’s your fault? It’s important to remember that we don’t

live in the past. The past lives inside of us. It has a life all on its own. If you have PTSD, you

know all about how the past works already.” (Ford, Meagher, and Huber) We expect veterans or

active duty soldiers to just forget what happened and to move on with their lives. It is just not

that easy and we should never tell anyone to stop living in the past. Sometimes, that is what

keeps soldiers and veterans sane because they cannot handle their own reality.

“Outside, the sun shines. Inside, there’s only darkness. The blackness is hard to describe,

as it’s more than symptoms. It’s a nothing that becomes everything there is. And what one sees is

only a fraction of the trauma inflicted.” (Goode) A soldier is trained to hide her feelings and

never let emotions show. Our military will keep a soldier in active duty just to keep the numbers

up on the opposing enemy. My question is, how can our numbers be more important than the

health of an American soldier? There is honestly no answer because the government and military

only continue to promise that “they are doing more and more to help.” If that was true however,

the rate of suicide, substance abuse, spousal abuse, and even murder with soldiers who have

PTSD would not continue to increase.

It is hard to see, “There is disconnection between everything human and what has to be

done in combat. Imagine being in an unimaginable situation and having to do the unthinkable.”

(Jacobson) The murders, the innocent casualties, children screaming and crying, women

screaming and crying for their children, the bombs, the blood, the dust, the mud, the tears; none

of this will ever go away. There is no possible way to imagine how a self-respecting person can

handle all of this without some sort of traumatic stress. Soldiers deserve the utmost respect

because wartime decisions have to be made and if it involves killing a child that favors that of

your own son or daughter, it must be done. What society considers “morally correct”, a soldier

sees as “what must be done, must be done.”

“His best friend and worst enemy is alcohol, and life is just one empty day after another.”

("Local Soldier's Life, Struggles Remembered") No soldier should have to resort to losing

themselves to alcoholism and substance abuse due to the fact that the VA should not be turning

away our soldiers in the first place. Veterans hate to be called heroes because many of them have

committed unthinkable acts of duty and feel that they are nothing but stone cold murderers. The

public does not help the pathway to their thinking as we now make movies, TV shows, books,

and even music which portray murder and death to be a joke. When turned away from the VA,

all some soldiers have are the comforts of drugs or alcohol to relieve the pain and to relieve the

feeling of wanting self-destruction.

"I believe that Veteran Families are our unsung heroes.” (Weiss) The families of our

veterans and soldiers are also victims of PTSD. Children have to witness their parents fighting,

abuse on themselves, and even witness their parents physically abusing one another. Wives have

to suffer the most as they deal with keeping a hold on their husband and keeping the family

together and looking typical in the view of the public. Soldiers are not the only ones who have to

learn to hide emotion and feelings. The families of veterans and soldiers must learn what is

appropriate to do or say, how to learn to handle certain situations, and definitely how to hold

back the tears or anger of PTSD taking place.

A story was posted and a quote from it was, “His wife and children, after months of

dealing with his outbursts and uncontrollable behavior, left him out of fear for their own safety.”

("Troops with PTSD Straining Resources") Imagining this scenario is almost impossible. How

can one just up and leave the one they have grown to love? How do you tell a child that they

cannot stay with their father because he might hurt them during the night? There is no definite

answer because every case of PTSD undiagnosed or not, is completely different. The forms of

PTSD are like fingerprints, everyone has a different one because each person has dealt with

different traumatic situations. The same goes for the families of PTSD victims because they each

have their own ways of coping with the side effects of the illness their loved one is suffering

from.

A veteran on his PTSD suffering said, “So why would I have to keep that a secret?

Because I do not want to burden my family and loved ones with the thoughts of knowing that I

am still suffering from the war.” ("Tragedy Shows Extreme Result of Postwar Stress") here are

many soldiers and veterans who may suffer from PTSD but have not went to become diagnosed

due to the fact that they do not want anybody to worry about them, especially family members or

friends. PTSD is not something to be ignored because it is only going to worsen with time.

Veterans do not like to be told orders or sit with their backs to the public at anytime. (Loner

Interview)

PTSD is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Not too many

people know of the extent that PTSD can go to and how detrimental it is to a person’s health.

This illness is sometimes looked down upon and that is a terrible shame. Soldiers and veterans

put their lives on the line everyday and we need to thank them for everything they do. PTSD

affects not only the soldiers but everyone around her. There are now programs for volunteers to

invest their time into helping veterans and families of veterans or active duty soldiers and with

this; there is hope of bringing this rising issue into the spotlight and finding more solutions for its

outcomes.

Learning Artifact 1

~PTSD Recipe~

2 Tsp. Activating Events

3 Tsp. Pain

A pinch of Confusion

1 cup of Guilt

1 cup of Shame

1 dash of Self- worth Dissipating

1 Tbsp. Fear

1 cup of Anger

¼ cup of Resentment

½ cup of Depression

½ cup of Acute Anxiety

Directions:

1. Place the soldier in an unsafe environment away from all family and friends.

2. Take away any daily life routines the soldier may have become familiar with back home.

3. Teach the soldier to have no fear, no remorse, and teach him to NEVER cry in war.

4. Send the soldier into battle with little to no understanding of death.

5. Then, let him watch as his brothers and sisters fall around him, leaving him to hear the screams and cries for help.

6. Make him decide to either shoot an innocent, a woman or young child, in order to save a fellow soldier.

7. When he shows remorse or grieves, tell him to “Suck it up. This happens.”

8. Give him a short 30-day leave with no help for reintegration.

9. Send him home to his family, a place where nobody can understand what he has been through and give him time to ponder on his actions alone.

10. Then, take him away from his family and send him on multiple tours for extended periods of time.

11. Once the soldier is showing signs of PTSD symptoms send him home on temporary medical leave and wish him the best of luck.

12. As the VA’s office turns him away, make sure he is physically still healthy enough for war and send him back into the destruction.

*You should now be on the right path to setting up your soldier for the perfect life-long internal war.*

It’s just been one of those days. Can’t wait for tonight…

Hey! What’s up? Happy 4th of July!!

wrong?

Terry! Learning Artifact 2

~Faux Texts~

Aww :/ what’s wrong?

Well, I went back to the VA and I got turned down again! IDK if I can handle all the noise, explosions, and crowds of people tonight. I’m probably just being stupid…

No you aren’t! I understand!

No you can’t understand…I have nobody that does…Even the government can’t…

Are you still on your meds ?

Yes but it just dulls the pain. Never the memories. I can’t even sleep anymore…

How are the kids with it?

They can’t understand. They just think I’m going crazy.

I’m sure they don’t Have you made another appt. with the VA center? Yeah but I’m not getting my hopes up.

I’m going to pick up my kids now. Ly. TTYL.

Ly! Call if you need me.

Learning Artifact 3

~Found Poem~

Internal War Never Leaves

Collectively by Andrew Wright, David Kerpash, Chris Woolnough

No wounds upon my body, no scars that you can find.

Just hurt from wars fought long ago, implanted in my mind.

I have lived in this prison I built for most of my life.

And I have blocked out all reason, all guilt and all strife.

Day after day bullets whizzed by.

We all feared that we might die.

For many months we fought and fought.

We always did exactly what we were taught.

Now as I sit here too cloudy to think,

My mind and body, they no longer link.

My life I see before me, like old movies that aren’t real.

But that’s what I see and that’s what I feel.

No outward signs of injury, no telltale signs of pain,

Only flashbacks and the nightmares, time and time again.

May God have mercy, may He not be cruel.

May He understand the prayer of this young fool.

Inside of me, I hear the screams of distress

Let me out of this prison, please just let me rest.

Thanks!

Learning Artifact 4

~Skit~

~SRGT: Alright men! Today we are doing a clean sweep of one of the most dangerous areas which is notorious for hidden snipers and bombs.

~Men: Sir, yes sir!

~SRGT: If anything goes down, you handle that problem by any means necessary!

~Soldier: Sir, what about civilians, women, and children, sir?

~SRGT: Any. Means. Necessary! You are a soldier, are you not? This is your life on the line! Do I make myself clear men?

~Men: Sir, yes sir!

~SRGT: Get your head in the game! We fight not only for our brothers and sisters but for ourselves! No tears, no remorse! Get in there and do what we’ve trained you to do! Men…Head out!

~Men: Sir, yes sir!

~The men run off and head into the dangerous area as the sound of gunfire begins.~

Learning Artifact 5

~Free Verse Poem~

Sunny days sometimes hurt the most

Rainy days are not nearly as sad

They aren’t here with me to laugh, to play

If only I would’ve went ahead that day

If only I would’ve stopped that bullet

If only I had the courage to stay and not run

Why not me instead of them?

What about their families?

I've killed them all because I was just too tired to care

Too scared to scream

Too numb for reality to matter anymore

My condition is invisible to the public.

But I hurt just the same as everyone else

I was trained tough

Built to kill or be killed

How to move on?

How to let it all go?

Why not me instead of them?

Why not me instead of them?

Learning Artifact 6

~PTSD Collage~

PTSD

List of PTSD Terms

Alcohol abuse : Use of alcoholic beverages to excess, either on individual occasions ("binge drinking") or as a regular practice.

Antidepressant : Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression. Anxiety : A feeling of apprehension and fear characterized by physical symptoms such as

palpitations, sweating, and feelings of stress. Behavior therapy : A treatment program that involves substituting desirable behavior

responses for undesirable ones. Cognitive : Pertaining to cognition, the process of knowing and, more precisely, the

process of being aware, knowing, thinking, learning and judging. Depression : An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts that affects the way a

person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things.

Dissociation : In psychology and psychiatry, a perceived detachment of the mind from the emotional state or even from the body. Dissociation is characterized by a sense of the world as a dreamlike or unreal place and may be accompanied by poor memory of the specific events, which in severe form is known as dissociative amnesia.

Physiologic : Something that is normal, neither due to anything pathologic nor significant in terms of causing illness.

Post-traumatic stress : An anxiety disorder that develops in some individuals who have had major traumatic experiences. The person is typically numb at first but later has symptoms including depression, excessive irritability, guilt (for having survived while others died), recurrent nightmares, flashbacks to the traumatic scene, and overreactions to sudden noises.

Psychodynamic therapy : A type of psychotherapy that draws on psychoanalytic theory to help people understand the roots of emotional distress, often by exploring unconscious motives, needs, and defenses.

Shell shock : The World War I name for what is known today as post-traumatic stress, this is a psychological disorder that develops in some individuals who have had major traumatic experiences (and, for example, have been in a serious accident or through a war).

Trigger : Something that either sets off a disease in people who are genetically predisposed to developing the disease, or that causes a certain symptom to occur in a person who has a disease.