EMOTIONAL EFFECT OF WAR

Emotional Effect of War on Soldiers



Emotional Effect of War on Soldiers

Introduction

There are more or less 1,042,000 soldiers in the United States Army as of 13 March 2007. Out of that 18,000 soldiers posted in Afghanistan, and 108,000 soldiers posted in Iraq. These figures comprise regular armed forces, U.S. National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve, these figures change frequently as new combatants entering the combat zone, however, some are discharged (Babwin, 2009). This increase and decrease in the number of soldiers opens doors for new entrants to be stationed in the war zone. On the other hand, soldiers become vulnerable to psychological health dilemmas.

Literature Review

PTSD has an effect on the life on soldier, as well as especially, on the lives of their family members. PTSD is classified by the re-experiencing of distressing incidents through flashbacks, hallucinations, dreams and recollection. Monson & Taft (2005) has been determined that people suffering from PTSD are three to six times more probable to ruin their relationships as compared to those without PTSD. They also determined PTSD was among the second prevailing reason of dissociation in relationships (Beckham, 2008).

Since, possible depressing outcomes on the life of soldiers and their family members do not discuss psychological illness issues. This research also identified three motivations returning veteran do not look for care; the fear of being tagged weak or potential humiliation, fear that looking for assistance will harm their career, and lack of trust in psychological health professionals. As a result, they reported that if a soldier requires psychological assistance, he/she will usually go outside the installation of military; whereas, merely if extremely necessary.

Longitudinal research started coming into light after cross-sectional studies. A comparison of Army screening surveillance data for a large sample gathered via convenience sampling in the month prior to redeployment with screening data gathered during four to ten months post-deployment. Several studies for active-duty soldiers reported a possible PTSD prevalence increased to about 16.7 percent from 11.8 percent, and for National Guard and Reservists members to from 12.7 percent to 24.5 percent. Higher possible prevalence PTSD among members of National Guard and Reservists has been determined in other services branches of United States. In addition, studied troops of United Kingdom, and is especially considerable as about 40 percent of American troops are Reserve or Guard.

A smaller convenience troop of redeployed veterans within seven days of redeployment and once more after 120 days, by the use of PCL. The possible PTSD rates increased from 3-8 percent between the two evaluations. This research examined soldiers who have returned from operations of peacekeeping and war, many Partnerships for Peace countries, NATO and US carried out some sort of post-deployment psychological health evaluation. The researchers scrutinized the extent to that the timing was associated to accounted rates of occurrences of psychological health issues in an equivalent sample of about 509 US military personnel who have returned from Iraq war. Findings demonstrated considerable increase in psychological health issues at 120 days post-deployment comparative ...