We're going to swing back to one of my first topics for a moment. I recently read an article that talks of a long term study of military personnel that started just before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The data shows that combat exposure tripled the likelihood of PTSD in members of the Army and Air Force, and doubled the likelihood in Marines.
Let’s take a quick look at PTSD:
WHAT DEFINES PTSD?
There are two specific factors that must happen for a diagnosis of PTSD to be reached. First is having been in an extremely stressful situation, and secondly, having reacted to it with an intense emotional reaction. An "extremely stressful situation" is considered to be the likes of being in Auschwitz, Vietnam, Iraq, being raped, surviving a plane crash, being at ground zero on 9/11, and so on. The American Psychiatric Association classifies "Reacting with an intense emotional reaction" as fear, helplessness, or horror.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF PTSD?
There are three different clusters of symptoms that characterize PTSD.
- Intrusive recollections
- Avoidant numbing symptoms
- Arousal Symptoms
We’ll talk more about these three symptoms in a future post.
With the large number of service men and women returning to civilian life, it is very likely that you may encounter someone suffering from PTSD in your everyday life. Also, employers must be ready for the reintegration of these men and women back into the workforce. This new data shows that there is an increased strain on the mental health of returning service men and women, and often times the military is unable to provide proper medicine, counseling, or even simple self awareness for the issue.
It is very important that we do everything we can to help our fighting men and women successfully return to civilian life. In the next couple of posts I'll be discussing some new initiatives for service men and women returning from combat.
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