Page 51 - January Febuary 2016 Issue
P. 51
Elite Investigative Journal
PTSD Among Military Personnel: A Review, pg 51-59
©2014-2016 SYT Global, Inc.
PTSD Among Military Personnel:
A Review
by Shabu Raj
Photo Courtesy of wallpaperswa.com
Introduction PTSD is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply
shocking and disturbing experience. It is a
The Vietnam War and the plight of veterans normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Post-
in USA have generated much media interest Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is deined
because of its comprehensibility, easy in DSM-IV, the fourth edition of the American
accessibility, and since it added public Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and
interest to disasters of great magnitude. For Statistical Manual. For a doctor or mental health
many, PTSD places responsibility for their professional to be able to make a diagnosis,
suffering on factors outside themselves, the condition must be deined in DSM-IV or
factors over which they often had neither its international equivalent, the World Health
responsibility nor control (Friedman, 2000) Organization’s ICD-10. The focus of the DSM-
thus providing an explanatory model. IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)
Gersons and Carlier (1992) looking at deinition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a
the history of PTSD, commented that the single life-threatening event or threat to integrity.
introduction of the new diagnosis of PTSD However, the symptoms of traumatic stress also
was seen and felt to be in recognition of arise from an accumulation of small incidents
the psychological consequences of war, rather than one major incident.
especially as experienced by Vietnam
veterans. After the description of PTSD in the History of PTSD
1980, there was a major increase in research
interest in PTSD (Blake, Albano, & Keane, PTSD is considered to be the renaming
1992) with majority of them being on victims or the synthesis of an age-old condition.
of war or sexual violence. The psychological effect of exposure to
combat-related traumatic events, then called
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) physioneurosis was irst scientiically studied
in 1941 by A. Kardiner (Kolb, 1993). Research
interest in this area peaked during and after the
51
PTSD Among Military Personnel: A Review, pg 51-59
©2014-2016 SYT Global, Inc.
PTSD Among Military Personnel:
A Review
by Shabu Raj
Photo Courtesy of wallpaperswa.com
Introduction PTSD is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply
shocking and disturbing experience. It is a
The Vietnam War and the plight of veterans normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Post-
in USA have generated much media interest Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is deined
because of its comprehensibility, easy in DSM-IV, the fourth edition of the American
accessibility, and since it added public Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and
interest to disasters of great magnitude. For Statistical Manual. For a doctor or mental health
many, PTSD places responsibility for their professional to be able to make a diagnosis,
suffering on factors outside themselves, the condition must be deined in DSM-IV or
factors over which they often had neither its international equivalent, the World Health
responsibility nor control (Friedman, 2000) Organization’s ICD-10. The focus of the DSM-
thus providing an explanatory model. IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)
Gersons and Carlier (1992) looking at deinition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a
the history of PTSD, commented that the single life-threatening event or threat to integrity.
introduction of the new diagnosis of PTSD However, the symptoms of traumatic stress also
was seen and felt to be in recognition of arise from an accumulation of small incidents
the psychological consequences of war, rather than one major incident.
especially as experienced by Vietnam
veterans. After the description of PTSD in the History of PTSD
1980, there was a major increase in research
interest in PTSD (Blake, Albano, & Keane, PTSD is considered to be the renaming
1992) with majority of them being on victims or the synthesis of an age-old condition.
of war or sexual violence. The psychological effect of exposure to
combat-related traumatic events, then called
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) physioneurosis was irst scientiically studied
in 1941 by A. Kardiner (Kolb, 1993). Research
interest in this area peaked during and after the
51
