Page 66 - Total War on PTSD

repeated trauma exposure, dissociative symptoms, or simply vengeful behavior, there has to be some normalcy to a phenomenon that occurs in greater frequency over the course of deployments, particularly in individuals who have had multiple deployments. Commonly, a combat Veteran will have to be in treatment a long time and have a great deal of trust and rapport with an individual before they disclose these incidents to a clinician. Over the years I have come to truly believe that there is nothing a person can do that is not human on some level. It is imperative to always provide a supportive, judge free zone for the combat Veteran. No one will condemn them more than they condemn themselves. For individuals who do cross the line of necessity with aggression, forgiveness and the belief they can be forgiven will be essential for their healing. I often refer individuals to our chaplaincy services for adjunct counseling if they are spiritually conflicted over their combat experience.
The traumatic events combat Veterans have survived will replay through intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, and physical reactiveness to reminders of their trauma in their current environment. When combat Veterans present for treatment, they discuss their distress over not being able to lessen these symptoms or get them to stop. The treatment of these symptoms is complex and often takes time to work through, especially in individuals who have experienced multiple traumatic events. Directly processing these events and helping combat Veterans sit fully with their experience, especially emotional aspects with which they have not dealt, is paramount to recovery. Veterans are often skeptical of repeatedly processing these events, as they play daily already without their desire or consent. This repetition of trauma playing is often the body’s way of trying to purge the trauma, although quite unsuccessfully, as only the most intense parts tend to play and emotions that arise are avoided. The primary therapies used to treat PTSD (PE, CPT, and EMDR) all repeatedly visit the trauma to help the Veteran sit with their experience more fully, as well as work on helping them view their experience through a different lens. Although these therapies use different modalities to process the trauma, the goal is to help resolve the Veteran’s inner conflict over their trauma, challenge negatively held trauma beliefs about themselves and the world, and to come to an acceptance of events as they occurred.
Combat Veterans are often avoidant of the community. They are commonly triggered by benign aspects of their environment that remind them consciously or unconsciously of the combat zone.
66 of 1063