Page 268 - Total War on PTSD

Brownstone, Soberay, & Bahraini, 2019). “People worry about their loved ones’ encounters with the enemy, but for females, sometimes the enemy eats, sleeps, and works right next to them” (Benedict, 2009, p. 5). Findings show that being a victim of military sexual trauma increases the risk for severe PTSD both because the sexual trauma may induce PTSD and because it may diminish the social support of the combat unit and thus facilitate war-induced PTSD (Scott et al., 2014). Moreover, sexual trauma within the military unit is often not addressed because it is silenced. This is what has been termed institutional betrayal (C. P. Smith & Freyd, 2014), which is also associated with greater traumatization. It is therefore no surprise that sexual trauma within the military is the source of loneliness for women Veterans (Benedict, 2009), as they cannot speak about it with peers for fear of disbelief or accusation of impeding unit cohesion (Burns, Grindlay, Holt, Manski, & Grossman, 2014; Turchik, Bucossi, & Kimerling, 2014) nor can it be discussed within their families. The dynamics of silence relating to sexual assault and rape (e.g., the shame, the fear, the societal disbelief, etc.) are key here, but they are beyond the scope of the current chapter. At this point it is sufficient to say that military sexual trauma complicates everything, and hence adds additional factors of perceived isolation.
What can be Done?
Regardless of the ostensibly grim picture painted above, hope is not and must not be lost. Advances are being made on multiple fronts. On the military front, it is important to take the time necessary for demobilization. Teach Veterans about the challenges of civilian life, and educate them as to what they should expect and how it is different from the military. In contrast, on the clinical front, there are calls for therapists to immerse themselves within the Veterans’ experiences, so as to share them together, regardless of the emotional difficulty involved (e.g., Carr, 2011, 2013). By doing so, clinicians may breach the mechanisms that accommodate the conspiracy of silence (Danieli, 1984) surrounding the Veterans’ traumas and their aftermaths. Furthermore, it is increasingly acknowledged that in order to treat Veterans, clinicians must get familiar with the military culture (Beder, 2017; Hall, 2011; Litz, Lebowitz, Gray, & Nash, 2016; Meyer, 2015). A
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