Need to Address Post Traumatic Stress and Depression Among Veterans - Essay Example

Need to Address Post Traumatic Stress and Depression among Veterans al Affiliation Introduction War veterans have been the objects ofpsychological, social, emotional and medical needs as the consequence of their involvement in a war often leads to an indelible imprint in these spheres of their lives. Recent studies of war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan wars have established a high rate of both psychological and neurological injuries. Further, an increasing number of research studies have established that war veterans are more likely to suffer mild mental health problem to chronic cases. War veterans with PTSD have been known, from statistical evidence, to remember their heart wrecking experiences in battle zone through animated daytime and night time nightmares. This has the effect their family relations especially their children. This paper explores the psychological needs of children of ex soldiers who are suffering from PTSD. Literature review The world of academia is awash with literature that studies and explores different psycho-social, as well as emotional and social needs of veterans begging from studies of veterans of the world wars till the present wars in the Middle East. War veterans involuntarily relive their traumatic experiences through wild, vivid and animated dreams. Such high intense emotion can affect their children especially the young ones who are in their pre teen years. Younger children who have not matured enough to comprehend what is affecting their parents may begin to shoe concern and worry about their parent’s health and wellbeing. (Caselli, 1995) empirical study established that child behavior problems were primarily predicted by PTSD in veteran parents. The author positively roved that veterans with PTSD were more problematic with their children than those who do not have a PTSD report. In the author’s considered opinion, family interventions for a parent with PTSD are needed to help the parent and children to built healthier relationship between them. Medically, people with PTSD are known to display symptoms associated with anxiety, depression, nightmares, tension, and etcetera. In this paper, we assume that key areas that concern PTSD have been properly ascertained and the major concern is its relationship with the war veterans. A relive of the traumatic events is often uncomfortable, and this leads to a certain withdrawal tendencies from a veteran with PTSD. Children would be affected to an extent that they will be unable to understand why their parent avoid social functions even normal school meetings. This means that a child would misconstrue the actions of their parents for a lack of love. (Davidson & Mellor, 2001), study on Australian veterans attempted to discern if the effects of PTSD trailed to their children. In the study, the reaseaher established that indeed the strongest effect of PTSD is the emotional inaccessibility of the father. In most PTSD research, the major focus is often laid on the veteran with a near complete shut down on their children. Nonetheless, they constitute a distressed group that is though uninvolved in the treatment process, but are affected. The study identified that there is a huge void between the perceived needs of such children and the treatment provided. They advised that initial needs assessment must be carried out to ascertain the creation and testing of novel interventions do establish the manner in which family services can go a long way in improving the outcomes for not only the veterans, but also their spouses and children. Consequently, there is a need for each treatment to be customized to suit specific need of a veterans and children as they have different perspectives from war fronts. People with PTSD have been observed as having a heightened sense of anxiety and danger at any given time and can get irritated very fast and on slight altercation, hence the exhibit exaggerated concern for their own safety as well that of others. This situation can negatively affect their children. The children of PTSD are therefore at high risk of having behavioral and other forms of interpersonal problems which can also affect their schoolwork, ability to belong in peer groups amongst others (Ruscio et al., 2002). Concept from the Articles Children of veteran with PTD have special needs and their parent must explain to them without the impetus of boring graphical information. Family therapy may be an important consideration to the children while the parent is undergoing personal therapy. The two last two articles focus on children of war veterans, and the impact of their partner’s state of mental health can trickle down to them. Hence, if left unguarded veterans with PTSD symptoms can result in a grave impact on family relations. Nonetheless, it would be absurd to think of PTSD as contagious, one that moves from the veteran to the partner. Battle zones are places where an individual can easily develop trauma; however, PTSD is a precursor to a number of physiological ailments. This means that the first article talks about the medical needs that arise from veterans with PTSD. Therefore the two major concepts drawn from the literature review is that PTSD in veterans is a precursor to other medical conditions and children of the veterans are as much likely to develop PTSD, and hence they would need treatment. Further the concept of culture oozes from the literature discussion above, and its significance in diagnosis, treatment and management of veterans with PTSD and their children. Culture is one most stubborn word in terms of attributing a convincing definition. However, several instances during the discussion above suggest and assert the importance of culture in analysis of war veterans with PTSD and their children. Nonetheless, clinical approaches to management of PTSD still hold sway, the aspect of culture even though considered lightly in the discussion above is vital. Conclusion Soldiers returning from battles often face a number of needs identified as psychological, mingling with other people, and treatment. Studies have established that the war often leave indelible and invincible emotional and psychological imprint on a soldier and these often manifest inform of bouts of mental illness, physiological illness, or even social problems. The major back bone of future problems normally begins the post traumatic stress and disorder. Children of the war veterans have a certain disadvantage in that they are also at risk of developing PTSD, especially the female children. References Caselli, L. T., & Motta, R. W. (1995). The effect of PTSD and combat level on Vietnam veterans perceptions of child behavior and marital adjustment. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51(1), 4-12. Davidson, A. C., & Mellor, D. J. (2001). The adjustment of children of Australian Vietnam veterans: is there evidence for the transgenerational transmission of the effects of war-related trauma?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35(3), 345-351. Ruscio, A. M., Weathers, F. W., King, L. A., & King, D. W. (2002). Male war-zone veterans perceived relationships with their children: The importance of emotional numbing. Journal of traumatic stress, 15(5), 351-357. Read More