Making connection activity1 - Essay Example

A person can be said to exhibit PTSD symptoms if they are responding or reacting to memories of a past traumatic experience. Some of the most common symptoms among war veterans include nightmares, flashbacks, disturbing memories, always looking out for danger signs, among others. Most of the war veterans with PTSD are most likely to further get into drug problems such as alcohol as they try to forget the bad experiences. Others try to avoid situations that are likely to trigger the traumatic experiences altogether.

It is also important to note that aggressiveness and lack of sensitivity are also symptoms of PTSD especially in war veterans. Although anybody has a chance of developing PTSD, this problem is more likely to affect more individuals than others. For instance, PTSD has been highly associated with war veterans especially those that went to war for extended periods. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan that lasted a few months left many of the American war veterans suffering from PTSD. This is primarily because the soldiers undergo extremely violent experiences that affect them psychologically.

Although the soldiers usually undergo training and conditioning prior to going to the war, the reality on the warfront is usually very traumatizing. For instance, one of the war veterans who were interviewed narrated the way they shot severally to an innocent woman. It seems there is a strong connection between mismatch of personal beliefs with war experiences and the magnitude of PTSD. This particular veteran could not forget this particular incident since killing an innocent woman contradicted with his humane personal beliefs.

Another solder narrated the way they bombed a whole village and they could hardly count the number of dead bodies. Equally traumatizing was seeing huge value of property destroyed during war. Another veteran could not keep of the memory of losing his fellow soldier on the war front (“U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,” 2013). Although, war veterans are the most affected, PTSD can also affect children experiencing family violence. More notably, isolated traumatic cases such as gang rape, violent robbery, assault, serious accidents, or even natural disasters can make an individual suffer PTSD.

It is worth considering that the magnitude of PTSD primarily depends on the intensity of the traumatic experience, association with affected people, proximity to the event, loss of loved ones among others. Interestingly, immediate attention or help assists in lessening the effects of PTSD (“U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,” 2013). Whereas PTSD is a serious psychological problem, most affected people especially war veterans more often than not avoid seeking treatment. One of the most common reason is that most victims are still to accept what happened to them.

This way, they avoid confronting the root of the problem but may instead try to cure the symptoms through avenues such as taking alcohol. For instance, some war veterans may assume that they are strong psychologically to handle the traumatic experiences. However, the problem escalates with time and they may accept to seek treatment when it is too late. Another problem is that some trauma victims may not have knowledge on the existence of help services for treating PTSD. Although the government may have diverse initiatives to help war veterans immediately they arrive home from war fronts, individuals who suffer from isolated cases may not benefits from such initiatives. It