Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Veterans

Our country has done a great job of getting our troops into combat, however, they have not done a great job of getting them home. Many of our soldiers are not getting enough time to decompress or debrief from their missions. It is possible that a soldier could be driving in an armored HumVee down Haifa street, the most dangerous street in Baghdad, and have to be constantly worrying.  The focus is on the possible threat of a car next to them carrying explosives. Fast forward two to three days and that same soldier might be back home and driving on the freeway. Although they might have made a geographical change and are back home, it is difficult to stop the heightened awareness they developed for daily survival while deployed.

My work with returning soldiers and their families focuses on the readjustment to civilian life at home. Experiencing problems with divorce, domestic violence, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and relationship issues is extremely high among returning soldiers.

Many of our troops are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  “Anyone who has been in combat experiences trauma” says A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed, Director of SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. “Because the current conflicts lack clear frontlines and rearguards, they are especially problematic. In addition to the horrors of war, longer and multiple deployments, uncertainty of the length of deployments and the relentless tension of counterinsurgency warfare compound the stress.” 

Many people can deal with trauma in a very normalizing way. They can respond and act with resilience. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), however, affects a substantial number of individuals and can seriously interfere with a person’s ability to function on a day-to-day basis.

Our soldiers are not aware that they are experiencing PTSD, but find themselves being short with spouses and children. They are unable to focus or remember certain events and have undefinable fears. One wife described her husband as being a changed person “after he returned from Afghanistan.”

Unless we have experienced what these soldiers have been through it is very difficult to understand. Ongoing counseling and support groups can help to ease this transition. Kolpia Counseling is providing that support in the form of individual, family and marital counseling. These counseling services are being provided as a benefit to all soldiers and their families through Ceridian Military One Source, an Employee Assistance Program, that pays for these services. Kolpia Counseling is a provider for Ceridian and has been providing the necessary counseling services to help ease the transition to coming home.

Steven Fogelman, LPC, CADC III, MAC, NCAC II