Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs primarily in soldiers and veterans who participated in or witnessed hostilities. PTSD may appear shortly after the event, or it may be delayed; it may last for several years or it may be short-lived. How to help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder?

ToPost Traumatic Stress Disorder( PTSD ) makes it very common to return homewar veterans require long-term psychiatric and psychological care. American specialists believe that PTSD affected about 10 percent of Gulf War veterans, and about 6-10 percent during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Post-traumatic stress disorder has been called variously. After the American Civil War, it was referred to as the "soldier's heart". During World War I, there was talk of "combatant fatigue". During World War II, soldiers suffered from a "nasty stress response", while Vietnamese combatants suffered from "Povietian syndrome".

It is worth mentioning that the US military has a developed network of veterans' homes where, under the care of psychologists and doctors, soldiers who are injured and struggling with combat stress, heal themselves, often with their families. Americans have a rule that anyone who returns from war goes to therapy. Our soldiers are still afraid that they will be tagged with the label of "wimp" (after all, they have been instilled that they should be tough guys!), Someone who cannot deal with himself. Often, it is only when the stress related to memories paralyzes normal functioning that the affected person turns to a doctor for help.

Lack of proper help and treatment can cause the disorder to persist and make permanent changes to the personality. These people may have attempted suicide. Four times participation in the mission, and the preparatory periods mean that a soldier will be absent even for several years. Many of them were convinced that they would return home as heroes. Meanwhile, it turns out that the relationships have changed, the children have grown up, the wife has become more independent … On a mission, you complete more tasks and often you don't have time to analyze your life.

Post-traumatic stress disorder: it's hard to deal with alone

- People who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, wthey react in a certain way to the events in which they were participants - says Katarzyna Gawlińska, a psychologist specializing in stress therapy.

For soldiers participating in military missions, e.g. insistently returning shots, scraps of conversation, a feeling of guilt that they cannot cope with ("if I were in that place then, I would be wounded, and not X "," it is because of me that a man who had such a little daughter is dead ").

I emphasizes that PTSD may have the character of reliving the experience that had such a traumatic impact on the further life, or a delayed reaction to this event. Re-experiencing these difficult times is very real, and the person suffering from PTSD may not be able to distinguish between the real situation they are in and the reliving the trauma. Flashbacks can take the form of sounds, images or smells. - PTSD, as my experience shows, everyone experiences differently and thus everyone recovers from this disease differently. Sometimes traumas are so strong that there is a trace and sensitivity to certain situations or behaviors forever in a person. Therefore, no one can be left without help and no one should run away from this help. It's hard to deal with it alone - explains the psychologist.

Important

Post-traumatic stress disorder: the most important symptoms

The characteristic symptoms include:

  • apathy, frightening thoughts and memories of past experiences, nightmares;
  • physical symptoms, e.g. heart palpitations, increased sweating, also avoiding places that could be
  • remind you of the stressful experience;
  • inability to experience pleasure;
  • avoiding social contacts;
  • excessive physiological agitation, outbursts of anger, irritability, frequent mood changes;
  • alcohol or drug abuse.

PTSD also affects female soldiers' partners

It is worth emphasizing that PTSD can also affect military partners. After all, they do not know about all the events on the mission, so they count down the hours until the return of the other half, they experience every bad news that comes from Afghanistan or Iraq. Imagination is also a very bad advisor. When women are left alone, they suddenly become fully responsible for the entire home. When problems arise, they do not seek help. They often live in small environments and do not want to talk about their own troubles. Today it has been three months since I was admitted to a psychiatric clinic with symptoms of combat stress. It really ismy husband's stress, but he always gave me back all his troubles - writes Grażyna Jagielska in the book Love from Stone. Life with a war correspondent. Wojciech Jagielski, currently a journalist of the Polish Press Agency, participated in 53 trips to areas of war conflicts. As he claims, it would be fair if the disease touched him, in the end it was he who risked his life, rubbing himself to death. She caught up with his wife, who had never participated in the war. For 20 years she had been waiting for a call about his death. She even habitually imagined a kind of this departure - from a shot, from a bomb explosion, from a mine … She spent half a year in a psychiatric hospital, she described her stay in the clinic in the book “Angels eat three times a day. 147 days in a psychiatric ward. "

Post-traumatic stress disorder: psychotherapy first of all

Katarzyna Gawlińska emphasizes that after the appearance of disturbing symptoms that may be related to a traumatic event, it is worth seeking specialist advice. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can and must be treated, but requires appropriate specialist help and diagnosis of the patient's condition. A meeting with a psychiatrist will allow you to identify the type of problem and select medications, if necessary. First of all, it is necessary to work through difficult emotions and problems caused by this experience.

One of the patients kept looking back as if he were being followed by the Taliban. Another was treated after looking for explosives on the pavement outside the National Theater in Warsaw. Most veterans hate the smells and sounds they associate with war.

The basic form of helping the suffering person is psychotherapy. Effective psychological interactions include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), the purpose of which is to change the patient's behavior, consisting in ceasing to avoid contact with situations and stimuli that cause associations with a traumatic experience, e.g. if someone suffered in a flood, he may panic on his own. water view. This method uses exposure therapy, which involves confronting the patient with a traumatic stimulus that causes anxiety until the anxiety subsides. Another method, EMDR, assumes that the patient will focus on other activities when talking about the traumatic events, such as movements. tapping the eyes, tapping hands, etc. The therapist, during the patient's trauma, causes him / her to quickly move the eyeballs (by moving his hand in his field of view). The patient describes the stressful event in detail and his statements are recorded. He then listens to the recording several times in front of himtherapist. In another therapy, desensitization, or desensitization, a person with PTSD is exposed to a fear-inducing conditioned stimulus while in a state of deep relaxation. It cannot be associated with an anxiety reaction. The relaxation sessions and the simultaneous appearance of fear-inducing stimuli are repeated until the patient is able to deal with the traumatic memories and it does not cause anxiety in him.

Post-traumatic stress disorder: supportive measures

Pharmacological treatment should be regarded as complementary and is usually symptomatic. In the case of acute symptoms, e.g. anxiety disorders and severe depression, sleeping pills or antidepressants are used. Classic treatment brings better results if it is supported by dog ​​therapy. In the United States, mission veterans who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder but do not need to be hospitalized are advised to stay with a therapist dog 24 hours a day.

Katarzyna Gawlińska says that during therapies conducted by the "Szarik" Foundation (it is the only organization in Poland that uses specially trained dogs in the treatment of veterans), the mere presence of pets is often enough to release human emotions which a psychologist works on later. Quadrupeds also distract from intrusive thoughts and create a friendly atmosphere. They work like a catalyst. After such therapy, over-aroused people become calmed down, and those who are too apathetic become active thanks to playing with the animal. These are only some of the possibilities that dog therapy brings.

Where to go for help
  • Military Institute of Medicine in Warsaw, Department of Psychiatry and Combat Stress, Mr. Szaserów 128, phone: (22) 681 76 66, (22) 810 80 89
  • National helpline for mission veterans and their families: (22) 681 72 33
  • Association of Injured and Victims in Missions Beyond the Country [email protected]

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