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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may develop following exposure to an extremely threatening or horrific event.It is characterized by several of the following signs or symptoms: unwanted re-experiencing of the traumatic event—such as vivid, intense, and emotion-laden intrusive memories—dissociative flashback episodes, or nightmares; active avoidance of thoughts, memories, or reminders ...
United States military veteran suicide [1] [2] is an ongoing phenomenon regarding the high rate of suicide among U.S. military veterans in comparison to the general civilian public. [3] A focus on preventing veteran suicide began in 1958 with the opening of the first suicide prevention center in the United States.
Before the term post-traumatic stress disorder was established, people that exhibited symptoms were said to have shell shock [6] [5] [2] [3] or war neuroses. [8] [3] [9] This terminology came about in WWI when a commonality among combat soldiers was identified during psychiatric evaluations. [3]
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that affects a significant number of veterans. Studies involving veterans with combat-related PTSD indicate that between 4-17% of United States veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD. Their United Kingdom counterparts, however, have significantly lower numbers of just 3-6%. [61]
In the US, 6.8% of adults will experience PTSD in their lifetimes, with women twice as likely as men to experience it (10.4% to 5%) frequently as a result of sexual trauma. Veterans are another group highly likely to experience PTSD during their lives, with Vietnam War veterans at 30%, Gulf War veterans at 10%, and Iraq War veterans at 14%. [3]
The entire military is “a moral construct,” said retired VA psychiatrist and author Jonathan Shay. In his ground-breaking 1994 study of combat trauma among Vietnam veterans, Achilles in Vietnam, he writes: “The moral power of an army is so great that it can motivate men to get up out of a trench and step into enemy machine-gun fire.”