Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, abbreviated as PTSD has been defined as the mental health disorder developed by individuals on being exposed to a devastating natural calamity, war or a sexual-assault experience (Alisic et al., 2014). It is believed to affect the life of individuals witnessing the life-threatening incident deeply. The consequences of the life-threatening incidents often lead to the development of stress, trauma, anxiety, Depression and in extreme cases might even lead to the mental health impairment (Bisson et al., 2013). It has been observed that post-traumatic disorder can affect individuals at any age and even lead to cognitive impairment. The worst victims can be categorized as the children and the women as society perceives them to be the most vulnerable target audience. The effect of trauma is deep and at the same time persists for a long period of time and sometimes can even last a life time (Mithoefer et al., 2013).This paper would critically analyse the available literatures on the advent of post-traumatic stress disorder in men and women and would try to establish a link between the available social-support for the victims. The literature review would then aim to correlate the two elements and provide a supportive framework to answer the research question: ‘Is there an evidence based relationship between the available social support strategies and the men and women combat veterans affected with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?’ The paper would delve deeper into the central theme of post-traumatic stress disorders and critically analyse the literatures present in favour of the topic and carry out an extensive review of the literatures and synthesise the findings so as to develop a critique and synthesis of the subject.
Post traumatic disorder is seen to affect the lives of the men and women veteran combats to a great extent. In alignment to this perspective, a study conducted by Chen et al., (2015) involved the meta-analysis of thirty two articles in order to understand the social behaviour exhibited by the veteran combats. The findings of the study revealed that the veteran combats find it extremely difficult to socialize with positive vibes on account of being exposed to gruesome sights that include the sight of dead bodies on regular basis. Along with the study also revealed that a number of social determinant factors such as low income, lack of proper education and proper infrastructure to avail counselling sessions post trauma episode also plays a major role in determining the quality of life of the veteran combats. Research papers have also reported a hike in the advent of post-traumatic disorder in the war veterans. A qualitative study was conducted on the Kosovo regiment soldiers who had participated in the Albanian battle and the data was collected on the basis of the demographical statistics available. Surprisingly, the study revealed a hike in the number of patients suffering from post-traumatic disorder which clearly indicates that due to the lack of social support and feasible compensation schemes, there is a rise in post-traumatic complications in the war veterans. The research study comprised of a sample size of 150 participants, out of which the findings revealed that 47.3% of the war veterans had already developed acute stress disorder caused due to the drastic effect of the war. The research conducted by Han et al., (2014) suggests that post deployment due to the lack of accessibility of any counselling session to minimise the effect of the war experience the soldiers often show the manifestation of symptoms that are related to the post-traumatic stress disorder. The research was conducted on the basis of qualitative analysis of the data obtained on comparing a sample size of 835 American Battalion and 173 civil guard soldiers pre and post deployment. The key findings revealed that due to the unavailability of ample social support or counselling help-cells there was a rise in the manifestation of symptoms of PTSD among the deployed soldiers. In order to understand the criticality and access the pattern of the manifestation of the PTSD symptoms, a quantitative analysis was carried out by Andersen et al., (2014). The study was solely designed to trace the initial phases of the PTSD symptoms in soldiers who had been deployed after a period of two and a half years and the assessment of risk factors was done in compliance with the six PTSD check-list factors. The research was carried out with the consideration of a sample size that comprised of 743 soldiers who were deployed in the year of 2009 in Afghanistan. The findings of the research revealed six trajectories and the identification of vulnerabilities prior to deployment and stressors after the deployment. The findings of the research study point towards the fact that due to absence of adequate social support the soldiers face life-threatening complications and depressive symptoms. Research evidences as furnished by the study conducted by Nash et al., (2015) aimed at accessing the reasons that contribute to the development of PTSD symptoms in 867 American soldiers who were recruited and deployed to Afghanistan post 7 months of their recruitment. The factors that contributed heavily in the development of PTSD symptoms were analysed with the help of qualitative semi-structured interviews and survey responses of the soldiers. The survey responses highlighted three important factors that affected the severity of the PTSD symptoms in the combats and the factors that were listed were mainly the absence of social support, the segregation and the avoidance to provide counselling in any form to the sufferers. Scientific research factors as stated by Sripada et al., (2016) also states that there is an acute negligence in providence of social support to the veterans and that directly leads to the cause of PTSD. The research was carried out after conducting a thorough analysis on the medical reports of the PTSD patients and the report of 742 veteran patients were analysed. The results revealed that the effect of PTSD in the veterans were primarily on account of lack of access to any social support system. This makes it evident that due to the inappropriate providence of social support and education related to the harsh effects of PTSD, there has been a rise in the PTSD cases. According to Melanie et al., (2018), it has been reported that there is a high incidence of suicidal tendencies in veterans who are affected with PTSD. The researchers have critically evaluated and tried to trace the root cause for the dearth of suicidal tendencies in veterans being affected with PTSD. The nature of incidence and dearth of suicidal tendencies in the veterans were analysed using the CAPs and PHQ-9 scale and the sample size considered for this study comprised of a total of 746 veterans. The results pin pointed towards the fact that the suicidal tendency in the veteran men and women combats were high because of the lack of social support. In relation to the change in behavioural pattern of the combats who have been reported to be suffering from PTSD, it has been suggested by Headquarters (2015) in his study, that special focus should be put on the mental status of the women serving in the army. Women serving in the military have been reported to be victims of a number of harsh situations which includes cases of sexual assault, suffering, depression and anxiety (Admon et al., 2013). The cases of the emotional suffering have been reported by both men and women and thus the results of the research study suggests that steps must be taken to refine the concept of social support in the military camps so as to avoid the incidences of PTSD patients. Studies reveal that the most common change in the behavioural pattern of the victims suffering from PTSD is the withdrawal from society. This change in behaviour is not perceived in a positive manner by the peer group and family members of the victim and often leads to emotions of anger and impatience. However Smith et al., (2018) in their study state that it is important to provide space to the victims so that they are able to deal with the stress and in addition to this social support and immediate interventions can be provided by the immediate family members and family. Interventions that could be provided would include monitoring minimal rhythmic exercises, motivating the patients to take up a hobby in order to harbour positive thoughts and also maintaining a friendly and compassionate relationship with them would heavily contribute in effectively treating the negativity associated with developing PTSD. According to the study conducted by Mayo (2018), PTSD has been associated with serious mental disturbance in individuals who have witnessed life threatening incidents. The most challenging part that has been qualitatively identified in this research comprises of the individuals to not being able to stop visualising the happenings of the disaster again and again. The incident generates an extensive negative impact that seeps down extremely deep within the patients experiencing the mishap. At the same time, it has been said the patients develop severe changes in their respective behavioural pattern such as turning aloof from the society and developing a lot of aggression among themselves. The symptoms associated with the development of PTSD range from mild to severe and can even harbour self-harm or suicidal thoughts in individuals going through it. Hence, it is pivotal to administer therapeutic interventions in terms of professional support and support from family members so as to minimise the drastic effect of the symptoms.
On critically carrying out a review on the literatures it is evident that the researchers have mainly focused on carrying out research to identify the onset of PTSD and identify the initial symptoms associated with the disorder. The papers have also significantly revealed an existing relationship between the manifestations of PTSD in veterans primarily due to the lack of an efficient social support system (Yehuda et al., 2015). However, a major literature gap has been noticed in terms of devising appropriate interventions and inclusion of social support facilities in war camps so as to provide immediate support to the victims. Additionally it should also be stated that the literature review critically synthesizes the central idea of all the available literatures that predict an existing relationship between the incidence of PTSD and lack of social support measures (Trimble, 2013). Therefore, to summarize the concept of the key findings of the research it can be said that there is ample amount of scope for the researchers to research on the manner in which the social support system can be efficiently enhanced for the victims who have witnessed acute devastation in some form.
Conclusion:
Therefore to conclude, it must be acknowledged that Post-Traumatic disorders in individuals witnessing a traumatic incident is extremely heart-wrenching. The scenario in context of the men and women veterans is even worse as they have to deal with a number of circumstances such as sexual assault, drastic effect of war and sight of death on a regular basis. The synthesis of the literatures reviewed reveal that due to lack of social support in terms of counselling help and proper education to combat post-traumatic stress, the scenario have been witnessed to be even more degenerating. Negative effects such as suicidal tendencies, inflicting self-harm and tremendous aggression have been reported to exist in individuals exposed to post-traumatic stress disorders. In light of seriousness of the situation, it must be mentioned that the women and the children who witness a war condition in most of the cases are reported to be intellectually disabled and at the same time also found to be impaired with respect to their cognitive behaviour and life-long depression. These urgent conditions of emergency call for immediate measures to be designed in order to incorporate support systems to effectively help the individuals in need. In addition to raising the quality of life it would also help in preventing further incidences of PTSD in men and women veterans and their loved ones because individuals irrespective of their background and environment deserve to lead a healthy standard of living both in terms of physical and mental well-being.
References:
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Alisic, E., Zalta, A. K., Van Wesel, F., Larsen, S. E., Hafstad, G. S., Hassanpour, K., & Smid, G. E. (2014). Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed children and adolescents: meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 204(5), 335-340.
Andersen, S. B., Karstoft, K. I., Berteslen, M., & Madsen, T. (2014). Latent Trajectories of Trauma Symptoms and Resilience: the 3-Year Longtudinal Prospective USPER Study of Danish Veterans Deployed in Afghanistan. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1001-1008.
Bisson, J. I., Roberts, N. P., Andrew, M., Cooper, R., & Lewis, C. (2013). Psychological therapies for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 12.
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Melanie, A. B., Mary, W. A., Thomas, C. N., Shira, M., Thomas, M. J., & Beth, C. E. (2018). Posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicidal ideation in veterans: Results from the mind your heart study. Psychiatry Research, 224-230.
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