Poll Reasons for military PTSD

[Simon Marc]

I am saying that Military Sexual Trauma causes PTSD independent of the things you list on your poll.

MST = Military Sexual Trauma (including sexual assault, rape, coerced sex & sex acts under the threat of death/imprisonment of yourself or others, torture, and other fun things) ....all of which can all cause PTSD.

Ok, thanks for clarification.

Likely to be the last post I have on this topic for a while.

Thank you for your contributions!

I think you will be shocked by the responses.

I already am. The new poll will be online on Wednesday.

I'm curious about why you are doing the poll....??

is this going to be part of your term paper? That would be extremely problematic if so because any poll here is going to be wildly unscientific.

Yes, it will be part of my term paper. I talked about that with my teacher (I'm still in high school) and she's okay with this approach. Unfortunately, I do not have the time and the resources to do a professional poll.

'm also not at all sure you even know what PTSD is.

Well, that's why I'm here. I want to learn from the experts and sufferers. The Cambridge Dictionary describes PTSD "as a mental condition in which a person suffers severe anxiety and depression after a very frightening or shocking experience, such as an accident or a war " . But surely this definition is too general.
The poll options are maybe naive, but the updated version will be better.

So should career sabotage

Thanks, I'll add that point.

 

[The Albatross]

Yes, it will be part of my term paper. I talked about that with my teacher (I'm still in high school)
[snip]
The Cambridge Dictionary describes PTSD "as a mental condition in which a person suffers severe anxiety and depression after a very frightening or shocking experience, such as an accident or a war " . But surely this definition is too general.

A brief but better definition than the Cambridge: PTSD dictionary definition | PTSD defined

I would think too it's important to differentiate between PTS (Post Traumatic Stress) and the disorder, PTSD. What Are the Differences Between PTS and PTSD? | BrainLine

If a copy is available Dr. Donald Meichenbaum's book Roadmap to Resilience: A Guide for Military, Trauma Victims and Their Families might be worth a look for your term paper. It is written for the PTSD Brain and is a pretty simple/straightforward read. In it he "the differences between individuals (some 70% of military and civilian populations) who evidence resilience and the 30% who manifest persistent adjustment difficulties following traumatic events." It is a tool/guide that gives "How To" evidence-based ways to bolster resilience in six domains (physical, interpersonal, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual). I was fortunate to be involved with a group of webnars with Dr. Meichenbaum before and shortly after his book came out. It was very assistive for me.

Good luck with your term paper and the topic.

 

[Ronin]

I have no idea how normal it is, now.

I assumed lesser so, at least in the US corners, given how much a bunch of both (AF) soldiers & sailors were about to fight me at very making light of these things as daily business and soo directed me to a CO to get education on better behavior :hilarious: So I assume the culture is changing / has changed with awareness programmes in yall corners.

Shrug. Still the similar stats & attitudes at least in the Eastern side.
Ditto African troops. Cannot speak to the rest.

 

[Freida]

Yes, it will be part of my term paper. I talked about that with my teacher (I'm still in high school) and she's okay with this approach. Unfortunately, I do not have the time and the resources to do a professional poll.

You might want to touch base with your teacher again on your thesis statement. I'm guessing you didn't realize how many layers there are to ptsd so it might be a bit overwhelming to try to sort out all the responses that go with the poll.

maybe she can help you narrow it down? Something like an overview of the all of the responses, or how military vets compare to civilian population, or even taking one of the poll answers and following it from start to finish. Or -- maybe an analysis of how surprised you were that there were so many different ways vets can get ptsd?

Just a thought -- I don't want you to get completely overwhelmed on such a huge topic. :)

 

[Simon Marc]

A brief but better definition than the Cambridge: PTSD dictionary definition | PTSD defined

I would think too it's important to differentiate between PTS (Post Traumatic Stress) and the disorder, PTSD. What Are the Differences Between PTS and PTSD? | BrainLine

If a copy is available Dr. Donald Meichenbaum's book Roadmap to Resilience: A Guide for Military, Trauma Victims and Their Families might be worth a look for your term paper. It is written for the PTSD Brain and is a pretty simple/straightforward read. In it he "the differences between individuals (some 70% of military and civilian populations) who evidence resilience and the 30% who manifest persistent adjustment difficulties following traumatic events." It is a tool/guide that gives "How To" evidence-based ways to bolster resilience in six domains (physical, interpersonal, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual). I was fortunate to be involved with a group of webnars with Dr. Meichenbaum before and shortly after his book came out. It was very assistive for me.

Good luck with your term paper and the topic.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the links and the book.

You might want to touch base with your teacher again on your thesis statement. I'm guessing you didn't realize how many layers there are to ptsd so it might be a bit overwhelming to try to sort out all the responses that go with the poll.

maybe she can help you narrow it down? Something like an overview of the all of the responses, or how military vets compare to civilian population, or even taking one of the poll answers and following it from start to finish. Or -- maybe an analysis of how surprised you were that there were so many different ways vets can get ptsd?

Just a thought -- I don't want you to get completely overwhelmed on such a huge topic. :)

Hmm, I have to hand in on May 6 and I can't change the thesis statement any more. Moreover, my English teacher has absolutely no idea about PTSD. In retrospect it would have been better to choose a more specific topic, but now I have to bite the bullet ? Thank you anyway?

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I'm curious of why you're only polling military. PTSD doesn't require you to have been in the military. Is it about PTSD in general or is it about the military and how to slow the PTSD rate in the military? It wasn't clear to me in the posts what the paper is about, specifically.

 

[Simon Marc]

I'm curious of why you're only polling military. PTSD doesn't require you to have been in the military. Is it about PTSD in general or is it about the military and how to slow the PTSD rate in the military? It wasn't clear to me in the posts what the paper is about, specifically.

The topic of my term paper: "The effects of PTSD on the soldier and how to overcome them"
So yes, it's only about military PTSD. But I read some threads here and I was surprised how many civilians suffer from PTSD.

 

[Friday]

But I read some threads here and I was surprised how many civilians suffer from PTSD.

You might be interested in this poll

Poll - What Is The Cause Of Your PTSD?

In first world countries where there isn’t currently (for the past generation) a war on its own soil? You’ll find the vast majority of people with PTSD have it from things like rape, domestic violence, child abuse, and car accidents.

Don’t quote me, because my recollection of the exact country may be off, but I believe it’s Finland??? (I really need to find that demographical chart, it was wicked cool, listing out primary causes of PTSD by nation) who’s greatest concentration of PTSD is related to ice climbing accidents.

 

[Freida]

I think approaching just one cause of ptsd for a high school term paper is entirely appropriate because, as you've seen, its a massive topic and it could easily become unmanageable if you tried to address all of them. So my suggestion would be to stick to what you were looking for by coming here -- which was more about the effects than the causes. If I'm reading your statement correctly you are looking for how veterans (not soldiers - that's only the army) overcome the day to day challenges of ptsd. Yes? If that's correct (and you have time) you could either poke around the site to see how different people cope with the challenges or even do another poll.
For example ---
Part of my ptsd comes from
Terrorism

Some of my main challenges are
Hypervigilance
Sleeping problems
Intrusive thoughts

Some of my main coping methods are
Therapy -- EMDR and CBT
service dog
yoga

Does that help get ya back on track? :)

 

[Simon Marc]

(not soldiers - that's only the army)

overcome the day to day challenges

Well...at the time I defined the topic I was very naive and thought it is possible to overcome PTSD completely.
Now my topic would have the name "The effects of PTSD on veterans and how to cope with them". Now I think it's a struggle that can last a whole life. I will mention this in my colloquium.
The term paper rather focuses on the treatment than on the effects.
Thanks, you made me think about it and I will see what I can do.

 

[Kubash16]

Now I think it's a struggle that can last a whole life.

What sucks is you’ll have periods where you think you’ve conquered it, you feel stable and like well maybe I don’t have PTSD to begin with. You go into total denial. Then one tiny little thing happens and you are shoved right back to where you started and you never see it coming.

 

[Friday]

What sucks is you’ll have periods where you think you’ve conquered it,

Of course, that’s also the wicked cool part... not stuck at your worst forever, but actually able to manage symptoms all the down to nil. In both the day to day (good days bad days) and for years and decades asymptomatic. Very few disorders the entire point of treatment is to get asymptomatic. Most, the point of treatment is to learn to live with the symptoms, not kick the symptoms to the curb.