The Vietnam War has many consequences and these consequences are either good or bad. The War occurred from November 1st, 1955 through April 30th, 1975. This war derived from the Cold war. It basically all started because Americans were trying to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world. Although Vietnam won the war, communism did not spread. After the war was over, many Vietnam War veterans were diagnosed with Post Traumatic stress disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was one of the consequences that was not great and that ruined veteran's lives. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disorder that can last for an uncertain amount of time. It can last months or years. With PTSD you can get memories from the trauma (in this case the Vietnam War). Getting these memories you get intense emotional and physical reactions. Post Traumatic Stress disorder affects veterans mentally, physically, and emotionally. Some symptoms that occur are nightmares, unwanted memories, avoidance, heightened reactions, and anxiety or depressed moods. These symptoms did not occur right away. It could take months or maybe even years after the trauma event to be diagnosed and certain the veteran has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Veterans From the Vietnam War with Post Traumatic stress disorder are affected mentally. These veterans get unwanted distressing memories from the trauma, which is events from the Vietnam War. The memories are usually about them killing someone, the torture they recieved from the Vietcong or the torture they give, or the death of the partner from the war. They also relive the moment/trauma of the war. The way they relive this moment is by getting flashbacks. By getting flashbacks they believe they are reliving it and that they are there. When in reality it's just like a daydream and that moment has already occurred. When this happens they respond in a completely different way. They can either scream, cry, or they can even run away. Their mentality has not passed the trauma. It is still processing everything that they went through and what they had seen. It doesn’t just process in one or two months. It processes in years. That's how big this event was to them. These Vietnam veteran also get upsetting dreams and nightmares. While they sleep, instead of getting normal dreams like everyone who doesn't have post-traumatic stress disorder they get dreams about the violence of the war and the horrifying events of the war. Avoiding things is already set in they mentality. The reason why is because they don’t want to be reminded of the trauma they went through. They avoid talking and thinking about the Vietnam War. They also avoid going to places, doing activities, and people that remind them of the unpleasant event. Every time the veterans think of this event they have negative thoughts about themselves. They think this and believe this because of the killing they did during the war. They also experience memory issues. They don't remember about the important parts of the Vietnam War and they don’t remember some things they say. The only things that they remember are the traumatic parts of the war.
Vietnam Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress disorder have also been affected physically. People and veterans with Post-traumatic stress disorder have been diagnosed with physical problems such as arthritis, heart-related problems or disease, respiratory system-related problems or disease, digestive problems and disease, reproductive system-related problems, diabetes, and pain. These physical problems occur over time if they do not take care of themselves and try to prevent themselves from getting these physical problems. Post Traumatic stress disorder puts a large amount of physical and emotional strain on a PTSD person/veteran. People with this disorder take part in things that affect their physical health. Some things they take part in is abusing alcohol and drugs. They consistently get stressed and get lots of anxiety. And due to all of this stress and anxiety, it increases the risk for physical problems and illness. The reason they stress and get anxiety is because they remember all those traumas that they went through. Many people/veterans with Post Traumatic stress disorder also have experienced a variety of sleeping problems. A study of Vietnam veterans showed that half of the veterans with PTSD have trouble sleeping at night or overall. If the veterans do sleep it is usually not a good sleep. The reason it is not a good sleep is because they may move a lot, talk, and scream while sleeping. Because of these sleeping issues, PTSD people/ veterans develop fear to go to sleep. Once they are in bed they worry or stress about the unpleasant events they fear of reliving. Veterans with Post Traumatic stress disorder can also get Auditory processing disorder(APD). The reason why they can get this is because of all the gunshots, explosions, screaming, etc in the battlefield. All this affects their hearing because it is extremely loud and you hear it for a long period of time.
Veterans with Post Traumatic stress disorder have also been affected emotionally. A ceteran that has PTSD can experience many strong emotions such as anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt, or shame. There are many other emotions but those are a few common ones that happen. They feel sadness, anger, and shame all because of the terrible things that they have done in the Vietnam war. They mainly feel sad for killing many innocents, anger because of the partners that were killed by Vietkongs, and shame because they were proud of doing all those things for their country, The United States of America. They feel out of control with their emotions. They can't control their emotions and they don't know exactly what they really feel. They get anxious because they don't know exactly what they are feeling. They can't manage to control their emotions, all they can do is feel the way they are feeling at the moment. People with Post Traumatic stress disorder cant distinguish between fear, sadness, and anger. People with PTSD adjust by avoiding their feelings or giving themselves unmedicated medications. If those with this disorder knew what they were feeling, they would be able to know or figure out how to make themselves feel better again. These feelings can make these people feel like they are living in a nightmare. They feel like this because of all the things they are going through and all the things they went through. Sometimes people with this order start having suicidal thoughts because they can't take it anymore. Their emotions can sometimes be unpleasant. They can feel happy in a time were it sad, devastating, and not appropriate. They can also feel sad when it is time to be happy and thankful. This can happen with many other emotions. It is something they can't control. It's simply unpredictable when you feel like that.
The Vietnam war was a long intensive battle with many dead and many injured. The war affected many veterans and have given them major trauma. Many coped with the trauma but others did not like the Troma one single bit. Post Traumatic stress disorder has affected many veterans mentally, physically, and emotionally. Veterans would get unwanted memories and they would have trouble remembering things such as important events. Veterans would also experience arthritis, auditory processing disorder, and other physical problems. Many veterans from the Vietnam war experienced changes of moods and emotions and would not know ehat they would feel. Going to this war and seeing things affected many veterans.
Works Cited
- “Hearing Center of Excellence.” Hearing Center of Excellence, hearing.health.mil/Education/Conditions-and-Concerns/PTSD-and-APD.
- Holland, Kimberly. “PTSD and Depression: Similarities, Differences & What If You Have Both.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 22 Mar. 2019, www.healthline.com/health/ptsd-and-depression#depression.
- military benefits. “PTSD and Veteran's Symptoms: Military Benefits.” MilitaryBenefits.info, 2 Dec. 2018, militarybenefits.info/ptsd-and-veterans-symptoms/.
- US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration. “Public Health.” Protect Your Health, 7 May 2015, www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/publications/agent-orange/agent-orange-summer-2015/nvvls.asp.
- “What Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?” What Is PTSD?, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml.
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PTSD in Vietnam War Veterans: An Analytical Essay.
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