Symptoms of PTSD From Vietnam

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that is caused by exposure to a traumatic event or experience, which causes people to feel fear, anger and helplessness. It especially affects those who have experienced violent assaults, either to themselves or others, natural disasters or catastrophes caused by individuals, and military combat. PTSD can be difficult to diagnose because many people do experience intense emotions, such as shock and fear, after traumatic experiences, but it is those that have these feelings over longer periods of time, such as a month, who are more likely to have PTSD.

Identification

• The Vietnam War caused more than 1.7 million American to have PTSD. Although the Vietnam War was not the first military conflict where people experienced PTSD symptoms, it was after the war that the U.S. government began to realize how the violent events that soldiers had witnessed had affected them psychologically. This was why the government set up the North Vietnam Readjustment Study in 1983 to better determine how exposure to this war had affected soldiers' mental faculties.

"Shell Shock"

• One of the main symptoms that soldiers who went to Vietnam and to other wars experienced was the inability to adapt to sights and sounds back at home. This was known as "shell shock" after World War I but became known as PTSD after the Vietnam War. This is defined by a number of symptoms, one of which is a hypersensitivity to loud noises, rapid movements and bright lights. This caused many veterans to respond rapidly with jerky or jumpy movements to sights and sounds that resembled those they had seen during combat.

Memories

• Another symptom that Vietnam veterans with PTSD tended to have was that they relived what they went through in Vietnam. They did this in many ways, including flashbacks and nightmares. There may have been some object, place or person that caused them to have flashbacks, or they might have reoccurring nightmares of some traumatic event. Because of these types of nightmares, a number of Vietnam veterans experienced insomnia. They may also have had difficulty concentrating and feel anger or irritability over their memories.

Avoidance

• While some may have relived events, others may have actively tried to avoid reminders of them. This meant that these veterans tried to actively stay away from people, objects, places and experiences that would have reminded them of the occurrence. Many would do this because they would try to avoid the intense feelings that were often associated with their experiences. This would often make them feel a numbness or disassociation with their experiences.

Family Life

• People returning from Vietnam with PTSD also may have avoided everyday activities in their lives, such as time with their families. This occurred because, at times, they would feel such an emotional disconnect or an inability to see beyond the present that they would distance themselves from their loved ones. They would also sometimes no longer enjoy the activities they once had because of the weight of their experiences. In some cases, this could lead to bigger problems, such as marriage and family problems, suicidal tendencies, loss of religious beliefs and violent behaviors.

Considerations

• PTSD was difficult to diagnose in veterans and others because people with this disorder often suffer from other conditions and disorders, such as eating disorders, depression, bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Many soldiers' problems with drugs started either in Vietnam or after they returned. Generally, soldiers had experiences with drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, heroin, barbiturates and amphetamines during the war, and drug use often began at the beginning of 12-month tours of duty. Although a drug program and policy was put into place by President Richard Nixon in the early 1970s, a number of soldiers, especially those who were suffering from PTSD, developed problems with drug abuse during and after the war in conjunction with PTSD.