Date of Award
6-2012
Document Type
Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
David Cotter
Language
English
Keywords
PTSD, soldiers, military, servicemen, stigma, mental health, combat fatigue
Abstract
The demands that come with war can be both physically and mentally traumatizing and damaging to the soldier in many ways. These psychological injuries manifest themselves in what physicians call Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The purpose of this paper is to examine Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in American Soldiers by analyzing the training methods, human’s natural aversion to killing, pre-deployment medical exams, type of warfare, and treatment options provided in war; specifically the Civil War, World War I and World War II, Vietnam, and the Iraq War. By taking into account the history of PTSD as a disease, as well as these five triggers, we can fully explore why PTSD has increased in soldiers from war to war and how changing the negative stigma surrounding PTSD is the best way to help our soldiers.
Recommended Citation
Bragg, Maisy, "Invisibly Wounded Warriors: The Psychological Repercussions of War On American Soldiers" (2012). Honors Theses. 777.
https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/777
Included in
Military History Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons, United States History Commons