Invisible Wounds Research Paper

Invisible wounds, as Bica states, have been called “soldier's heart” or “battle fatigue,” and “combat exhaustion” but now, the invisible wounds that soldiers suffer from are referred to as PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “People who are psychologically, emotionally, or morally wounded as a result of their combat experience” Bica states, suffer from invisible wounds. He goes on to elaborate on what PTSD entails, and describes it as “an anxiety disorder that can develop after an exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened.” Not only do soldiers and veterans suffer from profound physical injuries, but the cost of war is further increased by the exhaustive psychological tolls war has on its victims. I agree with Bica’s statement on the costs of war: “Soldiers not only suffer effects of trauma, but also moral injuries—that is, debilitating remorse, guilt, shame, loss of self-esteem, self-respect, disorientation, and alienation from the rest of the moral community.” The cost of war is proliferated when the soldiers endure life lasting mental effects and have to persevere through the enervating task of living with an inconspicuous wound. Although the entirety of Bica’s article was thought provoking, I thought his …show more content…
Rather, she favors a position similar to that of Viktor Frankl, who writes in "Man's Search for Meaning" that, "An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior." Caplan's concern is that to pathologize these "normal" responses "as a mental illness called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rather than recognizing them as a common ordinary, understandable, human response to war's horrors," is not only inaccurate, but detrimental to veterans' healing as it increases their alienation, lowers self-esteem and damages self confidence.