Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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research proposes to integrate the disciplines of History and Psychology to examine military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The history of the shifting diagnoses and treatments of military veterans with PTSD can be applied to civilians as well. Different forms of PTSD have changed over time from the Civil War to the present war in Iraq. An in-depth analysis of various treatments shows that modern day treatments have evolved over time. The treatments are better equipped to cure military veterans as well as athletes that may be suffering from gruesome injuries. In order the sections will introduce what PTSD is, the history of shifting diagnosis from the Civil War through the Vietnam War, PTSD becoming a classified disorder before the Afghanistan War and Iraq War. Lastly, how veterans with PTSD are being treated and where the future studies are now.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can remain challenging for psychiatric doctors to diagnose sometimes. Symptoms of PTSD do not show up right away. Therefore, a psychiatrist may wait up to six
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In Loughran’s article, Shell Shock, Trauma, and the First World War: The Making of a Diagnosis and Its Histories, Loughran gives great insight about PTSD incidents that happened during the war. Some soldiers came out of the trenches stuttering, trembling or even blind. First documented during WWI, soldiers had nightmares when they accidently killed a comrade. Those situations could have an effect on the physical, physiological, and psychological parts of troops. Throughout most of WWI, a majority of the warfare used shells or missiles. The psychiatrist believed that shell shock was a literal shocking to the brain in the frontal lobe (Rae, 2007). PTSD was not a recognized disorder during those times, many of the soldiers

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